Prosecutors

Even the DA Is Worried About a Plan to Close a Georgia PD Office

A plan to save money by eliminating an office of public defenders handling some Atlanta cases has raised the ire of the chief judge and prompted concerns by the local district attorney. The Georgia Public Defender Standards Council plans to shut down a public defender office that handles cases posing…

Jun 10, 2008 3:29 PM CDT

Fed’l. Judge and Mississippi AG are in Name-Calling Contest

Although recommending no civil or criminal penalties, a federal judge didn’t hold back when he criticized Mississippi’s attorney general, Jim Hood, in a written opinion issued yesterday. In no uncertain terms, he reportedly says Hood went too far when he allegedly helped Richard Scruggs, a prominent Mississippi plaintiffs attorney who…

Jun 6, 2008 7:48 PM CDT

Report Cites Errors By DA’s Office in ‘Sadly Predictable’ Murder of Estranged Wife

Miscommunication, judgment errors and policy violations by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office helped create a situation in which it was possible for an abusive husband to murder his estranged wife, an internal report concludes. It has caused dismay both in the office and among domestic violence experts nationally,…

Jun 5, 2008 11:38 PM CDT

Manager of Prostitution Ring Linked to Spitzer Pleads Guilty

A manager of a high-priced prostitution ring allegedly patronized by former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors under a plea deal. Cecil Suwal, 23, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy, money laundering and federal prostitution charges concerning her…

Jun 3, 2008 9:07 PM CDT

Law School Dean to be Ohio AG on Interim Basis

The governor of Ohio is replacing the state’s former attorney general, Marc Dann, with Nancy Hardin Rogers, the dean of Ohio State University’s law school. She will serve until a new attorney general is elected, taking a leave of absence from the law school in order to do so, reports…

May 28, 2008 7:37 PM CDT

Jailed Ex-Doc Admits Plot to Kill Houston Prosecutor

A former Houston gastroenterologist jailed for insurance fraud has been sentenced to an extra year in prison for plotting to kill the prosecutor in the case. Ira Klein pleaded guilty to plotting to kill Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Louis, the Houston Chronicle reports. Klein had asked a fellow inmate to…

May 27, 2008 6:23 PM CDT

Canada Must Give Interrogation Info to Omar Khadr

A Canadian citizen captured by the U.S. in Afghanistan at age 15 and held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has a constitutional right to materials related to interviews conducted there by Canadian officials in 2003, Canada’s highest court decided today. In what a lawyer for…

May 23, 2008 6:03 PM CDT

Twenty-three Ex-Prosecutors Selected as Corporate Monitors

The Department of Justice has appointed 30 former government officials, including prosecutors, to monitor companies seeking to avoid prosecution. Figures released yesterday by the Justice Department show 23 former prosecutors were among the monitors selected, the New York Times reports. They include former U.S. attorneys Debra Wong Yang in Los…

May 23, 2008 11:54 AM CDT

NYC Seeks to Discipline 7 Cops in Bell Police Shooting Case

Officials have filed administrative discipline charges against seven New York City police officers, including several who were not indicted in a separate criminal case, over the death of Sean Bell. Three detectives were acquitted last month in a controversial criminal case over the death of the unarmed Bell in a…

May 20, 2008 9:34 PM CDT

New Watergate Book Praises John Mitchell, Blames John Dean

A much-awaited revisionist book about Watergate is being released. But, while it shifts the blame a bit between some of President Richard M. Nixon’s men concerning their responsibility for the 1972 political break-in that eventually forced Nixon from office in 1974 and put top aides in prison, the bottom line…

May 19, 2008 7:13 PM CDT

Who is Investigating Ex-Ohio AG Marc Dann? AP Counts Six Agencies

Marc Dann has resigned as Ohio’s attorney general, but that is by no means the end of the official investigation of the alleged fraternity house atmosphere in his office that drove Dann to resign from his job earlier this week. The Associated Press says at least six investigations are ongoing…

May 16, 2008 9:37 PM CDT

Prosecutor Asks Supreme Court to Block Suit by Wrongfully Convicted Youth

An Ohio prosecutor is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block a civil lawsuit against her for the role she played in the conviction of a 12-year-old boy that was later overturned. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in January (PDF) that prosecutor Amanda Spies of Tuscarawas…

May 15, 2008 5:02 PM CDT

Ohio AG Marc Dann Resigns, But State Probe of His Office May Continue

After sidestepping yesterday afternoon when several media reports said he was about to resign, Ohio’s attorney general stepped up to the plate today. Marc Dann, 46, announced his resignation, apparently effective immediately, despite a reported failure to work out a departure deal with state legislators and the governor’s office, according…

May 14, 2008 10:11 PM CDT

Targeted in N.Y. Public Benefits Probe, Private Lawyers Plan Class Action

Updated: It almost had to happen. Targeted in an ongoing investigated by the New York attorney general’s office as well as other state and federal agencies over possible public benefits and tax fraud, at least some of the “hundreds and hundreds” of lawyers who reportedly are the focus of the…

May 14, 2008 6:34 PM CDT

Ohio AG to Resign Over ‘Dannimal House’ Scandal?

Despite media reports that Ohio’s embattled attorney general, Marc Dann, was expected to announce his resignation today, the latest news is that he is holding on to his office, at least for now. Dann, 46, had stood his ground so far, as state legislators threatened to seek his impeachment. But…

May 13, 2008 7:51 PM CDT