Prosecutors

Arrested Monday in LA as airline stowaway, woman is released Wednesday, arrested again Thursday

A California woman who seemingly is fixated on ticketless airline travel is no longer a problem for San Francisco airport officials after succeeding in stowing away on a Monday night flight to Los Angeles. Marilyn Jean Hartman, 62, is now in the news again after being found at LAX on…

Aug 7, 2014 10:40 PM CDT

Innocence Project seeks ethics probe of prosecutor in Willingham case

The Innocence Project has asked the State Bar of Texas to investigate the prosecutor in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for the deaths of his three children in a 1991 fire. Jailhouse informant Johnny Webb had testified that Willingham told him he deliberately set…

Aug 4, 2014 12:51 PM CDT

Recorded jail phone calls violate 6th Amendment and cost us money, attorneys say in lawsuit

Joining colleagues in Florida, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania and Tennessee who have complained that jailed defendants’ phone calls with their attorneys are being recorded, some Texas lawyers have filed an amended class action complaint objecting to the practice. However, in addition to arguing about alleged violations of inmates’ Sixth Amendment…

Aug 1, 2014 11:25 AM CDT

Judge calls prosecutor’s claims of secret case dismissals ‘inaccurate and misleading’

Under fire from a Michigan prosecutor, a state-court judge says he has done nothing wrong, reports the Detroit Free Press. Claims by Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper that he has secretly and illegally dismissed domestic violence cases are “inaccurate and misleading,” says 52nd District Judge Brian W. MacKenzie in a…

Jul 31, 2014 4:20 PM CDT

Federal judge enlists prosecutor to allow him to reduce 57-year sentence he imposed in carjackings

A federal judge who didn’t like the 57-year sentence he was forced to impose is expected to cut the punishment today after persuading the prosecutor to help him. The defendant, Francois Holloway, has already served nearly two decades in prison for carjackings and his participation in an illegal chop shop…

Jul 29, 2014 12:57 PM CDT

Man gets 21 years for courtroom attack on district attorney

Convicted in June of attempted first-degree murder for a courtroom attack last year on a Kansas district attorney during a sentencing hearing, a 27-year-old Hutchinson man was sentenced Monday to more than 21 years in prison. The new term will run consecutive to the more than 12-year term to which…

Jul 28, 2014 9:40 PM CDT

News of DNA exoneration stuns ex-inmate who didn’t request test

Ailing, wheelchair bound and living in a nursing home, Michael Phillips had long ago stopped trying to persuade others that he had been wrongfully convicted of rape. So the 57-year-old was stunned and, initially, in a state of disbelief when two police officers visited him earlier this year and told…

Jul 28, 2014 5:20 PM CDT

Defense lawyers say feds’ refusal to screen inmate-attorney email frustrates right to counsel

Because of budgetary and time constraints, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have discontinued a once-common practice of having firewall lawyers screen inmate email to weed out communications between defendants and their lawyers before prosecutors could view them. That has led to an ongoing dispute between defense lawyers and the U.S. Attorney’s…

Jul 22, 2014 9:20 PM CDT

Defendant claims prosecutor tried to revoke her probation after she told his wife of their affair

A Kentucky woman claims the man who prosecuted her for drug trafficking sought to revoke her probation after she ended their affair and revealed her pregnancy. Motions filed on behalf of Latisha Lashley Sartain allege she became pregnant as a result of a two-month affair with Commonwealth’s Attorney Matthew Leveridge,…

Jul 21, 2014 3:44 PM CDT

Ex-prosecutor seeks pardon for woman convicted after crash now linked to GM ignition-switch issues

A former Texas prosecutor has asked the state to pardon a woman he helped convict in a fatal crash that is now linked to a massive recall by General Motors over ignition-switch issues. Candice Anderson’s fiance died and she was severely injured when her 2004 Saturn Ion suddenly went off…

Jul 17, 2014 5:45 PM CDT

Mistaken ‘reply all’ email leads to suspension without pay for prosecutor

A prosecutor in the Atlanta schools cheating scandal has been suspended for three days without pay after she mistakenly hit “reply all” when commenting about a defendant’s Stage IV breast cancer. Assistant District Attorney Lori Canfield of Fulton County mistakenly sent a two-word comment to dozens of lawyers and others…

Jul 14, 2014 2:00 PM CDT

Man gets up to 7 years for breaking into and vandalizing prosecutor’s home

A man who broke into a Missouri prosecutor’s home last year, vandalizing it and nearby property as he drove around in the prosecutor’s two vehicles, has been sentenced to prison term of as much as seven years. Court records don’t explain why David Metty, 26, acted as he did, but…

Jul 11, 2014 2:15 PM CDT

Police raid law office, wire client in ‘bizarre’ probe of claimed lawyer effort to aid client escape

Police in Las Vegas raided a criminal defense attorney’s law office on June 26 and seized his cellphone and client files and billing records for at least one defendant because that defendant claimed the attorney has been trying to help him leave the country. What the Las Vegas Review-Journal describes…

Jul 10, 2014 4:45 PM CDT

Police refuse to execute warrant for photos of youth’s erection in sexting case

Updated: Criminally charged over allegations he texted an explicit video to his 15-year-old girlfriend, a 17-year-old Virginia youth is now fighting the prosecution’s effort to take photos of his erect penis for evidentiary purposes, under a warrant approved by a juvenile court judge, his lawyer says. The unidentified defendant’s trial…

Jul 10, 2014 4:31 PM CDT

Ohio lawyer charged with sexually assaulting five women testifies that accusers are lying

A Columbus, Ohio, lawyer on trial on charges he sexually assaulted five women says his accusers are lying. Javier Armengau, who took the witness stand in his own defense Monday, said he’s the victim of a “trumped up conspiracy” by police, prosecutors, the state Attorney General’s Office and the women…

Jul 1, 2014 9:50 PM CDT