Law News from around the circuit ending Dec. 6, 2009

Legal news stories from around the circuit.  Be sure to click on the heading link to go to the provider for the entire story:

• Corrections will not appeal lethal injection decision [BLUEGRASS POLITICS BLOG]
  

  By Beth Musgrave on Steve Beshear

  By Beth Musgrave - bmusgrave@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT — Death row executions in Kentucky will remain on hold through at least April 15. The state Department of Corrections has decided to comply with a November state Supreme Court decision and will adopt a lethal injection protocol through the lengthy administrative regulation process, said Jennifer Brislin, a spokeswoman for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, which includes the Department of Corrections.* * *

• Lexington lawyer, wife indicted in oil scam

  A Lexington lawyer took part in a long-running scheme to fleece investors of more than $34 million selling fraudulent investment programs to drill oil and gas wells, a federal grand jury charged Friday.
  
  Bryan S. Coffman and his wife, Megan, both 46, were named in the 30-count indictment along with Gary Milby, 55, of Campbellsville and Vadim "Victor" Tsatskin, 36, of Ontario, Canada.

• Fraud investigation of major donors leaves some politicians in a bind
  

• Paxton to keep scholarship

  LEXINGTON, Ky. — Pitcher James Paxton's status on the University of Kentucky baseball team and his scholarship are not in jeopardy, but the NCAA does have questions about Paxton's eligibility, according to UK's response to the Paxton's lawsuit.

• Victim-notification system celebrates 15 years

  Logically, Debra Puglisi Sharp knows that the man who is serving 10 life sentences in Delaware for killing her husband, raping her and holding her hostage for five days should never get out of prison.

• Jury clears one officer, undecided on another in Taser death

  After a three-day trial in U.S. District Court, a jury in Louisville reached a mixed verdict Friday in the trial of a lawsuit brought by the estate of a mentally ill man who died in September 2006 after he was shot with a Taser by officers.

• ResCare loses $54 million verdict

  A jury in Albuquerque, N.M., has returned a damage award of about $54 million against ResCare Inc. over the rape of a disabled male resident in one of the company's group homes five years ago.
  

• Jail eases crowding, saves money

  On an average day, about 1,800 prisoners are housed in Metro Corrections — awaiting trial or serving sentences. And while that still makes for a crowded jail, it's down about 300 people from 18 months ago, when a commission Mayor Jerry Abramson appointed made dozens of recommendations for reducing the numbers.

• Ky. nursing home called one of nation's worst

  A government agency is calling a Richmond nursing home one of the worst-performing in the nation. The Government Accountability Office said Tuesday that Richmond Health and Rehabilitation Complex-Madison is the second-worst-performing nursing home in the nation, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.

• Steve Nunn's attorney says he might withdraw

  LEXINGTON, Ky. — An attorney representing former state Rep. Steve Nunn on a murder charge told a Fayette circuit judge Friday that he would have to withdraw from the case if the court doesn't release his payment from an escrow account.

• Nunn's daughter added to wrongful death suit

  The family of Amanda Ross, the Lexington woman allegedly murdered by former state Rep. Steve Nunn, has sued Nunn's 28-year-old daughter. Mary Nunn of Glasgow was added as a defendant in an amended wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday against her father, who has been indicted on charges of murder and violating a domestic violence protective order in Ross' death.

• Legislative pensions' cost escalates

  In the closing hours of the 2005 General Assembly, the state Senate stripped a House bill of language relating to state employees' pensions, inserted a committee substitute dealing with legislative pensions, approved the morphed bill on a 30-2 vote and sent it back to the House, where it passed 48-36 moments later.
  
  One of the changes lawmakers approved in that bill plays a role in causing the state's contribution to legislative pensions to jump from $759,158 in the current budget to nearly $4.3 million in the next two-year spending plan assuming the 2010 General Assembly funds the program at the level recommended in a recent actuarial report.
  
  Although legislators routinely have shortchanged pension plans for state workers and teachers over the last 20 years (thereby building unfunded liabilities approaching $30 billion), they are far less likely to shortchange themselves.
  
  Under the provisions of the 2005 law, all years of service under any state retirement plan count toward reaching the minimum number of years for receiving a full legislative pension. More important, though, the law allows pension benefits to be calculated on the basis of the average of the high three years of salary, regardless of where that salary was earned.
  
  So, when Senate Majority Leader Dan Kelly recently became Circuit Judge Dan Kelly and went from a part-time legislator's pay to a $124,620 annual salary, he put himself in position to more than double his legislative pension if he holds on to his seat on the bench for three years.

• Ex-teacher's sex-case sentencing put off

  Attorneys in the case of former teacher Roberta Blackwell Walter accused of molesting a 15-year-old student 30 years ago will return to court in a month to continue discussing a possible plea and punishment in the case.
  
  

• Davender's attorney withdraws

  The attorney for a former University of Kentucky men's basketball player accused of running a ticket scam totaling more than $70,000 withdrew from the case Friday moments before court proceedings.
  
  Ed Davender's attorney, Stephen McFayden, has been replaced by Steve Romines, a Louisville attorney who represented Shane Ragland in Ragland's murder trial.