4th Circuit Court

News Flash from John Edwards Trial: Color-Coordinated Alternate Jurors Don’t Have to Attend

After a month of trial and more than a week of jury deliberation in the political corruption trial of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, there’s still no sign of a verdict. But there is one significant new development in the federal case against the former Democratic presidential candidate, reports ABC…

May 30, 2012 10:28 PM CDT

Fed’l Appeals Court Says Sign Law Applies to Dog Kennel’s Mural, Calls Claimed Artwork Advertising

Is a mural featuring dogs on the exterior of a commercial building a sign subject to standard business zoning requirements or a work of art? It depends on the subject matter, according to a federal appeals court opinion last week. But because the mural at issue featured cartoon canines from…

May 29, 2012 7:37 PM CDT

Federal Appeals Court Defines Piracy on the High Seas

A federal appeals court held Wednesday that an armed attack on a U.S. vessel can be considered piracy even if no one ever boards or robs the ship. The ruling by the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal gives prosecutors wider latitude to go after people who attack…

May 24, 2012 8:01 PM CDT

9th Circuit Nixes Padilla Suit Against Lawyer John Yoo, Author of So-Called DOJ Torture Memos

Reversing a federal district judge’s determination that an enemy combatant could sue a Justice Department lawyer over his “torture memos” authorizing the use of harsh interrogation methods by U.S. authorities on terrorism suspects, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that John Yoo is immune from Jose Padilla’s suit seeking a…

May 2, 2012 7:03 PM CDT

Disbarred NC Lawyer Is Federally Charged re Alleged $857K Embezzlement from Law Firm Trust Account

A North Carolina attorney who was disbarred by consent last year after admittedly misappropriating trust funds is now facing federal charges. Samuel Neill is charged with fraud and making false statements, reports the Times-News. He is accused of improperly using trust account money to fund personal expenses, law firm expenses…

Apr 10, 2012 1:40 PM CDT

Former Securities Lawyer Gets 23 Years in Scheme to Sell Millions in Fraudulent Investments

A former securities lawyer was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison by a federal judge in North Carolina for his role in what prosecutors said was a multimillion-dollar investment fraud. The government had sought a 90-year term for Gregory Bartko, the Associated Press reports. His lawyer had argued for…

Apr 5, 2012 10:26 PM CDT

Former PI Lawyer Gets 2 Years for Taking $200K Out of Client Trust Account

After his wife discovered he is gay and told their children, Steven Helm said he had an hour to pack his things and go. As he struggled to deal with a fog of depression in the aftermath of losing his home, his marriage and his relationship with his children, he…

Mar 29, 2012 6:52 PM CDT

4th Circuit’s Wilkinson Hits Liberals and Conservatives for Competing Theories of Judicial Activism

A federal appeals judge is taking both liberals and conservatives to task for pushing constitutional theories that weaken Congress and the nation’s system of self-governance. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III outlines his views in a New York Times op-ed and in a new book, Cosmic Constitutional Theory: Why Americans Are…

Mar 19, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Prosecutor Resigns in Wake of Federal Judge’s Reversal of Capital Murder Case Conviction

Criticized last week by a federal judge for his conduct in a capital murder case, a Virginia prosecutor announced today that he would resign, effective tomorrow. “It is not an easy decision,” says the letter provided by Culpeper County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Close to the Star-Exponent. “My inclination is to…

Mar 12, 2012 10:22 PM CDT

How Alzheimer’s Has Affected a Former Potential Supreme Court Nominee

Karen Williams was chief judge of a federal appeals court and a potential Supreme Court nominee when her family noticed some changes in her personality. Williams, who headed the Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was at the peak of her career, the Greenville News (sub. req.) reports.…

Mar 12, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Mom Takes Job with Lawyer to Help Son Win Reversal of Capital Murder Conviction

Updated: A man who was 15 years old when a 74-year-old woman was shot to death in 1996 has won the reversal of his capital murder conviction with the help of his mother, who took a job in a lawyer’s office to help him pursue an appeal. A federal judge…

Mar 5, 2012 8:47 PM CST

4th Circuit Footnote Scolds Prosecutors for ‘Disrespectful’ and ‘Uncivil’ Language in Pleadings

A federal appeals court has warned prosecutors about the potential consequences of using “disrespectful or uncivil language” toward others in their appellate briefs. The Richmond, Va.-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion last week, said that advocates, including government lawyers, “do themselves a disservice” when their briefs…

Feb 29, 2012 10:57 PM CST

Federal Judge OKs Suit by Ex-Associate and Counterclaim by Mayer Brown

A federal judge has given a green light both to a race discrimination suit filed against Mayer Brown by a fired former associate and a counterclaim in which the law firm accuses her of improperly accessing documents while her termination was pending. Finding that it is a question of fact…

Jan 31, 2012 9:38 PM CST

‘Megaretrieval’ Effort Launched to Help Users Get Access to Files on Website Raided by Feds

Customers and other users who stored personal materials on Megaupload have another two weeks to retrieve their files, under an agreement negotiated by the embattled website and its hosting companies. However, it isn’t clear whether and how individuals can access their property since the raid by the U.S. that shut…

Jan 31, 2012 6:56 PM CST

4th Circuit Nixes Damages Suit by ‘Enemy Combatant’ Jose Padilla Over Alleged US Torture

In a move decried by the American Civil Liberties Union as a sad day for the rule of law, a federal appeals court today upheld a lower court’s ruling that an American citizen who claimed he was illegally detained and tortured at a U.S. military jail in South Carolina cannot…

Jan 23, 2012 11:41 PM CST