Legal News Roundup: October 14
Posted in In the news on October 13, 2020
Here’s a roundup of recent legal stories in the news.
Notes From Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation Hearing
Reuters – Amy Coney Barrett said on Tuesday at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing that she is not hostile to the Affordable Care Act. The conservative federal appellate judge declined to specify whether she believes landmark rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage were properly decided.
Barrett is President Trump’s choice to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Trump has asked the Senate to confirm Barrett before the November 3 election.
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Federal judge allows Ohio’s ballot drop box limitation
cleveland.com – The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a ruling that essentially limits ballot drop boxes to one per county for the upcoming presidential election.
U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Richard Griffin and Amul Thapar sharply criticized a decision from a federal judge in Cleveland who struck down the drop box limit as unconstitutional after early voting had already begun.
The ruling means that the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections will not be able to proceed with a plan to set up staffed ballot drop off sites at six county libraries
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Ohio Cannot Challenge Erroneous Prison Sentence 18 Years Later
Court News Ohio – When a trial court makes an error during criminal sentencing, the mistake cannot be challenged through post-conviction proceedings, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled.
The Supreme Court further clarified its stance on “void and voidable sentences” by deciding that in 2017, Cuyahoga County prosecutors could not seek to correct the 1999 sentence of Roger T. Henderson. Henderson was supposed to receive a 15-years-to-life sentence for murder but was sentenced just to 15 years along with three years for a firearm charge.
“The state had a full and fair opportunity to object to or challenge the trial court’s sentence. It did not,” wrote Justice Judith L. French.
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Wine Distributor Sentenced to Prison for ‘Shark Tank’ Wine Scheme
CNN – A former wine and liquor distributor was sentenced to 24 months in prison for using the show Shark Tank as part of a scheme to defraud investors.
Joseph Falcone formerly operated the Long Island wine and liquor distributor 3G’s Vino LLC. One of the business’s products was a sealed glass with a single serving of wine that was once featured on the TV show Shark Tank.
Falcone pleaded guilty to stealing more than $500,000 from investors. Falcone used the money for a home in Florida, where he now lives, and to fund his online securities trading account.
“Falcone’s victims were reeled in by his Shark Tank pitch, but with today’s sentence, the defendant is now squarely on the hook for his crimes,” Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said in a written statement.
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