Prosecutors

Federal judge orders special master to investigate federal prosecutors after hard drive is erased

A federal judge in Kansas has ordered a special master to investigate federal prosecutors in Kansas in an expanding probe into how officials obtained and used recordings of lawyers meeting and speaking with their prisoner clients. U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ordered a special master who is already investigating the…

May 18, 2017 1:03 PM CDT

Former FBI director Robert Mueller named special counsel for Russia investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice has named former FBI director Robert Mueller special counsel in the investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, the New York Times and Bloomberg News reported Wednesday.

May 17, 2017 5:29 PM CDT

Sessions mulls bringing back harsher charges for low-level drug crimes

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a review of Obama administration policies that had instructed prosecutors to avoid charging low-level drug defendants with crimes carrying minimum penalties. The review could “mark the first significant move by the Trump administration to bring back the drug war’s toughest practices,” the Washington Post…

May 9, 2017 2:34 PM CDT

Public defenders allege prosecutor’s office filing unwarranted charges against them

At least four lawyers and investigators for the public defender’s office in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, say they were charged with crimes for legal conduct that was part of their jobs, and two others have been threatened with charges, the Guardian reported Monday. The charges include kidnapping against an investigator who…

May 2, 2017 8:00 AM CDT

Despite refusal to commit to special prosecutor, Rod Rosenstein confirmed as deputy attorney general

Most Democratic senators joined their Republican colleagues on Tuesday to confirm Maryland’s U.S. Attorney, Rod Rosenstein, as deputy attorney general. Rosenstein was approved in a 94-6 vote, reported the Washington Post and Bloomberg Politics. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut was among the Democrats who voted against confirmation. Blumenthal said he…

Apr 26, 2017 10:20 AM CDT

Judge releases man held for three years after new prosecutor acknowledges case is weak

A man accused of murder and arson who has spent three years in jail awaiting trial has been released on his own recognizance after a prosecutor acknowledged problems with the case. Judge James Daniel ordered the release of Randal Wagoner on Wednesday after a new prosecutor said the case was…

Apr 21, 2017 5:05 PM CDT

Dozens of cases dropped by Georgia prosecutors after 2 officers are fired over violent traffic stop

Georgia prosecutors have dropped 89 cases after two police officers involved in those cases were fired last week after the public release of cell phone videos showing them beating a motorist during a traffic stop, the New York Times reports. The decision to drop the cases was made by Gwinnett…

Apr 19, 2017 3:10 PM CDT

Massachusetts DAs dismiss thousands of drug cases over evidence tampering at state lab

After the admission of a Massachusetts state drug lab chemist that she falsified reports and intentionally contaminated samples, the state has dismissed 21,587 criminal cases. The largest number of cases were in Suffolk County, the Washington Post reports, and the Boston Globe said lawyers believed all of the defendants had…

Apr 19, 2017 10:34 AM CDT

Judge testifies that San Antonio DA threatened defense lawyers in her chambers

A Texas district judge testified Wednesday that Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood threatened to destroy defense lawyers’ practices for raising issues of prosecutorial misconduct. According to the San Antonio Express-News, Judge Lori Valenzuela said on the witness stand that LaHood, an elected DA, threatened to “shut down” the practices…

Apr 14, 2017 2:45 PM CDT

Lawyer who says he was stigmatized by Mississippi flag has no standing to sue, 5th Circuit says

A black Mississippi lawyer who said he was stigmatized by the state flag’s incorporation of the Confederate flag has no standing to sue, a federal appeals court has ruled. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans ruled against lawyer Carlos Moore in a March 31 opinion (PDF),…

Apr 4, 2017 2:04 PM CDT

Jailhouse informant program used for decades, and sheriff’s dept. tried to cover it up, brief says

Judge Thomas Goethals of the Orange County, California Superior Court has threatened several times to send people at the county sheriff’s department to jail for shredding or playing discovery games with evidence about the department’s jailhouse informant program, the Orange County Register has reported in the past. But the 5,653…

Apr 4, 2017 1:36 PM CDT

Florida governor pulls 21 more murder cases from state attorney who won’t seek the death penalty

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Monday removed 21 first-degree murder cases from a state attorney who refuses to seek the death penalty. It’s not the first time that Scott has acted because of his disagreement with Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala, the Orlando Sentinel and the Tampa Bay Times report.…

Apr 4, 2017 9:59 AM CDT

Former Brooklyn prosecutor pleads guilty to forging judges’ signatures to obtain wiretaps

A former Brooklyn prosecutor fought tears as she pleaded guilty on Monday to allegations that she forged judges’ signatures to wiretap two people and listen to their conversations. Tara Lenich, 41, pleaded guilty in Brooklyn federal court to two counts of illegal wiretapping, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports. “I knew…

Apr 3, 2017 4:00 PM CDT

Former Brooklyn prosecutor is accused of forging judges’ signatures to obtain wiretaps

A former Brooklyn prosecutor has pleaded not guilty to charges that she forged judges’ signatures to wiretap the cellphones of two people. The indictment against former prosecutor Tara Lenich was unsealed on Monday, report Law360 (sub. req.), the New York Law Journal (sub. req.), the New York Daily News and…

Mar 28, 2017 3:18 PM CDT

Social workers charged with felony child abuse in boy’s death at the hands of his mother

Four Los Angeles social workers will be tried for felony child abuse and other charges stemming from the murder of an 8-year-old boy by his mother and her boyfriend. The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the social workers who worked on the case of Gabriel Fernandez will be…

Mar 24, 2017 7:00 AM CDT