Twitter wants deal closed before trial date
Musk’s attorneys formally ask a judge to stay the trial, which is set to start Oct. 17. The Musk team say a close would be possible on or around Oct. 28. However, Twitter says Musk must close the deal before proceedings start on the 17th. Twitter;
At a minimum…Defendants should be arranging to close on Monday, October 10. But they aren’t. Instead, they refuse to commit to any closing date. They ask for an open ended out, at the expense of Twitter’s stockholders (who are owed $44 billion plus interest), all the while remaining free to change their minds again or to invent new grounds to avoid the contract. Until Defendants commit to close as required, Twitter is entitled to its day in Court….Defendants can and should close next week. Until they do, this action is not moot [as Musk’s motion insisted] and should be brought to trial.
Musk’s lawyers:
Twitter will not take yes for an answer. Astonishingly, they have insisted on proceeding with this litigation, recklessly putting the deal at risk and gambling with their stockholders’ interests.
Mayweather asks for installment plan over 2015 unpaid taxes
Mayweather petitions the U.S. Tax Court for an installment agreement to pay taxes from 2015, citing his fight with Conor McGregor as a “significant liquidity event” from which he intends to pay the remaining balance. Mayweather argues he’s too illiquid to immediately pay the taxes while the IRS has said that some of his assets could be converted into cash or that Mayweather could take out a loan to pay what he owes. Mayweather reportedly earned $220-230 million for defeating Manny Pacquiao in 2015. After he fights McGregor, Mayweather will have to pay taxes on a possible $400 million in earnings as well as cover his past IRS debts.
Files appeal, stays out of prison
Keys’ lawyers file an emergency motion with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (source), allowing Keys to stay out of prison. The request is filed just hours after the federal judge who presided over Keys’ trial and sentencing, US District Judge Mueller denied a similar motion for release pending appeal. Keys’ defense attorney says that because the defacement that occurred at the Times was ultimately corrected from a backup, no damage was actually inflicted.
The damage minimum is a jurisdictional requirement of a CFAA charge. Without damage, there can be no conviction. Courts across the country have denied damage findings even in more extreme cases where files were deleted but recoverable.
An automatic stay has issued in the @MatthewKeysLive case. He will not be reporting to prison today.
— Jay Leiderman (@JayLeidermanLaw) June 15, 2016
Lawyers want no prison time
Keys’ defense lawyers file a 69-page sentencing memorandum, asking the court to impose no prison time at all or go with a “non-custodial sentence.” The filing goes to great lengths to illustrate Keys lengthy history in journalism, going way back to his elementary school days when he edited the school bulletin.
In recent years, Matthew’s sacrifices have paid off in the form of impactful journalism that has received national attention. His stories have encouraged discourse, influenced policy and won the attention and accolades from his peers in the industry, public interest groups and even law enforcement officials…[Keys] faces a far more severe sentence than any member of Lulzsec served. 60 months, which the Government seeks, would be more than any person engaged in hacking crimes during this period—by about double!
Prosecutors seek five years
In a 12-page sentencing briefing, Federal prosecutors ask a judge to impose a sentence of five years against Keys. Prosecutors say:
[Keys’ attack was ] an online version of urging a mob to smash the presses for publishing an unpopular story. [He employed] means that challenge core values of American democracy.
Wants charges dropped based on 2005 deposition immunity
Lawyers for Cosby attempt to have aggravated indecent assault charges against the actor thrown out on the grounds that his 2005 videotaped deposition, in which he admits to drugging Constand, was made under the promise from prosecutors that he would be granted immunity from prosecution. Prosecutors in the current criminal case contend that there is no evidence of a signed immunity agreement, and that the case against Cosby should continue.
Protests sentencing recommendations
Keys lawyers say that that the pre-sentencing guidelines presented to the court by a probation officer miscalculated the losses to the Times as a result of the Anonymous hack, resulting in an overly harsh potential sentence. Their argument notes that revenge porn pioneer Hunter Moore received only 2.5 years for “far worse and far more harmful behavior” than Keys’. The lawyers also say that the sentencing guidelines have little to do with the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. He was not charged, nor was he convicted of, unauthorized access to a computer and obtaining information, but actually charged with ‘“know[ing].. transmission of a program, information, code, or command, [the result of which] intentionally causes damage without authorization to a protected computer.”
Imposing a sentence of over seven years and roughly $250,000 in speculative restitution is a draconian sentence for a minor occurrence that could have been more appropriately handled by a civil lawsuit instead of three federal felony criminal convictions.
Abandons appeal
0 0 Mark Devlin Mark Devlin2015-09-24 01:57:392015-09-24 01:57:39Abandons appealColumbia asks for case dismissal
Columbia University asks for Nungesser’s case to be dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
Crediting an undergraduate student’s thesis on the issue of sexual assault on college campuses is a decision at the heart of academic freedom. [Courts should not] second guess the kinds of decisions made by professors and administrators at Columbia in applying disciplinary and academic policies.
The school says it asked Sulkowicz not to take her mattress to the graduation, but there wasn’t much it could do when she showed up with one anyway.
Taking action against Ms. Sulkowicz by literally grabbing the mattress out of her hands would have disrupted the ceremony for all the graduating students and their families and could have been dangerous given the space limitations and the size of the crowd.
Nungesser’s lawyers:
In this instance, the disciplinary system worked correctly at Columbia. That still was not enough to save an innocent person from the wave of public sentiment regarding assaults on campus. Paul Nungesser quickly became a convenient scapegoat, a whipping boy, and Columbia not only stood idly by, but often participated in the attacks on Paul Nungesser. There is no amount of legal theory that can save Columbia from that reality.
Prosecutors accused of hiding evidence
Defense attorneys for six Baltimore police officers file a motion alleging that investigators for the Baltimore Police Department had information that Gray had a history of intentionally injuring himself in order to collect insurance money. The attorneys allege that police investigators knew that Gray once injured himself so severely while in a Baltimore jail that he required medical attention. The attorneys say in documents that when police investigators tried to follow up on the evidence, prosecutors in the state’s attorney’s office told them “not to do the defense attorneys’ jobs for them.”
The motion also says that high-ranking members of the state’s attorney’s office met with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner a week before Gray’s autopsy was complete and his death ruled a homicide. In addition, attorneys say the prosecutors didn’t provide the medical examiner’s office with a copy of the statement of Donta Allen, the man who had been inside the police van where Gray suffered his injury. Investigators initially said Allen told them that Gray had been making banging noises in the back of the van. But Allen later told the media that police had exaggerated his account.
Evidence request
Roof’s lawyers file motions in federal court seeking access to any statements their client has made to authorities, as well as physical evidence and summaries of any proposed expert witnesses expected to testify.
Defendants want Mosby removed
Attorneys for the police officers file a motion to dismiss the case or assign it to someone other than the city’s top prosecutor, who they say has too many conflicts of interest to remain objective. At a minimum, the request State’s Attorney Mosby should be replaced with an independent prosecutor, saying her prosecution has been “overzealous” and “politically motivated.”
The motion for her dismissal argues that part of the reason she acted so swiftly was to quash riots in West Baltimore, where Mosby’s husband is a city councilman. A separate motion argues that her rapid decision could be at odds with a law that requires a thorough investigation prior to filing charges.
The need to quell the raging inferno of human rage and revulsion within the confines of the 7th District was emergent. These officers soon found themselves offered up to the masses by Mrs. Mosby to quell the uprising that caused most harm to the district where her husband is the City Council representative.
Judge issues stay order
McAfee’s lawyer brings a judge to the jail who issues a stay order until a higher judge can review the case. According to McAfee, this effectively stops immigration from returning him to the Belize border.
Seeks asylum in Guatemala
McAfee hires Guerra, the former attorney general of Guatemala, as his lawyer, after they meet at a Guatemala City hotel on Tuesday. McAfee’s arrival in Guatemala comes after days of confusion and secrecy about his whereabouts. Guerra:
I have to manage his political asylum.
Refuses to defend gay law
Walker asks a judge to allow the state to stop defending a lawsuit brought by Wisconsin Family Action against a 2009 law that allows same-sex couples to form domestic partnerships so they may have some of the rights of married couples. Wisconsin Family action asserts that the 2009 law violates a 2006 amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage or any similar arrangement. Walker’s chief counsel:
Governor Walker, in deference to the legal opinion of the attorney general that the domestic partner registry…is unconstitutional, does not believe the public interest requires a continued defense of this law.