Court Security

Special judge will decide courthouse vault cocaine case against ex-employee, top court rules

Louisiana’s top court has put an end to a bitter dispute over the judge assigned to hear a courthouse vault cocaine-smuggling case against a former court clerk’s office employee who is also the son of another local jurist. The Louisiana Supreme Court has recused not only the civil judge assigned…

Aug 29, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

Reports: Prison gang threatened judge in connection with probe of superintendent’s slaying

A Colorado judge who signed search warrants to be used in an ongoing probe of the slaying of the state’s prison superintendent went into hiding for at least two weeks after allegedly being threatened by 211 Crew gang members, investigators say. El Paso County Judge Jonathan Walker resumed the bench…

Aug 27, 2013 9:40 PM CDT

Inquiry board says Chicago judge acquitted in courthouse battery case can’t do job without treatment

An Illinois judge who was found not guilty by reason of insanity in February in a criminal battery case over an altercation with sheriff’s deputies at a courthouse security checkpoint in Chicago is now facing a legal ethics complaint. Cook County Circuit Judge Cynthia Brim, who has been diagnosed with…

Aug 13, 2013 7:32 PM CDT

Son of courthouse shooter is held without bail after ‘unique’ cyberstalking indictment

Appearing in court on Monday in what the public defender called a “unique” cyberstalking case against multiple family members accused of playing a role in a fatal Delaware courthouse shooting earlier this year, David Matusiewicz was ordered held without bail. A prosecutor in the Wilmington case called him a flight…

Aug 12, 2013 4:25 PM CDT

3 relatives of courthouse shooter indicted, feds say cyberstalking resulted in death of victim

The wife, son and daughter of a man who fatally shot two women at a Delaware courthouse earlier this year as they arrived for a child-support hearing have been federally indicted, charged with cyberstalking that resulted in the death of a victim, reports the News Journal. The shooter himself committed…

Aug 8, 2013 5:39 PM CDT

Witness harassment has gone digital, and the justice system is playing catch-up

Not long after a 30-year-old Cleveland woman witnessed a man being fatally shot in the back, the gunman’s friends tracked her down and threatened her about testifying against him. At first, they intimidated her the old-fashioned way. As she walked home one day, a friend of the suspect came up…

Aug 1, 2013 9:40 AM CDT

See the video: Inmate in court for hearing makes grab at deputy’s gun

An inmate seated in a Florida courtroom awaiting a hearing Tuesday made a grab for a sheriff deputy’s gun, but was quickly restrained. Robert Lewis Bridges, 24, was in Hillsborough Circuit Court for a hearing in a criminal case in which he faces burglary and grand theft charges. A video…

Jul 31, 2013 9:14 PM CDT

Inmate drove from courthouse in truck he found with keys in ignition, authorities say

An inmate charged with felony battery escaped from custody outside a Georgia courthouse on Tuesday as he was being transferred to a law enforcement vehicle, along with other inmates, after a court hearing. Authorities in Hall County say they believe James Edward Cantrell, 46, concealed himself in an alcove of…

Jul 17, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Decades after ex-attorney killed 2 lawyers, shot judges in Texas courtroom, fatal conflicts continue

A fatal attack in a Texas appellate courtroom almost exactly 21 years ago is remembered as a milestone in Tarrant County history that led to a new focus on keeping lawyers, judges and litigants safe. Yet such conflicts continue today, there and elsewhere, despite the increased awareness and new security…

Jul 11, 2013 4:40 PM CDT

Defendant flees courtroom after not-guilty plea, pursued by security officers and his mother

After pleading not guilty to charges of armed violence and burglary on Monday, a defendant fled a suburban Chicago courtroom with security officers and his own mother in hot pursuit. Dylan E. Draut, 39, didn’t get far in his orange jail attire and flip-flops. Although he hadn’t even escaped the…

Jul 10, 2013 10:45 AM CDT

Courtroom suicide should be a wake-up call that security is needed at rural courthouse, says sheriff

Following the apparent courtroom suicide on June 29 of a man who had just been convicted of a crime for which he could have been sentenced to a maximum of 7 years, it looks like a courthouse in rural Missouri is going to amp up security measures. Officials met on…

Jul 9, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

Convicted in case with 7-year max, man took cyanide in courtroom and died

Convicted of a sex crime and facing a possible maximum prison sentence of seven years, a Missouri man took cyanide in court and died minutes after the verdict was announced last week. Steve Parsons, 48, was the well-known owner of a St. Joseph, Mo., area tire shop, but also had…

Jul 2, 2013 5:10 PM CDT

Man who attacked deputy US marshal while trying to file pro se federal suit gets 2 years

Noting that Larry Paul Delaney had a history of assaulting law enforcement officers, the U.S. Marshal’s office sent four deputies to arrest him on an outstanding warrant at a federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., two years ago. The warrant came to their attention when Delaney went through security en…

Jul 1, 2013 6:30 PM CDT

Juror jailed after deputies say he stole iPhone and cash from courthouse

A Florida man called to serve on a jury used a break in the proceedings to steal an iPhone and $200 in cash from the state witness center in the Brevard County Courthouse, investigators said. Within a day after beginning work as a juror, Kyle Powell was in jail as…

Jun 27, 2013 3:40 PM CDT

Lawyer decked at court hearing is still unable to work 6 weeks later; client charged in assault

Ordered to rest as he recuperates from being struck in the head during a May 13 court hearing, Ebensburg, Pa., attorney Tim Burns was not present Tuesday at a preliminary hearing on new charges now faced by death-row inmate Andre Staton over the incident. But Blair County District Attorney Richard…

Jun 26, 2013 5:39 PM CDT