PUBLISHED: 11:16 29 January 2018 | UPDATED: 11:16 29 January 2018 Harry Taylor Mary Hassell has been senior coroner for north London since 2013 Archant The leader of Camden Council and the borough’s two MPs have written to England and Wales’ Chief Coroner to raise their concerns about the borough’s senior coroner, Mary Hassell. In an email sent at the end of last week, Cllr Georgia Gould, as well as Holborn and St Pancras MP Keir Starmer, and Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq said they “fundamentally disagree with” Ms Hassell’s position that she or one of her deputies cannot agree for a body to be released, from her own home. Ms Hassell has previously said there are a number of significant additional things that she would like in place to be able to provide this service. The row had broken out in October after Ms Hassell had stopped prioritising religious burials, which has sparked criticism in recent weeks. Under Jewish and Islamic law, … [Read more...] about Camden council leader Georgia Gould and MPs write to chief coroner about Inner North London coroner Mary Hassell
Georgia
Six miners killed in Georgia in roof collapse
TBILISI (Reuters) – Six miners were killed and three injured on Thursday when the roof of a coal mine in western Georgia collapsed, the country’s interior ministry said. The ministry said in a statement that the accident had occurred at the Mindeli mine in Tkibuli, 200 km (124.27 miles) west of the capital Tbilisi. The mine is operated by Sakhnakhshiri, a Georgian company. Ten miners have died at the mine in different accidents since 2011. (Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Andrew Osborn) … [Read more...] about Six miners killed in Georgia in roof collapse
Georgia’s Republican lieutenant governor threatens Delta over cutting its NRA ties
Georgia's lieutenant governor on Monday threatened to prevent Delta Air Lines from getting a lucrative tax cut after the company ended its discount program with the National Rifle Association, in the latest fallout from a deadly school shooting in Florida.Delta is part of a growing chorus of businesses cutting ties with the NRA after the Valentine's Day shooting at a Florida high school left 17 people dead. But now the airline is coming under attack, with Georgia's lieutenant governor threatening a sales tax exemption making its way through the legislature.Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, president of the state Senate and a leading candidate to succeed Gov. Nathan Deal, tweeted that he would use his position to sink the proposed sales tax exemption on jet fuel."I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA," Cagle tweeted. "Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight … [Read more...] about Georgia’s Republican lieutenant governor threatens Delta over cutting its NRA ties
Jury finds Georgia lawyer’s litigation conduct amounted to civil racketeering violation
A Georgia lawyer has been found liable for a violation of the state’s civil racketeering law for his conduct in a child custody case.Jurors awarded trebled damages of nearly $243,000 on Friday to litigant John Murphy in his racketeering suit against Millard Farmer, according to the Daily Report. Farmer had represented Murphy’s ex-wife in the child custody case. He was previously known for his aggressive stance in fighting the death penalty.Murphy had claimed Farmer used “conflictineering” to extort payments and force concessions by Murphy. Conflictineering is a tactic invented by Farmer that uses litigation or other events to expose what he believes to be immorality.According to the article, jurors found that Farmer had furthered his civil racketeering enterprise by:• Attempted bribery of a judge and intimidation of a court officers. Farmer was accused of committing those acts by filing litigation against the court reporter and offering to dismiss the case … [Read more...] about Jury finds Georgia lawyer’s litigation conduct amounted to civil racketeering violation
Georgia capital defendant has right to appeal based on racist statements from juror, SCOTUS says
Tharpe was sentenced to death in 1991 after being convicted of malice murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping. Seven years later, defense attorneys interviewed juror Barney Gattie, who is white. In a sworn affidavit Gattie stated that “there are two types of black people: 1. Black folks and 2. [N-word],” the opinion states. Gattie also said that Tharpe “wasn’t in the good black folks category in my book…”Additionally, the affidavit states that Gattie knew Jaquelin Freeman, Tharpe’s sister-in-law, and saw her and her family as “what he would call a nice black family,” according to the opinion, Tharpe v. Sellers (PDF).Also, Gattie told Tharpe’s lawyers that some jurors thought Tharpe should receive the death penalty as an example to black people who kill other blacks. But that wasn’t Gattie’s reasoning, he stated in the affidavit. Rather, after studying the Bible he found himself wondering if “black … [Read more...] about Georgia capital defendant has right to appeal based on racist statements from juror, SCOTUS says