Tea Party groups sue county over banned courthouse meetings

Two Tea Party groups have sued the district attorney and other officials in Brazoria County, Texas, for banning their meetings in the courthouse annex. The suit by the Alvin Tea Party Patriots and the Lake Jackson Tea Party says the groups were allowed to meet for more than three years…

Dec 13, 2013 4:39 PM CST

Former US atty and fired lawyer were ‘unrepentant hard heads,’ judge says; no bias found

A former U.S. attorney who is now a federal judge did not discriminate or retaliate against a lawyer who worked in the prosecutor’s office, a judge and jury have found. Jurors found on Thursday that former U.S. Attorney Stephanie Rose and her top assistant did not discriminate against Martha Fagg…

Dec 13, 2013 1:11 PM CST

Domestic case against George Zimmerman is dropped

George Zimmerman is out of trouble once again. Acquitted earlier this year in a controversial second-degree murder case concerning the slaying of an unarmed teenager, Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman had faced a felony case after his girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, complained to Seminole County authorities last month that he had pointed a…

Dec 11, 2013 11:15 PM CST

‘Epidemic of Brady violations’ decried in Kozinski opinion

The chief judge of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is taking a stand against failure to disclose exculpatory evidence in a case involving a ricin suspect and a lab analyst who was later fired for alleged incompetence. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski highlighted the issue in a…

Dec 11, 2013 12:34 PM CST

Still a murder mystery: Who killed federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna?

Despite a $100,000 reward offer, authorities still haven’t solved the slaying of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna, who died 10 years ago this month. Luna, an assistant U.S. attorney in Baltimore, was 38 when he died, MyElancoNews reports. He had 36 stab wounds and his throat had been slit. His body…

Dec 10, 2013 11:45 AM CST

Judge criticizes prosecution for criminal background checks of several black jurors

A Washington, D.C., Superior Court judge has called out prosecutors in a major gang case—concerning murder, conspiracy and assault—for their selection of which potential jurors get criminal background checks, a somewhat uncommon practice to begin with, the Washington Post reported. Prosecutors initially told the judge they had researched criminal backgrounds…

Dec 9, 2013 11:48 PM CST

Child molestation conviction overturned over recanted testimony that prosecutor didn’t disclose

An Atlanta man serving a 25-year prison sentence for molesting a child will get a new trial because prosecutors didn’t inform the jury that the victim had recanted part of his testimony against the defendant prior to trial. Defense lawyers told the judge they overheard the prosecutor tell a juror…

Dec 9, 2013 10:46 PM CST

Top prosecutor faces ethics case over racial remarks that derailed murder trial

The top prosecutor in a southern Illinois county is facing a legal ethics case because of racial remarks he made that derailed a murder trial. Williamson County State’s Attorney Charles Garnati violated four legal ethics rules and “tends to defeat the administration of justice or to bring the courts or…

Dec 5, 2013 5:40 PM CST

S.C. prosecutors seek recusal of supreme court justice from all criminal cases for critical remarks

Thirteen of South Carolina’s 16 state prosecutors are seeking the recusal of South Carolina Supreme Court Justice Donald Beatty from all criminal appeals for remarks he allegedly made at a conference of prosecutors in September. Beatty allegedly told the audience of prosecutors that they had been “getting away with too…

Dec 4, 2013 7:35 PM CST

Prosecutor says judge secretly dismissed cases, seeks court OK for 10-year review

A prosecutor has asked for court permission to review a Michigan judge’s caseload for the past 10 years, contending that he secretly dismissed misdemeanor cases without an OK from her office. In a 238-page complaint filed last week, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper says 52nd District Judge Brian W. MacKenzie…

Dec 4, 2013 6:54 PM CST

Prosecutors battle the wall of silence around sex assault in religious communities

Dec 1, 2013 11:30 AM CST

California begins to release prisoners after reforming its three-strikes law

Dec 1, 2013 10:00 AM CST

Suspect in bombing of DA’s office hoped to delay scheduled sentencing in earlier case, officials say

A man accused of setting off an improvised pipe bomb at a Medford, Ore., district attorney’s office earlier this month was hoping to delay his scheduled plea and sentencing the next day in a home-burglary case, authorities say. If so, Alan Leroy McVay, 46, got his wish, according to the…

Nov 27, 2013 9:20 PM CST

Defense lawyer suspended for talking with prosecutor about ex-client and his new counsel

A Nebraska attorney has been indefinitely suspended from practice because she spoke with a prosecutor about her former client in a rape case, allegedly motivated by hatred for the lawyer who replaced her in representing Kevin H. Beltran and a desire to see Beltran convicted. Attorney Donna J. Tonderum, 45,…

Nov 26, 2013 7:00 PM CST

Prosecutor calls defense an ‘unindicted co-conspirator’ in rape case; says atty destroyed evidence

A Tennessee prosecutor is contesting whether two California attorneys can represent a defendant in a high-profile rape case, accusing one of destroying evidence and saying that the other is illegally practicing law outside of the jurisdiction in which he is admitted. In a Friday motion, the Davidson County District Attorney’s…

Nov 26, 2013 5:50 PM CST