Evidence

Innocence Project sues museum for access to archives on ‘tragically flawed’ bite-mark evidence

The Innocence Project has sued the federal government’s National Museum of Health and Medicine for denying it access to archival information on the history of bite-mark analysis. The Feb. 20 suit, filed in federal court in New York City, says access to information on the “tragically flawed forensic science” could…

Feb 21, 2019 1:35 PM CST

Lawyer who created digital child porn as expert witness owes $300K to women whose photos he used

An Ohio lawyer’s expert witness work on behalf of accused child pornography defendants has created a $300,000 liability for him that cannot be excused in bankruptcy, a federal appeals court has ruled. The bankruptcy appellate panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati ruled against lawyer Jack…

Feb 19, 2019 10:00 AM CST

Drug kingpin El Chapo convicted; defense case lasted half-hour

Drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera was convicted Tuesday following a three-month trial in which the defense case lasted only a half-hour. Guzman, 61, was convicted on all counts, including charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy, report the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and…

Feb 12, 2019 3:15 PM CST

Compelling biometric features to unlock phones is ‘abuse of power,’ U.S. judge rules

Calling an FBI warrant application “an abuse of power” and “unconstitutional,” a U.S. magistrate judge has ruled that federal authorities cannot compel suspects to unlock their phones with biometric features. The case involves a Facebook Messenger extortion plot where two suspects allegedly said they would release an embarrassing video unless…

Jan 17, 2019 10:21 AM CST

Asbestos in baby powder is part of new legal front in nearly 12,000 cancer lawsuits

Updated: Johnson & Johnson executives raised concerns about the possibility of asbestos in talc used to produce its baby powder as early as 1971. Corporate documents reveal that executives tried to discredit research showing the possibility of asbestos contamination in small amounts, even as the company considered replacing talc, the…

Dec 18, 2018 3:10 PM CST

Judge on Trump’s Supreme Court short list proposes discovery ban for cases worth less than $500K

A judge who was on President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court short list had a surprising proposal to provide quicker federal trials during a Federalist Society panel last month. Judge Thomas Hardiman of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia said he would support a rule change to eliminate…

Dec 10, 2018 8:15 AM CST

Objector lawyers committed ‘fraud on the court’; says Illinois appeals court

Updated: A law firm that claimed professional objectors were extorting fees in class action lawsuits will be able to introduce evidence supporting the allegation as a result of an Illinois appeals court decision. The First District Appellate Court of Illinois ruled for the Edelson law firm and also sent a…

Dec 4, 2018 9:48 AM CST

But their emails! Some of the most contentious political issues are e-discovery disputes

The near-daily headlines relating to what had once been a fairly obscure set of federal laws has helped breathe new life into the field of e-discovery. Donald Trump Jr.’s meetings with Russians, Michael Cohen’s plea bargain, Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, Paul Manafort’s fraud convictions and an attempt at impeaching Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein all involve, at their core, electronic evidence.

Dec 1, 2018 12:40 AM CST

Did ‘warrior gene’ predispose man to violence? Top New Mexico court to consider evidence issue

The New Mexico Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a judge improperly barred evidence of a genetic variation linked to impulsive violence in a man’s murder trial. Lawyers for Anthony Blas Yepez contend his genetic predisposition negated the intent required for a murder conviction, report the Santa Fe New…

Nov 28, 2018 7:30 AM CST

Sotomayor joins Gorsuch in dissent from cert denial in drunken driving case

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch dissented on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in a drunken driving case that involved a confrontation clause issue. Gorsuch’s dissent was joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. The pairing may seem unusual, but confrontation clause cases don’t always break along conservative and liberal lines,…

Nov 19, 2018 2:18 PM CST

Judge orders Amazon to provide Echo recordings in double homicide case

A judge in New Hampshire has ordered Amazon to release recordings from an Echo device in the Farmington home where two women were found fatally stabbed in January 2017. Judge Steven Houran of Strafford County ordered release of any recordings on Friday, report the Union Leader, WMUR, the Associated Press,…

Nov 12, 2018 2:48 PM CST

Sotomayor expresses ‘deep concern’ about failure to preserve tape in appeal hinging on one word

Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday issued a statement expressing “deep concern” over an Alabama judge’s failure to preserve an original recording of his disputed jury instruction in a capital case. Sotomayor said she agreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to deny certiorari in the case of Tawuan Townes because…

Oct 29, 2018 12:58 PM CDT

Judge bars discovery about other Trump harassment accusers in ‘Apprentice’ contestant’s suit

A state judge in New York City on Friday refused to allow former The Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos to obtain information about other women who have accused President Donald Trump of inappropriate sexual conduct. Judge Jennifer Schecter ruled the evidence was not relevant to Zervos’ defamation suit against Trump, report…

Oct 29, 2018 9:57 AM CDT

DNA from stamp is used to indict John Doe suspect for threatening judge

Prosecutors in Wisconsin have filed a felony charge against the DNA profile of an unidentified man believed to have sent a threatening letter to a judge. The DNA was obtained from a 9-cent stamp on the threatening letter from October 2012, according to the Wisconsin State Journal and the Washington…

Oct 17, 2018 3:30 PM CDT

Your Voice: I believe in Me Too, but I believe no one uncritically

I know women who have been sexually assaulted and who have not gotten justice. All I have is their side of the story, and that has been enough for me to believe them—because I know them and I know their character, and thus I believe them—without any reservation at all.

Oct 11, 2018 6:30 AM CDT