Prosecutors

Philadelphia district attorney indicted on bribery and corruption charges

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams is about to learn what life as a criminal defendant feels like. On Tuesday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the embattled prosecutor was indicted on more than 21 counts, including bribery, wire fraud and honest services fraud. According to the Inquirer, Williams is being accused…

Mar 21, 2017 4:01 PM CDT

In ‘fiery’ letter, resigning US attorney says feds should target social media to fight Chicago crime

U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon of Chicago submitted his required resignation on Monday while calling on the federal government to help fight crime in the city. In a “fiery” letter (PDF) passed on to reporters, Fardon said the Department of Justice should implement the consent decree negotiated with the police department,…

Mar 14, 2017 11:24 AM CDT

Sessions requests resignations of 46 US attorneys; Preet Bharara fired after refusing to step down

Updated: Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday requested the immediate resignations of all remaining U.S. attorneys appointed by President Barack Obama who have not already left office. Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Saturday he was fired after refusing to resign.

Mar 11, 2017 4:58 PM CST

State agency raids DA’s office after whistleblower suit alleging job scam for wife

Updated: A North Carolina district attorney’s office was raided by the state Wednesday, amid allegations that the man and another county’s DA agreed to hire each other’s wives in a reported scam that would collect more than $100,000 for work rarely performed. Based on court documents, the investigation involves Rockingham…

Mar 10, 2017 4:02 PM CST

Prosecutors accused by ex-church members of thwarting abuse cases no longer working for DA’s office

Updated: Two assistant district attorneys, a social worker and other lawyers who are or were members of a secretive evangelical sect in North Carolina helped thwart repeated investigations by authorities into beatings of congregants—including children—to cast out devils, raising serious ethical and potentially criminal violations, according to an extensive Associated…

Mar 6, 2017 1:38 PM CST

California State Bar investigating former Los Angeles city attorney

Updated: The State Bar of California has filed discipline charges against former Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, the Los Angeles Times reported. The charges stem from a death penalty case Trutanich handled in 1985, well before he was elected city attorney in 2009, the State Bar of California said…

Feb 23, 2017 5:55 PM CST

Legal assistant claims she was fired for reporting alleged scheme by DAs to hire each other’s wives

A legal assistant in North Carolina has filed a whistleblower suit claiming she was fired for telling state investigators about an alleged scheme by two district attorneys to hire each other’s wives. Debra Halbrook claims District Attorney Wallace Bradsher of Person and Caswell counties fired her last month after he…

Feb 23, 2017 8:00 AM CST

Maryland prosecutor resigns before he is sentenced for hotel-room spectacle

The state’s attorney in Cecil County, Maryland, resigned from his job on Monday, a day before he received a suspended sentence for alleged lewd acts before a glass balcony door in an Ocean City hotel room. Edward “Ellis” Rollins III was convicted of two misdemeanors—indecent exposure and disorderly conduct—in a…

Feb 17, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Trump nominates law dean of Florida International University for labor secretary

President Donald J. Trump has announced that he is nominating Florida International University law dean R. Alexander Acosta to become secretary of labor. Trump chose Acosta after the withdrawal of his first choice for the cabinet position, fast-food chief executive officer Andrew Puzder, report the Washington Post, the Sun Sentinel…

Feb 16, 2017 12:03 PM CST

Top state court tells DAs to review 20,000 cases linked to lab scandal, decide which ones to toss

The top court in Massachusetts refused on Wednesday to order wholesale dismissal of more than 20,000 criminal cases linked to a chemist who faked drug test results to favor the government. Instead, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court took a middle ground in adopting a procedure to dismiss many of the…

Jan 19, 2017 1:15 PM CST

Suspended DA calls press conference to deny he committed perjury

A newly elected district attorney in Alabama called a press conference on Tuesday to deny that he committed perjury in a divorce case. Charles Todd Henderson was barred from taking office in Jefferson County because of his perjury indictment on Friday, AL.com reports. He was accused of making a false…

Jan 18, 2017 11:01 AM CST

Asian-Americans are underrepresented in influential legal jobs, study says

Asian-Americans make up more than 5 percent of the U.S. population, and an even greater percentage of law students. They are well-represented among the nation’s lawyers. But they are underrepresented among the top ranks of the legal profession, according to a new study. The study was conducted by Yale Law…

Jan 17, 2017 12:15 PM CST

New Justice Department guidelines aim to ensure reliability of photo arrays to ID suspects

The U.S. Justice Department has released guidelines for federal law enforcement on how to conduct photo arrays to ensure reliable eyewitness identifications. The Justice Department says federal agents should use “blind” or “blinded” procedures when conducting the arrays, in which an eyewitness is asked to identify a crime suspect from…

Jan 6, 2017 2:36 PM CST

Judge holds prosecutor in contempt, says his ‘emotional intelligence needs strengthening’

Corrected: A Louisiana judge found a New Orleans prosecutor in contempt of court on Thursday and barred him from ever bringing a cellphone into her courtroom. Judge Laurie White’s contempt finding against Assistant District Attorney Jason Napoli was based on a series of text messages in which Napoli claimed the…

Jan 6, 2017 1:03 PM CST

Does prosecution’s failure to disclose evidence of another suspect demand reversal? SCOTUS to decide

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether prosecutors’ failure to disclose evidence, including information another possible suspect, requires vacating the convictions of a group of men convicted of sexually assaulting and killing a woman in 1984. The U.S. Supreme Court granted review on Wednesday in two cases stemming…

Dec 16, 2016 7:00 AM CST