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Georgia delays execution of inmate for 1 day

July 21, 2011

JACKSON, Georgia (AP) — Georgia prison officials on Wednesday delayed the execution of a death row inmate who would have been the subject of the nation’s first videotaped execution in nearly two decades.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the state corrections department rescheduled the execution of Andrew Grant DeYoung for Thursday at 7 p.m. Attorney General Sam Olens would not say why it had been postponed.

The move came less than an hour after the U.S. Supreme Court had denied DeYoung’s bid to halt the execution.

The Georgia Supreme Court earlier upheld a request by another death row inmate to videotape DeYoung’s execution as part of his challenge to the state’s execution procedure.

Experts say it would be the first known recording of an execution since 1992. In that California case, the state’s method of execution using lethal gas was being challenged. The tape was later destroyed.

Article: USA TODAY

Kim Kardashian sues Old Navy over lookalike in ads

LOS ANGELES — Kim Kardashian wants Old Navy to stop using a lookalike to advertise its clothing.

The reality show starlet and model on Wednesday sued the clothing store and its parent company, Gap, in a Los Angeles federal court alleging their ads violated her publicity rights with ads that feature a woman who looks like her.

A video of a broadcast ad featuring a smiling, dark-haired woman who bears a resemblance to the real Kardashian has been viewed more than 2 million times on Old Navy’s YouTube channel.

Kardashian’s lawsuit says consumers may be confused by the ads and the model’s actual endorsements, which include her own clothing store and shoe line. A commercial, titled, “Super C-U-T-E,” began airing in February and Old Navy is still using some of the promotions, the lawsuit states.

Article: USA TODAY

U.S. police deaths up 14% so far in 2011, report says

(CNN) — Law enforcement fatality figures nationwide have climbed during the first half of 2011, according to a preliminary report from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

Ninety-eight officers were killed in the line of duty in the first six months of this year, the organization said in a news release Wednesday. The number represents a 14% spike in officer fatalities compared to the same time frame in 2010.

Steve Groeniger, senior director of communications for the fund, said the spike was significant given that 2010 was a particularly hard year for officers.

“The real takeaway for us here is that in addition to fatalities across the board being up 14% … what really rises to the top is gunfire fatalities,” Groeniger said.

Article: CNN

Strauss-Kahn won’t strike plea deal in sex crimes case

New York (CNN) — French financier Dominique Strauss-Kahn will not accept any plea bargain and “won’t plead guilty to anything” in the sex crimes case against him, one of his attorneys told CNN on Thursday.

Attorney William Taylor made the remarks a day after Strauss-Kahn’s legal team met with prosecutors in the case for nearly two hours. It’s not known if any plea deal was offered. The meeting came about a week after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. acknowledged that there are questions about the credibility of Strauss-Kahn’s accuser.

The 62-year-old former chief of the International Monetary Fund is charged with sexual abuse and attempted rape of a hotel maid in May.

While Wednesday’s meeting with prosecutors was “constructive,” Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys said, prosecutors maintained that they are not ready to drop the charges.

Article: CNN

Lawyers for Michael Jackson’s doctor worry about Nancy Grace

Los Angeles (CNN) — Defense lawyers in the trial of Michael Jackson’s doctor want to shield jurors from commentary by Nancy Grace, the former prosecutor who now hosts a daily show on the HLN network.

Daily commentary by Grace and others during the Casey Anthony trial this summer was “like a final argument by the prosecution,” Dr. Conrad Murray’s lawyer, Michael Flanagan, said Wednesday.

While the defense has not decided whether to ask that the jury in the Murray trial be sequestered, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor hinted at a hearing Wednesday he does not think it would be necessary.

Flanagan predicted media coverage of the trial of Murray, charged with involuntary manslaughter in Jackson’s death, will be bigger than the wall-to-wall coverage of the Anthony case that just ended in Florida.
Article: CNN