Latest Courts News
LeBron’s off-court legacy complements his basketball success
Mya Smiley is a student at the University of Akron thanks to an assist from LeBron James, and she is determined upon graduation to become a social worker that helps foster kids. Her education and career path would not have been possible, the sophomore says, were it not for a...
Lawmaker: Power struggle is 'decapitation' of Black-run city
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Black lawmakers in Mississippi are denouncing efforts by the majority-white and Republican-led state Legislature to grab power from the majority-Black and Democratic-led capital city of Jackson. “The actions being taken by our legislative leadership amount...
Major schools ruling in Pa. can't guarantee more funding
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is the latest state where the public school funding system was found to be unconstitutional, but the experience in other states suggests there's no guarantee of swift, significant or longstanding change for the poorer school districts that sued in hopes of...
Man who fatally shot 3 Texas teens in 1998 faces execution
HOUSTON (AP) — An inmate convicted of killing three teenagers while they slept in a Texas Panhandle home more than 25 years ago faces execution Wednesday amid allegations that his trial was marred by racial bias. It had been unclear whether John Balentine’s execution, scheduled...
1st Black woman elected to NC Superior Court seat dies at 71
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Retired Mecklenburg County Judge Shirley Fulton, who made history as the first Black woman elected to a Superior Court seat in North Carolina, died on Wednesday at age 71. Fulton died at a Charlotte rehabilitation center from complications related to gall...
Former college student pleads guilty to deadly sword attack
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A former University of Connecticut student pleaded guilty to murder and other charges Wednesday for killing a man and severely wounding another with a sword in 2020 — one of two deadly attacks that led to a six-day manhunt in several states that ended with his capture in...
Jury may not hear cops' admissions in Tyre Nichols’ beating
It was a stunning revelation: One of the officers involved in the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols took a cellphone photo of the bloodied and handcuffed man and shared it with five other people. The disclosure was part of the Memphis Police Department's request to the state that the...
Prosecutor: Chasing Horse 'grooming' girls to replace wives
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Nevada prosecutors told a judge Wednesday that a former “Dances With Wolves" actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls for decades should remain in custody because he was “grooming young children” to replace his older wives when he was...
South Carolina becomes only state with all-male high court
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina on Wednesday became the nation's only state without a woman on its Supreme Court — a development that comes amid increasing Republican scrutiny of the court that narrowly struck down the conservative state's abortion ban last month. The...
Paralegal angry by Alex Murdaugh theft, knew he loved family
Alex Murdaugh's paralegal testified Wednesday at his double murder trial about the betrayal she felt when she discovered he lied and manipulated to steal millions of dollars from clients. But Annette Griswold also told jurors Murdaugh was a dedicated family man so distraught after...
