Criminal Procedure

Defense Lawyer Seeks Removal of Courtroom Sign About Seeking the Truth

A lawyer for a defendant in a triple murder prosecution is asking a judge to take down a sign hanging in every Miami-Dade courtroom. The sign reads: “We who labor here seek only the truth.” Lawyer Louis Jepeway Jr. argues the sign invites jurors to speculate when they sense a…

Jul 11, 2011 11:48 AM CDT

Fort Hood Shooting Suspect, Maj. Nidal Hasan, to Face Court Martial, Possible Death Penalty

The suspect in the November 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood will be tried in a general court martial and could face the death penalty if convicted. This means that Major Nidal Hasan, 40, an Army psychiatrist, likely will not be able to make a plea bargain before trial concerning…

Jul 6, 2011 4:48 PM CDT

9th Circuit Stays Court Order Forcing Meds on Suspect in Shooting of Giffords and Chief Judge Roll

Granting an emergency motion by the suspect in a Tucson, Ariz., mass shooting spree early this year, a federal appeals court has ordered prison officials not to forcibly administer anti-psychotic medication to defendant Jared Loughner until the matter is finally decided. Loughner’s lawyers have argued that he was not given…

Jul 5, 2011 8:11 PM CDT

Portugal’s Decision to Decriminalize Drugs and Treat Users as Addicts Is Having Positive Results

A decade after Portugal instituted reforms aimed at treating drug users rather than punishing them, health experts say the number of “problematic” drug users is way down. The number of people who repeatedly use hard drugs and the number intravenous users has fallen in half since the early 1990s, Joao…

Jul 5, 2011 9:52 AM CDT

Strauss-Kahn Freed from House Arrest After Maid’s Credibility Questioned

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been freed from house arrest after prosecutors uncovered information raising credibility questions about the maid who accused him of sexual assault. The New York Times calls the development “a stunning reversal in a case that reshaped the French political landscape and sparked debate about morals, the treatment…

Jul 1, 2011 3:54 PM CDT

Thousands of Imprisoned Crack Cocaine Offenders Could Be Released Early Under New Sentencing Law

Federal prisoners serving crack cocaine-related sentences will be eligible for early release as a result of a U.S. Sentencing Commission decision today, the Associated Press reports. Last year, Congress passed a law that significantly lowered recommended sentences for people convicted of crack cocaine crimes to fix disparity between sentences for…

Jun 30, 2011 6:26 PM CDT

Appeals Court Says Cellphone Seizure Violated Suspect’s Fourth Amendment Rights

A federal appeals court has ruled that a defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated when a policeman followed the suspect into his mother’s home and seized a cellphone containing nude photographs of a 14-year-old girl. On Monday, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that evidence from the…

Jun 28, 2011 2:48 PM CDT

Judge Agrees to Unseal Records re Former Fellow Jurist

A Tennessee judge has agreed to unseal records concerning former Knox County Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner. Baumgartner, who previously oversaw a drug court program, abruptly stepped down from the bench earlier this year. He has pleaded guilty to a criminal official misconduct charge and sought addiction treatment, according to…

Jun 24, 2011 4:33 PM CDT

5 Years After Guilty Plea, Ex-Fried Frank Bookkeeper Still Owes More than $300K in Restitution

A former bookkeeper at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson has repaid the law firm only $4,000 in the five years after her guilty plea in a $350,000 embezzlement scheme. Gerry Mathews, who worked in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office for nearly 20 years, was sentenced in 2006 to a…

Jun 23, 2011 1:23 PM CDT

Federal Judge Rules Florida Death Penalty Procedure Is Unconstitutional

A Florida judge has struck down Florida’s death penalty procedure in which jurors make a capital sentencing recommendation without clear factual findings on aggravating factors. U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez said the procedure violates Supreme Court precedent in Ring v. Arizona that requires jurors to make findings on factors that…

Jun 23, 2011 12:04 PM CDT

Supreme Court Rules a Youth’s Age Is Relevant in Miranda Analysis

A youth’s age is relevant when deciding whether a person being questioned by police is in “custody,” triggering the need for a Miranda warning, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion (PDF). “It is beyond dispute that children will often…

Jun 16, 2011 2:41 PM CDT

Testifying in Sex-Crime Case, Witness, 15, Has Canine at Hand for Comfort

As a 15-year-old girl testified yesterday in a sexual assault trial in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., she had a calming influence right at her feet. Largely invisible to the jury, an 11-year-old golden retriever named Rose who has been trained as a therapy dog was available for a comforting pat, reports the…

Jun 14, 2011 6:42 PM CDT

Daughter’s Face Pasted Onto Woman’s Body Isn’t Child Porn, Calif. Court Says

A California court ordered a Santa Clara country judge to resentence Joseph Gerber, who was convicted in 2009 of possessing child pornography after pasting photos of his 13-year-old daughter’s head onto bodies of women in graphic poses. California’s child porn ban “requires a real child to have actually engaged in…

Jun 10, 2011 8:59 PM CDT

Italian Prosecutor Says He Can’t Place Amanda Knox In Murder Room

Although he painted American student Amanda Knox as a cold-blooded murderer who pinned Meredith Kercher’s arm while Knox’s former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito slashed her roommate’s throat in a sex-game gone wrong, Italian prosecutor Guiliano Mignini now says he can’t place Knox in the murder room. Mignini’s interview with the U.K.’s…

Jun 10, 2011 6:24 PM CDT

DA Blasts Overturned Rape Verdict, Says Panel Used ‘Stone Age Standard of Proof of Resistance’

A district attorney in Pennsylvania is blasting a court that overturned a jury’s rape conviction for concluding that “a sexual-assault victim is not to be believed unless her injuries are severe enough to meet some Stone Age standard of proof of resistance.” Calling the decision last month by a state…

Jun 8, 2011 4:00 PM CDT