SUPREME COURT NOTBOOK

High court bars retrial of Michigan arson suspect WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has ruled that a Michigan defendant cannot be retried for arson even though his initial acquittal was based on a judge's mistake. The court voted 8-1 Wednesday in favor of Lamar Evans, who was charged with arson after he was seen running away from a burning vacant house in Detroit with a gasoline can in his hand. A judge acquitted Evans midway through his trial based on a mistaken interpretation of the law. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said for the court that the acquittal is final, even if granted in error. Justice Samuel Alito dissented. The case is Evans v. Michigan, 11-1327. Scope of previous immigration ruling narrowed WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court says there can be no retroactive application of its ruling that lawyers have to tell their clients if pleading guilty to a crime could cause their deportation. The high court's 7-2 ruling came Wednesday in the case of Roselva Chaidez, who came from Mexico. The Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that immigrants have a constitutional right to be told by their lawyers whether pleading guilty to a crime could lead to their deportation. Chaidez had already been convicted for mail fraud and was in a deportation proceeding. She then asked the courts to allow her to take advantage of the new ruling. Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the 2010 ruling was a new rule, so it does not apply to convictions that came before. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented. Published: Fri, Feb 22, 2013