Tagged: courts

MONROE — An internationally recognized University of Louisiana at Monroe toxicology professor has settled a lawsuit he filed against the university alleging he was harassed and discriminated against after he suffered a stroke five years ago.

The News-Star reports (http://tnsne.ws/OG813H) that the university announced Tuesday that it had reached "an amicable settlement" with Harihara Mehendale in the College of Pharmacy.

An Orleans Parish criminal court judge who has been criticized for her backlog of cases is resigning.

Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Lynda Van Davis submitted a letter of resignation from the bench on Tuesday. Davis, a former state and federal prosecutor who was elected in 2003, said her resignation is effective Dec. 31.

Davis says she's resigning because she's getting married.

An Oct. 15 date has been set for arguments in a lawsuit by teacher unions and local school boards challenging the constitutionality of Gov. Bobby Jindal's statewide voucher program.

Judge Tim Kelley chose the hearing date Tuesday in a meeting with lawyers for both sides in the case.

Attorneys for two statewide teacher unions and dozens of local school boards say the voucher program that will use tax dollars to send children to private schools and other new education funding plans are unconstitutional.

A 23-year-old Houma man will spend life in prison after pleading guilty to shooting and killing three people in 2009.

Jacobby Lee pleaded guilty Monday to three counts of first-degree murder, each of which carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole, according to the Terrebonne Parish District Attorney's Office.

The Justice Department does not intend to seek the death penalty against a New Orleans man charged with having a role in five 2007 killings, including an off-duty police officer's fatal shooting.

A two-page court filing Monday by U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office didn't explain its decision in the case against Steven Earl Hardrick.

A March 15 indictment claims Hardrick and others demanded money and cocaine when they broke into the home of New Orleans Police Detective Thelonius Dukes and shot him in October 2007. Dukes died the following month.