Sentencing/Post Conviction

Ex-Asst. Wash. AG Pleads Guilty in Phone Harassment of Former Neighbor

An assistant Washington state attorney general has resigned from his job and pleaded guilty to telephone harassment after reportedly impersonating a former neighbor on adult websites and telling strangers she was interested in having sex with them. The unidentified victim, who is also a former co-worker of attorney Jonathan Milstein’s…

Aug 6, 2009 6:11 PM CDT

Oops. Lawyer’s Mistaken ID of ‘Client’ Nearly Wins Reduced Sentence

When attorney Joseph Santo pointed at him in a Brooklyn courtroom, 17-year-old Victor Hernandez says, he didn’t think much about it as he went up to stand beside the lawyer. But getting a five-year probation sentence instead of the seven-year jail term he might have expected definitely caught his attention,…

Aug 5, 2009 9:05 PM CDT

In ‘Sad But Predictable’ Case, Ex-Lawyer Steals $267K from New Employer

Disbarred after he stole $300,000 from his former law firm—and another $200,000 from a subsequent employer, a former New Jersey tax attorney has now admitted that he stole $267,000 from a more recent employer, a company for which he prepared tax returns. The theft by deception, to which 52-year-old Gregory…

Aug 5, 2009 7:25 PM CDT

Calif. Lawyer Suspended Over Trial Blogging While Serving as Juror

A 40-year-old California attorney has had his law license suspended for 45 days over a trial blog he wrote while serving as a juror. Because of a blog post by Frank Russell Wilson, an appeals court reversed and remanded the felony burglary case, reports the California Bar Journal. Although reportedly…

Aug 4, 2009 7:58 PM CDT

AG Holder Calls for Getting ‘Smart on Crime’ #ABAChicago

Drawing a sharp contrast between the Bush and Obama administrations, without ever naming the former, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the ABA House of Delegates that “we no longer must choose between more prisoners or more crime.” He declared the Department of Justice under his watch will “embrace the…

Aug 3, 2009 8:31 PM CDT

Judge Rejects Plea Deal for 2 Ex-Judges in Pa. Pay-for-Jailed-Kids Case

A federal judge has rejected a plea deal that calls for 87-month sentences for two Pennsylvania judges who pleaded guilty in an alleged scheme to steer juveniles to for-profit detention facilities in exchange for $2.6 million in kickbacks. In an order posted late Friday, U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik rejected…

Aug 3, 2009 11:35 AM CDT

Required Reading

Anyone who thinks the election of our first African-American president means we no longer have any reason to make amends to minorities in this country ought to read Mark Curriden’s “A Supreme Case of Contempt,” June, page 34. This compelling and poignant article graphically demonstrates why the majority in this…

Aug 2, 2009 3:30 AM CDT

Sentence Nacchio Based on Actual Qwest Insider Profit, 10th Circuit Says

In a move that could nearly halve the six-year prison term that former Qwest Communications chief executive Joseph Nacchio got for insider trading, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today ordered that he be re-sentenced. Both Nacchio’s prison term and the amount of money he is required to forfeit…

Jul 31, 2009 10:32 PM CDT

Trustee Sues Madoff’s Wife for $45M, Cites ‘Life of Spendor’

A court-appointed trustee charged with recovering money for investors in the Ponzi scheme operated by Bernard Madoff under the guise of a hedge fund has sued the jailed swindler’s wife for almost $45 million. Ruth Madoff knew or should have known her “life of splendor” was funded with ill-gotten gains…

Jul 29, 2009 10:04 PM CDT

Grenada AG Resigns Over Letter Seeking Leniency for Stepson in Fla. Case

The attorney general of Grenada has resigned over a letter he sent on official letterhead seeking leniency for his stepson from the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney in a Florida criminal case. Media reports in Grenada say Attorney General Jimmy Bristol’s resignation was accepted today by the prime minister of the Carribean…

Jul 24, 2009 6:12 PM CDT

1 in 10 Prisoners Serving Life, But State Budget Woes May Bring Some Relief

More prisoners than ever before were serving life terms in 2008—a total of 140,610 out of 2.3 million inmates, or nearly 1 in 10, according to a report released today by the Sentencing Project, which advocates the elimination of life terms without the possibility of parole. Two-thirds are Latino or…

Jul 22, 2009 11:39 PM CDT

Top Pa. Court Will Save Some Juvie Files, As Lawyers Take Issue to Fed’l Court

Before a federal judge could hold a scheduled hearing on Monday, the top court in Pennsylvania has acceded to some of the demands made in an unusual federal filing by lawyers representing individuals allegedly jailed improperly as juveniles because of judicial corruption in Luzerne County. In an order today, the…

Jul 22, 2009 11:04 PM CDT

Lawyers Seek Order Barring Top Pa. Court from Destroying Juvenile Records

A bizarre case in which two senior Pennsylvania judges in Luzerne County are accused of having profited from putting hundreds—or perhaps even thousands—of youths into juvenile detention for relatively minor offenses has now taken a strange new twist. In an extraordinary filing, lawyers representing individuals allegedly improperly jailed as youngsters…

Jul 21, 2009 10:59 PM CDT

Nev. Lawyer Gets 5 Years for Evading Income Tax

A 47-year-old personal injury attorney in Nevada has been sentenced to a five-year federal prison term for evading millions of dollars in taxes. Although Edmund Botha made millions as a Las Vegas lawyer, he paid rent, office overhead and other costs in cash or with cashier’s checks, in an effort…

Jul 17, 2009 8:10 PM CDT

Pa. Lawyer Didn’t Pursue Plea Offer, Spent $1M to Cut 5 Months Off Sentence

Offered a suggested deal in a federal corruption case that would, at one point, have required him to plead guilty to one fraud count in exchange for a prison term of no more than five years, Vince Fumo reportedly wound up instead taking the case to trial. That strategy cost…

Jul 16, 2009 8:30 PM CDT