Archive for the ‘Fifth Amendment’ Category
Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution …
The Constitution did not provide for Vice Presidential vacancies until the Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted. The Vice Presidency has been vacant several times due to death, resignation, or succession to the Presidency. Often these vacancies lasted for several years.
Under Section 2, whenever there is a vacancy in the office of Vice President, the President nominates a successor who becomes Vice President if confirmed by a majority vote of both Houses of the Congress.
Section 3 provides that when the President transmits a written declaration to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, stating that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the Presidency, and until the President sends another written declaration to the aforementioned officers declaring himself able to resume discharging those powers and duties, the Vice President serves as Acting President.
Section 4 is the only part of the amendment that has never been invoked.[19] It allows the Vice President, together with a majority of either "the principal officers of the executive departments" (i.e., the Cabinet) or of "such other body as Congress may by law provide", to declare the President disabled by submitting a written declaration to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. As with Section 3, the Vice President would become Acting President.
Section 4 is meant to be invoked if the President's incapacitation prevents him from discharging the duties of his office and he does not provide a written declaration to that effect. The President may resume exercising the Presidential duties by sending a written declaration to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House.
Should the Vice President and Cabinet remain unsatisfied with the President's condition, they may within four days of the President's declaration submit another declaration that the President is incapacitated. The Congress must then assemble within 48 hours if not in session. The Congress then has 21 days to decide the issue. If within the 21 days allotted two-thirds of each House of Congress vote that the President is incapacitated, Section 4 states that the Vice President would "continue" to be Acting President. Should the Congress resolve the issue in favor of the President, or if the Congress makes no decision within the 21 days allotted, then the President would "resume" discharging all of the powers and duties of his office. The use of the words "continue" and "resume" imply that the Vice President remains Acting President while Congress deliberates.
However, the President may again submit a written declaration of recovery to the President pro tempore and the Speaker of the House. That declaration could be responded to by the Acting President and the Cabinet in the same way as stated earlier. The allotted 21-day Congressional procedure would start again.
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Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution ...
Attorney: Convicted Child Abuser To Invoke 5th Amendment If Asked To Testify In Etan Patz Trial
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) A convicted child molester who was long suspected in the 1979 missing child case of Etan Patz plans to invoke his right against self-incrimination if called to testify in the murder trial of a man now charged with the crime, his lawyer said Friday.
It was not yet clear Friday what questions Jose Ramos might ultimately be asked or have to answer in the trial stemming from Etan Patzs disappearance, or whether theres specific information he doesnt want to divulge. His lawyer, Frank Rothman, would only say that Ramos has no desire to speak to anybody about this.
He plans on invoking whatever Fifth Amendment rights he has, Rothman said, referring to the constitutional provision against self-incrimination.
Former convenience store stock clerk Pedro Hernandez is set to go on trial next month in a case that helped propel the cause of missing children to the fore. Six-year-old Etan disappeared while walking to his Manhattan school bus stop. His body was never found.
Hernandez, 53, has pleaded not guilty to Etan, who vanished while walking to his school bus stop. Patz was one of the first missing children ever pictured on a milk carton. The anniversary of his disappearance became National Missing Childrens Day.
Hernandez became a suspect in 2012 after police got a tip that hed made statements to relatives and acquaintances about having harmed a child in New York years ago. He then gave police a videotaped confession saying he lured the boy into the convenience store basement and choked him.
The Maple Shade, New Jersey, man confessed on video after more than six hours of questioning, telling police he lured Etan to the store basement with the promise of a soda, choked the boy, put the body in a bag and a box and left it on the street several blocks away.
Police and prosecutors found his confession credible. Hernandezs lawyers say he falsely confessed because of mental problems.
No one else has ever been charged, but over the years, other suspects had come under scrutiny especially Ramos, who had been dating Etans baby sitter and who later was convicted of abusing two boys in Pennsylvania.
A former federal prosecutor said Ramos had given him a 90 percent confession in Etans case but stopped short of saying he had killed the boy or that it was definitely Etan _ and two jailhouse snitches said Ramos made admissions to them, though he has since denied involvement. Etans parents pursued a wrongful-death lawsuit against Ramos, and after he stopped cooperating with questioning, a court ruled him responsible.
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Attorney: Convicted Child Abuser To Invoke 5th Amendment If Asked To Testify In Etan Patz Trial
Woman convicted in Seath Jackson murder seeks post-conviction relief
Convicted murderer Charlie Ely refuses to answer questions based on fifth amendment rights during the third day of Amber Wright and her brother Kyle Hooper's first degree murder trial at the Marion County Judicial Center in Ocala, FL on Friday June 8, 2012. Wright and Hooper are accused in the brutal slaying of Wright's former boyfriend Seath Jackson in April 2011. The murder occurred at her trailer and she was convicted for her participation. (Alan Youngblood/Ocala Star-Banner)2012
As Michael Bargo's appeal remains pending before the Florida Supreme Court and Amber Wright's case ping-pongs between the trial and appellate courts, a third co-defendant Charlie Ely is trying to get some post-conviction relief of her own.
Ely recently filed a 45-page motion claiming her defense attorney was ineffective in handling her case. She said she is entitled to post-conviction relief in the form of a new trial.
Ely, now 22, was one of five young people charged with first-degree murder in the 2011 death of Seath Jackson, 15. She was found guilty on Sept. 23, 2011, and sentenced to life in prison.
In her motion, Ely, takes issue with her trial counsel's decision to take the case to trial only five months after the murder; failing to dismiss jurors from the panel who gave the appearance they couldn't be unbiased; failing to preserve objections for the appellate record and renew previous objections; and allowing certain incriminating evidence to come before the jury.
Ely argues that these mistakes constitute a violation of her civil rights. The cumulative effect of counsel's errors deprived the defendant of her right to a fair trial, Ely wrote in her motion. She is representing herself on appeal.
She argues that, had her attorney done things differently, perhaps her case's outcome would have been different.
Trial evidence showed Ely aided Wright's attempts to lure Seath to Ely's Summerfield home, where co-defendants Michael Bargo, Justin Soto and Kyle Hooper were. The men were accused of helping beat, shoot and burn his body in a backyard fire pit before placing the ashes in paint buckets and dumping them into a lake at the bottom of a lime rock quarry.
Ely was the first of five teen co-defendants to stand trial. Her attorney did not waive her right to a speedy trial, and therefore the state had to prosecute her within 90 days.
Ely argues that this move left her with a biased jury pool selected from a community still enraged over the highly publicized crime.
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Woman convicted in Seath Jackson murder seeks post-conviction relief
8 candidates running for three seats on Batavia School Board
BATAVIA Former Batavia High School social studies teacher John Dryden is among eight candidates running for three seats on the Batavia School Board in April.
Monday was the first day for candidates to file for the April 7 consolidated election. They have until Monday to file their nominating petitions.
Because all Batavia school board candidates filed at 8:30 a.m., there will be a lottery at 10 a.m. Friday at the Kane County Clerks Office to determine ballot placement.
Dryden recently retired from Batavia School District 101. He made local and national headlines last year when he instructed his students that they had the Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate themselves before answering an in-class survey about emotional and at-risk behavior.
In addition, Batavia School Board President Cathy Dremel filed to run for re-election, along with board member Melanie Impastato, who was appointed to the board in June 2013 after the resignation of school board member Kathleen Roberts.
Other Batavia School Board candidates include William Bill Gabriel, Ellen Knautz, Christopher Lowe, Michelle Olache and Ron Rechenmacher.
Batavia City Council
In the city of Batavia, Carl Dinwiddie filed a nominating petition for the 1st Ward, and 3rd Ward Alderman Dan Chanzit, 4th Ward Alderman Susan Stark, 5th Ward Alderman Lucy Thelin Atac and 7th Ward Aldermen Dave Brown filed for re-election.
In addition, Michael Russotto and Ron Rechenmacher filed to run in the 6th Ward.
Messenger Library Board in North Aurora
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8 candidates running for three seats on Batavia School Board