Prosecutors drop murder charges against man awaiting retrial in Chandra Levy’s slaying

Prosecutors have dropped murder charges against a man awaiting retrial in the death of intern Chandra Levy. Prosecutors in Washington, D.C., said they were dropping charges against Ingmar Guandique, report the Washington Post, the Washington Times and the Associated Press. Guandique had been convicted of the slaying in 2010, but…

Jul 28, 2016 2:58 PM CDT

Prosecutors drop charges against activists who made undercover Planned Parenthood videos

Prosecutors in Texas have dropped the remaining charges against two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of Planned Parenthood officials in an attempt to show the group illegally sells fetal tissue. The Harris County District Attorney’s office on Tuesday dropped charges accusing David Robert Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of using…

Jul 26, 2016 11:32 AM CDT

Rape victim who had breakdown on witness stand was jailed to ensure future testimony, lawsuit says

A woman who had a breakdown while testifying against her alleged rapist was jailed for nearly a month because prosecutors wanted to ensure her future testimony, according to a federal lawsuit filed this week in Houston. District Attorney Devon Anderson of Harris County, Texas, issued a videotaped statement defending the…

Jul 21, 2016 9:33 AM CDT

Law professor files ethics complaints against Baltimore prosecutors in Freddie Gray cases

A public-interest law professor is filing complaints seeking the disbarment of two prosecutors with the Baltimore City State’s Attorney Office for actions in the prosecution of police officers in the death of Freddie Gray, the Baltimore Sun reports. Professor John F. Banzhaf III of the George Washington University Law School…

Jul 19, 2016 4:00 PM CDT

Another police officer is acquitted in Freddie Gray’s death

Another Baltimore police officer has been acquitted in the death of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old man who died of a spinal injury after a ride in a police van. A Baltimore judge presiding in the bench trial acquitted Lt. Brian Rice of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office,…

Jul 18, 2016 10:29 AM CDT

10 Questions: This young lawyer could put people behind bars before she could legally have a drink

Jul 1, 2016 3:20 AM CDT

Prosecutor’s appearance on ‘Nancy Grace’ spurs bar complaint by a defense lawyer

A defense lawyer in Tacoma, Washington, contends in a bar complaint that the local prosecutor violated ethics rules by appearing on HLN’s Nancy Grace television show to discuss a murder case during the trial. The complaint is one of three recently filed with the bar association against Pierce County Prosecutor…

Jun 29, 2016 7:48 AM CDT

DOJ mandates implicit bias training for prosecutors and agents

The U.S. Department of Justice will require its employees to receive training designed to prevent implicit bias from affecting their decisions. The DOJ announced in a Monday press release that all law enforcement agents and prosecutors would begin receiving this training over the next few weeks. Implicit bias, defined as…

Jun 28, 2016 4:35 PM CDT

Prosecutor is charged for alleged in-the-buff hotel-room spectacle after blogger asks questions

A Maryland prosecutor who was keynote speaker at a conference in Ocean City has been charged with indecent exposure after tourists reported he could be seen naked either on his balcony or behind the sliding glass door. Cecil County State’s Attorney Edward “Ellis” Rollins III was charged on Monday after…

Jun 28, 2016 9:37 AM CDT

Lawyer facing felony home invasion charge wants DA off the case; judge who owned the house agrees

An Alabama lawyer accused of home invasion for allegedly entering the New Orleans courtyard of a judge’s home and sparring with her husband wants the district attorney kicked off the case. So does the alleged victim Orleans Parish Judge Laurie White, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The defendant, Joshua Stemle,…

Jun 27, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Utah’s indigent defense system is underfunded and unconstitutional, ACLU suit alleges

A new lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union alleges that the state of Utah so drastically underfunds its indigent-defense system that it’s failing to meet its constitutional obligations to the state’s poor. The state ACLU and law firm Holland & Hart filed the proposed class action lawsuit Tuesday in…

Jun 23, 2016 3:45 PM CDT

Mississippi DA is arrested for allegedly aiding criminal defendants

A Mississippi district attorney was arrested on misdemeanor charges on Wednesday for allegedly giving help to two criminal defendants despite his position as a prosecutor. Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith was charged after a joint investigation by the Mississippi Attorney General’s office and the FBI, the Jackson Clarion-Ledger,…

Jun 23, 2016 7:30 AM CDT

Jurors convict prisoner accused in kidnapping of prosecutor’s dad

Federal jurors in Raleigh, North Carolina, have convicted a prisoner accused of trying to orchestrate the kidnapping of a county prosecutor that resulted in kidnappers seizing the prosecutor’s father instead. Kelvin Melton, 51, was convicted Tuesday of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, attempted kidnapping and a firearms charge, the Raleigh…

Jun 21, 2016 2:41 PM CDT

Prosecutor blasts federal court for scheduling hate crimes trial of Dylann Roof before state trial

State prosecutor Scarlett Wilson criticized the federal court system during a hearing Monday, saying it is circumventing South Carolina’s trial of Dylann Roof, the 22-year-old white man accused of fatally shooting nine people at a historic black church in Charleston in 2015. Roof’s federal trial is set for Nov. 7—about…

Jun 20, 2016 12:43 PM CDT

Prosecutor’s Facebook post calls Orlando nightclubs ‘utter cesspools of debauchery’

Updated: A Florida homicide prosecutor has been fired from his job because of Facebook rants after the Orlando mass shooting that said the city should be leveled and its nightclubs are “utter cesspools of debauchery.” The prosecutor is Assistant State’s Attorney Kenneth Lewis of the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office, report…

Jun 20, 2016 8:25 AM CDT