Sentencing/Post Conviction

Phone Transcripts Released in Jeffs Case

Formerly sealed documents detailing jailhouse phone calls made by the leader of a controversial fringe sect of the Mormon church that advocates polygamy were released Tuesday by a Utah court. A lawyer for Warren Jeffs, 51, who has since been convicted of accomplice rape for pressuring a 14-year-old church member…

Nov 1, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

Partner Sentenced in Car Vandalism Case

After over-imbibing at his mother’s 80th birthday party, a senior partner at a well-known Scottish real estate law firm went a bit wild. However, solicitor Paul Hutcheson, 43, has taken steps to make restitution to the owners of 11 cars parked outside the golf club at which the party was…

Oct 31, 2007 6:46 PM CDT

Halloween Means Murder—and Justice—to Victim’s Family

For nearly 25 years, there’s been no trick-or-treating at the California home of the Hoynes family Halloween in 1984 was the day when the family found out that one of their four girls, 21-year-old Robin, had been murdered at her job as a manager of a fast-food restaurant in nearby…

Oct 31, 2007 5:24 PM CDT

ABA Prez Cites Crack Myths, Supports Sentencing Changes

ABA President William H. Neukom is supporting legislation to eliminate the disparity in federal sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses. Currently, crack cocaine offenders are punished the same as those who commit crimes involving 100 times the amount of powder cocaine. Neukom says the legislation would “restore fairness and…

Oct 31, 2007 11:14 AM CDT

Cost to Keep Ex in Health Plan: Law License

Misrepresenting himself as still married to his ex-wife for six years, so that she could continue to be covered under his health insurance, has cost a former New York state government lawyer his job and a two-year suspension from practice. Carmine Clemente, 64, also agreed under a plea deal in…

Oct 31, 2007 1:00 AM CDT

Court: CA Judge Complaints Confidential

If a police officer acts improperly during an arrest, a defendant in a California criminal case has a right to obtain in camera judicial review of that officer’s personnel file to see if it contains relevant material about the issue that should be produced in discovery and potentially introduced as…

Oct 30, 2007 6:27 PM CDT

Statutory Cases Affect Prisons, Board of Trade

Two cases argued yesterday before the U.S. Supreme Court raise issues of statutory construction. The outcome will affect futures clearinghouses and prisoners. In the first case, the issue is whether those who process trades can recover losses if the Board of Trade of the City of New York engages in…

Oct 30, 2007 1:02 PM CDT

Pearl Jam Singer Benefit Funds Exculpatory DNA Tests

DNA tests funded with help from the lead singer of Pearl Jam have revealed that none of the teens convicted of killing three 8-year-old Arkansas boys in 1993 left genetic material on the bodies. The DNA report said genetic material from an unidentified person was left on one victim, the…

Oct 30, 2007 12:39 PM CDT

Guilty Lawyer Still Blames His Murder Victim

In his first public comment after being sentenced to 12 years in prison for breaking into a neighbor’s home and stabbing him to death, a 30-year-old Connecticut lawyer says he still believes his wife’s accusation that the victim molested their young daughter. However, police say there is no evidence this…

Oct 29, 2007 11:35 PM CDT

GA Supreme Court: Teen’s 10-Year Sentence Cruel & Unusual

UPDATED: Upholding a lower court ruling that a 10-year prison sentence imposed on a young man who, at 17, was videotaped having consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old girl was cruel and unusual punishment, the Georgia Supreme Court today ordered his release. Genarlow Wilson, now 21, was convicted of felony…

Oct 27, 2007 12:59 AM CDT

Was Hicks’ Gitmo Plea a ‘Political Fix’?

The conviction of Australian David Hicks in a U.S. terrorism case after years of imprisonment at an American military prison at Guantanamo Bay has been a hot political issue in his home country. And the controversy is nowhere near dying down even months after he accepted a plea bargain that…

Oct 26, 2007 9:19 PM CDT

Ex-IL Governor Writes of ‘Mindless Brutality’ in Prison

A former Illinois governor who served time at a Minnesota prison sometimes known as “Club Fed” says he encountered “mindless brutality” at the facility. In a commentary for the Chicago Tribune, former Gov. Dan Walker urges mercy for a more recent governor—George Ryan. The en banc 7th U.S. Circuit Court…

Oct 26, 2007 2:52 PM CDT

30-Year Sentence Upheld for Lionel Tate

A Florida youth infamous as perhaps the youngest person in the U.S. ever to receive a life sentence, before it was subsequently overturned, now appears likely to serve a lengthy prison term after all. Lionel Tate’s 30-year sentence for violating his probation in the murder case was upheld today by…

Oct 25, 2007 10:46 PM CDT

Convicted of 48 Murders: ‘I Felt Like God’

Convicted yesterday by a jury of 48 murders and three attempted murders, a Russian serial killer says the crimes made him more powerful than those who found him guilty. “Cops, lawyers, experts, witness. I alone decided the fate of 63 people,” said Alexander Pichushkin, a 33-year-old supermarket worker who claims…

Oct 25, 2007 4:04 PM CDT

Convicted Client Cites Lawyer’s Stalking Indictment in New Trial Bid

A convicted murderer is seeking a new trial because his lawyer was under indictment for stalking. The appeal by Mylee Cottle of Newark, N.J., argues his lawyer was likely reluctant to oppose or negotiate with prosecutors because he needed to curry favor with them in his own case, the New…

Oct 24, 2007 12:01 PM CDT