Hells Angels, Juggalos claim they are being unfairly singled out by law enforcement

Feb 1, 2013 10:29 AM CST

Female-Focused: Northwestern’s Center for Wrongful Convictions launches a groundbreaking project

Feb 1, 2013 10:10 AM CST

Accused Movie Theater Shooter’s Arraignment Delayed by Judge

A judge on Friday postponed the arraignment of accused Colorado movie theater shooting suspect James Holmes until March 12. The judge said that while he empathized with the victims’ desire for closure, he agreed that the defense needed more time to examine the mountain of evidence prosecutors have amassed against…

Jan 11, 2013 9:45 PM CST

Inmate Has Been in Prison Awaiting Court-Ordered Retrial Since 1980

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Jerry Hartfield’s murder conviction in 1980. He is still in prison waiting for his retrial. The state court twice refused state requests to reconsider the ruling, the last one in 1983, the Associated Press reports. Eleven days later, the governor commuted Hartfield’s sentence…

Jan 4, 2013 1:23 PM CST

Motion Seeks New Trial Because Sentencing Jurors Sang Hymns, Read Bible Verses

A death-row inmate convicted in the torture slayings of a Tennessee couple deserves a new trial because jurors spent more time singing hymns and reading Bible verses than deliberating the sentence, a motion argues. A Knox County judge will consider the motion filed on behalf of inmate Lemaricus Davidson on…

Jan 2, 2013 2:11 PM CST

North Carolina Governor Pardons the Wilmington 10

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue has pardoned the Wilmington 10, a group of civil rights activists convicted 40 years ago of plotting a 1971 firebombing in a trial later determined to be tainted by perjury and undisclosed evidence. Nine of the defendants were black and the tenth was a white…

Jan 2, 2013 1:22 PM CST

Ex-Lawyer Seeks to Regain His Law License After His Murder Conviction Is Overturned

A former Kansas City lawyer who says he was wrongly convicted in the beating death of his law partner is seeking to regain his law license. Richard Buchli was disbarred in 2005 because of his conviction in 2002 for the murder of his law partner, Richard Armitage. The conviction has…

Dec 20, 2012 1:17 PM CST

Hasan’s Beard Is Again a Topic as New Military Judge Takes Bench in Fort Hood Massacre Case

All eyes were on the new military judge in charge of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan’s capital murder case on Tuesday as the former Army psychiatrist was wheeled into a court-martial hearing. His controversial beard, which helped persuade a military appeals court to replace the former judge overseeing the Fort Hood…

Dec 18, 2012 7:49 PM CST

Drew Peterson Lawyer Accused of ‘Hornbook Errors’ and ‘Smorgasbord of Ethical Violations’

New lawyers representing former Chicago suburban police officer Drew Peterson are seeking to overturn his conviction in a post-trial memorandum that takes aim at Peterson’s former lawyer, Joel Brodsky. Peterson was convicted of murdering his third wife, whose 2004 bathtub death was originally ruled an accident. He has not been…

Dec 14, 2012 2:09 PM CST

Victim’s Brother Shouts at Judge Who Overturns Three Death Sentences for Racial Bias

A North Carolina judge reduced three death sentences to life in prison on Thursday, spurring an outburst by a brother of one of the victims, a slain state trooper. Judge Gregory Weeks of Cumberland County cited racial bias in sentencing and voided the death sentences under the state’s revised Racial…

Dec 14, 2012 12:39 PM CST

Police Seize Electronic Tracking Equipment from Seattle Lawyer Accused of Multiple Rapes

Corrected: Police have confiscated electronic equipment, including a video camera and a GPS device, as they continue the investigation of Seattle-based attorney Danford Grant, who is accused of raping several Seattle-area massage therapists. The items were disclosed in a search-warrant affidavit filed this week, the Seattle Times reports. King County…

Dec 3, 2012 10:15 PM CST

Forecast Cloudy: No Easy Answers for Lawyers Who Come into Possession of Evidence in Criminal Cases

Dec 1, 2012 9:00 AM CST

Inmate Ordered Released After Recantation Remains in Prison Because of Jurisdictional Dispute

The purported molestation victim recanted. A judge ordered the convicted prisoner freed. But the story doesn’t have a happy ending, at least not yet, for the wrongly convicted man who spent more than four years in prison. Prison officials are refusing to release Virginia inmate Jonathan Montgomery because of advice…

Nov 13, 2012 12:47 PM CST

Anti-Islamic Filmmaker Sentenced to 1 Year for Unrelated Probation Violation

Mark Basseley Yousseff, the Californian whose film Innocence of Muslims sparked protests throughout the Middle East, was sentenced to a year in federal prison Wednesday, for probation violations on an unrelated matter. According to the Associated Press, Yousseff’s prior conviction involves bank fraud. He served a 21-month sentence for using…

Nov 8, 2012 9:04 PM CST

A Third of Three-Strikes Inmates in California Could Benefit from Vote to Ease Law

About 3,000 inmates who received lengthy sentences under California’s tough three-strikes law could benefit as a result of a referendum approved Tuesday to change the statute. The ballot measure changes the law so that offenders whose third-strike is relatively minor can no longer be sent to prison for 25 years…

Nov 8, 2012 1:45 PM CST