Evidence

Patriot Act Ruling Could Curtail FBI Technique

A federal judge’s decision yesterday striking down parts of the USA Patriot Act could cut the FBI’s use of national security letters to gather customer information from telecommunications companies for terrorism investigations. The decision said the revisions violated the First Amendment by giving the FBI wide discretion to make case-by-case…

Sep 7, 2007 1:23 PM CDT

DNA Reversal Doesn’t Stop Prosecution

Prosecutors in a rural Mississippi county are planning to retry a man for the rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl despite a 2002 DNA test showing semen on the child was not his. Kennedy Brewer, who spent 15 years in prison for the crime, was freed last week on…

Sep 6, 2007 1:51 PM CDT

Law Grad Acquitted, Relies on Polygraph

A judge’s decision to admit the results of a polygraph exam may have helped a law school graduate win acquittal Monday in an Ohio sexual battery case. Sahil Sharma had been charged for a sexual encounter with a woman after a wedding they attended in Cuyahoga Falls, the Cleveland Plain…

Sep 5, 2007 2:54 PM CDT

Trial of Millennium: Osama Bin Laden

It’s not a real trial, of course. But some of the country’s best-known lawyers are talking about how they would defend the nation’s most-wanted terrorism suspect, if they were lucky—or unlucky—enough to draw the job of representing Osama bin Laden, were he to be captured. The case would probably start…

Sep 5, 2007 10:09 AM CDT

Quattrone: ‘I Am Innocent’

Updated: A federal judge has approved a prosecution request to drop charges against former investment banker Frank Quattrone, whose conviction for obstruction of justice and witness tampering was overturned 17 months ago. Quattrone was prosecuted for an e-mail reminding employees of document retention policies during an investigation into whether Credit…

Aug 30, 2007 3:00 PM CDT

‘New’ Low-Tech Crime Tool: Trackers

In an age of increasingly high-tech criminal investigation techniques, some are finding that a low-tech traditional method is underused. Special trackers, whose skills are similar to those used for thousands of years by hunters but honed for criminal investigation, can see a great deal in crime scenes that reveal little…

Aug 29, 2007 7:03 PM CDT

Cell Phone Alibi Rings True

A cell phone alibi has helped win freedom for Eric Wright, accused of murdering a longtime rival. A Brooklyn judge dismissed the charges yesterday at the request of prosecutors, the New York Times (reg. req.) reports. Wright told his lawyer he was in New Jersey at the time the victim…

Aug 24, 2007 6:10 PM CDT

Maid’s Suit Can Raise Model’s Past

A Manhattan judge has ruled that a former maid for Naomi Campbell can introduce evidence of past dust-ups with hired help in her lawsuit against the model. Gaby Gibson claims Campbell hit her and made discriminatory comments when she couldn’t find a pair of Stella McCartney jeans, the New York…

Aug 23, 2007 3:36 PM CDT

Scruggs, Firm in Criminal Contempt Case

A well-known Mississippi plaintiffs attorney and his law firm have been charged with criminal contempt by special federal prosecutors after they defied a federal judge’s order to return internal claims documents to an insurance company. Appointed by U.S. District Judge William M. Acker Jr. after the local U.S. attorney in…

Aug 22, 2007 4:44 PM CDT

New Tech: Community Drug Tests

New technology will soon allow law enforcement officials to test entire communities for drug use, by running samples from the local sewage treatment plant. A study of 10 unidentified cities by Oregon State University scientists shows that such “community urinalysis” is feasible, reports the Associated Press. While such group testing…

Aug 21, 2007 10:12 PM CDT

Spy Document Showdown Threatened

The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee is threatening to pursue contempt charges against the administration if it refuses to release documents about a secret surveillance program. Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the administration had failed to meet a Monday deadline to turn over the documents about the spy program…

Aug 21, 2007 2:08 PM CDT

Ruling Thwarts Perjury Prosecutions

A federal appeals court ruling permitting grand jury witnesses to review their testimony is winning praise from criminal defense lawyers. The June ruling could help witnesses clear up misstatements that can lead to perjury charges, defense lawyers told Legal Times. But prosecutors worry that co-defendants will share their testimony with…

Aug 21, 2007 11:09 AM CDT

Toy Litigation Legacy: Monitoring Rules?

Updated: As lawsuits mount over a recall of toys that may contain dangerous levels of lead paint, the litigation could lead to new precedent of interest to lawyers in a wide range of tort cases. That is because the lawsuits are likely to ask for a controversial remedy—medical monitoring of…

Aug 20, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

Mistake Explanation Privileged, Qualcomm Lawyers Say

Lawyers for Qualcomm aren’t saying why they made discovery errors in litigation over cell phone patent rights. Transcripts from a July 26 hearing in San Diego show that Qualcomm is asserting attorney-client privilege in the case, the Recorder reports. A federal magistrate has ordered lawyers from two law firms to…

Aug 17, 2007 10:34 AM CDT

Shocking Case: Legal Team Tasers Client

Proceedings have been delayed in a California misdemeanor case in which the defense is claiming that police brutalized their client with a stun gun during his arrest at a shopping mall last year. That’s because the defense team is now being criminally investigated for allegedly violating human experimentation laws by…

Aug 16, 2007 9:01 PM CDT