Marietta, GA Attorneys, Lawyers and Law Firms

Nicholas Christopher Ferro was denied a third trial for the death of Marques Butler in 2009.

Ferro's first trial had ended in a hung jury. In his second trial, he was convicted of murder in the second degree last September.

However, he had asked for a third trial with Miami attorney Carlos Gonzalez pointing out several things, the main of which is that the charges should not have been murder in the second degree because of the scant amount of time that Ferro and Butler have known each other before the incident happened.

According to Ferro's defense, a murder in the second degree charge would require that the perpetrator and victim are familiar with each other thus the need for a time requirement on how long they have known each other basing on the murder laws of Florida.

However, the judge said the amount of time is not required.

With Ferro's demand for a third trial denied, a life imprisonment sentence looms for him.

The murder charge filed against Freddie Earl Patton,53, for the shooting death of his girlfriend's father, Kenneth Millar, 81, has been dismissed upon the request of the Deputy District Attorney.

An order for Patton's release from jail has been signed, however, he may not be off the hook yet as the DA's office has stated that the case will be turned over to the grand jury in Jefferson County.

The prosecution moved for the dismissal after arguing with the defense who wanted to further question the detective about the autopsy report.

Birmingham criminal attorney John Lentine said that a manslaughter charge should have been filed instead of murder because the shooting was an accident.

If Patton gets indicted, he will have to go back to jail.

David Christopher Cruz was found guilty in the death of an infant, who is still five months shy of turning one years old.

The infant victim, the son of Cruz's girlfriend, was taken off life support a few days after he was brought into the hospital unconscious.

He suffered head injuries, several fractures and had bruises on his body.

Court heard that Cruz was the infant's baby sitter while the mother goes to work.

Cruz told the police that he had hit the baby because he keeps on fussing.

Michael Begovich, a criminal lawyer in San Diego defending for Cruz, said that the baby's mother also has a responsibility in her son's death because she had not consulted a doctor when the baby had an ear infection.

Donnell Deshawn Stean was cleared of manslaughter charges for the death of Bernard Howard Jr. whom he shot during an altercation.

The jury had found that Stean had only shot Howard in defense.

Howard was found to have more than the legal limit of alcohol in his blood while Stean had tested positive of an ingredient found in marijuana.

Howard was one of the people whom Stean found in his apartment when he went home on the night of Nov. 3. They were drinking and helping out a roommate of Stean's who was moving out.

The group got upset when Stean hit an older man who was also living in the apartment.

Howard had punched Stean, who retaliated by pulling out his gun.

Sacramento defense attorney Alan Whisenand said his client, Stean, had felt threatened by the group thus his actions.

Stean was also cleared of seriously wounding the female roommate's brother during the incident.

A jury rejected a negligence lawsuit brought by Katherine Jackson, the mother of Michael Jackson, against AEG Live LLC, the This is It concerts promoter of the King of Pop.

Katherine Jackson's lawyers claimed that the promoter erred when it failed to verify if Dr. Conrad Murray was qualified when it hired him as the singer's doctor.

AEG denied the allegation but said that Murray was hired by Michael Jackson himself.

Murray is already serving a jail sentence for the death of the popstar.

Los Angeles lawyer Marvin S. Putnam, AEG's lead defense counsel, said the jury made the right decision.

The Jackson lawyers had pointed out that the promoter was only after its own profits thus it did not bother to make sure that Murray was a qualified physician.

Putnam and his defence team claimed Murray's hiring was the singer's choice and that if their client had known about what Murray and Jackson were up to they would not have gone on with the series of concerts.