Law News

The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to consider the appeal of John Allen Muhammad, the Washington, D.C., sniper who terrorized an entire region in the fall of 2002. Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday in a Virginia prison.

The Supreme Court hears arguments on whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison is cruel and unusual punishment, and appears sharply divided on the issue -- especially when the crime is something less serious than a homicide.

The Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments on whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison is cruel and unusual punishment. The examination of life sentences for juveniles stems from an earlier decision ruling out the death penalty for anyone under the age of 18.

Wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit, a Florida man who spent 27 years behind bars now seeks more than a million dollars in restitution from the state. Cleared by the use of DNA evidence, 50-year-old William Dillon says, "I think the people that did it to me -- knowingly did it to me -- should have to pay for it."

A New Jersey jury finds a Florida man guilty of murder -- despite the defendant's claim that he was too fat to commit the crime. Edward Ates, 62, said he weighed 285 pounds when his former son-in-law, Paul Duncsak, was shot in August 2006. He said he simply didn't have the energy to run up and down a flight of stairs and shoot Dancsak from a perch on a staircase.

A proposal to legalize marijuana passes overwhelmingly in Breckenridge, Colo., getting 71 percent of the vote. The measure is mostly symbolic because state law trumps it, but supporters say they hope it will get police to ease up on pot smokers.