Daily News Briefs: April  18, 2000
Date: Tuesday, 18 Apr 2000 14:24:04 -0700

Table of Contents

Top News - Relevant Hearsay
Court Rules on Search Ramifications
Colorado Judge Lets Columbine Victims See Report
"Erin Brockovich": The real story
Court Lets School Nix Commandments
Tobacco companies ask judge to throw out $21.7 million verdict
New York may require self-extinguishing cigarettes

Cyberlaw News - Download This!
Election Regulators Dismiss Complaint Against Bush Parody Site

Criminal Law
Army Colonel Admits Concealing Money Laundering
Supreme Court takes up battle over Miranda
Court to clarify inmates' efforts for review

Top News

Court Rules on Search Ramifications
FindLaw News

Police are conducting a search, and therefore must comply with
constitutional requirements, when they squeeze someone's luggage to
determine if drugs might be inside, the Supreme Court ruled today. The
7-2 decision in a Texas case said a U.S. Border Patrol agent who felt a
bus passenger's bag violated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on
unreasonable searches. The bag later was found to contain drugs.

http://news.findlaw.com/news/s/20000417/scsearches.html

Read the opinion at:

http://caselaw.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=98-9349

Colorado Judge Lets Columbine Victims See Report
FindLaw News

The parents of two students slain in the Columbine High School massacre
won the right on Monday to view portions of the much awaited official
report on the shootings just days before the first anniversary of the
tragedy and the legal deadline to sue. Colorado District Judge Brooke
Jackson said the families of Kelly Fleming and Daniel Rohrbough could
view portions of the report in private, but could not make copies of or
disclose any information about the material they or their attorneys
viewed.

http://news.findlaw.com/News/s/20000418/crimecolumbine.html

"Erin Brockovich": The real story
Salon
  In the movie, the victims in the celebrated
lawsuit won big. In reality, many are wondering where the
money went -- and they're mad at their lawyers.
In the movie, the victims in the celebrated lawsuit won big. In reality,
many are wondering where the money went - and they're mad at their
lawyers. The Julia Roberts film "Erin Brockovich" is in its fourth week
as one of the most popular movies in America. It's billed as being based
on a true story. But the film tells only half of it -- and the half it
doesn't tell isn't pretty."Erin Brockovich":The real story
By Kathleen Sharp.

http://salon.com/ent/feature/2000/04/14/sharp/index.html

Court Lets School Nix Commandments
FindLaw News

The Supreme Court let a Southern California school district ban
the Ten Commandments from a fence at a high school baseball field.
The court, without comment, left intact the school district's rejection
of an advertisement that included the commandments. Today's action set
no legal precedent because it was a denial of review, not a decision. A
California businessman who wanted to post an ad that included the
commandments said the school district's refusal unlawfully discriminated
against religious speech and violated religious freedom. But a federal
appeals court ruled he was wrong.

http://legalnews.findlaw.com/news/s/20000417/sc10command.html

The Supreme Court's ruling in DiLoreto vs. Board of Education left
intact the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision which can be found on
FindLaw at:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=9th&navby=case&no=9856762

Tobacco companies ask judge to throw out $21.7 million verdict
San Jose Mercury News

Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds asked a judge on Monday to throw out a
San Francisco jury's $21.7 million damage award to a dying ex-smoker,
arguing that she should have paid attention to the warning labels on
cigarette packages. The verdict was the nation's first in favor of a
smoker who took up the habit after surgeon general's warnings started
appearing on cigarette packs in the 1966. Whiteley started smoking in
1972, at age 13, and testified she thought smoking was safe because
companies promoted it and the government allowed it.

http://www.mercurycenter.com/breaking/headline2/061901.htm

New York may require self-extinguishing cigarettes
CNN

Three Brooklyn, New York, firefighters died in 1998 while searching for
a woman trapped in a high-rise apartment fire. The culprit -- a
smoldering cigarette. Of the 112 fire-related deaths in New York state
last year, one in four was caused by a cigarette. The New York Senate
took action on Monday aimed at reducing that number by cutting the risk
of fire caused by cigarettes. The Senate gave final legislative approval
to a bill that would force tobacco companies to make fire-safe
cigarettes that would stop burning if they're not smoked within a
certain amount of time.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/04/18/slow.burn.cigarettes/index.html

Cyberlaw News

Tech-Deals - Internet Contracts - The Details
http://techdeals.findlaw.com
Meg Whitman & eBay, Dr. Koop's deal with drkoop.com & more
Amazon, AOL, eBay, Excite, iVillage, Netscape, TheStreet.com, Yahoo!

Election Regulators Dismiss Complaint Against Bush Parody Site
New York Times

Federal regulators have dismissed a complaint filed by the presidential
campaign of Governor George W. Bush of Texas against an Internet critic
whose site, gwbush.com, uses its potentially confusing Web address to
serve up scathing parodies of Bush's official site. By dismissing the
case in this way, the agency failed to resolve an issue raised by the
complaint and by the commission's previous opinions on Internet matters:
whether the activities of individuals advocating the election or defeat
of political candidates online are subject to government regulation,
much like political action committees that spend millions of dollars on
mailings and television advertising.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/04/cyber/articles/18bush.html

Criminal Law - Arresting Developments

Army Colonel Admits Concealing Money Laundering
FindLaw News

A United States Army officer who headed American anti-drug efforts in
Colombia pleaded guilty on Monday to concealing knowledge that his wife
was laundering drug money while they lived in Bogota. Col. James Hiett,
48, of Seaford, Virginia, a former head of the Military Group at the
American Embassy in Bogota and commander of the U.S. Army's anti-drug
operation in Colombia, faces a maximum three years in prison and
$250,000 fine when he is sentenced in June.

http://news.findlaw.com/News/s/20000417/crimecolonel.html

Supreme Court takes up battle over Miranda
Chicago Tribune / Philadelphia Inquirer

The Supreme Court will take up a case Wednesday that could overrule
Miranda and give police more leeway in interrogating suspects.
In 1966, the high court issued its landmark Miranda v. Arizona decision
requiring police to inform suspects of their rights. Over the last 34
years, the Miranda warnings have become such a basic part of law
enforcement that just about anyone who watches TV police shows can
recite them.

http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/article/0,2669,SAV-0004180198,FF.html  
http://www.phillynews.com/inquirer/2000/Apr/18/international/APPEALS18.htm 

Court to clarify inmates' efforts for review
FindLaw News

The Supreme Court today agreed to clarify the deadline for state inmates
to seek federal court review of their convictions. The court said it
will hear New York prosecutors' argument that an inmate waited too long
to file a federal court appeal arguing that his conviction violated his
rights. The inmate's previous appeal in state court was not properly
filed and therefore it did not put the federal deadline on hold,
prosecutors contend.

http://news.findlaw.com/news/s/20000417/scinmaterevw.html


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