Matthew Heller

Wedding Photographer Asks High Court For Protection From Gay Bias Law

The photographer says New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law violates her First Amendment rights.

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller

A New Mexico wedding photographer who was found to have violated an anti-discrimination law by refusing to photograph the “commitment ceremony” of a lesbian couple is attempting to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the government cannot compel her to create expressive images that conflict with her religious beliefs. Elaine

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Sweeping DNA Collection Law Unsettles Federal Appeals Court

The law takes DNA from people never charged with a crime or who are discharged for lack of probable cause and keeps it on file in perpetuity.

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller

LOS ANGELES - A sample of Lily Haskell's DNA is still stored in a California crime lab and available to be tested by law enforcement, even though she was never charged with a crime arising out of her arrest at a peace rally in San Francisco more than four years ago. Now she is hoping a federal appeals court finally gives her — and other

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Motorists Fight To Put A Stop To Red Light Cameras

Challenges to red-light cameras head to the California Supreme Court.

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller

LOS ANGELES - For four-and-a-half years, Beverly Hills attorney Annette Borzakian has been fighting a $435 ticket she received after allegedly running a red light at an intersection that had been equipped with an automated red light enforcement system. The evidence against her included digital photos taken by the cameras installed at the

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Toy Guns, “Trigger-Happy” Cops Equal Tragedy For Children

“Why are our police so trigger-happy?” asked a retired L.A. County sheriff’s lieutenant.

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller

LOS ANGELES - Since a 13-year-old boy armed with an airsoft pistol was shot in Dec. 2010 by a Los Angeles police officer who mistakenly believed he had a real 9mm Beretta, L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck has led the charge to beef up regulation of imitation firearms. “This is a tragedy for all involved, but in particular for the young man injured

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California Anti-Imitation Gun Debate Ensues After Police Kill 13 Yr. Old Wielding Toy Gun

After the boy was fatally shot, police discovered his “weapon” was actually a toy gun.

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller

The weapon 13-year-old Andy Lopez was carrying when he encountered Sonoma County sheriff's deputies in Santa Rosa, Calif., on Oct. 22, certainly looked like an AK-47 assault rifle. It had the AK-47's distinctive brown stock, pistol grip and curved magazine clip. According to a police statement, Lopez “appeared to be an armed male.” But appearances

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LA School District At A Crossroads Between Safety And Discipline

L.A. school police issue tickets to students for fighting, daytime curfew violations and tardiness.

Matthew Heller
By Matthew Heller
School Safety

Michael was a seventh-grader in a south Los Angeles middle school when he got his first ticket from the police. His crime? Being late for school. “One day I was walking in and an officer stopped me and said I was late and took me to the principal’s office,” Michael told researchers with the Community Rights Campaign of the Labor/Community Strategy

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