Juries

Afternoon Briefs: Harvey Weinstein gets 23 years; Sen. Rand Paul keeps $582K verdict in neighbor assault suit

Harvey Weinstein gets 23-year prison sentence Former film producer Harvey Weinstein, 67, was sentenced Wednesday to 23 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women. The minimum sentence was five years. Weinstein told the court that he thought the relationships were consensual, and he was “totally confused.” Weinstein faces additional…

Mar 11, 2020 4:35 PM CDT

Afternoon Briefs: LGBTQ students sue for sex ed equality; judge’s law license is suspended 5 times

South Carolina LGBTQ students fight for equality in sexual education Eli Bundy, a 15-year-old sophomore at Charleston County School of the Arts in South Carolina, is the leader of the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, one of three groups suing the state’s superintendent of education in an effort to repeal…

Mar 2, 2020 4:16 PM CST

Murder conviction tossed after prosecutor conducts background check on only black juror

A New Jersey appeals court has overturned a murder conviction after the prosecutor conducted a criminal background check on the only black person among the potential jurors, resulting in an arrest.

Feb 26, 2020 3:51 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Trump campaign sues NY Times; DOJ can withhold grants to sanctuary jurisdictions, 2nd Circuit says

Trump campaign is suing the New York Times for libel President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign says it is filing a libel suit against the New York Times for a March 2019 op-ed entitled “The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo.” The subhead read: “The campaign and the Kremlin had an overarching…

Feb 26, 2020 3:09 PM CST

New podcast from ‘Making a Murderer’ lawyers sheds light on false confessions

Wrongful Conviction: False Confessions is a new podcast hosted by two of the nation’s foremost experts in the field, Steve Drizin and Laura Nirider, law professors and co-directors of Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. The new series was born from their experience on the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer.

Feb 19, 2020 2:22 PM CST

Op-ed by Harvey Weinstein lawyer spurs prosecutor complaint and gag order

The judge overseeing the sexual assault trial of film producer Harvey Weinstein barred the defense from talking to the press Tuesday after a member of the team wrote an op-ed asking jurors to “do what they know is right.”

Feb 19, 2020 10:38 AM CST

In ‘Bart Simpson-esque’ punishment, lawyer is ordered to pledge compliance with ethics rules in legible handwriting

A Cleveland-area lawyer had to show his contrition with a $500 fine and a written mea culpa as a result of a judge’s order last week.

Feb 18, 2020 1:53 PM CST

Could discussing race during criminal trials reduce juror bias?

Empirical studies show that discussion of race during trials and pretrial hearings reduces reliance on stereotypes, according to a paper published in the Seattle Journal for Social Justice.

Feb 11, 2020 12:41 PM CST

Overturning 2016 precedent, Florida top court says jury unanimity not needed for death penalty

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a 2016 decision and ruled that judges may impose the death penalty even when jurors do not unanimously recommend it.

Jan 24, 2020 2:47 PM CST

11th Circuit upholds dismissal of juror who said Holy Spirit told him to acquit former congresswoman

A federal judge didn’t err when he dismissed a juror who declared that the Holy Spirit told him a former congresswoman was innocent in an alleged charity scam, a federal appeals court has ruled in a 2-1 decision.

Jan 16, 2020 10:39 AM CST

Afternoon Briefs: 2nd Circuit says no to nullification; law prof claims pariah treatment

2nd Circuit directs federal judge to bar jury nullification argument On Wednesday, a federal appeals court directed U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill to bar defense lawyers from making a jury nullification argument in the case of landlord facing child pornography charges. If convicted, the landlord faced a mandatory 15-year minimum…

Dec 20, 2019 4:32 PM CST

Class action says Mississippi’s DA’s office has a pattern of wrongfully excluding black jurors

A federal lawsuit filed on Monday claims a Mississippi district attorney and his prosecutors are wrongfully using peremptory challenges to exclude potential black jurors more frequently than whites.

Nov 20, 2019 2:13 PM CST

How to master the jury selection process

In this new Modern Law Library episode, Olivia Aguilar of ABA Publishing talks to Jeffrey T. Frederick, an expert on jury selection strategies, about benefits of open-ended questioning, how to break the ice with a conversational tone, and more.

Nov 6, 2019 6:00 AM CST

Lawyer known as ‘DWI Dude’ is convicted for shakedown of Colombian drug clients

A Texas lawyer who markets himself as the “DWI Dude” has been found guilty on federal corruption charges for a scheme to shake down three Colombian drug clients.

Oct 31, 2019 7:30 AM CDT

Judge orders DOJ to turn over Mueller grand jury information for impeachment probe

The chief federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled Friday that the House Judiciary Committee is entitled to see grand jury materials related to former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Oct 25, 2019 4:22 PM CDT