Criminal Procedure

Did Feds Use ‘Nuclear Bomb’ Grand Jury Subpoena to Silence Critic? Supreme Court May Decide

When a federal prosecutor tried to get a gag order against an outspoken critic of a case holding two Midwestern doctors criminally accountable for prescribing pain medication, a judge said no, citing the First Amendment. But then the prosecutor issued what Siobhan Reynolds describes as a “nuclear bomb” of a…

Nov 1, 2010 8:39 PM CDT

Juror Makes ‘Dumb’ Move, Seeks Date with Court Marshal, Putting Murder Trial at Risk

Seeking a date with a cute court marshal during the sentencing phase of an ongoing Connecticut murder trial, an alternate juror tried to send a note setting a time and place to meet. But it was intercepted by another juror who turned it over to a court clerk. Superior Court…

Nov 1, 2010 7:31 PM CDT

Prosecutors Blast Ex-DA in ‘Nightmare’ Case of Innocent Man Jailed 18 Years

Freed yesterday after spending 18 years in prison for a capital crime he did not commit, Anthony Graves was initially convicted because of a “nightmare” of prosecutorial misconduct that included withholding evidence and threatening witnesses, Texas prosecutors said in a press conference today. DA Bill Parham of Washington and Burleson…

Oct 28, 2010 9:07 PM CDT

Watchdog Still Seeks to Sanction Top Texas Criminal Judge re Execution-Eve ‘We Close at 5’ Ruling

An attorney for the top criminal court judge in Texas hailed the elimination of a public warning earlier this month as a conclusive win for his client in a legal ethics case over the court’s refusal to accept a late appeal on the eve of the defendant’s execution. But the…

Oct 26, 2010 5:54 PM CDT

Top Calif. Court OKs Dismissal of Up to 300-Plus Criminal Cases Due to Judge Shortage

At least 18 criminal defendants who refused to waive their constitutional right to a speedy trial won’t have to go to trial at all, following a California Supreme Court ruling today that charges against them were properly dismissed due to a lack of available judges in Riverside County to try…

Oct 25, 2010 8:36 PM CDT

Sex Crimes Prosecutor Grades ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Episodes on Accuracy

A federal sex crimes prosecutor—who also just had her first novel, Law of Attraction published—is systematically taking on the accuracy of this season’s Law & Order: SVU. Don’t get her wrong—it’s not that she doesn’t like these types of shows. “Law & Order was part of what inspired me to…

Oct 21, 2010 4:32 PM CDT

Debtors’ Prisons a Reality for Defendants Unable to Pay Fees and Fines

Debtors’ prisons are making a comeback as states jail defendants who can’t afford to pay court-imposed fines and fees, including “pay-to-stay” jail fees and public defender charges, according to reports by two public interest organizations. Judges view the collection of debt as a critical income stream, but jailing indigent defendants…

Oct 14, 2010 3:20 PM CDT

After Judge & Prosecutor Clash, His Removal Is Sought On 455 of Her Cases

A 56-year-old Florida jurist can’t fully tell his side of the story, due to ethical rules about commenting on pending cases. But, as Broward Circuit Judge Carlos Rodriguez apparently sees it, he was just doing his job when he told a 27-year-old female prosecutor to take a seat at the…

Oct 5, 2010 5:41 PM CDT

Cop’s Pants-on-the-Ground ‘Wardrobe Assist’ Not an Illegal Search, Court Says

A police officer who pulled up a drug suspect’s baggy pants conducted a “wardrobe assist” rather than a search, a Minnesota appeals court has ruled. The police officer discovered a gun when she pulled up the pants of suspect Frank Irving Wiggins, according to stories in the St. Paul Pioneer…

Sep 15, 2010 3:05 PM CDT

Oops. Juror Calls Defendant Guilty on Facebook, Before Verdict

Updated: A Michigan juror who indicated in a Facebook post that she believed the defendant in her case is guilty—before the case went to verdict—wound up on the hot seat, too, in the Macomb County trial. The defendant was convicted of resisting arrest after an alternate was substituted for juror…

Sep 2, 2010 7:28 PM CDT

Overworked PD’s Office Is Asking Judge to Take 45 Cases Off Their Docket

Public defenders throughout Minnesota are struggling with hefty caseloads, slowing down the justice system and potentially failing their clients because they are stretched too thin. But the situation is particularly bad in the 3rd Judicial District, where Chief Public Defender Karen Duncan today plans to ask a Steele County judge…

Aug 17, 2010 6:18 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Blasts Judge, Prosecutors in Sex Abuse Case Chronicled in Documentary

A federal appeals court has upheld the sexual abuse conviction of a New York man whose case was chronicled in a documentary, even as the panel blasted the trial judge and prosecutors who got swept up in the “moral panic” over child abuse. The New York-based appeals court suggested the…

Aug 17, 2010 3:54 PM CDT

Judge in Lindsay Lohan Case Steps Aside After Claims of Ex Parte Communications

Accused of having improper ex parte communications without a prosecution representative present, the judge in the Lindsay Lohan case has stepped aside. Although there appears to be little more for the new judge to do, now that the 24-year-old actress has been released from jail and gone into rehab, Judge…

Aug 11, 2010 10:23 PM CDT

Does America Need a ‘Justice Index’ to Evaluate Criminal Courts?

Statistics are used to evaluate schools, hospitals and other public services. So why not use numbers to evaluate the court system? Writing in the New York Times, lawyer and author Amy Bach says America needs a “justice index” to evaluate how criminal courts are working. “The index, compiled according to…

Aug 11, 2010 1:19 PM CDT

Prosecutor Says Note About ‘Light Male’ Shooter Wasn’t a Dying Declaration

A Tennessee prosecutor doesn’t want jurors to see a cab driver’s note before his death that identified his shooter as a “light male.” Knoxville County prosecutor Jason Hunnicutt argues the note shouldn’t be admissible as a dying declaration because cabbie John Cooper was on the upswing when he wrote the…

Aug 4, 2010 3:29 PM CDT