cases

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a life term in prison without parole for a defendant who was 15 when he fatally stabbed his grandfather in Mississippi, ruling that a sentencing judge need not decide that the young person was “permanently incorrigible.”

The 6-3 decision retreats somewhat from a pair of earlier rulings, which said that such life sentences for minors convicted of murder should be extremely rare and limited to cases in which there was no reason to hope the young person could be rehabilitated.

California and 24 other states have abolished life terms with no hope for parole for offenders under 18. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor said such prison terms remain shockingly common in parts of the Deep South, particularly for young people of color.

As of last year, “Louisiana had imposed LWOP [Life Without Parole] on an astonishing 57% of eligible juvenile offenders” since 2012, when the court called for restricting such sentences, she said. In 2016, the court gave these inmates a chance to seek a new sentence with possible parole, but the Mississippi courts have rejected one-fourth of such appeals, she said.

“The harm of from these sentences will not fall equally,” Sotomayor added. “The racial disparities in juvenile LWOP sentencing are stark: 70% of all youth sentenced to LWOP are children of color,” she said, citing a study from the Juvenile Law Center.

Five years ago, the court gave new hope to the more than 2,000 inmates who had been sentenced to life terms for crimes they committed as minors. The justices said they had a right to seek a new sentencing hearing and possible parole in the future. But the court’s opinion did not say precisely what judges must consider in deciding such cases.

At issue Thursday was whether the defendant’s life term with no parole should be set aside unless the judges concluded he was “incorrigible” and could not be rehabilitated.

The justices divided along ideological lines, with the six conservatives in the majority and the three liberals in dissent.

Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, speaking for the court in Jones vs. Mississippi, said judges are required to weigh the defendant’s age as a mitigating factor before imposing a punishment for a homicide. “The court’s decision today carefully follows” the earlier rulings, which did not prohibit such life terms, he said. Kavanaugh added that the sentencing decision remains in the hands of the judge who heard the case, and the judge need not go further and decide the defendant was beyond redemption.

“Today the court guts” its earlier rulings restricting such life terms, Sotomayor said in a sharp dissent for three liberals. She noted that one of the decisions held that “a lifetime in prison is a disproportionate sentence for all but the rarest children, those whose crimes reflect ‘irreparable corruption.’”

The outcome reflects the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Kennedy had repeatedly spoken out against harsh punishments for juvenile offenders, and he wrote the court’s ruling that ended capital punishment for them, as well as those that limited the circumstances for imposing life prison terms on those under 18.

Sotomayor said Thursday’s ruling means that even if a “juvenile’s crime reflects ‘unfortunate yet transient immaturity’, he can be sentenced to die in prison,” quoting a passage from Kennedy’s earlier opinion. Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Elena Kagan joined the dissent.

The case before the court began in 2004 when Brett Jones, age 15, was living with his grandparents Bertis and Madge in a small town in northern Mississippi. He and his grandfather exchanged angry words when it was learned that Jones’ girlfriend was in a bedroom upstairs. The two later fought in the kitchen, and the teenager stabbed his grandfather and fled.

He was convicted of the murder and at the time, state law mandated a sentence of life in prison without parole.

The Supreme Court overturned such mandatory sentences in 2012 and ruled in 2016 inmates may seek a new and lesser sentence. But a judge decided the life term was the proper sentence for Jones, and that decision was upheld by the state courts.

In upholding the sentence, Kavanaugh said such sentencing decisions should remain in the hands of judges who can weigh all the facts. Moreover, “our holding today does not preclude the states from imposing additional sentencing limits in cases involving defendants under 18 convicted of murder,” he said. “States may categorically prohibit life without parole for all offenders under 18. Or states may require sentencers to make extra factual findings before sentencing an offender under 18 to life without parole.”

VAN NUYS — It was a showdown between quake-weary homeowners and the insurance companies they are still battling six months later.

More than 300 people turned out for the confrontation Wednesday night, filling an auditorium at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys for a hearing presided over by state Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the Senate insurance committee and the Democratic nominee for insurance commissioner in the November election.

Besides disgruntled victims of the Northridge quake, the speakers included representatives of State Farm, the state’s largest carrier with 20% of the homeowners market, and No. 3 Farmers Insurance Group.

Nettie Hoge, head of consumer services for the California Department of Insurance, also participated in the often heated town hall meeting that Torres conducted as an official hearing of the insurance committee.

Hoge told the crowd that state Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi had persuaded Woodland Hills-based 20th Century Insurance Co. to restore homeowners coverage to about 14 of its customers whose policies the company recently canceled.

20th Century received so many quake claims that the state insurance department granted the company special permission to get out of the homeowners coverage business. One of the conditions, however, was that the company offer its customers two more annual renewals. Some of its policyholders have complained recently that the company was seizing on technical excuses to refuse immediately to renew their policies.

Many people in the audience brandished signs such as “Boycott 20th Century” and “20th Century, What Did You Do With Our Premiums?”

Torres said 20th Century was invited to send a speaker to the meeting, but declined. However, when Torres asked if anyone from 20th Century was in the audience, two people raised their hands. Rick Dinon, a senior vice president, said the executives were there because they hoped to “correct some misinterpretations of the company’s actions, motives and finances.”

“It hurts,” Dinon said of the homemade signs criticizing the company. “We hope we have the respect of our customers and we most assuredly respect them.

“It hurts a lot to be placed in an adversarial relationship with our customers. It is disappointing we can’t continue to offer them the kind of protection we have in the past.”

When an earthquake hits, “much of the suffering is from the reprehensible conduct of the insurance industry adjusting the earthquake loss,” said George Kehrer, executive director of Community Assistance Recovery, or CARE, a Northridge-based consumer group he said represents more than 5,000 property owners.

“Adjusters swarm into the state like killer bees,” Kehrer said, drawing a standing ovation.

Torres told the group that many of the complaints he has received have come from people who fear their company will abandon them. But he noted that Garamendi is proposing a statewide insurance industry pool as well as supporting proposals for national disaster insurance.

“It’s hard to be patient,” he said. “People in northern California are still dealing with insurance companies from the Loma Prieta quake” in October, 1989.

Bill Gausewitz, of Farmer’s Insurance, said his company had resolved 27,241 quake-related claims, about 90% of those it had received. Of those, 7,877 were dismissed without payment and the others received compensation, he said.

Torres asked Gausewitz if Farmers had received complaints that it refused to pay the true cost of earthquake repairs.

“Not that I know of,” Gausewitz replied, drawing hoots and jeers from the audience.

Hoge said the insurance department has received complaints of low payments by virtually all insurance companies hit by Northridge quake claims.

Torres, whose committee is wrestling with many quake-caused problems, including a growing homeowners coverage crisis, said he arranged the meeting to give angry quake victims a chance to air their grievances.

Disillusioned policyholders have inundated his Los Angeles and Sacramento offices with complaints, he said, ranging from switching adjusters in the middle of the claims process to “low-ball” offers to settle to delays receiving payoff checks. Some accused their insurance carriers of breaking promises or lying to avoid paying claims.

March 19 (UPI) — The number of cases of meningitis in Kent has risen to 27, the United Kingdom Health Security Agency reported.

There are 15 confirmed cases, and 12 suspected cases, meaning health professionals suspect the illness based on symptoms.

Two people have died since the outbreak began: One high school student and a college student at the University of Kent.

“What is particularly remarkable about this case, and unexpected about this case, is the large number of cases all originating from what seems to be a single event,” Robin May, chief scientific officer at the UKHSA, told The Guardian.

Officials believe some students picked up the disease at Club Chemistry, a nightclub in Canterbury.

“There are two possible reasons for that,” May said. “One is that there might be something about the kind of behaviors that individual people are doing. The other possibility is the bacteria itself may have evolved to be better at transmitting.”

Students at the university are being given preventive antibiotics and vaccines effective against the strain of meningitis B. Officials have given 600 vaccines and 6,500 doses of antibiotics.

Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent confirmed that a student had meningitis, and four schools have seen confirmed cases.

The UKHSA said there was one student with meningitis at a college in London whose case was linked to the Kent outbreak.

Meningitis is an infection of the protective lining of the brain and spinal cord. It can be caused by bacteria or viruses. Meningitis B is caused by the Neisseria meningitidis bacteria, which is also called meningococcus.

Doctors in England were told on Wednesday to prescribe antibiotics to anyone who was at Club Chemistry between March 5 and 7 and to University of Kent students who had left the campus.

“Two doses of the MenB vaccine helps protect individuals against meningococcal B disease,” but not other strains of meningitis, said Trish Mannes, UKHSA regional deputy director for the south east, in a statement. “It is therefore still hugely important that people are aware of the signs and symptoms of invasive meningococcal disease and that they seek immediate medical attention if they or anyone they know develops these signs and symptoms.”

The UKHSA said the National Health Service was well stocked with vaccines after pharmacies reported they were struggling to get them.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the BBC there is no reason for people to buy it privately.

“We make it available through the NHS to those groups at risk based on independent scientific advice,” he said.

“In recent days, here in Canterbury we’ve made it more widely available than we normally would to targeted groups of students, club-goers, sixth-formers [older teens] where we think there is a higher risk. We’re doing this as a precaution.”

March 19 (UPI) — Actor Kevin Spacey settled out of court in England with three men who sued him, accusing him of sexual assault.

The cases were set for trial in the High Court this year.

The men alleged that between 2000 and 2013 Spacey, 66, assaulted them, but Spacey denies any wrongdoing.

In 2023, he was found not guilty of nine criminal sexual assault charges. Two of the accusers in the criminal trial filed the civil cases.

One accuser, known as LNP, alleged that Spacey “deliberately assaulted” him 12 times between 2000 and 2005. Another, known as GHI, said he “suffered psychiatric damage and financial loss” from an assault in 2008.

Actor Ruari Cannon, who has waived his right to anonymity, said that when he was in the Tennessee Williams play Sweet Bird of Youth at the Old Vic Theater in 2013, Spacey groped him at a party. Spacey was the artistic director at the theater at the time.

Cannon also settled with the Old Vic in a civil suit two weeks ago.

Cannon was on a BBC Channel 4 documentary, Spacey Unmasked, in 2024. Spacey called the allegation “ridiculous and it never happened.”

Spacey has been trying to win back his career, Deadline reported. Last year he said he has no home and was living out of hotels and Airbnbs and working as a lounge singer in Cyprus. He claims his struggles are like the actors who were blacklisted during McCarthyism, Deadline said.

Spacey also won a civil case in the United States in which actor Anthony Rapp said Spacey sexually assaulted him when he was 14.

March 6 (UPI) — Former Justice Department official Lindsey Halligan is under investigation by the Florida Bar Association for her time trying to prosecute President Donald Trump‘s enemies while acting as a U.S. attorney.

Halligan, Trump’s former personal attorney, brought cases against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, both of which failed. On Nov. 24, U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie in South Carolina dismissed both cases and ruled that Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s installation of Halligan as interim U.S. attorney was invalid. But Halligan continued to work as a U.S. attorney in the Justice Department.

In January, Halligan stepped down from the position after a U.S. District Judge David Novak ordered her to stop “masquerading as a U.S. attorney in Virginia.

The Florida bar, of which Halligan is a member, sent a letter to the nonprofit Campaign for Accountability acknowledging the investigation.

The Campaign for Accountability had requested disciplinary proceedings against Halligan over her conduct while acting as a U.S. attorney in the cases against Comey and James. It sent a similar request to the Virginia bar about Halligan, who worked as an insurance lawyer in Florida before Trump’s second administration.

“We already have an investigation pending,” the Florida bar said in its letter, which was also sent to Halligan, according to a copy reviewed by The Washington Post.

If the Florida bar determines that she acted improperly, she could be disbarred in the state.

The Department of Justice on Wednesday proposed a change to federal regulations for state bar investigations of its attorneys. The proposal was posted to the Federal Register and said, “Before a current or former Department lawyer may participate in any investigative steps initiated by the bar disciplinary authority … in response to allegations that a current or former Department attorney violated an ethics rule while engaging in that attorney’s federal duties, the Department will have the right to review the allegations in the first instance and shall request that the bar disciplinary authority suspend any parallel investigations until the completion of the Department’s review.”

The rule change is necessary because “over the past several years, political activists have weaponized the bar complaint and investigation process,” the memo said.

Halligan, who had no previous trial experience, was appointed to replace Erik Siebert, who resigned the position in September amid concerns he would be forced out for failing to prosecute James.

Interim U.S. attorneys can only stay in their positions for 120 days, and Siebert had already exceeded his time without confirmation.

March 4 (Asia Today) — South Korea’s prosecution service is facing criticism from legal experts after abandoning appeals in several major cases, including those involving President Lee Jae-myung and figures from the ruling party.

Legal analysts say the trend raises concerns about the erosion of prosecutorial independence amid pressure from the government and political circles.

Prosecutors declined to appeal the first-instance ruling in the Daejang-dong development corruption case involving President Lee in November last year. Reports later suggested that senior leadership at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office overruled recommendations from the investigation and trial teams to pursue an appeal.

The decision also effectively halted efforts to recover approximately 780 billion won ($585 million) in alleged illicit profits from developers linked to the Daejang-dong project.

Prosecutors also chose not to appeal a similar case involving alleged corruption in the Wirye new town development project.

Appeal decisions have also drawn attention in other politically sensitive cases.

In the first-trial verdict related to the 2020 West Sea shooting of a South Korean fisheries official, prosecutors filed what observers described as a “partial appeal” against former National Security Office Director Seo Hoon and former Coast Guard Commissioner Kim Hong-hee.

In a separate case involving allegations of illegal political funding tied to former Democratic Party leader Song Young-gil, prosecutors did not file an appeal to the Supreme Court even after the appellate court overturned the earlier ruling and issued an acquittal.

Prosecutors also declined to appeal rulings involving current and former Democratic Party lawmakers connected to a National Assembly fast-track legislation dispute. Officials said the decision was based on a judgment that further appeals would have “limited practical benefit.” Prosecutors likewise did not appeal convictions involving lawmakers from the opposition People Power Party in the same case.

Under South Korean law, prosecutors are required to perform their duties independently. However, some legal experts argue that recent decisions suggest political pressure may be influencing prosecutorial discretion.

President Lee previously criticized prosecutors during a cabinet meeting in September last year, saying prosecutors sometimes file indictments even when cases lack legal grounds and pursue appeals after acquittals to avoid responsibility.

Lee also ordered an internal inspection after prosecutors staged a collective walkout during the trial of former Gyeonggi Province Vice Governor Lee Hwa-young.

Following those developments, lawmakers from the ruling party introduced legislation to revise disciplinary procedures for prosecutors and pushed for amendments to the Criminal Act aimed at punishing judges and prosecutors who intentionally distort legal interpretation or misjudge facts during investigations or trials.

The ruling party has also formed a parliamentary group advocating for the withdrawal of charges against President Lee and for a national investigation into what they claim were politically motivated indictments.

Cha Jin-ah, a professor at Korea University Law School, said prosecutors appear increasingly reluctant to challenge the administration.

“Prosecutors who might once have pursued investigations or maintained indictments against the government with conviction are now watching the political climate,” Cha said. “This risks subordinating prosecutorial decisions to political power.”

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260304010000994