Courts

Millions of fingers scurrying over mobile electronic devices probably paused this week as news emerged of a trove of text messages containing flirty and sexually explicit chat between Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick and one of his top aides. Even those engaging in more wholesome dialogue would be wise to wonder: Do text messages disappear -- like oral conversations -- or are they permanently logged somewhere for potential retrieval -- as e-mail usually is?

Court oversight of Microsoft Corp.'s market dominance, which began with a 2002 landmark antitrust settlement, was extended Tuesday for two years. A federal judge ruled that a consent decree enforcing the settlement would remain in effect until November 2009. A group of 10 states, led by California and New York, had requested that the oversight be extended until November 2012. The court's ruling "should not be viewed as a sanction against Microsoft," U.S.

Television ads promoting movies are not the normal business of politics or the courts, but they are this month because conservative activists are seeking a wide audience for "Hillary: The Movie." David N. Bossie, who made a name for himself as a relentless investigator of the Clintons during the 1990s, has released a 90-minute documentary on the New York senator.

Exxon Mobil Corp. won a round in its bitter fight against Venezuela's state oil company Thursday as courts in several countries said they would freeze $12 billion in international assets held by Petroleos de Venezuela. Last year, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nationalized a heavy oil field in eastern Venezuela, and Exxon Mobil has been seeking to recover the value of its investment in the site ever since.

Anne L. Chavis, who pleaded guilty to stealing from a disabled veteran under her care while working as a court-appointed conservator, was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail and ordered to pay $92,000 in restitution to eight clients. The fine represents a fraction of the money she controlled for her clients but never accounted for. Chavis, 74, stood silent before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Horwitz as he quickly read her sentence, which had taken months to hammer out.

Defense lawyers and prosecutors agreed Wednesday that California's death penalty system was deeply troubled but split over the causes and solutions. During a hearing in Los Angeles before a state reform commission, prosecutors called for quicker appeals and amending the state Constitution to permit the California state Supreme Court to transfer some of the initial review of cases to state appeals courts. Defense attorneys opposed the proposal, saying it would make the process more cumbersome.

An Anaheim woman was charged with murder Wednesday in the drowning death of her 13-month-old son after toxicology tests confirmed she had been drunk at the time. Paige Elizabeth Looney also was charged with two counts of child abuse and endangerment with a sentencing enhancement for death due to child neglect. She faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life if convicted. Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty.

Could a lawsuit seeking to cut pensions for Orange County sheriff's deputies be tried fairly in one of the county's own courtrooms? That question is at the heart of a motion filed recently by the board of the county retirement system, which has been sued by Orange County in a closely watched battle over $187 million in benefits.

Transcripts from a grand jury investigation into the beating death of a jail inmate are scheduled to be unsealed no later than April 7 under the orders of an Orange County judge who found the Sheriff's Department had no legal standing to block their release. In finalizing a preliminary ruling reached earlier this week, Superior Court Judge James A.

In his books, speeches and campaign commercials, Sen. Barack Obama often harks back to his days as a civil rights attorney. It is fundamental to his autobiography, displayed on his campaign website and woven into his appeals for votes. In one of his television ads leading up to the South Carolina primary, Obama recalled "working as a civil rights attorney to make sure that everybody's vote counted."