Court Security

Despite lack of law license, man represents clients in court in New York and New Jersey

Operating from a New York City law office, Mikhail Perlov represented clients in court in criminal matters in Brooklyn, Long Island, Manhattan and Queens, as well as Belmar and Rahway, New Jersey. But there was one big problem: He wasn’t licensed to practice in New York, New Jersey or any…

Sep 28, 2015 9:05 AM CDT

Ex-courthouse clerk charged with felony for throwing files in trash after being fired

A former Harris County, Texas, courthouse clerk has been accused of throwing thousands of pages of court documents into the trash after being fired. Steven Calyen, who was fired Tuesday, was charged with felony tampering with a public record, the Houston Chronicle reports. Calyen was on his way to an…

Sep 23, 2015 11:35 AM CDT

Using private court entrances protected defendant and counsel, but was it good for judges?

After a police officer was surrounded by media and followed by taunting protesters as he entered a North Carolina courthouse for his arraignment in a voluntary manslaughter case, the Mecklenburg County sheriff devised a new security plan. Following that December incident, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer Randall “Wes” Kerrick and his defense…

Sep 18, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

As movie about courthouse shooter premieres, hostage recalls how experience turned her life around

A new movie has been released based on the 2005 crime spree of Brian Nichols, which began at an Atlanta courthouse. On March 11, 2005, Brian Nichols fatally attacked a judge and three others before taking a woman hostage miles away. Captive focuses on Nichols’ interaction with the hostage, Ashley…

Sep 18, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

DA should have charged deputy in court assault on inmate, judge says, but it’s too late to do so now

A seemingly unprovoked attack on a shackled Colorado inmate by a sheriff’s deputy in a Denver courtroom should have resulted in a misdemeanor assault charge against the deputy, a state court judge said Friday. But the ruling by Chief Judge Michael Martinez of Denver District Court in the unusual hearing…

Sep 14, 2015 9:10 AM CDT

Asthmatic woman sprints from court, down stairs, past security, hails cab before deputy catches up

Updated: Ordered taken into custody after a Thursday morning hearing at a Florida courthouse, a woman slipped out of her handcuffs and sprinted out of the courtroom, down several flights of stairs, through the lobby and past security at the entrance of the Broward County Courthouse. Deyanira Salazar, 35, even…

Sep 10, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Judge pursuing thief of sign at NYC’s first gender-neutral courthouse restroom

About a year ago, the Brooklyn Supreme Court became the first state courthouse in New York City to designate a gender-neutral restroom, Justice Lawrence Knipel says. Since then, the sign designating the historic facilities has repeatedly been swiped, the New York Post reports. Seeking to flush out the culprit or…

Sep 8, 2015 11:55 AM CDT

New courthouse audio at security checkpoint caught attorneys by surprise

For nearly two weeks last month, new audio recorders installed at a Knoxville, Tennessee, courthouse and a nearby city county building were capturing conversations near the entrance. The recordings were lega,l and entrance stickers warned visitors that their conversations might be recorded, Knox County officials said. Nonetheless, attorneys and others…

Sep 2, 2015 4:40 PM CDT

Served with process Tuesday, man shows up at court Wednesday with revving chainsaw, police say

Served with process Tuesday in a family-law case, the respondent showed up at a Canadian courthouse Wednesday morning—holding a revving chainsaw, police say. Sheriff’s officers at the family division of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Family Division saw him coming and prevented the unidentified 43-year-old from entering the…

Sep 2, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Defendant overpowers bailiff, fatally shoots himself with bailiff’s gun in courthouse elevator

A Kentucky courthouse was closed for most of the day Wednesday, after a defendant overpowered a bailiff in a courthouse elevator and shot himself to death with the bailiff’s service weapon, state police said. Erik Barnett, 25, had been in a drug court hearing at the Bell County Courthouse at…

Aug 27, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

Man fatally shot by officer in courthouse incident sought suicide ‘by cop,’ cousin says

A knife-wielding man’s Tuesday attack on a security officer at a Pennsylvania courthouse was “random, not personal,” the Chester County district attorney says. DA Tom Hogan and others praised the swift reaction of a courthouse deputy for saving a slashed colleague by fatally shooting to death the alleged attacker, Curtis…

Aug 26, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

9th Circuit says lack of staff doesn’t justify 5-point shackling of inmates in federal court

Shackling defendants in five-point restraints for routine nonjury appearances in federal court simply because of a lack of staff is not appropriate, a federal appeals court says. Reversing a federal district court decision, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its Tuesday opinion (PDF) that “economic…

Aug 26, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Man fatally shot in courthouse lobby by deputy scaled White House wall earlier in year, DA says

A Pennsylvania man shot and killed in the lobby of a suburban Philadelphia courthouse on Tuesday had been arrested earlier this year for scaling a wall and entering the White House grounds in Washington, D.C., authorities said. Curtis Smith, 34, entered the lobby of the Chester County Courthouse in West…

Aug 25, 2015 1:45 PM CDT

Witness attacks defendant in open court; see video of the altercation

In a Hamilton County, Tennessee, courtroom on Aug. 18, a preliminary hearing erupted into violence when one inmate was asked to testify against another. The witness, Antwon Lee, 25, survived a July 29 knife attack allegedly committed by Eric McCullough, 46, in Chattanooga. McCullough had allegedly attacked both Lee and…

Aug 24, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Man kills guard at federal building then commits suicide; may be linked to wrongful-termination suit

Late Friday afternoon, a gunman entered a federal building in Manhattan and fatally shot Idrissa Camara, 52, an armed private security guard there. He then went past a metal detector and approached another federal worker near an immigration court, before committing suicide, authorities said. In addition to the immigration court,…

Aug 24, 2015 11:51 AM CDT