Appellate Practice

Supreme Court Halts Execution in MS

A last-minute decision tonight by the U.S. Supreme Court to call off the scheduled execution of a Mississippi murderer seemingly signals that there is now a de facto death penalty moratorium in place nationwide. The decision—which was made a mere 15 minutes or so before Earl W. Berry was scheduled…

Oct 30, 2007 11:44 PM CDT

Court: CA Judge Complaints Confidential

If a police officer acts improperly during an arrest, a defendant in a California criminal case has a right to obtain in camera judicial review of that officer’s personnel file to see if it contains relevant material about the issue that should be produced in discovery and potentially introduced as…

Oct 30, 2007 6:27 PM CDT

Black Counsel Scarce at US Supreme Court

For the first time in more than a year, an African-American lawyer should be arguing before the U.S Supreme Court today. Even more unusual, Drew Days III is representing a corporate client. The argument will be his 24th before the nation’s highest court, reports the Associated Press, solidly establishing Days…

Oct 29, 2007 6:16 PM CDT

GA Supreme Court: Teen’s 10-Year Sentence Cruel & Unusual

UPDATED: Upholding a lower court ruling that a 10-year prison sentence imposed on a young man who, at 17, was videotaped having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl was cruel and unusual punishment, the Georgia Supreme Court today ordered his release. Genarlow Wilson, now 21, was convicted of felony…

Oct 27, 2007 12:59 AM CDT

Lawyer’s Theatrics Void $30M Jury Award

The Ohio Supreme Court has overturned a record-breaking $30 million medical malpractice award, citing, among other courtroom misbehavior, a theatrical closing argument by the controversial Michigan attorney representing the brain-injured plaintiff. Attorney Geoffrey Fieger’s courtroom antics, including his assumption at closing of the persona of his client, when he allegedly…

Oct 27, 2007 12:35 AM CDT

30-Year Sentence Upheld for Lionel Tate

A Florida youth infamous as perhaps the youngest person in the U.S. ever to receive a life sentence, before it was subsequently overturned, now appears likely to serve a lengthy prison term after all. Lionel Tate’s 30-year sentence for violating his probation in the murder case was upheld today by…

Oct 25, 2007 10:46 PM CDT

Divided 7th Circuit Rejects IL Gov’s Appeal

A former Illinois governor may soon be headed to jail after the rejection of his appeal of his federal corruption conviction. The full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused today to grant an en banc hearing to reconsider an earlier decision by a divided three-judge appellate court panel to…

Oct 25, 2007 5:58 PM CDT

Exonerated But Still Struggling

Twenty years after he was convicted of rape based on an inaccurate witness identification, Marcus Lyons has finally been cleared by DNA evidence. His conviction has been dismissed by the DuPage County state’s attorney, and his name will soon be expunged from a database of convicted sex offenders, reports the…

Oct 22, 2007 3:52 PM CDT

Pedestrian Appeals Disorderly Conduct Case

It isn’t just Sen. Larry Craig who’s changed his mind about pleading guilty to a disorderly conduct charge. The case of Brooklyn man who spent a night in jail after apparently being charged with disorderly conduct simply because he was standing on a public sidewalk in Manhattan may soon help…

Oct 18, 2007 11:31 PM CDT

How Not to Choose a Lead Plaintiff

After more than a year of legal wrangling, attorneys representing the plaintiffs in a would-be securities class action couldn’t come up with a lead plaintiff candidate who was acceptable to the trial judge. Hence, the judge refused to certify the class, and the plaintiff lawyers went to the 7th U.S.…

Oct 18, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

Supreme Court Halts Va. Execution

Only a few hours before Christopher Scott Emmett was scheduled to die tonight in Virginia by lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously halted the planned execution. The move appears to signal a growing concern that problems with the constitutionality of lethal injections may need to be addressed before further…

Oct 18, 2007 12:43 AM CDT

Frozen Embryo Gets Day in Court

A frozen embryo has not only retained a lawyer to file a federal court case over planned stem cell research but has strong objections to a previously enacted California ballot measure. Martin Palmer, a Maryland attorney who says he represents the “preborn” plaintiff, Mary Scott Doe, argued against a 2004…

Oct 17, 2007 9:03 PM CDT

New Vows for Dozens in PA Marriage Mess

A first-of-a-kind case in Pennsylvania has called the validity of an untold number of marriages into question, prompting many committed couples to resolve the issue by simply re-taking their vows even though it hasn’t yet been upheld on appeal. Those who don’t redo their original ceremony face troubling questions about…

Oct 10, 2007 11:15 PM CDT

Pro Bono Team Attacks Exec’s Prosecution

A team of pro bono attorneys from four different firms has taken up the cause of a convicted Dynegy Inc. executive and filed a habeas corpus petition seeking his release from prison. By pressuring Dynegy, under threat of prosecution, to renege on its promise of paying defense costs, the federal…

Oct 8, 2007 9:16 PM CDT

Experts: Lethal Injection Will Live On in TX

Although the state of Texas halted an execution at the last minute this week, apparently because of a U.S. Supreme Court challenge over another state’s lethal injection approach, experts expect this won’t change Texas death-penalty practices much in the long run. Instead, they predict, Texas lethal injections will live on—reformulated,…

Oct 4, 2007 8:51 PM CDT