Criminal Procedure

Law Prof Pursues Protégé Student’s Sentencing Case

Law student Matthew Sinor of Ohio State law school had an early victory in his legal career. He interceded on behalf of an old Army buddy and persuaded a judge to lower his friend’s sentence for selling cocaine. But Sinor recently got another lesson in the law from a federal…

Feb 12, 2008 2:03 PM CST

Murder Defendant Sues Ga. Judge Over Change of Counsel

A defendant in a capital murder case who was represented for more than a year by private lawyers paid for by the state of Georgia has sued his trial judge for replacing the private attorneys with public defenders. Meanwhile, the salaried public defenders selected by Pike County Superior Court Judge…

Feb 11, 2008 8:56 PM CST

Ky. Judge Bans Prosecutor Objections in Probable Cause Hearings

A Kentucky judge has threatened to hold prosecutors in contempt if they don’t stop making “obnoxious, ridiculous, abundant and useless objections” during probable cause hearings. Jefferson District Judge Sean Delahanty told prosecutors on Tuesday to cool it, saying that their excessive objections were wasting time and disrupting probable cause hearings,…

Feb 7, 2008 12:08 AM CST

Cases Dropped for 115 R.I. Teens; No Probable Cause Hearings

A new—and short-lived—state law in Rhode Island that put 17-year-olds in adult court was constitutional, a judge says. But because teens didn’t get probable cause hearings before being “referred” to superior court from family court under the legislation, Superior Court Judge Daniel Procaccini dismissed felony charges against 115 teens whose…

Feb 6, 2008 6:45 PM CST

U.K. Bugged Inmate’s Calls to Lawyer; Is This a Common Practice?

In a discovery that has fanned fears that British inmates’ phone calls to their attorneys are routinely bugged, a lawyer in the U.K. reportedly has received transcripts of secretly recorded phone conversations between himself and an imprisoned client. Simon Creighton, of Bhatt Murphy solicitors in London, says the transcripts show…

Feb 5, 2008 5:38 PM CST

Heartless Jailhouse Call Rings Up Maximum Prison Term

A twice-convicted drunken driver got the maximum prison term for her latest offense—a little over 10 years—after a jailhouse phone call in which she laughed about driving into and killing a bicyclist while intoxicated was played at her sentencing hearing in Arizona. Characterizing the conversation as “breathtaking in its inhumanity,”…

Jan 25, 2008 6:03 PM CST

Citizen-Launched Kan. Grand Juries Pursue Abortion & Porn Cases

An almost-forgotten law in Kansas that allows citizens to convene grand juries reportedly has become a tool for local conservatives to use to force prosecutors to pursue abortion and pornography cases. A citizen petition drive, for instance, impaneled a grand jury earlier this month to investigate Dr. George Tiller, who…

Jan 18, 2008 6:29 PM CST

O.J. Simpson Gets Bail, But Judge Doubles It to $250,000

Updated: Former football hero O.J. Simpson appeared in a Nevada court today, and was granted release on $250,000 bail prior to his upcoming trial in an armed robbery case. The amount was twice the $125,000 bail he was initially granted in the case. Although the Clark County, Nev., district attorney…

Jan 16, 2008 5:08 PM CST

Tough Call: How to Charge Boy, 12, in Tot’s Killing

Florida prosecutors are now deciding whether to charge as an adult a 12-year-old babysitter who has been accused of murdering a 17-month-old second cousin left in his care. Because Shaloh Joseph wouldn’t stop crying as the unidentified preteen was trying to watch a cartoon on television, he allegedly hit her…

Jan 8, 2008 12:00 AM CST

Biased Comments Bench Fla. Judge

A Florida appeals court has removed a state judge from presiding over a blackmail case in which her comments implied that she might not be fair to the prosecution. After Grammy-winning singer, Alejandro Sanz, who is the victim of the alleged blackmail attempt, objected to his deposition in the criminal…

Dec 20, 2007 6:26 PM CST

Manslaughter Case Against Company Over ‘Big Dig’ Accident Continues

In an unusual and much-watched manslaughter case against one of the companies working on the controversial “Big Dig” tunnel project in Boston, a Massachusetts judge refused yesterday to dismiss the criminal charge. Defendant Powers Fasteners Inc., which is the only contractor charged in the manslaughter case, had contended that the…

Dec 19, 2007 6:31 PM CST

New Suit in Duke Lacrosse Rape Case

The fallout continues over a botched investigation and prosecution of an escort service dancer’s allegations—eventually determined to be false—that she was gang-raped in March 2006 by former members of the Duke University men’s lacrosse team. Three former team members who were never charged in the case have filed a 400-page…

Dec 19, 2007 5:15 PM CST

Saudi Rape Victim Pardoned for Being Alone in Car

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has pardoned a woman who was sentenced to prison for being alone in a car with a man before she was raped by seven men. The woman’s sentence was increased to six months in prison and 200 lashes when she appealed a shorter original sentence, the…

Dec 17, 2007 7:10 PM CST

Congress, DOJ Clash re CIA Videotapes Probe

Congress and the Department of Justice apparently may be headed for a showdown over the issue of whose investigation takes precedence concerning videotapes of al-Qaida interrogations destroyed by the CIA. Members of the House Intelligence Committee reacted angrily yesterday to a Justice Department request that the committee postpone their investigation…

Dec 15, 2007 9:47 AM CST

Conviction Overturned Because of Lawyer-Bashing Tape

The Oregon Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of a man who bashed his defense lawyer on a tape recording played at trial. The defendant, Roy Norman Knight, was convicted of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s teen daughter. Prosecutors played the tape to impeach Knight’s testimony about how much he wanted…

Dec 11, 2007 4:26 PM CST