http://www.abajournal.com/news/ en Copyright 2013 2013-05-20T07:38:11-06:00 http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/lawyer_saves_teen_client_who_appeared_ready_to_leap_from_courthouse_roof/ An Idaho lawyer says he was acting on instinct when he chased his teen client and grabbed the youth as he appeared ready to leap from the ledge of the courthouse roof in Ada County. Nampa, Idaho, lawyer Ryan Henson tells the Idaho… Criminal Justice, States, Idaho Thu, 04 Apr 2013 07:23:17 -0500 43582.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/murder_mediation/ A judge overseeing a first-degree murder case in eastern Idaho has ordered the prosecutor and defendant Michael Sparks into mediation, to see if they can resolve the death-penalty case before trial. Sparks' attorney, Bannock County Public Defender Randy Schulthies, said he was surprised by the Monday order by Sixth District… Alternative Dispute Resolution, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Judiciary, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, States, Idaho Tue, 11 Dec 2012 17:08:52 -0600 42002.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/supreme_court_wont_consider_ban_on_insanity_defense_dissenters_explain_idah/ The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the case of an accused murderer who claims he has a constitutional right to an insanity defense. Justice Stephen G. Breyer dissented to the cert denial in an opinion (PDF) joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor. The… Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, States, Idaho Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:17:00 -0600 41739.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/attorney_takes_misdemeanor_plea_during_trial_for_alleged_sexual_attack/ Faced with the possibility of a maximum 20-year prison sentence if he had been found guilty of felony battery for allegedly forcing himself on a woman in his law office conference room last year, an Idaho attorney has taken a mid-trial plea to misdemeanor battery. John Prior, 50, will now… Criminal Justice, Trials & Litigation, States, Idaho Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:02:44 -0500 40767.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/meet_david_nevin_velvet_shiv_defense_attorney_for_khalid_sheikh_mohammed/ The military trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, isn't expected to begin until next year. However, his hard-fighting defense lawyer, David Nevin, begins a six-day session of legal arguments on Thursday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that could result in the exclusion… Appellate Practice, Civil Rights, Criminal Justice, Law Firms, Midsize Firm, Partners, Military Law, Terrorism, Trials & Litigation, States, Idaho Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:15:50 -0500 40368.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/idaho_county_to_hire_lawyer_to_assist_pro_se_litigants/ A county in southwestern Idaho has approved a preliminary budget that includes the hiring of a full-time lawyer to aid those filing pro se civil cases. Canyon County commissioners approved the position, taking $60,000 from the Idaho Supreme Court, to hire the lawyer to help better assist an increasing number… Civil Procedure, Judiciary, States, Idaho Mon, 13 Aug 2012 07:23:55 -0500 40137.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/first_class_is_on_verge_of_beginning_studies_at_concordia_u_law_school/ At least 71 students and perhaps as many as 75 are about to begin their studies at the new Concordia University School of Law in Boise, Idaho, which is opening its doors to its first class this month. Each will have a judge or… Bar Associations, ABA, Law Schools, States, Idaho Fri, 03 Aug 2012 06:44:22 -0500 40000.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/unhappy_with_state_ags_completely_unsupported_opinion_idaho_house_speaker_g/ Dissatisfied with a legal opinion from the Idaho attorney general, the speaker of the state's house of representatives sought—and got—a more favorable ruling from a private practitioner. Like the AG, the speaker, Lawrence Denney, is a Republican. However, that didn't prevent the state's Republican party from issuing a press release… Constitutional Law, Government Law, Legislation & Lobbying, States, Idaho Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:00:44 -0600 36998.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/landowners_wetlands_dispute_becomes_conservative_cause_and_supreme_court_ca/ The U.S. Supreme Court will consider an Idaho property rights case that has generated landowner sympathy among conservatives, libertarians and developers. The issue before the court next week is whether landowners Chantell and Mike Sackett may go to court to challenge the Environmental Protection Agency’s conclusion that their property is… Constitutional Law, Real Estate & Property Law, U.S. Supreme Court, 9th Circuit Court, States, Idaho Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:00:01 -0600 36679.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/high_school_had_right_to_search_18-year-olds_car_for_smokes_resulting_in_dr/ At 18 years of age, Joseph A. Voss Jr. was old enough to smoke without violating the law. But because he was potentially violating high school rules if found to be doing so on campus, officials were within their rights to search the senior student's car in the parking lot… Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Education Law, States, Idaho Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:45:11 -0600 36180.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/govt_seeks_50-year_term_for_lawyers_failed_contract_hit_on_wife_he_and_she_/ Federal prosecutors were seeking a 50-year sentence today for a lawyer in northern Idaho who was convicted of trying to arrange a contract hit on his wife, and they got it. Both Edgar J. Steele, 65, and his wife, Cyndi, who survived the failed attempt when an undetonated pipe bomb… Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, Personal Lives, 9th Circuit Court, States, Idaho Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:05:15 -0600 35940.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/disbarred_after_1.48m_alleged_biglaw_billing_fraud_ex-attorney_faces_uphill/ Gary and Maureen Fairchild made headlines in the 1990s when the high-profile BigLaw couple were accused of bilking their respective law partners of more than $2 million through collusive law firm billing fraud at the same time that the two Chicago lawyers were legally taking home hundreds of thousands of… Careers, Criminal Justice, Sentencing/Post Conviction, White Collar Crime, Law Firms, Large Firm, Partners, Legal Ethics, States, Idaho, Indiana Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:31:19 -0500 35662.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal_judge_blocks_enforcement_of_idaho_law_criminalizing_certain_abortio/ A federal judge has temporarily barred Idaho from enforcing a decades-old state law prohibiting women from terminating their own pregnancy. The law, enacted in 1972, criminalizes abortions not specifically authorized by law, such as those performed by a licensed physician. Jennie Linn McCormack, 33, was charged earlier this year with… Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Health Law, Judiciary, Trials & Litigation, States, Idaho Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:41:03 -0500 35220.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/homogenous/ Business of Law, Election Law, Judiciary, Legal History, States, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Opening Statements Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:30:42 -0500 32924.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/fedl_jury_convicts_lawyer_of_hiring_hitman_to_kill_his_wife_with_pipe_bomb/ Although his wife stood by him and insisted that attorney Edgar Steele was the victim of a government plot to silence him, the Idaho lawyer today was convicted by a federal jury concerning his alleged contract with a family handyman to kill his spouse with a pipe bomb. Steele, who… Criminal Justice, Personal Lives, Trials & Litigation, Verdicts & Settlements, 9th Circuit Court, States, Idaho Thu, 05 May 2011 14:29:34 -0500 32677.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/released_on_1m_bond_suspect_in_attorneys_murde/ The suspect in what authorities describe as a murder of an Idaho lawyer over "domestic issues" apparently related to his assistant, has pleaded not guilty and will not face the death penalty, KBOI reports. After being charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Emmett Corrigan, suspect Robert… Business of Law, Law Practice Management, Criminal Justice, Family Law, Law Firms, Partners, Solos/Small Firms, Personal Lives, States, Idaho Thu, 21 Apr 2011 12:45:07 -0500 32422.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/how_did_private_prosecutor_spend_300k_county_and_private_citizen_seek_answe/ As an Idaho county battles with a former contract prosecutor to collect some $300,000 it says it is owed in unearned payments, a local citizen is asking the state supreme court to award him attorney's fees in a related public records case. Bob Henry, who owns a local insurance company,… Bankruptcy Law, Business of Law, Law Practice Management, Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, Government Law, Legal Ethics, Media & Communications Law, Trials & Litigation, Attorney Fees, States, Idaho Tue, 12 Apr 2011 05:00:17 -0500 32186.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/prosecutors_and_judges_to_join_police_at_dwi_checkpoints/ In what is billed as a first-of-a-kind law enforcement effort in Jasper County, Mo., prosecutors and judges will be joining police at drunken-driving checkpoints, starting tonight, to enforce a new "no refusal" statute in the state. If motorists who seem to be driving while intoxicated refuse to take a breath… Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice, Prosecutors, Criminal Procedure, Judiciary, States, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, Utah Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:21:53 -0500 32029.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/smart_phone_dumb_idea_using_blue-and-red_light_ap/ An Idaho man has been arrested for allegedly using a blue-and-red light application on his smart phone to pull over a fellow motorist. Alexander Welch, 20, was charged in Boise with unlawful exercise of a police function and is being held in the Ada County Jail, the Criminal Justice, Media & Communications Law, Science & Technology Law, States, Idaho Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:26:19 -0500 31681.abajournal.com http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/bill_to_nullify_federal_health_care_law_introduced_in_idaho_other_lawmakers/ Two Idaho GOP lawmakers want their state to be a federal-health-care-law free zone. The lawmakers, Vito Barbieri and Judy Boyle, have introduced a bill that would make President Obama’s health-care law null and void within state boundaries, according to the IdahoReporter.com. The legislation would bar state workers from… Constitutional Law, Health Law, Legislation & Lobbying, States, Idaho Thu, 27 Jan 2011 08:03:50 -0600 30593.abajournal.com