Appellate Practice

Judge reverses divorce lawyer’s murder conviction in slaying of family member, says evidence lacking

A California divorce lawyer convicted last year of shooting to death his stepdaughter’s husband during a visit to Arizona in 2010 is getting a new trial. In a ruling released Thursday, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge found that Robert Fischer, 54, was convicted despite a lack of evidence connecting…

Mar 6, 2014 10:10 PM CST

Abu-Jamal appellate work derails lawyer’s nomination to lead DOJ Civil Rights Division

Updated: Debo Adegbile’s nomination to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has been blocked amid controversy over the lawyer’s appellate work on behalf of former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal. Eight Democrats joined Republicans to block Adegbile in a procedural vote, the Washington Post reports. Among those voting against Adegbile…

Mar 5, 2014 6:59 PM CST

Court: Judge who officiated at lawyer’s wedding but didn’t go to reception can hear attorney’s cases

A judge who officiated at a lawyer’s wedding can still hear the attorney’s cases, a California appeals court ruled Tuesday. But that result might be different, the Fourth District Court of Appeal suggested, if the San Diego Superior Court commissioner whose conduct was at issue in the case had attended…

Mar 5, 2014 5:45 PM CST

‘Truthiness’ is vital to political speech, according to humorist’s amicus brief

“Truthiness” and political satire are imperiled by an Ohio law that makes it a criminal offense to tell political lies, according to a U.S. Supreme Court amicus brief filed by the Cato Institute and satirist P.J. O’Rourke. Truthiness means a truth that comes from the gut without regard to evidence…

Mar 5, 2014 11:50 AM CST

5th Circuit denies Miss. inmate’s habeas corpus petition citing controversial forensic pathologist

A federal appeals court has denied a Mississippi prisoner’s petition for a successive writ of habeas corpus. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a Jan. 31 ruling (PDF), said inmate Tavares Flaggs hadn’t shown that the factual predicate of his proposed claims could not have been…

Mar 4, 2014 10:45 PM CST

Did judge take oath on time? Refused a recusal, divorce litigant gets issue to state’s top court

What John Myser originally wanted was a recusal from the judge hearing his Minnesota divorce case. But when Scott County District Judge Caroline Lennon refused to step down, he began researching rules that applied to jurists. He discovered that judges are supposed to take—and file with the secretary of state—an…

Mar 4, 2014 5:00 PM CST

Appeals court orders bail for 70-year-old former juror jailed for 6 months in contempt case

A 70-year-old Florida man who has spent more than a month in jail after being sentenced to nearly six months for contempt over his jury service in a high-profile drunken-driving and manslaughter case may not be there much longer. A state appeals court Monday ordered that Dennis DeMartin be allowed…

Mar 3, 2014 11:30 PM CST

ACLU of Florida says police department used cellphone tracking device 200 times without warrants

Police in Tallahassee, Fla., have used a so-called stingray device 200 times to track suspects through their cellphones—not only without getting warrants but without telling the suspects or the courts adjudicating the cases about the electronic surveillance. So, citing a First District Court of Appeal opinion (PDF) last year that…

Mar 3, 2014 7:55 PM CST

Juror, 70, who is serving 6-month contempt sentence must stay in the slammer during appeal

By the time Dennis DeMartin’s appeal of his six-month contempt term is heard, the 70-year-old Florida man will have served it, his lawyer points out. But, so far, there’s been little court sympathy for the argument that DeMartin should be freed while he appeals the five-month, 29-day jail sentence he…

Feb 28, 2014 10:10 PM CST

Del. drug-testing lab issues spark prosecution call for trial freeze in all current drug cases

Another state is dealing with reported irregularities at its drug-testing laboratory, calling into question convictions that occurred between 2010 and 2013 as an investigation continues into the apparent theft of evidence. Prosecutors in Delaware have asked the superior court, court of common pleas and the family court to impose a…

Feb 28, 2014 6:10 PM CST

9th Circuit tells Google to take down YouTube clip, calls threats to plaintiff irreparable harm

A woman who says a video clip was used without her permission on an anti-Muslim movie trailer posted on YouTube has won a federal appeals court OK of an injunction requiring Google Inc. to take down the “Innocence of Muslims.” Google unsuccessfully argued that being required to take down the…

Feb 26, 2014 5:55 PM CST

Is Justice Thomas not paying attention? Commentator calls silence ‘downright embarrassing’

It has now been eight years since Justice Clarence Thomas asked a question during oral arguments, and that’s eight years too many, according to a magazine columnist. In a New Yorker column, Supreme Court commentator Jeffrey Toobin writes that Thomas “is simply not doing his job.” “His behavior on the…

Feb 24, 2014 2:42 PM CST

Without involving counsel, NYC agrees to pay $6.4M to man who claimed he was framed by detective

Confronted with strong evidence that a man who served 23 years for a murder he did not commit had been framed by a rogue police detective, the comptroller for New York City agreed to pay a $6.4 million settlement. The settlement with David Ranta was made without involving the city’s…

Feb 20, 2014 10:59 PM CST

Government agency can’t assert attorney-client privilege in AG probe, top state court says

There are circumstances in which state agencies can assert an attorney-client privilege. But a grand jury investigation into their claimed wrongdoing by the state attorney general’s office isn’t among them, a top state court has ruled. That’s because the public is the client represented by state-paid lawyers counseling a troubled…

Feb 20, 2014 5:30 PM CST

Attorney can testify in ineffective assistance case even if there’s no client waiver, judge rules

A criminal defense lawyer can testify in his former client’s appeal asserting ineffective assistance of counsel, even if the ex-client hasn’t waived attorney-client privilege, a Kansas judge ruled Under Kansas law, explained Shawnee County District Court Judge Nancy Parrish, no privilege applies in an ineffective assistance case, the Topeka Capital-Journal…

Feb 18, 2014 11:55 PM CST