Criminal Procedure

Disorderly Conduct is Hot Legal Topic

Legal experts are discussing the elements of a disorderly conduct conviction with the zeal one might expect of appellate attorneys conferring over a death penalty case, as the scandal over Sen. Larry Craig’s recent restroom sting arrest exacerbates. The Republican lawmaker from Idaho probably could have beaten the rap, according…

Aug 30, 2007 10:42 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge: Execute Inmates Efficiently

California’s death row is not only the biggest in the nation but perhaps the most backlogged. The average prisoner waits nearly 20 years to be executed, and, since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978, only 13 have been executed while 50 have died in prison, many of old age. Currently,…

Aug 30, 2007 6:14 PM CDT

Judge Axes Confession, Pretrial, Under New IL Law

In a ruling hailed by defense advocates as proof that an unusual new law is working, an Illinois judge has made a pretrial ruling that a woman’s videotaped murder confession can’t be used against her because police ignored her requests for a lawyer. Judge John Scotillo, who sits in Cook…

Aug 30, 2007 12:47 AM CDT

Craig Plea Issue Ended By Call to Resign?

Updated: Given the difficulty of withdrawing a guilty plea, Sen. Larry Craig is unlikely to succeed in his apparent effort to do so. The Republican lawmaker from Idaho announced yesterday that he had hired a lawyer to review his plea to a disorderly conduct charge that arose from a June…

Aug 29, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

Senator Recants Restroom Plea

A U.S. senator who recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge that arose from a Minneapolis airport restroom sting operation is now recanting. Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) says he acted in haste, fearful that news of the incident would tarnish his reputation and hoping simply to put it…

Aug 29, 2007 12:42 AM CDT

8th Circuit: Resentence Wal-Mart Exec

A federal judge may have been too lenient in sentencing a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive to five years of probation (including about two years of home confinement) in a $500,000 fraud case, an appeals court has ruled. It says Tom Coughlin must be resentenced. A 28-year employee who rose…

Aug 28, 2007 4:27 PM CDT

Polygraph to Star in Reality TV Show

Get your remotes ready and TiVo set. America is about to see what has television viewers in Colombia and 23 other countries choosing their answers carefully. Fox TV has announced it is picking up a new reality game show: Nothing But the Truth. In the show, contestants are hooked up…

Aug 20, 2007 9:42 PM CDT

Judge: Spector Lawyers Violated Rules

The judge in the ongoing Phil Spector murder trial has rebuked the music producer’s attorneys for a violation of discovery rules “so deliberate and so egregious” that it requires a remedy. Hence, Judge Larry Paul Fidler said Thursday, he is going to instruct the jury to take it into consideration…

Aug 17, 2007 7:36 PM CDT

Jurors Questioned re Masturbation Habits

Jurors were questioned about their own personal masturbation habits today at the outset of a Florida trial in which they must determine if a 20-year-old inmate is guilty of masturbating while alone in his jail cell. In response to a defense lawyer’s questioning, all nine men among the prospective jurors…

Jul 25, 2007 9:54 PM CDT

Judge: No Release from KPMG Defense

Lawyers for a defendant in the KPMG tax shelter fraud case signed on and can’t now sign off until the case reaches a final conclusion, a federal court judge says. Although he was initially paid $400,000 by the Big Four accountant, attorney Robert Fink is concerned the ongoing representation of…

Jul 24, 2007 11:08 PM CDT

Interpreter Delay Spurs Dismissal

Prosecutors are appealing a Maryland judge’s decision to dismiss rape charges against a Liberian immigrant because of delays in finding an interpreter. Judge Katherine Savage of Rockville dismissed the case against Mahamu Kanneh last week, the Washington Post reports. He had been accused of raping a 7-year-old girl who was…

Jul 24, 2007 4:03 PM CDT

Guyana Press Chat Breaks ‘Local’ Rule

A lawyer who spoke to reporters in Guyana about a New York case he was handling broke a local rule barring lawyers from making comments that could interfere with a trial, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, of the Eastern District of New York, found…

Jul 23, 2007 4:14 PM CDT

Injunctions to Curtail Citizen Activities?

In a sign of the law enforcement times, two California judges were asked yesterday to issue injunctions that would prohibit 76 alleged gang members from hanging out in certain areas of San Francisco, wearing certain colors and using gang signs. The orders could also involve a curfew, except for approved…

Jul 13, 2007 8:54 PM CDT

Milberg Lawyer: Charges Arbitrary

A former partner at the securities class-action firm Milberg, Weiss & Bershad contends in expanded court filings that government charges against him are arbitrary and vague. Steven Schulman has been indicted along with another partner and the firm itself for allegedly paying kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. In a motion to…

Jul 5, 2007 1:39 PM CDT

KPMG Judge Wavers on Dismissal

The federal judge overseeing the criminal prosecution of former KPMG partners appeared to waver on whether he would dismiss charges because of government conduct. Judge Lewis Kaplan said on Monday that “the ground has shifted” on the question of dismissal and “I don’t know where I am” on the issue,…

Jul 3, 2007 7:12 PM CDT