Arkansas

Judge who reduced verdict from $5M to $1M, expecting campaign gift, gets 10 years in bribe case

A former Arkansas judge was sentenced Thursday to a maximum 10-year prison term for admittedly reducing a jury verdict in the expectation of a contribution to his planned campaign for a state appeals court seat. Michael Maggio, now 54, lost his seat on the Faulkner County Circuit Court bench after…

Mar 24, 2016 3:30 PM CDT

Lawyer’s suit seeks declaratory judgment that he shoved state treasurer in self-defense

An Arkansas lawyer has sued the state treasurer on his own behalf, seeking a declaratory judgment that he acted in self-defense when he shoved the official at a deposition in February for an earlier federal lawsuit. In his Monday suit, which was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, attorney Luther…

Mar 21, 2016 4:40 PM CDT

Found delinquent in fatal school shootings, both perps sought or got guns after release at age 21

Two men found delinquent as juveniles in what was then one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history were confined for less than 10 years before being released on their 21st birthdays. Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden are the only two perpetrators of mass school shootings in this country…

Feb 17, 2016 12:05 PM CST

Judge is charged in hot-car death of his toddler son

An Arkansas judge is facing a misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide for the July 24 hot-car death of his 17-month old son. Prosecutors charged Judge Wade Naramore of Garland County on Thursday, report Arkansas Online, the Leader Call, the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record and KATV. Naramore told police he worried about…

Feb 12, 2016 10:37 AM CST

Scammed law firm sues insurer for lost money

An Arkansas law firm has sued its insurer in a bid to recover nearly $100,000 lost to a scammer. The suit filed by Watts Donovan & Tilley against Valley Forge Insurance Co. says the loss is covered under a provision of its insurance policy covering losses from forgery, Arkansas Business…

Feb 8, 2016 7:29 AM CST

Lawyer’s own view of ‘train wreck’ performance doesn’t justify resentencing, top state court says

An Arkansas judge should not have granted a new sentencing hearing for a death-row inmate based on his lawyer’s concession that his performance in the trial’s last phase was “a train wreck,” the Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled. The court said the judge considering the ineffective assistance claim by convicted…

Feb 8, 2016 5:45 AM CST

New ethics complaint: Judge paid lawyers appearing before him, offered defendant $300 for nude pose

An Arkansas judge accused of offering to reduce court fines in exchange for sex is facing new allegations. An amended complaint (PDF) alleges Judge Joseph Boeckmann Jr. of Wynne offered one defendant $300 to pose nude in the same position as Michelangelo’s statue of David, report the Associated Press, Arkansas…

Jan 21, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Did lawyers use federal court as a ‘bargaining chip’? Irked judge schedules sanctions hearing

A federal judge has scheduled a Feb. 19 hearing to consider whether to sanction lawyers who dropped a federal case and refiled it in Arkansas state court with a proposed class settlement, possibly with the intent to find a court more disposed to approve the deal. U.S. District Judge P.K.…

Jan 12, 2016 8:20 AM CST

Arkansas judge is accused of offering ‘substitutionary sentences’ followed by sexual proposals

An ethics complaint accuses an Arkansas judge of inviting male offenders to report for “substitutionary sentences” at his home, where he then solicited sexual relations in exchange for reduced court fines. The allegations against 69-year-old Judge Joseph Boeckmann Jr. of Cross County were announced at a press conference on Tuesday.…

Nov 18, 2015 10:56 AM CST

Federal judge nixes attorney-owned nativity display on courthouse lawn

A federal judge in Arkansas has ruled that a 40-year tradition of displaying a nativity scene on the Baxter County courthouse lawn is unconstitutional. For years, the nativity scene has used figures owned by attorney Rick Spencer, and last year the county leased a small land parcel on which the…

Nov 12, 2015 2:25 PM CST

Annual holiday season battle begins over nativity scenes

With the holiday season fast approaching, government officials are girding their loins for the annual battle over what displays will be permitted on public property. Commissioners in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, showed little enthusiasm on Monday for entering the fray, in an interview with WLFI. The station asked County Commissioners President…

Nov 5, 2015 12:10 PM CST

2nd lawyer avoids conviction in case related to developer’s bankruptcy

Initially convicted by a federal jury in a bankruptcy fraud case related to a client real estate developer’s financial collapse, an Arkansas attorney is now in the clear. After the trial, the district court reversed attorney Kenneth Vaughn Knight’s conviction on a false statement count and granted him a new…

Nov 4, 2015 11:35 AM CST

Parents don’t have right to public-school choice, 8th Circuit rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that parents have no constitutional right to send their children to the public school of their choice. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) on Monday in a suit by parents in northeast Arkansas who wanted to move their children…

Sep 2, 2015 10:06 AM CDT

Chief judge calls for more traffic court security; says future incident a question of when, not if

The chief judge of a suburban county in the Chicago area says better security is needed in its satellite traffic courts to prevent judges from being targeted by disgruntled defendants. Speaking during a Tuesday budget discussion, DuPage County Chief Judge Kathryn Creswell said at least one of the four courts…

Aug 5, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Toddler who died in hot car was son of juvenile court judge

The 18-month-old son of an Arkansas juvenile court judge was left unattended and later found dead in a hot vehicle last week, authorities say. Police in Hot Springs say the cause of Thomas Naramore’s death apparently was excessive heat, according to the state crime lab, but no official cause has…

Jul 28, 2015 2:43 PM CDT