Prosecutors

Pennsylvania official named in pornographic email scandal refuses to resign

Embattled Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has requested the resignation of a third state official accused of exchanging pornographic emails over state computers. However, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Corbett’s request to state parole board member Randy Feathers has fallen on deaf ears. Feathers has sent a letter to Corbett and…

Oct 6, 2014 12:19 PM CDT

Citing prosecutor’s affair with lab technician, DA drops murder charges in 1989 slaying

A California judge has dismissed murder charges against two men accused in a 1989 slaying based on a request by the DA, who cited concerns about an affair between a prosecutor and lab technician who both worked on the case. In a press release, Santa Clara District Attorney Jeff Rosen…

Oct 1, 2014 8:15 AM CDT

Maker of eavesdropping and surveillance app indicted

The maker of SteathGenie, a popular eavesdropping and surveillance smartphone app that’s marketed as a tool to catch cheating spouses and significant others, has been indicted. The Washington Post reported that federal authorities on Monday, unsealed the indictment of Hammad Akbar of Lahore, Pakistan. Akbar, who serves as CEO of…

Sep 30, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Brooklyn DA launches hate crimes unit after spike in reports this year

Brooklyn District Attorney Keith Thompson has created a hate crimes unit in response to increased numbers of attacks in the borough based on the victims’ race or religion. The new five-prosecutor unit will have access to tools used for investigating organized crime, such as telephone interception capabilities, GPS transponders for…

Sep 30, 2014 12:45 PM CDT

Should the species of the victim influence punishment?

Should defendants convicted of animal abuse get jail time? The debate pits animal-rights activists against lawyers who contend a jail sentence can be disproportionate to the crime when an animal is the victim. The New York Times covered the issue raised by the prosecution of Brooklyn man Andre Robinson, 22,…

Sep 30, 2014 11:58 AM CDT

How a series of attacks by a breakaway Amish sect became a landmark hate-crimes case (podcast)

The Amish religion is a branch of Christianity which adheres to a doctrine of simplicity, non-violence and forgiveness. How then did a breakaway group come to be implicated in the first federal trial which prosecuted religiously motivated hate crimes within the same faith community?

Sep 29, 2014 5:23 PM CDT

Did any Pennsylvania judges receive ‘porngate’ emails? Chief justice wants to know

Pennsylvania’s chief justice wants to know if any judges were among the state officials who exchanged sexually explicit emails on state computers uncovered in an inquiry dubbed “porngate.” Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald Castille said any judges who exchanged “grossly pornographic” emails could be violating ethics rules, report the Morning…

Sep 29, 2014 8:08 AM CDT

Judge axed evidence when cops took Fifth in lawyer-client eavesdropping; will she dismiss 2nd case?

For the second time this year, an Indiana judge will have to decide whether to eviscerate evidence in a slaying case due to claimed inadvertent eavesdropping by police in LaPorte County. Currently before Judge Kathleen Lang is a motion by lawyers representing John Larkin to dismiss a voluntary manslaughter case…

Sep 26, 2014 10:08 AM CDT

Mayor files civil rights suit against judge and DA’s office, says theft case was filed ‘to get even’

The mayor of a Pennsylvania town has filed a federal civil rights suit against a local judge and the Washington County district attorney’s office. The suit says the defendants pursued a felony theft case against Monongahela Mayor Robert Kepics, which has now been dropped, because District Judge Mark Wilson disliked…

Sep 24, 2014 1:45 PM CDT

Lawyer accused of taping sex with underage girl gets probation; plea agreement bars press release

A Tennessee lawyer initially accused of paying a 14-year-old girl for sex and taping the encounters has been sentenced to probation in a case that made the news despite a ban on press releases. Kent Booher, 59, of Harriman, Tennessee, pleaded guilty to statutory rape in a plea deal on…

Sep 24, 2014 7:11 AM CDT

Court reporters accused of stealing $485K by billing for bogus pages

Updated: Three court reporters in Cherokee County, Georgia, are facing theft and racketeering charges, accused of stealing a total of $485,000 by billing for bogus pages. Betty Petersen, 73, and Kimberly Probst, 50, and Tammy Stine, 55, are charged with theft by taking, theft by deception, giving false statements and…

Sep 22, 2014 3:50 PM CDT

Father-and-son district attorney duo are first in state, newspaper says

A father and son who are simultaneously serving as district attorney in their respective counties are reportedly the first in their state to do so. Chris Boring was still in college at Oklahoma State University when his dad, Mike Boring, was elected DA of the Oklahoma Panhandle in 2002. But…

Sep 15, 2014 4:25 PM CDT

Detective’s new look at 2006 case leads to murder charge against former prosecutor

A former Illinois prosecutor has been charged with murder in the 2006 death of his wife after a newly promoted detective took another look at the case file. Curtis Lovelace, a former assistant state’s attorney in Adams County, Illinois, appeared in court last Friday, where he asked for more time…

Sep 15, 2014 9:47 AM CDT

New conviction-integrity unit in DC is said to be first created by a federal prosecutor

Joining a trend that has sparked the creation of conviction-integrity units in a number of state prosecutor’s offices, the District of Columbia is establishing what is billed as the first such unit in a federal prosecutor’s office. “As prosecutors, our goal is not to win convictions, but to do justice,”…

Sep 12, 2014 2:15 PM CDT

Prosecutor whose bikini photo was reportedly found in inmate’s cell resigns $83K-a-year job

A Washington state prosecutor whose bikini photograph wound up in the cell of a prison inmate has resigned from her $83,000-a-year job. Marriya Wright also allegedly texted and called Matthew Baumrucker over 1,200 times during a period of a little over one month earlier this year. Authorities are now investigating…

Sep 12, 2014 12:15 PM CDT