Prosecutors

DA’s investigator taken into custody, charged with pointing gun at woman in courthouse

An investigator for the Anderson County district attorney’s office was arrested Monday after allegedly pulling a gun on another employee at a Texas courthouse. The incident occurred at about 10 a.m., reports the Palestine Herald-Press. Thomas Alan Douglas, 47, was taken into custody at his office around 10:45 a.m. and…

Mar 30, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Sterilization of defendants in connection with plea deals is unacceptable, says DA

Pressuring a defendant in a criminal case to get sterilized is quite unusual. But it does happen, reports the Tennessean in a lengthy article about the case of one mentally ill woman in Nashville. In Jasmine Randers’ case, her public defender went to the Davidson County district attorney. The result…

Mar 30, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Botched child-murder case gets tossed; mother jailed for 2 decades speaks out

Found guilty in 1990 of playing a role in the slaying of her 4-year-old son, Debra Milke spent 22 years in the Arizona prison system before she was released in 2013 after successfully challenging her conviction in a federal habeas petition. In a scathing written opinion (PDF), the 9th U.S.…

Mar 25, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Prosecutor: I was ‘arrogant, judgmental, narcissistic’ in capital prosecution of now-exonerated man

A former Louisiana prosecutor who helped send a now-exonerated inmate to death row in 1984 is condemning the capital punishment process and apologizing for his role in the conviction. In a letter to the editor of the Times of Shreveport, former prosecutor A.M. “Marty” Stroud III said there was no…

Mar 25, 2015 8:31 AM CDT

Freed after 20 years, man gets $20M; another whose DNA doesn’t match linked murder is still jailed

An Illinois man who was exonerated in a 1992 child-murder case after being tried and convicted three times and serving nearly 20 years in prison has won a $20 million settlement from authorities in the collar county outside Chicago where the trials took place. The amount that will be paid…

Mar 20, 2015 3:40 PM CDT

Arson-deaths prosecutor is accused of not disclosing informant deal; defendant was executed in 2004

The Texas prosecutor who obtained a death sentence for Cameron Todd Willingham in the arson deaths of his three daughters is accused in an ethics complaint of failing to disclose a deal with a jailhouse informant. The ethics complaint, filed on March 5, says former Navarro County prosecutor John Jackson…

Mar 19, 2015 9:41 AM CDT

California judge boots Orange County DA’s office from murder case because of withheld evidence

A California judge has booted the Orange County district attorney’s office from a high-profile multiple murder case, citing a “chronic failure” to turn over prosecution evidence to the defense. Scott Dekraai last year pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder in the 2011 slayings of his wife and seven…

Mar 12, 2015 3:50 PM CDT

Utah to list white-collar criminals in first Internet registry for those convicted of fraud

Utah is poised to become the first state in the nation with a public registry listing convicted white-collar criminals, in an effort to help prevent affinity fraud among the state’s close-knit residents. A bill to require an Internet listing of those found guilty of certain financial crimes sailed through the…

Mar 12, 2015 12:00 PM CDT

After indicted lawmaker seeks dismissal, due to US attorney’s remarks, Bharara dials it down

Initially, after a longtime New York legislative leader was arrested on corruption charges, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara made a number of public comments about Assemblyman Sheldon Silver’s case. But since Silver challenged his federal indictment, contending that Bharara’s comments may have prejudiced grand jurors, the U.S. attorney has maintained a…

Mar 9, 2015 1:50 PM CDT

Don’t fall for ‘major ongoing phishing scam,’ Virginia AG warns; it’s not from his office

Residents of Virginia are being targeted by scammers who are trying to trick them into turning over funds under threat of arrest, the commonwealth’s top law enforcement officer says. In a Monday consumer alert commonwealth Attorney General Mark Herring warns residents to beware and says his office would never attempt…

Mar 9, 2015 1:10 PM CDT

Top lawmaker says US attorney created ‘media firestorm,’ asks federal judge to nix indictment

Charged with misusing his government influence to obtain nearly $4 million in law firm payments, under the guise of legitimate legal work, a longtime New York lawmaker has come out swinging and put the U.S. Attorney in a defensive position. Accused by Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, of creating a “media…

Mar 6, 2015 11:20 AM CST

DA beats $65 parking ticket but pays anyway

A parking ticket has been waived for a Pennsylvania district attorney who said he delayed paying to test claims that the city of Easton was threatening to impound vehicles without due process. But DA John Morganelli has paid the $65 anyway, explaining that he doesn’t want to risk any public…

Mar 6, 2015 10:30 AM CST

Former prosecutor claims she was paid less than new hires due to gender bias

A former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, claims in a lawsuit that she was fired after complaining she was paid less than some new hires with less experience. Christina Corda says she began to complain to her supervisor in March 2014 about the low salary paid to her…

Mar 5, 2015 10:33 AM CST

Police award helped teen offender reinvent himself as a future law student

Once a high-school dropout and known marijuana dealer, Jonathan Reynolds, didn’t appear to be destined for career success. Despite his record as a convicted felon, the 21-year-old is now about to graduate from college and expects to start law school in August at the University of South Carolina, reports the…

Mar 4, 2015 3:10 PM CST

Prosecutor drops felony gun charge over retired schoolteacher’s antique flintlock pistol

A felony gun case has been dropped against a retired New Jersey schoolteacher who admitted after a traffic stop by that he been carrying an unloaded antique flintlock pistol in the glove box of his vehicle. Although federal law would have considered the the 225-year-old flintlock muzzleloader a collectible, it…

Feb 26, 2015 11:00 AM CST