Sentencing/Post Conviction

After Murdering 2 Hikers in 1981, Man Fingered for Shooting 2 More in 2008

Sentenced to a 30-year prison term in a 1981 plea bargain for murdering two hikers on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia after sharing a meal with them in May of that year, Randall Smith served 15 years before he was paroled in 1996. And then, in May 2008, he shot…

Jul 9, 2008 9:49 AM CDT

Ga. Supreme Court Nixes Secret Sentence-Review Panels

A split Georgia Supreme Court has overturned a controversial system of secretive post-conviction review panels that since its inception has reduced sentences for hundreds of prisoners in the state. But the 4-3 court stopped short of reinstating the original prison terms, the Associated Press reports. Reinstating the sentences would amount…

Jul 8, 2008 5:14 PM CDT

DWI Offenders Staying Away from Alcohol in Ankle Bracelet Experiment

Judges and anti-drunken-driving activists are applauding a year-old experimental program in New York state to outfit DWI offenders with ankle bracelets that detect alcohol use through the skin. Sixty-one offenders wore the device, called a secure continuous remote alcohol monitor, or SCRAM, the Buffalo News reports. Only a handful tampered…

Jul 7, 2008 6:21 PM CDT

Zach Scruggs Gets a Prison Sentence Instead of Probation

The son of legendary lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for failing to report a judge bribery plot that involved his father. Zach Scruggs was sentenced today by the Mississippi federal judge who sentenced his father to five years in prison, the Associated Press…

Jul 2, 2008 4:48 PM CDT

Hedge Fund Manager Who Faked His Suicide Surrenders

The hedge fund manager who faked his suicide last month has surrendered. Samuel Israel III disappeared on June 9, the day he was to report to prison. Today he walked into a local jail in Southwick, Mass., and turned himself in, the New York Times reports. Israel was sentenced to…

Jul 2, 2008 3:20 PM CDT

Scruggs Gets 5 Years, $250K Fine in Judicial Bribery Case

Updated: Famed Mississippi plaintiffs attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, ashamed and shaking, was sentenced to five years in prison today for his role in a conspiracy to bribe a state judge. Imposing the sentence recommended by prosecutors, a federal judge in Mississippi also fined Scruggs $250,000, reports the Associated Press. Defense…

Jun 27, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts Case Blaming Lawyer for Bad Insanity Plea Advice

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in which an inmate convicted of murder claims his lawyer improperly advised him to withdraw an insanity plea. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the advice violated standards of professional conduct because it was the only…

Jun 27, 2008 4:19 PM CDT

Neil Entwistle Gets Life for Murdering Wife & Baby

Rejecting calls by surviving family members for two consecutive life sentences, a Massachusetts judge today sentenced Neil Entwistle to two concurrent life terms for the first-degree murders of his 27-year-old wife and 9-month-old daughter in 2006, saying that there is no possibility of parole under state law. Middlesex Superior Court…

Jun 26, 2008 6:32 PM CDT

Prison Food Unconstitutionally Bad? No Way, Courts—and Dinner Guests—Say

Can food served to prisoners be so bad that it’s unconstitutional? That is the question in a series of lawsuits filed in various states over “Nutraloaf,” a blended food intentionally served up to misbehaving inmates as punishment, reports Slate. “Nutraloaf (sometimes called Nutri-loaf, sometimes just ‘the loaf’) is served in…

Jun 25, 2008 6:22 PM CDT

Sex Offender Computer Search Law is Unconstitutional, Judge Says

A federal judge yesterday struck down a major portion of a revised Indiana sex offender registry law, saying that the state went too far in requiring that convicted sex offenders, after they serve their sentences and any parole or probation, agree to have their computers and Internet use monitored. Siding…

Jun 25, 2008 5:40 PM CDT

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Death-Row Inmate’s Case for Third Time

The U.S. Supreme Court has twice ruled against Tennessee death-row inmate Gary Cone. Now the justices will decide whether federal courts may consider his claim that the prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence. Cone had claimed he was suffering from an amphetamine psychosis when he killed a Memphis couple following a two-day…

Jun 24, 2008 1:03 PM CDT

Pro Bono Counsel Loses Supreme Court Case, But Gets Ginsburg Shout-Out

A former law clerk for Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. has lost his first U.S. Supreme Court case, but he got important praise from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg that is likely to boost his career. Ginsburg’s majority opinion (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog) held that a federal appeals court can’t increase…

Jun 23, 2008 3:54 PM CDT

Naomi Campbell Gets Community Service for Air Rage Incident

Supermodel Naomi Campbell could have wound up in the slammer over an air rage incident last year in which she reportedly swore and screamed abuse at the pilot of an airplane and struggled with police officers. The incident was sparked by a missing piece of luggage. But Campbell, 38, got…

Jun 20, 2008 5:01 PM CDT

Inmate Dies in Prison After Waiting 18 Years for Retrial in Ala. Murder

Alabama inmate Shep Wilson Jr. had his murder conviction overturned in 1990, but he was still in prison awaiting a retrial when he died last week from liver failure. An Associated Press story attributes the delay to “a mental evaluation, a sick attorney, changes of judges and prosecutors, and a…

Jun 20, 2008 3:06 PM CDT

Murderer to Judge: I’ll Get Revenge

A convicted Michigan killer who was shocked in court with a stun gun last month after he reportedly went for a deputy’s gun when he was found guilty of murdering his wife and 12-year-old son last year, created another electrifying courtroom event at his sentencing today. As Calhoun County Circuit…

Jun 19, 2008 7:32 PM CDT