Prosecutors

Feds drop gun case and judge blasts police after security camera contradicts officers’ testimony

A federal gun-possession case was abruptly dismissed Thursday after a rare contradiction of police testimony by video evidence and an even rarer rebuke of police by the presiding judge. San Francisco police officer Nicholas Buckley told the court that he and other officers tackled defendant Brandon Simpson in the city’s…

May 16, 2016 1:23 PM CDT

Reprimand and apology sought from judge who emailed public defenders, insulted prosecutor

Appropriate punishment for a rookie South Florida judge who sent an email giving sentencing tips to public defenders is a public reprimand, a judicial ethics watchdog says. Plus, the state Judicial Qualifications Commission recommended Thursday that Broward Circuit Judge John Patrick Contini hand-deliver a written apology to an assistant state…

May 12, 2016 2:45 PM CDT

Lawyers say feds bugged grounds of three California courthouses without warrants

Federal agents bugged the grounds of three California courthouses without warrants as they sought to gather evidence of claimed bid-rigging in mortgage foreclosure auctions, defense lawyers say. Defense lawyers are seeking to have the evidence suppressed on constitutional grounds and argue that the warrantless surveillance also violated the rights of…

May 11, 2016 5:10 PM CDT

Former federal prosecutor gets 30-day sentence for $600K client theft

A former top federal prosecutor in Connecticut had faced a sentence of up to 41 months in prison for embezzling more than $600,000 from the trust fund of an imprisoned former client. But U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden departed from the federal sentencing guidelines in sentencing H. James Pickerstein on…

May 11, 2016 7:26 AM CDT

‘Testilying’ by police on stand is rarely punished, Chicago Tribune reports

At a pretrial hearing in November, a Chicago police officer explained to an Illinois judge how police had happened to find a $50,000 brick of cocaine in a minivan occupied by Miguel Rodriguez and Antonio Garcia. He and his partner, while working undercover on a narcotics surveillance on the city’s…

May 6, 2016 2:05 PM CDT

DA admits ‘distressing’ lack of disclosure to defense counsel about jail informants

As assistant public defender Scott Sanders fought to prevent a client from being sentenced to death in a California murder case, he asked about records of interactions between the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and jailhouse informants. There were none, he was told. But that wasn’t true: Unbeknownst to higher-ups, deputies…

May 6, 2016 6:45 AM CDT

Crime lab chemist was high almost daily, cooked crack cocaine at work, state AG says

A state chemist responsible for testing drug evidence in Massachusetts criminal cases was high at work and while testifying in court almost daily between 2005 and 2013, says an investigative report by the state attorney general. Released Tuesday, the report by AG Maura Healey says Sonja Farak, who worked at…

May 5, 2016 6:30 AM CDT

Secret Snitches: California case uncovers long-standing practice of planting jailhouse informants

Angry about a child custody dispute, Scott Dekraai armed himself with three handguns, drove to the beauty salon in Seal Beach, California, where his ex-wife worked and opened fire. The two-minute rampage in October 2011 left eight people dead and one injured, making it the worst mass shooting in Orange…

May 1, 2016 4:10 AM CDT

Lawyers, judges and bar groups celebrate Law Day 2016 around the country

With May 1 falling on a Sunday this year, many annual Law Day celebrations and activities are being held before or after the actual day. And, because 2016 will mark the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s iconic Miranda v. Arizona decision, it is front and center in many…

Apr 29, 2016 5:15 PM CDT

Texas judge won’t bend to DA’s jeans-days policy

A Texas judge isn’t on board with the Bexar County district attorney’s policy to improve morale by allowing prosecutors to wear jeans to court during special events in San Antonio. Judge Steven Hilbig, who is himself a former district attorney, refuses to relax the dress code requiring lawyers to wear…

Apr 29, 2016 9:13 AM CDT

New jury will be picked after juror questions judge about lack of diversity

Two black men accused of aggravated assault will get a new jury after one of the jurors chosen to hear the case questioned the judge about the lack of jury diversity. The juror spoke up after he and fellow jurors chosen to hear the case against Terance Bradley and Hurley…

Apr 26, 2016 2:19 PM CDT

2 exited city attorney’s office after nearly 100 unprocessed misdemeanor files were found

The San Diego city attorney’s office has instituted new file-review procedures after discovering that prosecutors lost track of almost 100 misdemeanor cases between 2012 and 2015. While this number is a small fraction of the 2,500 or so cases that city prosecutors review annually, and most of the 98 unprocessed…

Apr 26, 2016 11:50 AM CDT

5 ex-police officers admit guilt, get greatly reduced sentences in Katrina bridge-slayings plea deal

At their first sentencing, four New Orleans police officers involved in shooting a group of unarmed civilians on Danziger Bridge in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina got prison terms of between 38 and 65 years. A fifth officer who reportedly played a key role in a cover-up of their crimes…

Apr 25, 2016 12:50 PM CDT

Transcript: Legal assistant fired by prosecutor’s office was admittedly present at drug transactions

A longtime legal assistant in the narcotics division of a South Florida prosecutor’s office lost her job earlier this month after a tip to the Broward County State Attorney’s office that she might be involved in “illegal drug activity.” A subsequent investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement neither…

Apr 22, 2016 5:29 PM CDT

Homeland Security lawyer admits forging documents that could have led to Mexican man’s deportation

A government lawyer who admitted to forging a document making it appear that a Mexican man was ineligible for deportation relief received a one-month federal sentence Wednesday. Jonathan Love, a former assistant chief counsel with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, pleaded guilty to deprivation of rights under the color…

Apr 21, 2016 4:45 PM CDT