Court Security

Trial judge asks how grenade-like device works: Police officer pulls pin, and it explodes

A trial in an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan was dramatically halted on Monday after the judge asked a police officer how an explosive—that authorities say they took from the defendant—worked. Assuring the court that it had been defused, the officer pulled the pin on the grenade-like device. It went off,…

Apr 12, 2016 4:35 PM CDT

Man held 6 months in retail theft of 2 paintbrushes gets 6 months for contempt over court outburst

Already jailed for more than six months in what would ordinarily be considered a fairly minor suburban Chicago shoplifting case, Ignatius Pollara got another six months for direct contempt on Friday after a courtroom outburst. When he tried to speak in court and was told to stop talking by Judge…

Apr 11, 2016 11:15 AM CDT

After ‘chaotic’ week without cellphone storage lockers, Chicago court visitors can use them again

Some visitors to Chicago’s main criminal courthouse left their cellphones in concrete planters last week. Others paid a food truck vendor $2 to hold their cellphones, or even left them with stranger, after the courthouse administration eliminated storage lockers formerly provided for the banned devices. As of Monday, however, after…

Apr 11, 2016 9:35 AM CDT

‘Tough chaotic day’ at Chicago courthouse as cellphone ban, sans storage lockers, begins

Updated: Originally, when a cellphone ban was imposed at Chicago’s main criminal courthouse three years ago, due to security concerns, defendants and others affected by the rule were allowed to put their electronic devices in storage lockers. But then oversight of the storage lockers proved burdensome and those in charge…

Apr 4, 2016 2:15 PM CDT

Thanks to tip, court security found 2-inch blade brought to court by defendant, authorities say

Authorities said they found a weapon on a defendant in an Ohio courthouse last week, but might have missed it if they hadn’t been tipped about it in advance. Donald Moore III, 35, was in Elyria Municipal Court for an eviction case. Although the courthouse ordinarily has just a metal…

Mar 31, 2016 12:35 PM CDT

Man admits to Facebook threats against federal judge, agrees to 366-day prison term

A Nevada man has pleaded guilty to threatening a federal judge on Facebook, in exchange for a prison term of just over a year. Jason Andre Willis, 41, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in federal court in Las Vegas to a felony charge of threatening interstate communications, reports the Las Vegas…

Mar 29, 2016 12:50 PM CDT

Cop turned bodycam on during ‘hallway deposition’ with defense lawyer, sparking outraged response

Worried about whether his words would be misconstrued, a Miami Beach police officer turned on his body camera one day last month when he saw an assistant Miami-Dade public defender approaching him in a courthouse hallway for an interview—a so-called hallway deposition—regarding an imminent misdemeanor case. But officer Julio Blanco…

Mar 28, 2016 5:00 PM CDT

Man with rifle case, but no gun, outside courthouse gets 210 days for obstruction, resisting arrest

There was only a tripod, a camera and other accessories in the rifle case that Floyd Wallace was carrying outside a Nebraska courthouse earlier this month. However, the 20-year-old was sentenced last week to a 210-day jail sentence, for obstruction and resisting arrest concerning the manner in which he responded…

Mar 21, 2016 3:05 PM CDT

Attorney faces felony case, accused of punching police officer during courthouse argument

Occasionally, people lose their tempers in court. But an argument between a defense lawyer and a police detective lieutenant in a suburban Detroit courthouse this week escalated to fisticuffs, resulting in the arrest of the attorney, reports the Detroit Free Press. Attorney Nijad Mehanna, 41, stood mute as he was…

Mar 18, 2016 3:30 PM CDT

What’s a court visitor to do with a banned cellphone? Storage lockers are being eliminated

Concerned about potential harassment of prosecutors, witnesses and others, Cook County’s chief circuit judge banned cellphones three years ago. Although exceptions apply to judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and others, the general public can’t bring phones and other electronic devices capable of sending photos over the Internet into Chicago area courthouses.…

Mar 18, 2016 3:10 PM CDT

Phony $10M Uber lawsuit supposedly filed by shooting suspect was accepted by federal court workers

A phony lawsuit from an imprisoned suspect in a Kalamazoo, Michigan, multiple shooting against Uber alleged the ride-arranging service ruined his life. But Jason Dalton obviously could not have sent the handwritten civil rights complaint, with its Philadelphia postmark, and he and his lawyer say he knew nothing about it,…

Mar 17, 2016 4:55 PM CDT

Lawyers who pointed out judge’s ex parte courtroom chat say fee for recordings just shot up

Last month, a husband-and-wife legal team created a stir by saying that a courtroom security tape showed a Georgia judge having an ex parte chat with prosecutors. Getting that daylong video from the Cobb County sheriff’s office, pursuant to a public-records request, cost $5. But since then, the sheriff’s office…

Mar 17, 2016 4:15 PM CDT

Federal judge testifies at trial of man accused of trying to kill him

A federal judge from Jacksonville, Florida, testified on Wednesday at the trial of a man accused of firing a shot that barely missed him. U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan testified against Aaron Markus Richardson, who is charged with attempted murder and 24 other charges, Jacksonville.com reports. Richardson is accused of…

Mar 17, 2016 9:32 AM CDT

Judge who survived driveway attack says she wasn’t told of prior warning to DA’s office

A Texas judge who survived an attack outside her home last year in what she calls “the most terrifying moment of my life” says the crime likely would never have occurred if she had been warned about a prior threat. About two weeks earlier, a caller had told the Travis…

Mar 16, 2016 4:55 PM CDT

Defense lawyer is left bruised and bloodied in confrontation with DA investigator

A criminal defense lawyer was left with a visibly swollen eye and a bloodied shirt in a courthouse confrontation with a District Attorney’s investigator in Santa Ana, California, on Wednesday. Lawyer James Crawford says the investigator attacked him and he didn’t fight back, KABC reports. Crawford’s lawyer, Jerry Steering, told…

Mar 10, 2016 11:11 AM CST