Evidence

9 years of solitary confinement violates Eighth Amendment, jurors find; case later settles

New York has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a punitive damages claim in a case in which jurors found that nine years of solitary confinement violated the Eighth Amendment rights of an inmate.

Oct 8, 2024 9:00 AM CDT

District attorney ‘paid little attention to the five-alarm fire’ in high-profile case and should be disbarred, panel says

A Colorado district attorney should be disbarred mostly for her "absence at the helm" in a high-profile murder case in which prosecutors failed to turn over sufficient expert witness information to the defense, leading to the exclusion of experts, according to a Colorado disciplinary hearing board.

Sep 16, 2024 11:07 AM CDT

Judge settles suit accusing lawyer of threatening to release her intimate photos in bid to scuttle deposition

A Florida judge has settled her lawsuit against a lawyer she sued for allegedly trying to blackmail her with nude photos chronicling her pregnancy.

Sep 11, 2024 10:46 AM CDT

2nd Circuit cites push notifications to jurors as one reason why Sarah Palin deserves new defamation trial

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, is entitled to a new trial in her defamation case against the New York Times, partly because a jury finding of no liability was marred by push notifications received by jurors, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Aug 28, 2024 2:54 PM CDT

5th Circuit nixes ‘general, exploratory rummaging’ of location data to find suspects

A federal appeals court's decision Friday on the constitutionality of geofence warrants has “case-of-the-year importance,” according to a law professor's blog post.

Aug 13, 2024 10:58 AM CDT

Federal judge who ruled against Google is ‘taken aback’ by its efforts to avoid paper trail

A federal judge who ruled that Google is a monopolist declined to sanction the search engine for failing to preserve internal chat messages, even though he criticized its policies intended to keep bad evidence out of litigation.

Aug 8, 2024 3:17 PM CDT

How is AI affecting courts and law practice? ABA task force report has answers

Do the Federal Rules of Evidence have to be changed to address issues created by artificial intelligence? That is one of several issues addressed by the ABA Task Force on Law and Artificial Intelligence in a report on AI’s impact on the practice of law released Monday.

Aug 8, 2024 9:38 AM CDT

4th Circuit upholds drug conviction despite use of rap lyrics during trial

The prosecution’s use of drug-dealing rap lyrics at trial was not error requiring reversal of a conviction in connection with the sale of eutylone, a designer drug that is similar to ecstasy, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Aug 7, 2024 8:57 AM CDT

Is the legal system ready for AI-generated deepfake videos?

New generative AI tools make it easier to create deepfake videos that can realistically depict someone’s likeness and voice to show them doing and saying something they didn’t do or say. And that could wreak havoc in the legal system.

Aug 1, 2024 2:10 AM CDT

Shaken-baby murder conviction overturned after defendant offers evidence questioning diagnosis

The Michigan Supreme Court has granted a new trial to a woman convicted of killing her infant daughter by shaking her, holding that proposed expert testimony on shaken baby syndrome would likely result in an acquittal.

Jul 29, 2024 3:11 PM CDT

Federal prosecutor facing discipline for altering video evidence against anti-Trump protesters

A federal prosecutor who allegedly edited videos to use as evidence in criminal cases involving anti-Trump protesters in 2017 is now facing disciplinary charges.

Jul 18, 2024 8:30 AM CDT

Judge presiding over Young Thug trial ordered off the case

The judge overseeing the criminal racketeering case against Young Thug was formally removed from the case Monday amid complaints he and prosecutors held an improper meeting with a key prosecution witness.

Jul 15, 2024 3:06 PM CDT

After lawyers exceed status-letter limit by ‘whopping’ 70 pages, judge sees echoes of fictional Jarndyce case

The handiwork of lawyers who crafted a joint 73-page monthly status letter won’t appear on the federal docket after a magistrate judge noted last week that it was a “whopping” 70 pages over the limit.

Jul 11, 2024 10:36 AM CDT

Lawyer’s conduct must be ‘seriously’ annoying to warrant restraining order, appeals court says

Updated: A lawyer who accused another attorney of yelling and glaring at her, ranting “in an unintelligible manner” and serving her with bogus documents is not entitled to a permanent restraining order, a California appeals court has ruled.

Jul 3, 2024 9:14 AM CDT

Conspirators allegedly tracked juror before leaving $120K cash at her home

Three defendants accused of cheating the government are among five people charged Wednesday with trying to bribe a 23-year-old juror with $120,000 in cash left in a Hallmark gift bag.

Jun 27, 2024 9:23 AM CDT