Judiciary

Federal Juror Names No Longer Secret in Western District of Pennsylvania

A rule that required the names of federal jurors to be kept secret in the Western District of Pennsylvania has been revoked by the chief judge there. The move by U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose followed a media protest over a decision by another judge there to keep juror names…

Oct 14, 2008 11:14 PM CDT

Chief Justice Roberts Depicts a Hard-Boiled Detective in ‘Three-Dollar Steak’ ‘Hood

It reads like a chapter from a hard-boiled detective novel: Narcotics officer Sean Devlin is working undercover in a neighborhood “tough as a three-dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He’d made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood.” But it’s not.…

Oct 14, 2008 8:57 PM CDT

Defendant in Hot Water After Dousing UK Judge

An unidentified 19-year-old man in Londonderry Magistrates Court had already been remanded in custody by District Judge Liam McNally. But he presumably didn’t help his defense in a burglary and traffic offense case by grabbing a fire extinguisher and dousing the judge. “Water from the fire extinguisher hit the district…

Oct 14, 2008 6:02 PM CDT

Court Asked to Rule in 3 Disputes over Fairness of W. Va. Justice System

The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to decide this week whether the Constitution required the recusal of a West Virginia Supreme Court justice who received more than $3 million in campaign contributions from the chief executive officer of a corporate litigant. The case is one of three before the court…

Oct 13, 2008 12:39 PM CDT

Courts in Chicago Struggle to Protect Domestic Violence Victims

Victims of domestic violence in Chicago have a special court at which they can seek help. But, suffering from staff shortages and a deluge of cases, it doesn’t work as well as those who created it nearly 25 years ago hoped it would. Fewer than 1 in 5 of the…

Oct 10, 2008 11:03 PM CDT

We Won’t Evict Unless You Do Your Job, Illinois Sheriff Tells Lenders

In an unusual act of rebellion against an apparent defect in a number of foreclosure cases, the sheriff of Cook County has made national headlines this week by saying his officers wouldn’t enforce court orders and evict occupants of foreclosed homes in and around Chicago until lenders could prove that…

Oct 10, 2008 4:42 PM CDT

Connecticut Probate Courts ‘Hemorrhaging’ $20K a Day

Probate courts in Connecticut, funded by a percentage of the estates they distribute, are spending more than they take in, eating up dwindling reserves. “The state’s probate court system is hemorrhaging $20,000 a day, a million dollars every two months and is losing its savings so quickly that by this…

Oct 10, 2008 12:35 PM CDT

What Recession? Mich. County’s Pagers Will Let Potential Jurors Shop

No-shows for jury duty could soon be much less of a problem in one Michigan county, which plans to distribute pagers in the near future so that potential jurors can shop at downtown stores while they are waiting to be called into a courtroom. The new system will require prospective…

Oct 9, 2008 10:13 PM CDT

Lawsuits, Disciplinary Complaints Over Indiana Defendant’s Delayed Release

An Indiana judge is facing potential discipline after court commissioner under his supervision delayed the release of a convicted rapist apparently cleared by DNA evidence. Although former Master Commissioner Nancy Broyles held a hearing in March 2005 to consider DNA evidence in the case of Harold David Buntin, it wasn’t…

Oct 9, 2008 5:31 PM CDT

Ethics Complaint Says Wis. Justice Misrepresented Facts in Campaign Ad

An ethics complaint accuses a new Wisconsin Supreme Court justice of misrepresenting the facts and making false statements in a campaign ad. The complaint against Justice Michael Gableman is based on a television ad that suggested his opponent, an incumbent justice, helped free a child molester, report the Wisconsin Law…

Oct 8, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

More NY Lawyers Settle in Pension Probe; $1.28M Recovered to Date by AG

Several more New York lawyers have settled with the state attorney general in an ongoing probe of attorneys in private practice who for years have simultaneously earned benefits and government pension fund credit by being reported as employees of school districts and other government entities. So far, the probe has…

Oct 8, 2008 5:00 PM CDT

Judge Asked Too Many Questions, Requiring New Trial

In a rare rebuke to the chief judge in Baltimore, a Maryland appellate court has found that he asked too many questions during a jury trial of an armed robbery case last year, requiring a reversal of the defendant’s conviction and a new trial. The 125 questions that Baltimore City…

Oct 7, 2008 11:50 PM CDT

Drug Forfeiture Fund to Help Restore Historic Texas Courthouse

Ordinarily, money forfeited in drug-related cases goes to purchase needed equipment. But officials hope to give a historic courthouse in Kleberg County, Texas, a facelift with the help of a $200,000 contribution from the district attorney’s forfeiture fund, reports KIII-TV, an ABC affiliate. “In this case, how better to use…

Oct 7, 2008 11:32 PM CDT

Ex-Judge, Now a N.H. Lawyer, is Censured for ‘Double-Dipping’

A former New Hampshire judge who resigned from the bench after she was suspended for three years without pay earlier this year is in ethical hot water again. Patricia Coffey has accepted a censure from the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s Judicial Conduct Committee, which found that she had exceeded a…

Oct 7, 2008 7:51 PM CDT

Longtime Federal Judge Says Money Motivated Move to Pepper Hamilton

A longtime federal judge in Pennsylvania says he is returning to practice because of the significant difference between judicial and law firm pay. James Giles has left his job as a senior U.S. district judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to return to practice at Pepper Hamilton, where he…

Oct 7, 2008 4:34 PM CDT