Evidence

From paper to digital documents, Judge Andrew Peck traveled (and set) the discovery trail (podcast)

For litigators accustomed to conducting discovery inside large warehouses surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of cardboard file boxes, combing through several forests' worth of paper to find the few relevant documents was like trying to find the needle in the haystack.

May 16, 2018 8:00 AM CDT

Does forensic hypnosis produce reliable evidence? 2 death row inmates say it’s junk science

Two Texas death row inmates are contending forensic hypnosis was wrongly used to put them behind bars.

May 15, 2018 2:28 PM CDT

School lawyer asks about birds-and-bees talk, mom’s terminated pregnancy in teen’s bullying suit

A lawyer representing Nashville, Tennessee, schools wants to know how a teen suing the school has “developed sexually” and whether she is aware of her mother’s sexual history.

May 15, 2018 7:30 AM CDT

Forensic search of cellphone seized at border requires some form of suspicion, 4th Circuit says

Some form of individualized suspicion is needed before the government can use forensic software to search a cellphone seized at the border, a federal appeals court said Wednesday. The decision by the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was considered a victory by privacy advocates, though the Turkish…

May 10, 2018 4:20 PM CDT

Does Stanley have a mustache? ‘The Office’ illustrates issues with cross-racial identification

As I’ve been writing this column on law and pop culture over the past year or so, I’ve started to realize that my wife has a helluva legal mind. She just gets it. She’s not educated in the law (she has a masters in nonprofit management), but she’s pretty spot-on.…

May 7, 2018 8:00 AM CDT

Murder conviction of Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel is tossed because of ineffective assistance

The Connecticut Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 2002 murder conviction of Michael Skakel, the nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy. The court ruled 4-3 that Skakel is entitled to a new trial because of ineffective assistance by his trial lawyer, report the Hartford Courant, the Associated Press…

May 4, 2018 4:08 PM CDT

Investigators who found Golden State Killer through DNA website borrowed idea from another case

The idea of using a DNA website to catch a serial murderer began with a search for the identity of an abandoned 5-year-old girl named Lisa. That sleuthing led police to a suspected serial killer believed to have killed Lisa’s mother, giving a California investigator the idea of using the…

May 4, 2018 2:01 PM CDT

New York considers changing discovery rules that often leave defense lawyers in the dark

Advocates have dubbed New York’s discovery scheme the blindfold law, arguing that the lack of information requires defense counsel to prepare for trial, or advise clients about plea bargains, without ever seeing the evidence.

May 1, 2018 1:45 AM CDT

SCOTUS to hear inmate’s claim that rare medical condition would make execution particularly painful

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the case of a Missouri inmate who contends a rare medical condition would make being put to death by lethal injection “gruesome and painful” beyond the pain inherent in an execution. The court granted cert in the case of Russell Bucklew,…

Apr 30, 2018 4:39 PM CDT

Police used DNA from discarded items to link suspect to Golden State Killer murders

Corrected and Updated: Police announced Wednesday that they arrested the suspect for the Golden State Killer murders after linking him to the crimes through DNA on two discarded items.

Apr 26, 2018 8:45 AM CDT

Secret of David Copperfield’s signature trick revealed in slip-and-fall suit by audience volunteer

The secret of magician David Copperfield’s signature trick was partly revealed last week during the trial of a civil suit by an audience volunteer who says he fell during the magician’s disappearing act in Las Vegas. Copperfield’s executive producer, Chris Kenner, partly explained how the trick works in courtroom testimony…

Apr 23, 2018 1:25 PM CDT

Florida police try to use dead man’s finger to unlock his phone; was a warrant needed?

Police in Largo, Florida, investigating the death of a man shot by one of the department’s officers visited a funeral home last month in an effort to unlock his phone. Police held the dead man’s finger to the phone, but were unable to unlock it, the Tampa Bay Times reports.…

Apr 23, 2018 11:46 AM CDT

Bill Cosby has a new lawyer and additional witnesses in retrial for alleged sexual assault

Jurors will hear from new witnesses when Bill Cosby’s retrial for an alleged sexual assault begins Monday in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Cosby’s new lead defense counsel is Tom Mesereau Jr., the lawyer who helped win an acquittal for Michael Jackson in his 2005 child molestation trial, the New York Times reports.…

Apr 9, 2018 12:26 PM CDT

Supreme Court gives second chance to death-row inmate denied funding for an investigator

A federal appeals court applied a legal standard that was too tough when it denied funding to a death-row inmate seeking an investigator to show ineffective assistance of counsel, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.

Mar 21, 2018 9:35 AM CDT

Federal judge orders courtroom doors locked before he announces ruling on stash-house stings

Chicago’s chief federal judge ensured that spectators didn’t leave his courtroom while he announced Monday that he was “reluctantly” denying a motion to toss the charges against eight people charged in stash-house robbery stings.

Mar 12, 2018 4:00 PM CDT