WEB COULD GET RULING MONDAY.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Possibly as soon as Monday, a bow tie-wearing judge who knows more about Milton than Microsoft will peer through wire-rimmed spectacles at a glowing computer screen. When he gives the order, an assistant will push a button, and the world will know whether the murder conviction of British au pair Louise Woodward Louise Woodward (born 28 February, 1978, Cheshire, England) is a British former au pair convicted, at the age of 19, of the involuntary manslaughter of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen in Newton, Massachusetts. will stand or fall. Judge Hiller B. Zobel's unprecedented decision to e-mail his ruling to news organizations for posting on the World Wide Web is as bold and risky as his appearance is staid staid adj. 1. Characterized by sedate dignity and often a strait-laced sense of propriety; sober. See Synonyms at serious. 2. . The 65-year-old judge's own knowledge of computers admittedly is limited to using the escape key. A court official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the judge's son, a graduate of the California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology, at Pasadena, Calif.; originally for men, became coeducational in 1970; founded 1891 as Throop Polytechnic Institute; called Throop College of Technology, 1913–20. , had a role in his thinking. The judge turned to technology because of massive publicity surrounding the case of Woodward, who was sentenced last week to life in prison for killing a baby in her care. The case has been fodder fodder feed for herbivorous animals, usually used to describe dried leafy material such as hay. See also forage. fodder beet a root crop grown solely as a source of feed for cattle, possibly sheep. for national talk shows, Internet chat groups and front pages on both sides of the Atlantic. It has prompted talk about the choices working parents make and sparked outrage at Woodward's conviction. Zobel's decision - whether to let the jury verdict stand, declare Woodward innocent, order a new trial, or reduce her conviction to manslaughter manslaughter, homicide committed without justification or excuse but distinguished from murder by the absence of the element of malice aforethought. Modern criminal statutes usually divide it into degrees, the most common distinction being between voluntary and - could come as early as Monday morning. The judge fears that releasing the ruling by traditional means would bury court clerks A court clerk, in British English clerk to the court or in American English clerk of the court is an officer of the court whose responsibilities include maintaining the records of a court. Another duty is to swear in witnesses, jurors, and grand jurors. under a crush of reporters and that someone could get hurt in the jostling. He believes the Internet is the best way of making the text of his ruling available instantly to media outlets and anyone else who wants to see it. Under Massachusetts law, the judge must file a signed copy of the decision with the court clerk. He also plans to make two paper copies available to lawyers on both sides of the case. He has made no other arrangements for distribution on paper, despite protestations by reporters, who believe the system is unreliable. The judge's technical naivete na·ive·té or na·ïve·té n. 1. The state or quality of being inexperienced or unsophisticated, especially in being artless, credulous, or uncritical. 2. An artless, credulous, or uncritical statement or act. was displayed in his original plan - to post the ruling on a single Web site belonging to Massachusetts-based Lawyers Weekly. The small server handling the Web site crashed soon after the word got out. Under the current plan, the ruling will be sent by e-mail to about 25 news organizations, including The Associated Press, which plan to post it on their Web sites. |
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