Prosecutors

Is Mukasey Protecting Bush Administration?

Even before his nomination as the country’s next attorney general is confirmed, Michael Mukasey may already be protecting the Bush administration, some legal experts say. By refusing the demands of a number of members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he expressly declare waterboarding to be an illegal form of…

Nov 1, 2007 1:15 AM CDT

TX Prosecutor Cites Execution Moratorium

In the latest example of an apparent death penalty moratorium being voluntarily imposed in states throughout the country, a Texas prosecutor in the county with the highest number of death sentences in the nation says she will not seek further executions until the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in an…

Oct 31, 2007 10:28 PM CDT

Ex-Prosecutor Acquitted in ‘Political’ Case

A federal prosecutor accused of intentionally withholding evidence that would have helped the defense in a high-profile 2003 terrorism trial has been found not guilty on all charges in a jury verdict today. Outside the courtroom after the verdict, former assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino decried the case against him…

Oct 31, 2007 8:54 PM CDT

Jury Gets Case Against Ex-Prosecutor

Justice Department lawyers told jurors in closing arguments yesterday that former federal prosecutor Richard Convertino withheld evidence from the defense in a high-profile terrorism case because he wanted to win. Justice Department lawyer Eileen Gleason said Convertino and a co-defendant “crossed over the line from upholding the law to violating…

Oct 31, 2007 5:01 PM CDT

Embattled New Orleans DA Resigns

Embattled Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan has resigned after facing years of criticism for not aggressively pursuing violent criminals, persistent staff turnover and most recently a ruling that plaintiffs could seize assets to collect a $3.7 million civil rights verdict against him. Jordan will be replaced by First Assistant…

Oct 30, 2007 8:37 PM CDT

Defense Says Terror Prosecutor ‘Overwhelmed,’ Denies Obstructed Justice

A former federal prosecutor accused of obstruction of justice in a high-profile terrorism investigation four years ago declined to testify this week. Prosecutors say Richard Convertino and former U.S. Embassy security agent Ray Smith hid evidence in a 2003 case against four north African men accused of being members of…

Oct 30, 2007 3:22 PM CDT

Jezebel on a Broomstick & Salem Witch Judge

When Eve LaPlante, a Boston area writer, starts thinking about a possible book topic, she doesn’t have to go far from home. In the last several years she has written two books about family forbears, American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson, the Woman Who Defied the Puritans and…

Oct 29, 2007 11:02 PM CDT

No Blackwater Case Due to Immunity Grant?

In addition to other obstacles that could well prevent prosecution of private Blackwater USA security guards who reportedly killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad last month, there’s one more major issue that recently came to light. The security guards were apparently promised immunity by the U.S. State Department early on…

Oct 29, 2007 10:31 PM CDT

ABA Calls for National Execution Moratorium

After a three-year study on state capital punishment systems, the American Bar Association is calling for a nationwide moratorium on executions until an unfair and sometimes inaccurate application of the death penalty is corrected. “The death penalty system is rife with irregularity—supporting the need for a moratorium until states can…

Oct 29, 2007 9:51 AM CDT

Mukasey Evades Waterboarding Question

The president does have the Constitutional power to wiretap terrorism suspects without a warrant, Michael Mukasey says in a response released today to written questions posed by Senate Judiciary Committee members after his two-day confirmation hearing last week. However, the U.S. Attorney General nominee apparently did not answer in his…

Oct 26, 2007 11:34 PM CDT

Was Hicks’ Gitmo Plea a ‘Political Fix’?

The conviction of Australian David Hicks in a U.S. terrorism case after years of imprisonment at an American military prison at Guantanamo Bay has been a hot political issue in his home country. And the controversy is nowhere near dying down even months after he accepted a plea bargain that…

Oct 26, 2007 9:19 PM CDT

Witness: Mob Considered Giuliani Hit

Heads of organized crime families in the New York City area discussed whether to kill then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani in 1986, according to a witness in an ongoing murder trial in Brooklyn, N.Y., against a former FBI supervisor. But at the same time that ABC News and the Associated Press,…

Oct 26, 2007 7:49 PM CDT

New Criticism of Mukasey By Key Republican

Amid increasing concern that Michael Mukasey isn’t taking a strong enough stance against a prisoner interrogation technique that many consider a form of torture, a Republican leader has joined a chorus of Democratic critics of the U.S. Attorney General nominee. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the…

Oct 26, 2007 7:03 PM CDT

Now on the Defense Side, McNulty Still Likes His Memo

Former deputy attorney general Paul McNulty may have switched sides when he jumped from the Justice Department to Baker & McKenzie’s business crimes practice, but he still sounded like a prosecutor at an ABA meeting yesterday. McNulty wrote a Justice Department memo that allowed prosecutors to continue prodding companies to…

Oct 26, 2007 4:07 PM CDT

‘Girls Gone Wild’ Lawyer Files Misconduct Complaint

The lawyer for the now infamous founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series has filed a prosecutorial misconduct motion against the Florida state attorney who pursued charges against his client. Miami attorney Roy Black claims State Attorney Steve Meadows exhibited a “pattern of blatant abuse” in dealing with Joe…

Oct 24, 2007 9:50 PM CDT