Featured Legal News (Nov. 29 - Nov. 30, ‘06) Murder Trial Jurors Just Killing Time Posted on Thursday, November 30, 2006 It's not exactly normal for male jurors to paint their toenails and take turns racing down a hotel hallway in a female bailiff's high heels while they're all sequestered in a murder trial — but it wasn't enough to overturn the guilty verdict. That was the ruling of Morgan County (Ind.) Superior Court Judge Christopher Burnham, who presided over the murder trial of John Myers. Burnham questioned jurors about their alleged horseplay on Oct. 30, a day after the verdict, to resolve the motion for a mistrial filed by Myers' defense attorney. The transcript of the closed post-trial hearing was just released on Wednesday. Attorney Patrick Baker filed the motion based on the alleged antics and reports that the jurors got drunk at night. But Burnham bought the jurors explanation that they were just blowing off steam. "There is no indication they were drunk or intoxicated or in any way impaired while they were in court. They are 15 adults who were removed from their families and sequestered together and controlled as to what they could do," Burnham said, according to the transcript. Tell us what you think by visiting our comments page. Send any news items to news@lawdragon.com. Backdating Scandal Grows Bigger Posted on Wednesday, November 29, 2006 The stock-option backdating stories continue to flow. This week, Santa Clara-based chip maker Nvidia is the latest to restate its financial results due to stock option accounting, and the company is cooperating with an SEC inquiry into the matter. Also, institutional investors have filed claims in New York state court against a former Cablevision Systems Corp. pay consultant for allegedly helping executives improperly backdate options. You may recall that our most recent issue (PDF) of Lawdragon Magazine featured an opinion piece on the scandal by Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann attorneys Gerald Silk and Noam Mandel. This is also a topic discussed in an interesting client alert article (PDF) from Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker called "Stock Option Grant Practices Under Scrutiny: The SEC Weighs In," written by partners Elizabeth A. Brower, J. Mark Poerio and Michael L. Zuppone. The article discusses new SEC disclosure requirements and offers recommendations for avoiding problems with option granting. "Transparency is fundamental to compliance with the new requirements," the authors write. Tell us what you think by visiting our comments page. Send any news items to news@lawdragon.com. Page: 1 of 1 pages for this article
|
|
|---|
