Prosecutors

Fired justice of the peace is charged with threat made after DA slayings; cops reportedly test guns

A fired justice of the peace who was questioned in the slayings of two Texas prosecutors is being held on $3 million bond on a charge of making a terroristic threat. Eric Williams, 46, was jailed on Saturday, report the Dallas Morning News Crime Blog, the Associated Press, Reuters, the…

Apr 15, 2013 12:24 PM CDT

Special prosecutor to probe more decades-old claims by jailed men of Chicago police torture

Finding that the Chicago prosecutor’s office has a conflict of interest, the top criminal judge in Cook County, Ill., said on Thursday that he will appoint a special prosecutor to review the cases of at least five jailed men, and perhaps dozens of others, who say they were tortured into…

Apr 12, 2013 8:57 PM CDT

Judge is appointed to replace slain DA: ‘There is danger’

The judge appointed to fill the term of the slain district attorney in Kaufman County, Texas, told reporters on Thursday she acknowledges the danger. Judge Erleigh Norville Wiley of Kaufman County is Gov. Rick Perry’s choice to fill the job held by District Attorney Mike McClelland, who was killed along…

Apr 12, 2013 12:02 PM CDT

After DA slayings, Texas senator introduces bill to expand protections

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is introducing legislation to increase protections for judges and prosecutors in part by authorizing them to carry guns in federal facilities. The bill would allow such officials to carry guns in any federal facility, not just courthouses, report the Dallas Morning News, the Associated Press,…

Apr 11, 2013 2:23 PM CDT

District attorney should be disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct, state bar court recommends

The State Bar Court of California has recommended that Del Norte County District Attorney Jon Michael Alexander, who already had been disciplined three times in the past, be disbarred, the Los Angeles Times reports. In its opinion (PDF), the bar court found that Alexander, reportedly the state’s first sitting prosecutor…

Apr 8, 2013 10:05 PM CDT

Prosecutors suspended for mistakes in Sen. Stevens prosecution win administrative appeal

Two prosecutors suspended for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence in the failed 2008 corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens have won an appeal before an administrative judge. Administrative Judge Benjamin Gutman said in an opinion issued on Friday that the Justice Department violated its own procedures calling for a…

Apr 8, 2013 4:44 PM CDT

Texas will punish those responsible for prosecutor slayings, governor vows; $200K reward offered

The governor of Texas vowed at a press conference today that the state would hunt down and punish those responsible for slaying two prosecutors within a two-month period and announced that the state is adding $100,000 in reward money to the $100,000 already put up by Kaufman County. “We’re going…

Apr 4, 2013 10:24 PM CDT

Man is charged in threats made on tip line used for information in DA slayings

A Texas man has been arrested on a charge of making a terroristic threat based on accusations he threatened a Kaufman County official in a message left on a crime-tip hotline being used to seek information in the slayings of two prosecutors. The suspect was identified as 56-year-old Nick Morale…

Apr 4, 2013 1:36 PM CDT

Meet Brandi Fernandez, the Kaufman County prosecutor filling the job of her slain boss

The Kaufman County prosecutor who is filling the shoes of her slain boss on an interim basis is known as a top-notch prosecutor who isn’t easily rattled. Brandi Fernandez was first assistant district attorney under Mike McLelland, who was found shot to death along with his wife, Cynthia, on Saturday,…

Apr 3, 2013 1:21 PM CDT

DA death probe includes ominous Facebook post; US prosecutor said to quit Aryan Brotherhood case

Updated: A federal prosecutor in Houston is withdrawing from a multiagency task force that investigated the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas prison gang as investigators probe the shooting deaths last weekend of Kaufman County, Texas, District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia. Investigators have interviewed members of the Aryan Brotherhood…

Apr 3, 2013 12:34 PM CDT

Search warrant seeks cellphone records in DA’s slaying; why did security detail leave?

A search warrant filed by the Texas Rangers seeks access to the cellphone records of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife, Cynthia, who were found shot to death in their home on Saturday. The warrant also seeks records of all cellphone traffic near the couple’s home in…

Apr 2, 2013 1:00 PM CDT

Another Texas DA steps in to help 10-prosecutor office cope after Kaufman County DA is slain

In the wake of a weekend slaying of a Texas district attorney and his wife that has put law enforcement officials there and elsewhere on high alert, a district attorney from another jurisdiction has gone to Kaufman County to help the 10-prosecutor office cope with the situation. Randy Reynolds, who…

Apr 1, 2013 7:33 PM CDT

DA gets $26K worth of office furniture from private donors

Seeing a need for new office furniture in a state that is struggling with a lack of tax funding, the new San Francisco district attorney came up with a creative solution. George Gascón got a new glass-topped desk, chrome-framed visitors chairs, a bookshelf and a credenza from private donors, along…

Apr 1, 2013 3:38 PM CDT

Texas DA and his wife are killed, two months after slaying of another prosecutor in his office

A second prosecutor in Texas’ Kaufman County has been shot to death along with his wife in their home about 20 miles east of Dallas. Authorities discovered the slain couple, District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife Cynthia, 65, on Saturday at their rural home in Forney, report the…

Apr 1, 2013 12:21 PM CDT

Private lawyer to act as special prosecutor in county attorney’s domestic violence case

A private practitioner in Abilene, Texas, has been asked to act as a special prosecutor in a misdemeanor domestic violence case against Tom Green County Attorney Chris Taylor. The special prosecutor, attorney Kenneth Leggett said he had been asked to handle the Taylor case by Judge Charles Chapman. “I’m still…

Mar 29, 2013 4:45 PM CDT