Sentencing/Post Conviction

Delay Lightens Capital Appeals Caseload of Ohio Federal Judge

The chief federal district court judge in southern Ohio has lightened the caseload of a colleague who had five unresolved death penalty appeals sitting on his docket for between three and eight years. Judge Walter Rice agreed that the cases should be moved to another judge’s docket, reports the Enquirer.…

Jan 25, 2008 6:23 PM CST

Heartless Jailhouse Call Rings Up Maximum Prison Term

A twice-convicted drunken driver got the maximum prison term for her latest offense—a little over 10 years—after a jailhouse phone call in which she laughed about driving into and killing a bicyclist while intoxicated was played at her sentencing hearing in Arizona. Characterizing the conversation as “breathtaking in its inhumanity,”…

Jan 25, 2008 6:03 PM CST

DNA Frees Man Convicted Partly Because of Gory Art

Updated: A man who was convicted of murder in 1999 partly on the basis of gory sketches and stories found in his home was released Tuesday after DNA evidence pointed to another suspect. Tim Masters told CNN he is relieved to be free, but he remains angry at investigator Jim…

Jan 24, 2008 5:25 PM CST

Ex-CEO of Monster Avoids Prison

The former CEO of Monster Worldwide Inc. has escaped prison under a deferred prosecution agreement for backdating stock options. Prosecutors said they agreed to leniency because the former CEO, 73-year-old Andrew McKelvey, suffers from terminal pancreatic cancer, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). He is the 18th executive to…

Jan 24, 2008 1:45 PM CST

15 More to Go Free in Ohio Drug Case Built on Informant’s Lies

Only because a federal informant relented and recanted his false testimony, it appears, are 16 wrongfully convicted defendants being freed from prison. After informant Jerrell Bray got into a fight in Cleveland in May and was arrested for allegedly shooting a man, he admitted, while in prison, that he had…

Jan 23, 2008 10:34 PM CST

Author Put Dad in Prison for Child Abuse, But Still Loves Him

A British author who says she was sexually abused by her father since age 8 has written a book about the experience—and the strong emotional bond she still has with both of her parents, as an adult, despite their failure to protect her as she was growing up. After she…

Jan 23, 2008 5:35 PM CST

Appeals Court Requires Access to Abortions for Prison Inmates

Ruling on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a federal appeals court held yesterday that Missouri must provide transportation to prison inmates seeking abortions. The ruling by the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturns a policy by Gov. Matt Blunt that had restricted inmates’ access to…

Jan 23, 2008 4:18 PM CST

Slap on Wrist for Alleged Santa Assailant

A Connecticut woman who is accused of having inappropriately touched an elderly Santa Claus while sitting on his lap in a local shopping mall is likely to get off lightly for the alleged offense. Sandrama Lamy, 33, has applied for a special program of accelerated rehabilitation available to first offenders,…

Jan 22, 2008 8:29 PM CST

Muslim Prisoner Loses Suit Based on High Court Interpretation of ‘Any’

Federal corrections officers cannot be sued for losing an inmate’s property, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. The 5-4 ruling held that the officers have immunity under the Federal Tort Claims Act, SCOTUSblog reports. The swing voter in the case was Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who joined the majority opinion…

Jan 22, 2008 7:12 PM CST

Inmate’s Freedom Hinges on Lawyers’ Revelation That Dead Client Killed Guard in ‘82

Almost 26 years ago, as two Chicago public defenders were representing a client accused of murdering two police officers, their case suddenly got a lot tougher. A lawyer defending another man accused of murdering a security guard in an unrelated case told the two PDs that his client said that…

Jan 22, 2008 6:32 PM CST

Judge Lowers Padilla Sentence Because of Harsh Confinement

Updated: Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting to release a dirty bomb in the United States, has been sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison for conspiring to “murder, kidnap and maim” people overseas. The 37-year-old Padilla had been expected to get life in prison, the Miami Herald…

Jan 22, 2008 5:41 PM CST

Ex-NFL Player Pleads in Steroids Case

Former pro football defensive lineman Dana Stubblefield pleaded guilty in federal court in California today to making false statements to a federal agent about performance-enhancing drugs. He is the first football player and only the second athlete (after sprinter Marion Jones) to be convicted in a criminal case related to…

Jan 18, 2008 8:49 PM CST

Lawyer Gets 6.5 Years, Fined $5.8M for False Diet Drug Claims

A Mississippi attorney has been sentenced by a federal judge to 6.5 years in prison and ordered to pay $5.8 million in restitution for pursuing baseless diet drug litigation on behalf of clients. Robert Arledge, 50, of Vicksburg was convicted in October of seven counts of conspiracy and wire fraud…

Jan 18, 2008 5:21 PM CST

Actress Lindsay Lohan Sentenced to Work in Morgue

Actress Lindsay Lohan’s sentence in a recent misdemeanor drunken driving plea deal isn’t just the 84 minutes in jail she already served late last year. It also includes community service work stints in a morgue and a hospital emergency room, under a court program that seeks to impress drunken drivers…

Jan 18, 2008 4:51 PM CST

Scammed Clients Seek Leniency for Convicted Lawyer

Clients of a disbarred Florida lawyer who pleaded no contest today to stealing some $200,000 from them are reportedly likely to seek leniency for the man they thought was representing their interests rather than his own. That’s not because they sympathize with the crimes, however, but because they will see…

Jan 17, 2008 11:57 PM CST