National Round Up

Utah: Judge dismisses  lawsuit over Ten Commandments
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Pleasant Grove over a monument displaying the Ten Commandments.

A religious sect called Summum wanted to erect a display of its Seven Aphorisms in the park where the Ten Commandments monument stands.

U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball ruled that Pleasant Grove did not violate the U.S. Constitution by accepting a Ten Commandments monument in a city park and denying a Summum monument. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing an official religion or favoring one religion over another.

Kimball says the city displayed the monument for historical purposes, not religious, and did not use Summum’s beliefs when denying the group.

“There is no evidence that anyone in Pleasant Grove government had any idea what Summum’s religious beliefs were,” Kimball wrote in his decision.

Summum, a Latin word meaning highest or greatest, is rooted in Gnostic Christianity. The group believes Moses received the Seven Aphorisms along with the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. According to the group, Moses destroyed the tablet containing the aphorisms because he saw the Israelites weren’t ready for them.

The Ten Commandments marker has stood in the Pleasant Grove park for nearly 50 years. It was erected by the Fraternal Order of Eagles.

The lawsuit was previously taken to the U.S. Supreme Court on a Free Speech Clause argument. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Pleasant Grove, and the U.S. District Court in Utah gave Summum leave to amend its original complaint.

Summum asked the court to grant a preliminary injunction in the case, requiring Pleasant Grove to accept the monument while the case was pending, but that motion became moot when Kimball dismissed the case on Thursday.

New Mexico: State joins effort to overturn harassment case

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Attorney General Gary King has joined an effort asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court decision that tossed out a verdict against a Kansas church whose members carried inflammatory signs while picketing the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq.

King says the First Amendment was not intended, in his words, “to give extremists the right to attack private individuals the way this family was victimized.”

A 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel tossed out a $5 million verdict against protesters who carried such signs as “Thank God for dead soldiers” outside the funeral.

King’s friend-of-the-court brief against the Westboro Baptist Church says states need to protect the privacy and emotional health of grieving families.

Washington: Yakima Co. judges will no longer hold trials in jail

YAKIMA, Wash. (AP) — Yakima County Superior Court judges will no longer hold criminal trials in the county jail after a Washington Supreme Court ruled the setting was prejudicial for a defendant.

The high court reversed the conviction of Yakima murder defendant James Frank Jaime, saying it was unfair his trial was held in the county jail rather than the courthouse.

Court administrative consultant Harold Delia said the Superior Court judges concluded continuing to hold trials in the jail basement will lead to routine appeals.

“They are sure any case we had in there would be appealed to the Supreme Court,” Delia told the Yakima Herald-Republic Friday. “We can’t afford that.”

Moving all trials to the courthouse will require the county to spend more money on security at a time when the county faces a $1.3 million budget shortfall.

“We are trying to find a way to keep the Supreme Court happy and still be able to pave the roads and staff the Assessor’s Office,” County Commissioner Rand Elliott said.

Elliott said the county may have to double its current spending on courthouse security costs, including hiring more guards.

The high court decision May 27 involved Jaime, who was convicted of killing a man during a drug deal in 2005. The judge agreed with prosecutors who for security reasons wanted to hold his trial in a courtroom at the jail, rather than in the courthouse across the street.

In an opinion by Justice Debra Stephens, the high court ruled 6-3 that the setting was prejudicial, akin to letting jurors see the defendant in shackles.

The decision did not generally prohibit use of jail courtrooms, but Delia said the justices provided no standard on which the county could rely to justify use of the jail facilities.

Fewer than 10 trials are held annually in the two jail courtrooms, which typically have been used for murder cases where a high level of security is needed.

Yakima County says it will continue to use the jail courtrooms for cases other than criminal jury trials such as preliminary appearances, arraignments and pretrial matters. The county may also shift some civil trials or domestic cases to the jail, County Clerk Kim Eaton said.

Georgia: Supreme Court upholds murder charge dismissal
ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld by a 4-to-3 decision a Fulton County judge’s dismissal of a murder charge on grounds the defendant was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

The court issued its ruling on Monday in the case of Shaquan Lattimore, who was arrested in August 2004 on suspicion of killing Bryan Thompson. In 2006 he was indicted on a malice murder charge.

The case was set several times for the trial calendar, and in 2008 Lattimore was indicted again.

Lattimore filed a motion to dismiss the indictment last year, and a Superior Court judge granted it. In a dissent, Justice Harold Melton said Lattimore had failed to assert his right to a speedy trial and his defense was not impaired by the delay.

Mississippi: Judge blocks videotapes in 2007 case
BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — A judge has ruled a jury will not hear two videotaped statements from Leo Laurent Jr.

Laurent will be tried June 28. Laurent is accused of killing his wife, Brandi Hawkins Laurent, in August 2007. Her body was discovered 100 days later in a shallow grave less than a mile from the couple’s Fenton home.

The Sea Coast Echo reports that Circuit Judge Roger Clark this past week granted a defense motion to block the statements or confessions which Laurent reportedly gave to law enforcement officers in January 2008.

Clark ruled that since Laurent was dressed in prison garb and wearing shackles and handcuffs during those interviews, the sight could turn the jury against him.

However, Clark says prosecutors can use audio from the recordings.