Criminal Procedure

Supreme Court declines appeal citing juror’s racial slur in post-conviction affidavit

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider whether the courts can consider a juror’s affidavit that uses a racial slur to describe the defendant who was sentenced to death in 1997. The court denied cert Monday in the case of death-row inmate Kenneth Fults, who contends he was deprived…

Oct 6, 2015 11:19 AM CDT

Rule that forgives the dead allows convicted lawyer’s family to claw back forfeited cash, judge says

The family of a convicted lawyer who forfeited $150,000 in an alleged pension fund bribery scheme will get the money back because he died before sentencing and appeal, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds ruled for the estate of Detroit pension fund lawyer Ronald Zajac, who…

Oct 6, 2015 7:41 AM CDT

Oregon to give second chance to residents with marijuana convictions

As Oregon begins distributing legal marijuana next month, the state is also taking steps to give a second chance to residents convicted of marijuana-related offenses under the old criminal statutes. The New York Times reported Sunday that the state is looking to expand its current record-expungement statute in light of…

Sep 21, 2015 12:30 PM CDT

Michael Hollander’s digital expungement generator cleans records by the thousands

Many might see life as a software developer in San Francisco as a job with a future (if not a fortune). But it wasn’t enough for Michael Hollander. “I enjoyed the work that I did, but I was solving problems to help businesses do business better,” says Hollander. “I wanted…

Sep 17, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Oklahoma appeals court stays execution of Richard Glossip

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeal on Wednesday stayed the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip—who was at the center of a lethal-injection case before the U.S. Supreme Court—with barely three hours to spare. The court said it granted the last-minute reprieve in order to “give fair consideration” to death row…

Sep 16, 2015 5:15 PM CDT

Kyle Rimel: Using technology to bring court services to remote areas

If you lived in far northwest Mohave County, Arizona, it might take more than an hour to get to the nearest court building in Colorado City, and you’d have to drive into Utah to get there. Residents of the area, called the Arizona Strip, are cut off by the Grand…

Sep 16, 2015 8:02 AM CDT

Fired prosecutor didn’t lie under oath, simply failed to recall years-ago events, his lawyer says

A veteran Illinois prosecutor publicly fired Monday by the Cook County state’s attorney’s office didn’t lie under oath when testifying in a police-shooting case, his lawyer says. Joseph Lattanzio, whose testimony conflicted with what was said by the mother of a man accused of shooting a Chicago police officer, simply…

Sep 15, 2015 8:05 AM CDT

Prosecutor fired over claimed lies under oath in shooting case

Updated: Soon after a Chicago police officer was shot in 2012 on the city’s South Side, a suspect was arrested in the basement of the home he shared with his mother. Officer Del Pearson was severely injured in the shooting but survived. A revolver recovered in the basement was linked…

Sep 14, 2015 1:45 PM CDT

Capital juror used slur to describe defendant in post-conviction affidavit, cert petition says

A U.S. Supreme Court cert petition is citing a former juror’s N-word assertion in an affidavit obtained eight years after the juror voted to sentence a black Georgia defendant to death. In the affidavit, the 79-year-old former juror says: “I don’t know if he ever killed anybody, but that n—–…

Sep 10, 2015 9:10 AM CDT

Found not guilty, murder defendant wins only a mistrial after jury is polled

Charged with fatally shooting a neighbor, in front of the man’s family, it appeared that Eric Lydell Smith had been acquitted by a Georgia jury this week. Prosecutors in the Clayton County asked that the jurors be polled, and the first 11 responses agreed with the verdict that Eric Lydell…

Aug 19, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

Midnight motion wins almost immediate court order allowing public defender to see client

Denied access Aug. 7 to a jailed woman suspected of killing a state social worker and three relatives after losing a child-custody case, the Vermont defender general’s office swung into action. Staff attorney Kelly Green said she called Barre city police at 9:20 p.m. asking to see Jody Herring. The…

Aug 17, 2015 4:35 PM CDT

Defendant charged with decking lawyer in court now faces 2 felony trials in same month

When Lance Franklin reportedly decked his defense lawyer in front of the jury and other witnesses during a Kansas rape trial last year, the judge refused to declare a mistrial because that would reward Franklin for his bad behavior. But a subsequent juror medical issue resulted in a mistrial for…

Aug 14, 2015 3:50 PM CDT

Blistered by judge, ‘ineffective’ lawyer gets murder case against client dismissed

Blistered by a controversial Baltimore trial judge for her claimed ineffective representation of a murder defendant, a defense lawyer soon won a stunning victory. Initially held in contempt and threatened with jail by Chief Judge Alfred Nance, assistant public defender Deborah Levi got off the hook when Nance decided to…

Aug 12, 2015 2:55 PM CDT

Unlike other suspects, Texas AG appears in his booking photo in a business suit

Charged Monday with violating securities laws, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was photographed in his mug shot wearing a dark business suit and a red patterned necktie. That took observers familiar with state criminal practices by surprise, since prisoners in jail booking photos in Collin County routinely appear with a…

Aug 4, 2015 10:20 AM CDT

Jury in case over Batman movie-theater slayings quickly decides not to rule out death penalty

It took little time for the jury who convicted James Holmes last month of killing 12 people and injuring 70 more during a 2012 shooting at a Batman movie screening to take the next step toward imposing the death penalty. On Monday, the Colorado jury found that mitigating factors did…

Aug 3, 2015 4:35 PM CDT