Prosecutors

ACLU lawsuit says county is jailing people who can’t afford to pay fines

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a county in Washington state, asserting that it is forcing people who can’t afford to pay their court fines to either go to jail or labor on work crews. The lawsuit against Benton County is part of the ACLU’s national campaign to combat…

Oct 7, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Inmate’s claim that Pennsylvania’s top justice should have recused himself gets SCOTUS review

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a death-row inmate’s constitutional rights were violated when Pennsylvania’s then-chief justice refused to recuse himself, despite approving the inmate’s capital prosecution as district attorney. The court granted cert on Thursday in the case of Terrance Williams, who says Chief Justice Ronald…

Oct 2, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Meet the California public defender who is ‘shaking the Orange County legal system to its bedrock’

A longtime public defender in California known for his lengthy “eye bleeder” motions relied on his dogged determination to unearth what he says is a secret, orchestrated effort by police to place jailhouse informants near high-value defendants in Orange County. The lawyer, Scott Sanders, “is shaking the Orange County legal…

Sep 30, 2015 12:16 PM CDT

Ex-prosecutor accused of ‘disruptive conduct’ at adult store agrees to suspension

A former prosecutor accused of yelling at employees of an adult store and screaming obscenities at police has agreed to a 30-day suspension. The Illinois Supreme Court accepted the consent suspension on Sept. 21 for one-time Cook County prosecutor, Sarah Naughton. The Legal Profession Blog has the news. The incident…

Sep 24, 2015 8:13 AM CDT

Kid Rock shows for jury duty, promises to give police ‘the benefit of the doubt’

Called for jury duty in Michigan, Kid Rock arrived in the Oakland County Court house in Pontiac on Thursday and answered questions about his fitness to serve in a murder trial. Noting his many law enforcement friends, the singer, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, promised to give police…

Sep 18, 2015 7:00 AM CDT

AG Loretta Lynch says US prosecutor will work at European police agency

Citing a need to work more closely with European authorities on cybercrime investigations, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced Wednesday that a federal prosecutor will be temporarily stationed at Europol. “This person will be a day-to-day presence for all issues,” Lynch said in remarks made during a conference at The…

Sep 17, 2015 6:20 AM CDT

State appeals court dismisses contempt charges against DA over tardy filings

A New York state appeals court has dismissed contempt of court charges against St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain after Rain apologized for her office’s repeated failure to file court papers on time. Rain laid much of the blame on a former assistant, whom she said had led her…

Sep 16, 2015 1:30 PM CDT

Fired prosecutor didn’t lie under oath, simply failed to recall years-ago events, his lawyer says

A veteran Illinois prosecutor publicly fired Monday by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office didn’t lie under oath when testifying in a police-shooting case, his lawyer says. Joseph Lattanzio, whose testimony conflicted with what was said by the mother of a man accused of shooting a Chicago police officer, simply…

Sep 15, 2015 8:05 AM CDT

Once-convicted lawyer turns tables on feds, seeks $215K for defense fees in $52M mortgage-fraud case

Convicted two years ago in a $52 million mortgage-fraud scheme, a New Orleans lawyer won a reversal of his conviction in July from a federal appeals court. Now David Mark hopes to get reimbursement from the government of some $215,000 in attorney’s fees and costs, due to alleged wrongdoing by…

Sep 14, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Prosecutor fired over claimed lies under oath in shooting case

Updated: Soon after a Chicago police officer was shot in 2012 on the city’s South Side, a suspect was arrested in the basement of the home he shared with his mother. Officer Del Pearson was severely injured in the shooting but survived. A revolver recovered in the basement was linked…

Sep 14, 2015 1:45 PM CDT

Some defendants wait 5 years or longer for trial in backlogged California county’s courts

Some say a growing backlog of criminal prosecutions in Stanislaus County, California, is due to an increasing number of complex cases. Others blame a district attorney who is said to be reluctant to plea-bargain and a relatively new “direct calendaring” system of assigning cases to judges instead of having different…

Sep 14, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

DA should have charged deputy in court assault on inmate, judge says, but it’s too late to do so now

A seemingly unprovoked attack on a shackled Colorado inmate by a sheriff’s deputy in a Denver courtroom should have resulted in a misdemeanor assault charge against the deputy, a state court judge said Friday. But the ruling by Chief Judge Michael Martinez of Denver District Court in the unusual hearing…

Sep 14, 2015 9:10 AM CDT

Judge says DA intentionally withheld murder trial evidence, but denies defense bid for retrial ban

A Texas district attorney intentionally withheld evidence from defense counsel in a capital murder trial, a state court judge ruled Friday. However, the reason why Williamson County DA Jana Duty did so is unknown, Williamson County District Judge Rick Kennon writes in his 15-page opinion (PDF). Hence, because Kennon did…

Sep 11, 2015 5:00 PM CDT

Justice Department releases guidelines to foster pursuit of individuals in corporate wrongdoing

Attorney General Loretta Lynch has approved a new policy that aims to hold individuals accountable for corporate wrongdoing. The policy, outlined in a memo to federal prosecutors, says settlement agreements won’t give companies credit for cooperating with the government unless they turn over evidence against employees involved in wrongdoing, report…

Sep 11, 2015 8:15 AM CDT

Judge to DA: Explain why deputy wasn’t prosecuted over courtroom use of force on chained inmate

Hours before the three-year statute of limitations is set to expire, a Colorado judge has ordered the Denver district attorney to appear in court on Friday to explain why a sheriff’s deputy wasn’t prosecuted for slamming an inmate into a courtroom window frame. The September 2012 incident involving Anthony Waller…

Sep 10, 2015 2:30 PM CDT