Court Roundup

Connecticut Woman tests state workers' comp laws HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The fiancée of a victim of last August's shooting rampage at a Manchester beer distributorship is putting Connecticut's workers' compensation benefits law to the test. Stephanie Laurin was engaged to William Ackerman, one of eight people killed by a co-worker at Hartford Distributors. Laurin says they lived together for four years and intended to marry in October. She has applied for Ackerman's $500 per week workers' compensation benefits. A lawyer for Hartford Distributors and its insurance company has filed documents with the state Workers' Compensation Commission, saying the law is clear: Laurin can't claim the benefits because she is not a family member. Laurin tells The Hartford Courant she qualifies because she was his "dependent." Legal experts say the case is likely to end up in the state Supreme Court. Nevada Vegas prosecutor facing cocaine possession charge LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A Clark County prosecutor who has handled some of Las Vegas' most high-profile drug cases has been arrested after police say he bought crack cocaine from a street dealer. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that David Schubert was arrested a little before 5 p.m. Saturday in a neighborhood east of the Las Vegas Strip. Records show the 47-year-old was free Monday from the Clark County jail pending a court appearance. District Attorney David Roger tells the Review-Journal that Schubert has been suspended, and investigators are looking into whether he might have compromised cases he handled. Schubert is the chief deputy district attorney who prosecuted the Bruno Mars and Paris Hilton celebrity drug cases. He was also the local liaison to a federal drug task force. Washington Court won't stop Fed from revealing loan data WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court won't stop the release of Federal Reserve Board documents identifying financial companies that received Fed loans to survive the financial crisis. An association of bankers wanted to stop the release but the court refused Monday to hear its appeal. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City had said that such information isn't automatically exempt from requests under the Freedom of Information Act. News Corp.'s Fox News Network LLC and Bloomberg L.P. sued separately for details about loans that commercial banks and Wall Street firms received and the collateral they put up. But the Fed argued that if it identified banks that drew emergency loans, it could cause a run on those institutions, undermine the loan programs and potentially hurt the economy. Georgia Man appeals conviction in serial killer hoax ATLANTA (AP) -- A man sentenced to prison for a provocative online video that authorities say disrupted the investigations into the disappearances of two women is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn his conviction on free speech grounds. Andrew Scott Haley was charged in 2009 with posting a video on YouTube under the moniker "catchmekiller" in which he claimed to have killed 16 people and suggested he had information about two unsolved crimes in Florida and Georgia. Georgia prosecutors charged him under a statute that criminalizes people who knowingly and willfully makes a false statement that can disrupt state investigations. His lawyers say what he did may have been in poor taste, but that authorities turned a "fiction writer into a felon." Published: Tue, Mar 22, 2011