Daily Archives: June 22, 2012 - 3 results

A man on trial for murdering his friend in Philadelphia initially indicated that he would use a “gay panic defense,” in which he would argue that he flew into a rage following an unwanted sexual advance. Fortunately, a judge quickly put a kibosh on the idea. Gay panic cited in murder of Matthew Shephard, others Tactic attempted as part of insanity defense Sexual advances are not justification for homicide   Panic or Self Defense? A bizarre set of circumstances that …

What does it mean to “brandish” a firearm? A Michigan jury will have to answer that question in next month’s trial of 18-year-old Sean Combs, who was arrested in April after being stopped by police while carrying a loaded M-1 Garand rifle strapped to his back. An armed Combs was walking with his girlfriend through downtown Birmingham, an affluent Detroit suburb with a popular nightlife district. It was about 10 p.m. on a Saturday and sidewalks were crowded when police …

Two girls molested by teacher awarded $4.5 million Just as the jury begins its deliberations in the Jerry Sandusky Penn State molestation criminal trial that has gripped the nation, a jury across the country in California quietly finished its work in another case involving school molestation, awarding $4.5 million to two girls molested by their teacher. The two girls alleged that their third-grade teacher Raymond Firth, 41, molested them. The victim’s parents sued Firth and the school district for failing …