Prosecutors

Red Cross claims some Hurricane Sandy spending information is a trade secret

The American Red Cross fought a public records request for information on Hurricane Sandy fundraising and spending on the ground that some of the activities are a trade secret. Pro Publica sought information provided by the Red Cross to the New York Attorney General’s office in its investigation of the…

Jun 30, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Prosecutor shot by her husband hopes to return to the courtroom

A Georgia prosecutor who was shot multiple times by her estranged husband in April says she will be back in the courtroom one day, though she doesn’t know when it will happen. April McConnell is still in rehab for injuries that have left her unable to walk, WSB-TV Atlanta reports.…

Jun 27, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Delay in Sandusky charges was ‘within acceptable bounds of prosecutorial discretion,’ report says

There is no evidence that Pennsylvania’s current governor delayed the sexual abuse investigation of Jerry Sandusky for political reasons when the governor was the state attorney general, according to a report. The report’s author, former federal prosecutor H. Geoffrey Moulton, said at a press conference on Monday that the real…

Jun 24, 2014 12:40 PM CDT

DA settles suit over ‘some silly picture’ uploaded to his Twitter account

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams has settled a suit claiming he pilfered an online photo and used it as the background on his Twitter account. Williams settled with photographer R. Bradley Maule of PhillySkyline.com, who had claimed copyright infringement in a suit filed last August. The Philadelphia Daily News has…

Jun 20, 2014 12:00 PM CDT

Woman convicted of filing fake $100B liens against former US attorney and others

“I don’t owe anyone $100 billion,” former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald testified in federal court in Chicago this week, and a jury apparently believed him. After testimony from Fitzgerald, a sitting federal judge and a current and former magistrate judge concerning $100 billion maritime liens allegedly filed by Cherron Phillips…

Jun 18, 2014 10:30 PM CDT

Storied prosecutor retiring at 85

Sally Weintraub was in her fifties when she began working for then-Dade County State Attorney Janet Reno. The 1953 University of Wisconsin law graduate was a rarity, as a female attorney, when she came to Florida with her husband, who was also a lawyer and had been offered a job…

Jun 17, 2014 10:05 PM CDT

Prosecutor asks circuit judge to hold district judge in contempt over secret case dismissals

A prosecutor has asked a Michigan circuit court judge to hold a state district court judge in contempt for failing to disclose all of the domestic violence cases he handled. In a Tuesday complaint, Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper says 52nd District Judge Brian W. MacKenzie violated a February circuit…

Jun 17, 2014 8:20 PM CDT

Are federal prosecutors reading inmates’ emails to their attorneys? Memo suggests answer may be yes

A judge has ordered federal prosecutors in Brooklyn to stop reading a high-profile New York prison inmate’s email to his attorney, at least for now. A lawyer for a reputed crime boss awaiting trial in an extortion case told U.S. District Judge Allyne Ross last week about a memo from…

Jun 17, 2014 3:00 PM CDT

Prosecutor’s explanation for dismissal of potential juror gets him fired

A Texas prosecutor is out of a job because of his explanation for dismissing a potential juror who was a member of the NAACP. Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg fired assistant DA Steve Brand on Wednesday, saying his remarks were racially insensitive, report KVUE and the Austin American-Statesman (sub.…

Jun 12, 2014 12:16 PM CDT

Ex-judge disbarred over relationship with prosecutor during murder trial in her court

A former Florida judge is losing her license to practice law due to a secret “personal and emotional relationship” she had with a prosecutor trying a capital murder case in her court in 2007. “Disbarment is the appropriate sanction” for former Broward Circuit Judge Ana Gardiner, because of her “dishonest…

Jun 5, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

NYC indicts more than 100 suspected gang members in claimed shooting conspiracy

Two gang members have already been tried and convicted in the Sept. 11, 2011 murder of an 18-year-old high school basketball star, who was shot to death in a hallway near her apartment in a New York City housing project. But Tayshana Murphy’s death was also front and center in…

Jun 4, 2014 11:00 PM CDT

Domestic violence victim put on stand in pajamas, then jailed overnight for refusing to testify

A 52-year-old woman who had not responded to a witness subpoena in a domestic violence case was picked up at the order of a Maine trial judge and put on the stand last week in fleece pajamas, the clothing she was wearing when police took her into custody. When Sheila…

Jun 3, 2014 9:15 PM CDT

Ex-Brooklyn DA may have used $200K in forfeited funds for political consultant, report alleges

Former Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes may have used more than $200,000 in assets forfeited in criminal investigations to pay political consultants, according to allegations in a report by the New York City Department of Investigation. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have stories on the report,…

Jun 3, 2014 3:44 PM CDT

Defense lawyers abuzz about judge who found a drug-case defendant more credible than a cop

Criminal defense lawyers in Pinellas County, Florida, are talking about an unusual ruling earlier this month by a judge in a drug case. Perhaps even rarer than a “Perry Mason” moment in which a police officer’s testimony is contradicted by video evidence, it resulted from a St. Petersburg police officer’s…

May 30, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Report: No ruling on blanket disqualification motion, but new judge will hear all criminal cases

Although the Ohio Supreme Court hasn’t yet ruled on a prosecutor’s blanket disqualification motion, a new judge is in place to hear all criminal cases on the docket of Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge, reports the Chronicle-Telegram. Earlier this week, county prosecutor Dennis Will asked that Burge be…

May 30, 2014 6:01 PM CDT