Earlier this week, the Colorado Senate addressed Senate Bill 244, which would repeal all crimes for which marital status is an element, including adultery and the crime of "promoting sexual immortality." The immortality crime is a class 2 misdemeanor, although adultery doesn't carry a criminal penalty.
In the last three years, the adultery and immortality charges have been filed fewer than twenty times, according to an analysis prepared for legislators.
The Miami Dolphins' Brandon Marshall, 27, was the victim of domestic violence last after he and his wife, Michi, stabbed him with a kitchen knife. Shortly after the incident on April 23, 2011, Marshall was transported to Broward General Hospital, where he underwent surgery to repair the wound to his abdomen. Meanwhile, Michi was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and bail was set at $7,500.
Domestic discord is not new to the couple. In 2009, when Marshall was still with the Denver Broncos, both he and Michi, who was his fiancee at the time, were both arrested on disorderly conduct charges after two police officers witnessed them kicking and punching one another outside of his Atlanta condominium. The charges were later dismissed.
Continue reading "Member of Miami Dolphins a Victim of Domestic Violence" »
Georgia's governor, Nathan Deal (R), has proposed that the state eliminate all state-funded programs designed to assist victims of domestic violence, as well as programs intended to fight domestic violence. In place of the state dollars, Georgia intends to finance these programs with $4.4 million in federal welfare money, money that's part of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
The US Department of Health and Human Services has raised questions over the plan, as have victims' rights groups, which argue that by funding shelters with TANF funds entirely, the shelters could jeopardize their ability to provide services to women without children. Childless women make up between 30 and 40% of all women seeking domestic violence services in Georgia.
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Ajit Kumar Bhargava, his wife, Nisha Bhargava, and their daughter, Runjhun Bhargava of Yorba Linda, California were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week on suspicion of visa fraud at their Cerritos-based immigration consulting business. The three, who face up to five years in federal prison, are suspected of filing fraudulent marriage and work visa petitions on behalf of foreigners who paid fees as high as $60,000.
According to federal officials, the three operate an immigration consulting business, called MPEagle Consultants, which caters primarily to Indian nationals. They are accused of recruiting unemployed and low-income U.S. citizens with promises of $2,000 payments in exchange for marrying MPEagle's foreign clients.
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In a decision published earlier this month, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has unanimously overturned a lower court's ruling concerning child support, saying that a parent's entire income should be used to determine child support, not just what is taxed by the Internal Revenue Service.
The Court decided that Family Court General Magistrate John J. O'Brien, Jr. erred when he excluded military entitlements and bonuses and rental income when calculating how much a father owes the mother of the 5-year-old he fathered in an extramarital affair. Furthermore, the Court condemned O'Brien's conduct in the matter because he conducted many off-the-record conferences "leading to a confusing and incomplete record" and made improper comments regarding the mother's daycare provider and her immigration status. O'Brien wouldn't allow her to testify and told the father he wouldn't be made to pay for childcare there after he alleged the provider was paid under the table and not reporting her income to the IRS.
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Over two thousand people have been charged under a new domestic violence law in New York, which went into effect on November 11. Previously, strangulation or intentional choking had usually resulted in charges of harassment. Sean M. Byrne, acting Division of Criminal Justice Services commissioner, said the high number of arrests in less than four months reflects how police previously had found it difficult to find appropriate charges to file against attackers who placed their victims in chokeholds.
The new law consists of two felony counts, first-degree and second-degree strangulation, and the misdemeanor of obstructing breathing and blood circulation. Of the arrests made so far, 83% were for the misdemeanor.
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In a unanimous ruling, Arkansas' Supreme Court has reversed a state law that prohibited unmarried, cohabiting couples from adopting children or becoming foster parents. The Court upheld a lower Court's ruling that the law unconstitutionally burdens fundamental privacy rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in December 2008 on behalf of a group of Arkansas residents that included unmarried adults who wanted to adopt or foster children, parents who wanted to choose who would adopt their children in the event of their incapacitation or death, and the children of those parents. Arguing in favor of the law, the state and the Family Council said that adopting or fostering children is a privilege bestowed by state law and not a fundamental right.
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Reality star Kate Gosselin, who was divorced from her one-time costar Jon in December 2009, is facing new legal troubles - the company that provided marriage counseling to her in 2009 is suing her for failure to them. Creative Energy Options claims Gosselin, 36, owes them $10,476 she requested that one of the Pennsylvania-based counselors "fly to Los Angeles to perform marriage counseling, then refused to pay for service or travel fees."
According to the company's president, they tried to resolve the unpaid bill out of court, but Gosselin failed to make any payments. "There are commitments people make," said Dr. Sylvia Lafair, "and they should be followed through."
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The attorneys for six Georgia parents jailed for failure to pay child support have filed a class-action suit against the state, claiming the parents shouldn't have been jailed in the first place.
According to Sarah Geraghty, a senior attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, which filed the suit, Georgia state law bans authorities from jailing a parent who can't pay child support. "Children are not served when parents who are searching for work to support their families are repeatedly carted off to jail. Dividing families while preventing parents from finding jobs is fundamentally unfair and ineffective social policy."
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