Prosecutors

39 prosecutors sign pledge to visit prisons to help understand impact of their decisions

Thirty-nine prosecutors have signed a pledge to visit jails, prisons and juvenile facilities in their jurisdictions.

Nov 26, 2019 1:43 PM CST

Former BigLaw partner is convicted of money laundering in cryptocurrency scheme

A former Locke Lord partner accused of leaving BigLaw to launder money in a cryptocurrency scam was convicted Thursday.

Nov 22, 2019 2:02 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Prosecutor killed in ‘freak accident’ in courtroom; lawyer accused of filing suits for nonclients

South Africa prosecutor is killed in courtroom gun incident A South Africa prosecutor was killed Monday when a gun being entered into evidence discharged and the bullet struck her in the hip. The incident that led to the death of Addelaid Ann Ferreira Watt has been described as a “freak…

Nov 20, 2019 3:47 PM CST

Class action says Mississippi’s DA’s office has a pattern of wrongfully excluding black jurors

A federal lawsuit filed on Monday claims a Mississippi district attorney and his prosecutors are wrongfully using peremptory challenges to exclude potential black jurors more frequently than whites.

Nov 20, 2019 2:13 PM CST

Prosecutors allege law grad who failed bar exam created law firms in name of classmate

A Stetson University law graduate who failed the bar exam twice has agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft after prosecutors accused her of creating fictitious law firms and representing clients.

Nov 14, 2019 3:23 PM CST

Police union says prosecutor refused to file charges after asking whether victim was ‘illegal’

A Texas prosecutor has been reassigned after a police union alleged that he asked whether an assault victim was “illegal” and then refused to file charges.

Nov 8, 2019 12:25 PM CST

Lawyer pleads guilty to prostitution charge linked to ‘sugar daddy’ website

A San Diego employment attorney who pleaded guilty to a federal prostitution charge linked to an online “sugar daddy” dating site also admitted to sexual contact with an underage girl.

Nov 4, 2019 2:20 PM CST

Afternoon Briefs: Judge tosses suit against Mueller; PTAB appointment process struck down

Judge tosses suit against Mueller U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle of Washington, D.C., has tossed a lawsuit against former special counsel Robert Mueller by Jerome Corsi, a conservative author and conspiracy theorist. Corsi claimed Mueller tried to coerce him to testify falsely that he acted as a liaison between WikiLeaks…

Nov 1, 2019 4:35 PM CDT

Prosecutors tossed from drug case after witness is used to record defense lawyer

A New Jersey appeals court has tossed prosecutors from a drug case because detectives wired a witness and sent him to record the criminal defense lawyer who had requested a pretrial interview.

Nov 1, 2019 11:33 AM CDT

A prosecutors’ leadership retreat in Berlin offers a stark reminder to remain vigilant

On a personal level, it was difficult to travel to a country responsible for the atrocities of the Holocaust and face ghosts of the past. But it was also heartening to see how Germany has reckoned with its shameful history. And there is much we can learn from that, writes Miriam Aroni Krinsky, who spent 15 years as a federal prosecutor and is the executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution.

Nov 1, 2019 3:00 AM CDT

When it comes to unconscious bias, are judges at risk?

If a business school was designing a case study of unconscious bias in the courtroom, a recent series of events in Massachusetts might offer the perfect scenario for analysis. The topic: how the defense of a protester responding to a “straight pride” parade resulted in the arrest and shackling of a female defense lawyer for speaking in court.

Oct 31, 2019 7:00 AM CDT

What are some differences between state and federal criminal prosecutions?

I originally watched Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist when Netflix released it back in May of 2018. The series tagline was enough to get me interested: “This baffling true crime story starts with the grisly death of a pizza man who robs a bank…

Oct 31, 2019 6:30 AM CDT

Investigator claims DA wrongly ordered probe of criminal justice reformers

A fired investigator claims that Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater improperly ordered a probe into supporters of criminal justice reform.

Oct 30, 2019 10:36 AM CDT

Longtime prosecutor is fired after judge finds him in contempt for alleged disrespect

A longtime deputy prosecutor in Spokane County, Washington, has been fired after a judge held him in contempt for an alleged argumentative tone and disrespectful attitude in an evidence dispute.

Oct 25, 2019 3:25 PM CDT

As machines play a greater role in criminal justice, third-party auditing and oversight is essential

Technology is playing a bigger role in investigations, arrests and prosecutions, so mass conviction reviews will be more common. This creates a hidden but substantial human and monetary cost to hardware and software adoption in the criminal justice system.

Oct 22, 2019 6:00 AM CDT