Latest news with #StateCourt
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
R&B singer Jaheim charged with animal cruelty in Fulton County
The Brief R&B singer Jaheim was arrested in Fulton County earlier this month on six counts of animal cruelty. Court documents accuse the singer of failing to provide adequate food, water, sanitary conditions, and ventilation for six dogs. The Grammy-nominated singer was arrested on similar charges at his home in New Jersey in 2021. FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Grammy-nominated R&B singer Jaheim is facing animal cruelty charges after he was arrested earlier this month in Fulton County. The singer, known for his hits like "Just in Case" and "Anything" is accused of failing to provide adequate food, water, sanitary conditions, and ventilation for six dogs. What we know Court documents obtained by FOX 5 show that Jaheim Hoagland was arrested on May 1 and charged with six counts of animal cruelty. The documents identify the dogs as Tweet, Tip, Taka, Tink, Timber, and Tanger - four pit bull terriers, a French bulldog, and a mixed-breed hound. Hoagland was released from custody a day after his arrest. Dig deeper This is not the first time the singer has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty. According to Complex, Hoagland was taken into custody at his home in New Jersey in 2021 after authorities found over a dozen dogs allegedly living in unsafe and unsanitary conditions. At least one dog has to be euthanized, officials say. What's next Hoagland is due in court on June 2 for the charges in Fulton County. The Source Information for this story was taken from documents from the State Court of Fulton County obtained by FOX 5 and a report from Complex.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bosnia issues international arrest warrant for Serb leader Dodik
Bosnia issued an international arrest warrant Thursday for Milorad Dodik, the leader of the deeply divided country's Serb statelet who is accused of flouting the constitution. Dodik, who for years has led a campaign chipping away at the Balkan country's weak central institutions, denounced the warrant as an "abuse of the justice system for political ends" while on a visit to Israel. A similar arrest warrant was issued for the speaker of the Serb entity Republika Srpska's (RS) assembly, Nenad Stevandic, who returned to Bosnia and Herzegovina on March 18 after a visit to Serbia. Since the end of the 1992-1995 war, Bosnia has been split into two semi-autonomous halves -- the Republika Srpska and a Muslim-Croat federation. Both have their own governments and parliaments and share weak central institutions. The prosecutor's office said warrants were issued for Dodik and Stevandic for "using their high-ranking positions in the Republika Srpska entity" to go abroad "while evading legally prescribed border control procedures". After travelling to Israel on Tuesday to attend an international conference on combating anti-Semitism attended by European far-right figures, Dodik said he was "relaxed" about the warrant. "Nothing surprising. The abuse of the justice system for political ends continues," he said from Jerusalem on Wednesday, alleging that the purpose of the warrant was "to isolate me". Without giving details on his coming schedule, Dodik hinted that he had "some very important activities" planned in the coming days. The RS leader, who is an ally of the Kremlin, had postponed a trip to Moscow last week. "We will do all that and return to the RS in a calm manner next week," Dodik said. - 'Grounds for action' - Dodik has threatened to secede the Serb entity from Bosnia and barred central police and judicial officials from working there -- an order that was suspended by the constitutional court. Dodik, Stevandic and RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic are accused of attacking the constitutional order, and an arrest warrant was issued within Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik and Stevandic then defied this by travelling abroad. "All of this suggests that both individuals could be abroad at any given moment, which provides grounds for action," the State Court said in a statement, adding that it had issued an international arrest order and the matter was now in Interpol's hands. Stevandic was seen in the Serbian capital Belgrade on March 15. Tensions have soared in Bosnia since Dodik was sentenced last month to a year in prison and handed a six-year ban from public office for defying Christian Schmidt, the international envoy charged with overseeing the peace deal that ended Bosnia's inter-ethnic war in the 1990s. Bosnia's divided politics and fragile post-war institutions have faced increasing uncertainty amid the unfolding political crisis. rus-oz/sbk/js
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Yahoo
‘Made a huge impact.' Retired Muscogee County Superior Court Judge John Allen dies
Judge John Allen, who grew up in a Columbus public housing complex, became a decorated U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and presided in State Court and Superior Court in Muscogee County for a combined 26 years, has died. The Muscogee County Sheriff's Office announced his death in a news release. 'On behalf of the Allen family, we were requested to announce with a heavy heart that Senior Superior Court Judge John Allen has transitioned from labor to reward,' Sheriff Greg Countryman and Superior Court Judge Ben Richardson said in the release. 'The Hon. Judge John Allen made a huge impact in the lives of so many in our city, state and nation. We ask for your continued prayers during the family's time of bereavement.' Allen's cause of death, his obituary and funeral arrangements weren't available before publication. After retiring from the court as its chief Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit judge in 2013, Allen was inducted into the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame in 2020. Superior Court Judge Bobby Peters, the mayor of Columbus from 1995-2002, wrote on his Facebook page that Allen was 82 when he died Sunday at his home. Allen and Peters formed the first integrated law firm in Columbus during the 1970s. Peters described Allen as a 'highly respected civic leader.' 'John was a gift from God to our community,' Peters wrote. 'A dear friend that left an indelible mark on our judicial circuit & me personally.' According to his GMVHOF bio, Allen was a distinguished military graduate from Tuskegee University (1966). He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force and accepted into flight school. After earning his wings, he served two tours in Southeast Asia. He flew an F-4D Phantom, an interceptor and ground attack aircraft. He completed 284 combat missions over hostile enemy zones. He destroyed 'some of the most highly defended vital enemy support holdings, thus seriously deterring further threats to the region,' his GMVHOF induction citation says. Allen was awarded six Distinguished Flying Crosses and 23 Air Medals. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a captain in 1973 to attend law school at the University of Florida. After earning his law degree, Allen returned to Columbus in 1976 to begin his law practice. He was a judge in Recorder's Court before State Court and Superior Court. 'He should be lauded for his early contributions to the civil rights movement as well as subsequent service in Columbus community organizations, membership and chair of several judiciary committees and as a recipient of several judicial awards by the State Bar of Georgia and others,' the GMVHOF said in the news release announcing his induction. Allen served as the city attorney for Geneva, Georgia, according to his bio on the Black history website The Institute for Continuing Judicial Education of Georgia selected Allen as a mentor for newly appointed or elected judges. The Georgia Supreme Court selected him to work on the Court Futures Vanguard, drafting proposals to improved the state's courts for the future. Allen's community service included membership on the Columbus Airport Commission, the Columbus High School Vocational Education Advisory Board, the Urban League Board of Directors, the Area Ten Special Olympics Advisory Board and the African American Historic Preservation Society. In 2012, Allen resigned as chairman of the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission, which investigates and prosecutes judicial misconduct, and became the first Black president of the Rotary Club of Columbus. One year later, just before he retired from the bench, Allen wrote to then-Gov. Nathan Deal and urged him to consider race and gender when appointing his successor. Allen was the only Black judge along with five white males in the six-county Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit's Superior Court. If the governor follows his pattern in recent judicial appointments, Allen's memo stated, he would create 'an all-white male superior court bench.' That 'would be egregiously unrepresentative of the population served,' Allen wrote, according to the September 2013 report by the American Bar Association Journal. In December 2013, Deal ended up appointing a white male, Judge Ron Mullins, to replace Allen and a white female, Judge Maureen Gottfried, to fill the circuit's seventh judgeship, created by the Georgia Legislature. Now, the circuit's seven Superior Court judges comprise four white males, two white females and one Black male — Richardson, who was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022, when Judge Ben Land was promoted to the Georgia Court of Appeals. Allen graduated from Spencer High School in 1961. The school summarized Allen's service to his country and community this way in its Facebook post: 'Judge John Allen marched in Selma, dropped over 1.5 million pounds of bombs from his F4 Phantom over North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and served Columbus as a Superior Court Judge. In the tumultuous 1960s, this nation focused on two battlegrounds at once — civil rights agitation and the Vietnam War. John Allen found himself on the front lines of both. In 1965, he was among the Montgomery crowd who took part in the famous march from Selma for the cause of voting rights. 'Life handed Allen's age group the opportunity to become social pioneers, for they were to be the first group of African American youth to break out of a segregated world and become successful in the white mainstream.' Josh McKoon, the Georgia Republican Party chairman who represented the Columbus area in the state Senate (2011-19), said Allen broke barriers. In his tribute to Allen, McKoon wrote on X, 'He was one of the best judges I ever had the privilege to try cases in front of during my time as a trial attorney. Off the bench, he was gracious and kind. He always asked about my family members and took the time to give me valuable feedback as a young lawyer. . . . Columbus and the State of Georgia will never be the same.'
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
With stenographers in short supply, SD lawmakers advance bill letting judges opt for recordings
South Dakota State Court Administrator Greg Sattizahn speaks to the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 16, 2024. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight) A shortage of stenographers in South Dakota helped spur unanimous support in a legislative committee for a bill that would allow judges to decide if a stenographer is necessary in lower-level court hearings. Stenographers, also called court reporters, are people who transcribe everything said in a court proceeding, using stenographic machines with specialized keyboards. Current law allows the parties involved in misdemeanor criminal or civil cases to demand a stenographer to cover hearings in person. Chief justice says SD would benefit from expanding its new criminal public defense office That's not usually necessary, though, State Court Administrator Greg Sattizahn told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday at the Capitol in Pierre. An audio recording can be used after the hearing to create an official written transcript if necessary, Sattizahn said, and that's become the most common method for creating official records in South Dakota. The technology has been a boon for the state in the face of a steady loss of trained court reporters in recent years, Sattizahn said. The Unified Judicial System has eight open stenography positions at the moment. 'As those positions come open, we've in many cases converted them to court recorders,' Sattizahn said, referring to the audio recording systems used to create transcribable audio records of hearings. There are 41 court reporters on staff for the state courts at the moment. There are 11 court recorder systems available. The slim stenography labor pool can create a scheduling burden for felony cases, Sattizahn said — one that can be exacerbated when parties to lower-level cases opt to exercise their right to demand a stenographer. House Bill 1011 would put the decision on whether a human court reporter is needed in the hands of a case's presiding judge. No one testified against the bill, which was presented on behalf of the state court systems at the request of South Dakota Supreme Court Justice Steven Jensen. The committee backed the bill 7-0, sending it to the Senate, where final passage would send the bill to the governor's desk. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
