Month: November 2011

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Law & Order

Opinion: Ethics board members can only serve one four-year term

November 29, 2011 Express Telegraph
ATLANTA — A member of the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission “may serve no more than one complete four year term of office,” the state attorney general’s office state said in a recent opinion. However, Deputy Attorney General Dennis R. Dunn said, a member of the board — formerly known as the State Ethics Commission — “may for a period of less than a complete term hold over in office until his successor
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Law & Order

Inmates use cell phones ‘to commit additional crimes’

November 24, 2011 Express Telegraph
ATLANTA — The state Department of Corrections is investigating a Monday incident at Telfair State Prison in Helena in which Inmates used smuggled cell phones to start a fight. Three inmates were sent to the hospital, and two remain in stable condition. A corrections officer was also hurt. Two dorms at the prison were placed on lock down. But, state officials say smuggled cell phones cause problems. Inmates, authorities say, can use the phones to
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UPDATE: Court upholds death penalty for man claiming mental retardation

November 23, 2011 Express Telegraph
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court this week upheld the death penalty for a man who now claims he is mentally retarded. Warren Lee Hill Jr. did not claim mental retardation during his 1991 trial. However, in 1996, Lee added to a “habeas petition to allege mental retardation for the first time, and he later claimed that Georgia’s reasonable doubt standard of proof (state law) violated the Eighth Amendment,” according to an opinion from the 11th
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Law & Order

Court upholds death penalty for man claiming mental retardation

November 23, 2011 Express Telegraph
ATLANTA — A federal appeals court this week upheld the death penalty for a man who now claims he is mentally retarded. Warren Lee Hill Jr. did not claim mental retardation during his 1991 trial. However, in 1996, Lee added to a “habeas petition to allege mental retardation for the first time, and he later claimed that Georgia’s reasonable doubt standard of proof (state law) violated the Eighth Amendment,” according to an opinion from the 11th