Supreme Court Notebook

Court won't hear gay dads' birth certificate case WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a gay couple who want both of their names to appear on the Louisiana birth certificate of the child they adopted. The court said Tuesday it won't review a federal appeals court ruling against the adoptive parents. The appeals court ruled that the Louisiana registrar's insistence that only one father's name can go on the certificate does not violate the child's right to equal protection under the law or deny legal recognition of the adoption by both men. The adoption occurred in New York, which allows same-sex couples to adopt. Louisiana says its birth certificate policy reflects state law prohibiting adoption by unmarried couples, whether heterosexual or gay. Buddhist murder case appeal won't be heard by court WASHINGTON (AP) -- A man convicted of killing nine people at a Buddhist temple as a juvenile could go free after the Supreme Court refused to overturn a decision to throw out his confession. The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal by Arizona officials asking for a reexamination of a decision to throw out Jonathan Doody's confession. Doody was convicted of the slayings of six priests, a nun and two helpers during a robbery at a temple. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the conviction, saying his constitutional rights warnings were inadequate. The Supreme Court asked the federal appeals court to reexamine that decision last year, but the Ninth Circuit threw out the confession again earlier this year. Court won't hear appeal from Alamo followers WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from followers of evangelist Tony Alamo (uh-LAHM'-oh) who had their children taken away when they wouldn't agree not to expose them to the controversial ministry. The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from several Alamo followers, who sued the Arkansas Department of Human Services after their children were taken away in 2008. Prosecutors won sexual abuse convictions against Alamo in 2009. Social workers feared the children might someday be abused, and told the parents to break their financial dependence on Alamo's ministry. The parents refused. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the taking of the children was not a barrier to the parents' constitutional rights to practice religion. The case is Myers v. Arkansas Department of Social Services 11-126. Justices turn down Philly DA in cop-killing case WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request from prosecutors who want to re-impose a death sentence on former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a white Philadelphia police officer 30 years ago. The justices on Tuesday refused to get involved in the racially charged case. A federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal after finding that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial were potentially misleading. Courts have upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction for killing Officer Daniel Faulkner over objections that African-Americans were improperly excluded from the jury. The federal appeals court in Philadelphia said prosecutors could agree to a life sentence for Abu-Jamal or try again to sentence him to death. High court to decide double jeopardy question WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will decide whether a jury forewoman's offhand comment that the jury was unable to make a decision on a murder charge means the suspect can't be retried on that charge. The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal from Alex Blueford, whose murder trial in Arkansas ended in a hung jury. The jury forewoman told the judge before he declared a mistrial that the jury had voted unanimously against capital murder and first-degree murder. The jury had deadlocked on a lesser charge, manslaughter, which caused the judge to declare a mistrial. Blueford argued the forewoman's statement, said in open court, meant that he has been acquitted of capital murder and first-degree murder. Prosecutors decided to retry Blueford on all three charges. He contended he could not be retried on capital murder and first-degree murder because of Fifth Amendment double jeopardy protections. Arkansas courts have disagreed. The high court will now review that decision. Blueford was on trial for killing his girlfriend's 20-month-old son. The case is 10-1320, Blueford v. Arkansas. Published: Thu, Oct 13, 2011