Prosecutors

A year after Fitzgerald’s resignation, Obama nominates Latham litigator for Illinois US attorney

Zachary Fardon, a Latham & Watkins partner who chairs its Chicago litigation department, was nominated Thursday to serve as the Northern District of Illinois U.S. attorney. Previously a federal prosecutor who worked on the corruption trial of former Illinois governor George Ryan, Reuters and the Associated Press report, Fardon worked…

May 24, 2013 6:46 PM CDT

Ex-DA takes stand at federal racketeering enterprise trial, cites prosecutorial discretion

A former Texas district attorney is expected to continue testifying Thursday in his federal trial over allegedly operating the DA’s office as a criminal racketeering enterprise. However, ex-Cameron County DA Armando R. Villalobos already laid out his defense in testimony Wednesday—prosecutorial discretion, the Valley Morning Star reports. Contradicting testimony by…

May 23, 2013 5:10 PM CDT

Judge reveals dispute about whether prosecutors withheld critical evidence in Chandra Levy case

Federal prosecutors and defense lawyers in the Chandra Levy case have been battling in sealed proceedings over the existence of a prosecution witness’s history of cooperating with law enforcement, District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher revealed yesterday. In early 2012, prosecutors learned that government witness Armando Morales previously…

May 22, 2013 8:18 PM CDT

Plans for ‘Brooklyn DA’ news series bring lawsuit and a defense lawyer’s objection

An election opponent of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes isn’t happy about an upcoming news series about the DA’s office that will begin airing on May 28. Nor is a lawyer defending a landlord accused of manslaughter in a tenement fire. The six-part CBS series, Brooklyn D.A., offers a look…

May 17, 2013 2:16 PM CDT

Reward money for info on Texas prosecutor slayings will go unpaid

Reward money for information in the slayings of two Texas prosecutors will not be paid because police made arrests based on their own work rather than tips by the public, according to the group that raised the cash. The Kaufman County, Texas, Crime Stoppers will return money from the fund…

May 17, 2013 10:45 AM CDT

Man jailed for 10th DUI is convicted for soliciting murder of judge, prosecutor and his ex-wife

Corrected: Sentenced to an additional 16-year prison term after being convicted–for the 10th time–of driving under the influence, Gordon Vanderark allegedly tried to get back at the Illinois prosecutor and judge who put him there. He tried to arrange with a fellow inmate for them to be killed, along with…

May 16, 2013 4:20 PM CDT

Cuffed client decks lawyer with ‘baseball bat fashion’ punch during death-penalty hearing

A handcuffed client decked his defense lawyer Monday in a Blair County, Pa., courtroom, in front of the judge who was hearing his post-conviction argument that he should not be sentenced to the death penalty. Andre Staton, 50, slammed the blow in a “baseball bat fashion” squarely in the forehead…

May 14, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

Trial begins for ex-DA accused in cash-for-court-favors case; convicted ex-judge is first witness

A convicted former judge, Abel Limas, was the first witness Monday as a trial began for a former Texas district attorney accused in a nine-count federal indictment of running the prosecutor’s office as a criminal racketeering enterprise. Limas testified that he once considered himself a father figure, mentor and friend…

May 13, 2013 7:30 PM CDT

Schools that are nailing law practice technology; Prof compares SLU to Pakistan; Tumblr drama

Legal services delivery entrepreneur Richard Granat wrote at eLawyering Blog about the efforts of the ABA’s eLawyering Task Force to identify the top law schools currently teaching legal practice technology. “We include within this category courses that train law students in document automation, legal expert systems, and other course work…

May 10, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Judge faces discipline case for dismissing lawyer’s speeding ticket

Disciplinary counsel for the Ohio Supreme Court is seeking to sanction a Franklin County Municipal Court judge for dismissing a lawyer’s speeding ticket. Attorney Patrick M. Quinn had been ticketed in November 2011 for doing 81 mph in a 65-mph zone. Judge Harland H. Hale, who was being represented by…

May 3, 2013 6:39 PM CDT

Victim blinked to ID defendant, police say; videotape will be shown to murder trial jury

Shot in the head and neck on Oct. 28, 2010, David Chandler was initially paralyzed and then, about two weeks later, he died. But meanwhile, hooked up to a ventilator and unable to speak, he identified, by blinking three times, the man who prosecutors say shot him. A videotape of…

Apr 29, 2013 7:37 PM CDT

‘Friends of Rosemary’ file amicus brief seeking to keep DA in office after 45-day DWI sentence

Nearly 200 lawyers have signed a “Friends of Rosemary” petition seeking to keep a Texas district attorney in office after she completes a 45-day sentence for driving while intoxicated. A spokeswoman for the group said during a Thursday press conference that Travis County DA Rosemary Lehmberg does not plan to…

Apr 26, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

Former DA jailed after judge issues scathing opinion in rare Texas court of inquiry

An unusual court of inquiry held to probe the conduct of a former Texas district attorney has concluded with a blistering opinion by the presiding judge. Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was briefly booked into jail Friday before being released on $7,500 bail after District Judge Louis Sturns…

Apr 22, 2013 5:40 PM CDT

Prosecutor plans to stay in office despite DWI conviction, 45-day sentence

Corrected: A district attorney who pleaded guilty Friday to driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to 45 days in jail has no intention of relinquishing her post. Friends and colleagues of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg tell the Austin American-Statesman that her reasons are a mix of personal and…

Apr 22, 2013 3:00 PM CDT

Fired justice of peace charged with capital murder in deaths of Texas prosecutors, bail set at $23M

A fired former justice of the peace in Kaufman County, Texas, has been charged with capital murder in the recent slayings of county prosecutor Mark Hasse, county district attorney Mike McLelland and McLelland’s wife, Cynthia. Eric Lyle Williams was arrested Thursday and is being held in lieu of $23 million…

Apr 18, 2013 8:32 PM CDT