Prosecutors

US ‘Pattern or Practice’ Suit Says Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office Discriminated Against Latinos

An Arizona sheriff who calls himself the country’s toughest is overseeing an office that routinely discriminates against Latino residents and retaliates against critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, contends a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Arizona by the United States government. It contends that the Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff’s…

May 10, 2012 6:16 PM CDT

Judge OKs Special Prosecutor, Calls DA’s Prior Work for Fatal Crash Defendant an ‘Extreme’ Conflict

A newly appointed district attorney can’t simply wall himself off from his office’s prosecution of a man he formerly represented in a felony fatal crash case but must step aside for a special prosecutor, a Nevada judge has ruled. Senior District Judge J. Charles Thompson last week disqualified District Attorney…

May 10, 2012 5:25 PM CDT

Texas DA Says He Won’t Step Down Despite His Indictment in Federal Racketeering Case

Urged to resign as a Texas prosecutor following his federal indictment in an unusual criminal racketeering case that accuses him of bartering prosecutorial discretion for cash, Cameron County’s District Attorney is reportedly determined to stay in office. Armando Villalobos, 44, who is also a Democratic candidate for a seat in…

May 9, 2012 3:37 PM CDT

DA Running for Congress Is Indicted; Feds Say He Ran His Office as a Criminal RICO Enterprise

A sitting district attorney in South Texas has been federally indicted, accused of working with his former law partner and others to operate the local justice system as a criminal racketeering enterprise. Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, who is currently running for election to a seat in the…

May 7, 2012 10:15 PM CDT

Prosecutor Is Put On Leave, Accused of Ordering Secret Jail Recording of Murder Defendant and Expert

A veteran prosecutor in Alameda County, Calif., has been put on administrative leave while a potential violation of attorney-client privilege is probed. It was revealed in a court hearing that Danielle London, who has been with the office a decade, had ordered sheriff’s deputies to secretly record a jailhouse conversation…

May 4, 2012 11:17 PM CDT

Ind. Attorney Gets 8-Year Max in Client Theft Case Involving Nearly $600K

An Indianapolis attorney and accountant has been sentenced to the 8-year maximum prison term after pleading guilty to two counts of theft from clients. Prosecutors in the Marion County case said Stacy H. Sheedy, 51, had drained a $501,000 family trust for which she was responsible since 2007 of all…

May 3, 2012 9:20 PM CDT

Calif. Judge Responds to Prosecution’s ‘Shocking’ Challenge of Gay Juror by Dismissing Entire Panel

Calling the conduct of the San Diego City Attorney’s office “shocking,” a California judge dismissed an entire jury panel Tuesday after finding that prosecutors violated the defendants’ rights in a misdemeanor case brought over a civil rights protest by refusing to seat a juror due to his sexual orientation. Superior…

May 2, 2012 7:40 PM CDT

NJ Judge OKs AG’s Plan to Subpoena Legal Fee Info re 20 Mob Case Defendants, Nixes Privilege Claim

A New Jersey judge has approved a plan by the state attorney general to subpoena legal-fee information concerning 20 of 34 defendants indicted in 2010 on charges they participated in a claimed $2.2 billion international gambling ring operated by an organized crime family. Although defense lawyers argued that attorney-client privilege…

Apr 24, 2012 6:34 PM CDT

Report: Prosecutor’s Hundreds of Texts, Calls to Judge During Capital Trial Merit 1-Year Suspension

A referee for the Florida Bar has recommended a one-year law license suspension for a former homicide prosecutor who sent hundreds of texts and made hundreds of phone calls to a state court judge during a 2007 capital murder trial. Howard Scheinberg, 51, was admitted in 1987 and is now…

Apr 24, 2012 6:13 PM CDT

Handed Wal-Mart FCPA Case By NY Times, Feds May Be Tempted to Bring 1st SOX Certification Case

It’s easy to see why the feds have been reluctant to enforce the controversial gatekeeper provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which require individuals such as corporate attorneys to report company wrongdoing up the chain of command to the audit committee. Attorney-client privilege issues, for one thing, could create evidentiary problems,…

Apr 23, 2012 10:33 PM CDT

Prosecutor Fired for ‘Outrageous Abuse’ of Pressuring Police to Arrest Then-Fiance’s Ex-Wife

A longtime California prosecutor has been fired from her $142,328-a-year job for allegedly using her influence as a deputy Santa Clara district attorney to try to influence police to prosecute her then-fiance’s ex-wife over a squabble that involved a cellphone. Lisa Rogers, 48, denies that she did anything wrong and…

Apr 23, 2012 8:28 PM CDT

Judge Castigates ‘Petulant and Peevish’ Prosecutors for Media Contact, Says He Won’t Be Swayed

A Kentucky judge blasted prosecutors for alerting local media in what he claimed was a “petulant and peevish” effort to pressure him into ruling in the state’s favor when deciding whether to release a jailed defendant on shock probation. However the first assistant of the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, Harry Rothgerber,…

Apr 23, 2012 5:57 PM CDT

Tough Judge Who Intended to Give Witness Contempt Time for Causing Mistrial Relents After Testimony

Angry over a February courtroom outburst by a witness that caused a mistrial in a murder case, a Florida judge had told Raynaldo Carrillo, the 46-year-old brother of the slain man, to come back for a contempt hearing in April prepared to serve up to six months in jail. But…

Apr 20, 2012 6:39 PM CDT

Lawyer Accused of Breaking Into Ex-Employee’s Personal Email Is Barred From Using Computer at Work

A Michigan lawyer is facing a five-count criminal case on charges he broke into a former female employee’s personal email account over a period of about six months last year. Steven F. Spender, 63, is charged in the Genesee District Court case with three counts of unauthorized computer access and…

Apr 19, 2012 9:47 PM CDT

Federal Judge Mulls Prosecutor Sanctions Over DEA Agent’s Concealment of GPS Monitoring

A federal judge in Iowa is pondering possible sanctions on prosecutors in a narcotics case after learning that a Drug Enforcement Administration agent didn’t reveal in investigative reports that GPS monitoring was being used on vehicles related to then-suspect Angel Amaya. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett said DEA policy required…

Apr 18, 2012 5:25 PM CDT