Evidence

Contempt Case: Did Top Detroit City Lawyer Help Destroy Docs?

The corporation counsel and the deputy human resources director for the city of Detroit appeared before a Wayne County Circuit court judge today in contempt proceedings. The hearing, which was continued until Friday, is about the city’s alleged failure to produce and destruction of documents sought in a probe of…

Mar 24, 2008 10:01 PM CDT

Detroit Mayor Charged in Litigation-Related Sex Scandal

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, 37, and his former chief of staff were charged today in an obstruction of justice case related to their testimony in a police whistle-blower case last year. The criminal case could also turn up the heat concerning complaints that lawyers representing the city have sided with…

Mar 24, 2008 6:45 PM CDT

ABA President Expresses ‘Grave Concerns’ About Guantanamo Trials

ABA President William H. Neukom is expressing “grave concerns” about coerced evidence, restrictions on lawyers and other aspects of the Guantanamo trial process. In an op-ed released today, Neukom says American lawyers are “deeply troubled” by six Guantanamo death penalty cases involving alleged plotters in the Sept. 11 attacks. The…

Mar 24, 2008 6:12 PM CDT

Polygraphs Increasingly Used to Find Parole Violations

Polygraph use is increasing as a post-conviction tool. Most jurisdictions use lie detector tests in an attempt to learn if sex offenders are violating their probation. Now some jurisdictions are also using polygraphs to test probationers convicted of domestic abuse and drunk driving, the Wall Street Journal reports. Eric Holden,…

Mar 24, 2008 1:15 PM CDT

Ex-Foley & Lardner Secretary Wants to Use 823 Disputed Documents in Bias Suit

A secretary who was fired from Foley & Lardner at the age of 63 took 823 documents with her that are now at a center of a discovery battle. Hideko Shiroyama sued the law firm last June for age discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and intentional infliction of emotional distress, the…

Mar 24, 2008 12:04 PM CDT

Man Wins Murder Trial, But Gets Almost 9 Years

Tyrone Jones didn’t have much time to celebrate after a Connecticut jury acquitted him of murder Tuesday. The next day, the judge in the murder case sent Jones to prison for violating his probation in a previous assault case. The basis of his decision to do so? Testimony by a…

Mar 20, 2008 6:34 PM CDT

Jail for False Wash. Rape Case ‘Victim’; Prosecutors Will Now Be More Careful

When Katherine Clifton told Seattle area authorities last year that she had been raped, she was “an extremely articulate and credible victim. There was no reason to suspect she wasn’t telling the truth,” a King County Sheriff’s spokesman says. But she wasn’t. The suburban Seattle woman was sentenced to a…

Mar 19, 2008 8:46 PM CDT

‘Karma’ Ensnares Four California Prosecutors

Three California prosecutors have been accused of ethical wrongdoing while a fourth has been suspended. Donald Steedman, the supervising deputy trial counsel for the state bar, told the Recorder (sub. req.) that it’s unusual to have so many cases pending against prosecutors. He believes the reason is nothing more than…

Mar 19, 2008 6:13 PM CDT

Skilling Appeal Argues Secret FBI ‘Sledgehammer’ Notes Require Reversal

Lawyers for former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling contend recently released FBI notes show that star prosecution witness Andrew Fastow gave testimony sometimes at odds with prior interviews he gave to federal agents. In a 71-page filing made public Friday, lawyers for Skilling say his 2006 securities fraud conviction should be…

Mar 18, 2008 2:50 PM CDT

Ex-Qwest CEO Gets New Trial and New Judge

U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham, in the news for alleged links to a prostitution business, has been bounced from an expected retrial of the former CEO of Qwest Communications. The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday in an opinion with some sarcastic observations that former CEO Joseph…

Mar 18, 2008 11:40 AM CDT

High Court to Decide Whether Lab Reports Violate Confrontation Clause

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a state forensic lab report can be admitted as evidence absent testimony from the expert who prepared it. The appeal is a “significant new case on the confrontation clause,” SCOTUSblog reports. The petition for certiorari (PDF) claims the report is testimonial…

Mar 17, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

In a Discovery Bind, Calif. Law Firm Created FIND Process

When a client of a Silicon Valley law firm balked at the expected seven-figure cost of searching through 100 million files, Fenwick & West found another way to deal with the discovery issue. It put an in-house IT team to work on the problem of culling through the files to…

Mar 17, 2008 3:29 PM CDT

Minnesota Officials Recorded Inmate’s Phone Calls to Lawyer

A Minnesota attorney reportedly is livid after Becker County officials admitted that they have been recording his telephone calls with an incarcerated client. Although the officials say they haven’t actually listened to the attorney-client phone calls, and delete privileged conversations before passing the tapes on to prosecutors, defense lawyer Rory…

Mar 13, 2008 10:19 PM CDT

Opponent Computer Searches Likelier Under Revised Civ Pro Rule

As a number of discovery debacles in recent years make clear, law firms aren’t always as diligent as they should be about helping clients produce all of the electronic material requested in discovery. Now, however, clients who resist such evidentiary requests may find themselves facing a powerful new enforcement tool:…

Mar 12, 2008 11:11 PM CDT

Calif. Court Reconsiders But Doesn’t Change Ford Punitives Verdict

A California appeals court is standing its ground and refusing to change an earlier ruling requiring Ford Motor Co. to pay $82.6 million in a rollover case. The U.S. Supreme Court had asked the California court to reconsider in light of its ruling in Philip Morris USA v. Williams, the…

Mar 11, 2008 5:49 PM CDT