Ex-cop was furious at feds, sick and brokenhearted when he shot up courthouse, US Attorney says

A search of the home of a onetime Wheeling, W. Va., police officer after he fired 23 rounds from an assault rifle at a federal courthouse there earlier this month revealed more about his motivation for the attack. Writings there and other documents found on his person at a hospital…

Nov 4, 2013 5:40 PM CST

Letters: The World of Words

Nov 1, 2013 9:10 AM CDT

Are these courthouses haunted? See why these employees think so (gallery)

As Halloween looms, tales of buildings with a claim to ghostly visitations and other eerie events are at a premium. And high on the list of likely sites for scary supernatural stories are historic courthouses, a number of which are also current or former prisons and may have seen hangings…

Oct 30, 2013 1:35 PM CDT

Federal lawsuit adds to allegations of excessive force by family court marshals

A federal lawsuit alleging that Nevada family court marshals threw a man headfirst onto the concrete floor of the Las Vegas courthouse for no good reason is the latest development in an ongoing saga of allegations of excessive force and improper conduct at the court. A poor-quality video of the…

Oct 24, 2013 5:40 PM CDT

7 prisoners may have used phony court papers in escape attempts; $20K reward offered for information

As an investigation continues into how two convicted Florida murderers were able to obtain forged court documents that—briefly—won their early release from prison, authorities say at least seven individuals are suspected of attempting to escape from state prisons in this manner since 2009. Five of the seven spent time in…

Oct 22, 2013 7:05 PM CDT

Captured: 2 murderers released from jail on phony court orders; probe now focused on who helped them

Two convicted murderers who walked away from a Florida prison in recent weeks with the help of phony court paperwork reducing their “illegal” sentences were captured over the weekend. Joseph Jenkins and Charles Walker, both 34, were found together at a motel in Panama City, where they were waiting for…

Oct 21, 2013 4:35 PM CDT

Prosecutor calls bogus court papers used in murderers’ prison escape an ‘ongoing threat’

Updated: Two Florida inmates convicted of murder were released in recent weeks based on forged court documents may not be the only ones. One of the two released men had tried a similar scheme in 2011 but wasn’t let out, officials say. A third man, convicted of killing a police…

Oct 18, 2013 5:10 PM CDT

Prison releases 2 convicted murderers after forged court documents reduce their sentences

Two convicted murderers were released by a Florida prison in recent weeks after forged court documents purporting to reduce their life sentences were filed with the Orange County clerk of courts. The documents included claimed motions by an Orlando prosecutor seeking to correct their “illegal” sentences and orders by Chief…

Oct 17, 2013 8:05 PM CDT

Woman charged with petty theft, accused of taking $2.87 from courthouse fountain

Unemployed and hungry, an Ohio woman says she figured that she could help herself to some coins in a fountain at the Logan County Courthouse in Bellefontaine because they didn’t belong to anyone. Wrong. Police say they caught Deirdre Romine in the act, found $2.87 in her pocket and charged…

Oct 17, 2013 7:10 PM CDT

US Attorney says gunman who shot AK-47 at courthouse had ‘general dislike’ of feds

A gunman who fired at AK-47 at a federal courthouse in West Virginia on Wednesday before being shot to death by responding security guards and police probably did not hold a grudge against any one individual there, although he presumably had a general dislike of government, the local U.S. Attorney…

Oct 10, 2013 6:20 PM CDT

Gunman fires AK-47 at federal courthouse, is shot to death

Updated: A former Wheeling police officer fired multiple shots at a federal courthouse in West Virginia on Wednesday, and was then shot in a battle with security officers and local police and died within hours at a nearby hospital. Authorities said suspect Thomas Picard fired an AK-47 assault rifle at…

Oct 9, 2013 9:29 PM CDT

Judge testifies against former court intern, calls witness stand ‘a different experience’

A New York judge was initially willing to let Christopher Ransom observe her courtroom one day a week last year. But, put off by what she described as his odd behavior–and her discovery that he was not actually enrolled in school as he had claimed–Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango soon…

Oct 4, 2013 3:50 PM CDT

See the video: Frosting flies in courthouse cake incident

A Washington state woman didn’t think it was a good idea to leave her child’s chocolate birthday cake in the car with the dog when she visited a local courthouse. But the cake didn’t last long at the Cowlitz County courthouse either, RTV6 reports. After it had passed through a…

Oct 3, 2013 8:09 PM CDT

Inmate’s claimed plot to kill prosecutors is admissible at his trial for prior murder, judge says

Explosive claims that an imprisoned defendant awaiting trial in a murder case plotted to kill two Baltimore prosecutors can be used in evidence in the original case, a Maryland judge has ruled. Although lawyers for Robert G. Moore, 45, and two co-defendants in the original murder conspiracy case objected, Judge…

Oct 2, 2013 5:12 PM CDT

Indictment: Man lay in wait and shot at federal judge, at home, with high-powered rifle

A Florida man accused of attempting to assassinate a federal judge in June by shooting a high-powered rifle into his home is facing a 25-count federal indictment (PDF). The indictment says that Aaron Markus Richardson, 24, shot into the home of U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan in the early…

Sep 30, 2013 8:10 PM CDT