Free Republic

A man accidentally released from the Mercer County Jail, even though he's accused of killing two people and shooting another, remains on the lam. Authorities say a series of "clerical errors" caused the error involving 19-year-old Dontay Brannon, who was mistakenly released Monday despite the murder charges. Authorities say Brannon was taken that day to Hamilton police headquarters, where a relative paid 200 dollars in bail to get him released on burglary charges unrelated to the killings. Authorities, including the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, have been searching for Brannon since it became known that he was on...

Not since Berlin, 1989, has a big wall taken such a big fall. This time, it was the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit that blew the trumpet, effectively collapsing the false construct of the so-called “wall of separation between church and state” that for more than 50 years has been the cornerstone of the American Civil Liberties Union’s anti-religion agenda. This wasn’t one the ACLU saw coming. Their case—a suit to prevent Mercer County, Kentucky, officials from including a copy of the Ten Commandments in their display of historically significant documents—seemed tight enough, especially since the U.S....

Sometimes it’s hard to find a ray of light in the American judicial system but once in a while the sun comes shining through. In a shocking display of clarity and common sense, a federal appeals court judge ruled last month that the Ten Commandments may remain on a wall in a Mercer County, Kentucky courthouse. The case concerned a display entitled, “Foundations of American Law and Government,” which, in addition to the Commandments, also includes; the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Magna Carta, the Star-Spangled Banner, Lady...

Sometimes it's hard to find a ray of light in the American judicial system, but once in a while the sun comes shining through. In a shocking display of clarity and common sense, a federal appeals court judge ruled last month that the Ten Commandments may remain on a wall in a Mercer County, Kentucky courthouse. The case concerned a display entitled, "Foundations of American Law and Government," which, in addition to the Commandments, also includes; the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Preamble to the Kentucky Constitution, the Magna Carta, the Star-Spangled Banner, Lady...

If anyone has his hand on the pulse of America, it's Judge Richard F. Suhrheinrich of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. Writing for a three-judge panel, Judge Suhrheinrich, a Reagan appointee, said Mercer County, Ky., must be allowed to post at its courthouse copies of the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, the words to The Star-Spangled Banner, and other historical documents. The county had no expressed religious purpose in its display, he wrote, and the Commandments are not more prominently displayed than the other documents. That view certainly is within...

A federal appeals court has upheld a Ten Commandments display identical to one ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, rebuking the American Civil Liberties Union in the process. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Cincinnati, affirmed Dec. 20 a federal judge’s decision that a courthouse display in Mercer County, Ky., of nine documents, including the Ten Commandments, is constitutional. In a unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel, the court agreed with the lower court that the inclusion of the Decalogue does not violate the Constitution’s establishment clause because the display has a secular purpose....

A U.S. appeals court today upheld the decision of a lower court in allowing the inclusion of the Ten Commandments in a courthouse display, hammering the American Civil Liberties Union and declaring, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state." Attorneys from the American Center for Law and Justice successfully argued the case on behalf of Mercer County, Ky., and a display of historical documents placed in the county courthouse. The panel voted 3-0 to reject the ACLU's contention the display violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The county display the ACLU sued...

Criminals can demand that their DNA samples be destroyed after they complete their prison sentences, a state judge ruled yesterday. The ruling by Superior Court Judge Jack Sabatino, who sits in Mercer County, severely limits a 2003 law that requires everyone convicted of a crime to submit a DNA sample. "Once a felon has paid his or her debt to society and has fully resumed civilian life, the state's right to maintain that person's DNA sample withers," Sabatino wrote. Attorney General Peter Harvey said he will "immediately" appeal the ruling, saying it undermines the whole purpose of maintaining a DNA...

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — First lady Laura Bush will visit a Mercer County firehouse Thursday in the first Bush-Cheney campaign event in New Jersey that is not a fund-raiser. She is scheduled to deliver remarks at an 11:15 a.m. Bush-Cheney '04 rally at the Colonial Firehouse in Hamilton.