SAN ANTONIO, Texas

Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, 40, and Cassandra Rivera, 38, along with Anna Vasquez, 38, were found guilty of molesting two girls in alleged assaults in 1994 that an expert has described as reminiscent of the Satanic ritual day care abuse cases of the 1980s and early 1990s. The women, known nationally as the “San Antonio 4,” always maintained their innocence. On Monday, after the district attorney agreed the group was entitled to a new trial on the grounds that recent scientific advances undermined testimony pivotal to their convictions, Ramirez, Mayhugh and Rivera were released on bond. Vasquez was paroled last year.

“I couldn’t sleep last night. I couldn’t believe I was here,” said Rivera, a mother of two who met her granddaughter for the first time Monday night. Rivera said she found herself staring at her 20-something son and daughter, who were just 9 and 8 years old when she first went to prison nearly 14 years ago. “I can’t believe they’re with me,” she said.

John Brecher / NBC News

Liabilty attorney in texas

That finding was debunked on Monday, when the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney’s office and Ware said that scientific advances undermined the doctor’s testimony, leading to the three women’s release from prison. The women now await a decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on whether to grant them a new trial. If that happens, the district attorney will decline to prosecute them, and their convictions would be overturned, said Rico Valdez, the chief assistant criminal attorney who oversees the office’s post-conviction review.

The new scientific information was allowed to be presented under a “junk science” law passed in Texas earlier this year that gives defendants the chance to submit findings that may cast doubt on their conviction.

The agreement between the attorneys was a huge breakthrough for the women, who had felt they were railroaded at trial, partly because they are lesbians.

Cassandra Rivera hugs her son Michael on Nov. 19, his 22nd birthday and her first full day out of prison in nearly 14 years. “I made it in time for your birthday,” she told him Monday just after her release.

Vasquez and Rivera, who entered prison three years after Ramirez, said a woman in their initial unit wanted to jump them until she heard their side of the story: they told her they were falsely accused.

The group ended up doing the same with other inmates, but some still called them child molesters, Rivera said. “I still walked with my head held high because I knew I was innocent. We were innocent,” she said. “We know what happened, and the truth is going to eventually come out.”

The women, except for Ramirez, could have avoided prison. Plea deals were offered, but they refused to accept them on the grounds that they were innocent. They could have left prison earlier, too, if they agreed to participate in a sex offender treatment program, which they all rejected.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/19/21540535-san-antonio-4-speak-out-after-prison-release-were-actually-innocent?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=1

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Distracted driving is incredibly dangerous behavior, and more states than ever before are taking steps to try to reduce the number of people on the roads who are distracted by cell phones and electronic devices.  In fact, the Governors’ Highway Safety Association (GHSA) released a report entitled “2013 Distracted Driving: Survey of the States” indicating that there has been a 45-percent increase in the number of states with texting bans in place for all drivers as compared with just three years ago.

Florida became one of the states with a texting law this year when Governor Scott signed a texting ban into law after five years of attempts to get such a law passed.   Florida’s ban is relatively weak, allowing for drivers to text when stopped in traffic or at traffic lights and making texting a secondary offense with a fine of only $30 plus court costs for a first-time offender.   Still, the fact that texting is now illegal means that those injured in a texting accident may have an easier time of recovering compensation with the help of an auto accident lawyer in West Palm Beach since negligence per se rules allow victims to prove negligence by pointing to a law that the other driver broke.

While the law may help accident victims to recover compensation, however, it may be difficult for police to enforce. In fact, as the Huffington Post recently reported, texting laws in general are difficult to enforce, even in states that have taken a very tough stance on fighting distracted drivers.  The difficulty of enforcing these laws means that many people continue to text even though it is illegal.

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It has become abundantly clear as a result of numerous medical studies and reports of complications to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that metal-on-metal hip implants are disastrous for patients. Our experienced attorneys know that metal-on-metal products are marketed primarily to younger and more active individuals with the promise that these new medical devices will last longer than traditional hip implant systems. Unfortunately, it seems the exact opposite is true.

The high failure rate of metal-on-metal hip implants has been confirmed in yet another in-depth study, this one conducted by the Canadian Institute for Health. As reported by CBC News Health, the study showed that  the failure rate of metal-on-metal devices was not just higher, but was around twice as high as the chances of failure with metal-on-plastic implants.

Canadian Health Institute Survey Shows High Failure Rates of Metal-on-Metal Hip Replacement Products 

The Canadian Institute for Health study involved a review of 56,942 hip surgeries that were performed from 2003 through 2011 throughout Canada.  Of the hip implant surgeries included in the study:

• Twenty-three percent of patients had received metal-on-plastic implants.
• Nine percent of patients had received metal-on-metal implants.
• Eight percent of patients had received ceramic-on-ceramic implants.
• Five percent of patients had received ceramic-on-plastic implants.

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Our lawyers know that insurance companies use many different criteria in setting the cost of insurance policies for drivers. The safety features of the car a person drives, a person’s age, a person’s martial status, a person’s gender, and the driving record of the insurance applicant are all considered when an insurer quotes a policy.

Some factors that most people agree should not be considered, however, include income, education and career status. In June of 2012, 1,010 adult Americans responding to a survey were against insurance companies counting either educational status or occupation in setting insurance rates. In fact, 68 percent of those who responded disagreed with the use of education as a factor and 65 percent felt that insurance companies shouldn’t consider education.
Unfortunately, insurance companies aren’t listening to the public. In fact, a recent study conducted by the Consumer Federation of America has revealed that insurance companies are charging lower income and less educated people significantly more for their car insurance.

Are Lower-Income People Being Priced Out of the Car Insurance Market?

The Consumer Federation of America secured quotes from many of the largest insurance companies in the United States. When obtaining quotes, all variables were kept the same except adjustments were made to career, income and education. The results were startling as there was a vast difference in what educated, higher income professionals were being charged as compared with lower income workers.

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