Prosecutors

Ex-prosecutor won’t be disciplined for relationship with judge

A former prosecutor won’t face attorney discipline over a relationship she had with a judge before whom she appeared. Although Family Court Judge Steven Jones is facing a complaint by the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline, ethics charges won’t be pursued against attorney Lisa Willardson, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.…

Jan 31, 2013 4:10 PM CST

US Attorney bullying? This time charge is lobbed by budget motel owner who fought to keep property

A U.S. Attorney under fire for her prosecution of an Internet activist is back in the news after a judge refused prosecutors’ bid to seize a family-owned budget motel. On Jan. 17, U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz defended her office’s prosecution of 26-year-old “hactivist” Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide as he…

Jan 30, 2013 12:00 PM CST

Woman says lawyer Paul Bergrin pushed her to lie, as a child, about her dad’s attack on her mom

A New Jersey defense attorney accused of operating his law firm as a racketeering enterprise pushed a 9-year-old girl about her father’s brutal attack on her mother, a witness for the prosecution told a federal jury in Newark on Monday. Now 20 years old, Carolyn Velez told the jury that…

Jan 29, 2013 7:23 PM CST

Three dead, one wounded in courthouse shooting

A retired Canadian journalist shot and killed the pediatric surgeon who had pursued a malicious mischief case against him and the doctor’s lawyer on Tuesday before dying himself in a courthouse in the Philippines, authorities said. There are conflicting accounts about whether the shooting suspect, John Pope, 63, was killed…

Jan 22, 2013 4:27 PM CST

Texas attorney general has a message for gun-loving New Yorkers

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is taking aim at New York’s new gun control law with Internet ads seeking to lure unhappy firearms enthusiasts to his state. The pop-up ads, funded by Abbott campaign money, deliver two messages, the Austin American-Statesman reports. One reads: “Wanted: Law-abiding New York gun-owners looking…

Jan 18, 2013 12:00 PM CST

What will arrest of 3 suburban Chicago cops on drug charges mean for other defendants?

After news that three police officers from a Chicago suburb are facing criminal charges concerning an alleged conspiracy to supply confiscated drugs to an informant for sale on the street, defense lawyers are huddling to determine which cases involving ordinary defendants could be tainted. The Cook County public defender’s office…

Jan 17, 2013 10:30 PM CST

Husband of US Attorney defends his wife on Twitter after Internet activist’s suicide

Updated: The husband of the U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz is defending his wife on Twitter as she faces criticism for her prosecution of an Internet activist who committed suicide on Friday at the age of 26. The federal prosecutor in Massachusetts had charged computer programmer Aaron Swartz with 13 felonies…

Jan 16, 2013 12:42 PM CST

Internet activist’s suicide spurs criticism of US Attorney

The suicide of “hactivist” Aaron Swartz on Friday is shining a harsh spotlight on prosecution decisions by U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, who had charged the 26-year-old computer programmer with 13 felonies for allegedly accessing a database of scholarly papers with the intent to make them accessible for free. Swartz, 26,…

Jan 14, 2013 5:17 PM CST

Jury Selection Begins in Trial of Ex-Prosecutor Accused of Operating Law Firm as RICO Enterprise

Jury selection began this week in Newark in the latest federal trial of a former state and federal prosecutor accused of operating his New Jersey law firm as a racketeering enterprise. Paul W. Bergrin, 57, a once-prominent defense attorney, faces 26 counts including murder and drug trafficking. He is accused…

Jan 9, 2013 11:04 PM CST

Ex-Jurist Should Lose Law License for a Year Over Close Relationship with Prosecutor, Judge Says

A Florida judge overseeing an unusual legal ethics case against a former state court jurist has recommended that Ana Gardiner lose her law license for a year over her conduct on the bench. A judicial ethics case against Gardiner over her alleged concealment of a clandestine relationship with a prosecutor…

Jan 9, 2013 8:20 PM CST

Smartphone Photos Show Holmes Planned ‘Dark Knight’ Movie Theater Massacre, Prosecutors Say

Smartphone photographs show suspect James Holmes carefully planned the July 20 massacre of 12 people at a Colorado movie theater with “deliberation and extreme indifference,” the prosecution says. As a preliminary hearing continued on Wednesday, the state presented a series of photos taken as early as June 29 that were…

Jan 9, 2013 7:10 PM CST

Foley Hoag Represented Boston Municipal Jurist for Free in Judicial Independence Case

Updated: Last year, a Boston municipal judge fended off an ethics complaint spearheaded by the Suffolk County district attorney’s office, which complained that he was biased in favor of criminal defendants, with the help of one of the city’s most prominent law firms. Now the Boston Globe (sub. req.). is…

Jan 8, 2013 7:34 PM CST

Ex-Prosecutor’s Soaring Career at DOJ Is Shot Down by ‘Fast and Furious’ Fallout

Jason M. Weinstein seemingly was on a soaring career trajectory as a former federal prosecutor appointed to a job at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2009. The George Washington University law graduate’s aggressive approach, working with local police as the man in charge of the violent crimes unit at…

Jan 8, 2013 4:42 PM CST

New Prosecutor in Arizona’s Pinal County Fires Nine Lawyers, Three Others

Some call it the “Pinal County Massacre.” Nine lawyers and three other employees working for the Pinal County Attorney’s office lost their jobs this week when Lando Voyles took over the top job there, the Arizona Republic reports. Voyles is defending the firings in a statement that refers to his…

Jan 4, 2013 5:20 PM CST

AG Seeks Appellate Stay of Fed’l Order to Release Capital Murder Defendant Due to Va. Misconduct

As a Thursday deadline nears for the Virginia to release a defendant in a capital murder case because of prosecutorial misconduct, the state’s attorney general is seeking a federal appellate-court stay of a federal district judge’s order to let Justin Wolfe go. Although the two sides disagree about the parameters…

Jan 2, 2013 10:32 PM CST