Criminal Procedure

1961 ABA Journal Criminal Procedure articles.

Lawyer Wins New Trial for Client Because Judge Didn’t Put Jury Under Oath

Sentenced to 15 to 40 years after being convicted of assault with intent to commit murder by stabbing an acquaintance in his apartment in what the prosecution described as a drunken frenzy, Timothy Lawrence Becktel has won a new trial. Because the judge in his case apparently forgot to put…

Mar 5, 2010 7:29 PM CST

Missouri High Court Erases $100 Camera-Generated Ticket, Faults City for Lacking Judicial Review

A onetime Kansas City police officer who took his challenge of a $100 traffic ticket all the way to the Missouri Supreme Court has prevailed. Retired Missouri Highway Patrol Officer Adolph Belt Jr. challenged the ticket issued in Springfield, and the ruling effectively shutters the program and will lead to…

Mar 3, 2010 12:53 PM CST

Gagged by Judge, Fort Hood Shooting Suspect’s Lawyer Starts Blog Anyway

The lawyer for the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, last November has started a blog to share thoughts and protests about the military’s handling of the high-profile prosecution. CNN reports that civilian lawyer John Galligan started the blog, Fort Hood Attorney, in response to…

Mar 2, 2010 3:50 PM CST

Ginsburg Opinion OKs Warning of Right to Lawyer Before Questioning

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Tampa’s version of the Miranda warning over objections that it did not tell a suspect of his right to a lawyer during, rather than before, interrogation. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the majority opinion reinstating the firearms conviction of Kevin Dwayne Powell, report the…

Feb 23, 2010 6:56 PM CST

Supreme Court Rules Judge Need Not See Juror Demeanor to Rule on Batson Claim

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled a trial judge does not need to observe a potential juror to decide a prosecutor’s claim that he used a peremptory strike to dismiss the woman because of her demeanor. The defense had argued the prosecutor dismissed the potential juror because of her race.…

Feb 22, 2010 4:50 PM CST

Appeal in Astor Case Cites Jurors’ E-Mail Messages, Legal Analyst’s Fears

Nearly 60 e-mail messages between jurors and a statement by a legal analyst for Bloomberg are cited in an appeal expected to be filed today on behalf of Brooke Astor’s son. The analyst, juror Judith DeMarco, told lawyers for Anthony Marshall that fears for her safety pushed her to agree…

Feb 22, 2010 1:41 PM CST

As Jury Deliberates, Federal Judge Dismisses All Charges in Stanford Document-Shredding Case

In the latest blow to U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors pursuing high-profile charges, a federal judge today dismissed the obstruction and conspiracy case against two men accused of ordering the destruction of documents related to R. Allen Stanford’s alleged $7 billion Ponzi scheme. Citing a lack of intent as he…

Feb 12, 2010 10:32 PM CST

No Warrant Needed to Track User’s Cell Phone Location, DOJ Tells 3rd Cir. Panel

By obtaining information about which cell tower routed calls from a cell phone user, authorities have been able to link suspects to crime scenes. But, in oral arguments today before a federal appellate panel in Philadelphia, the government contended that no warrant is required to get such information about a…

Feb 12, 2010 9:56 PM CST

Judge Rules for Release of Haiti Missionaries

Updated: A judge ruled today that 10 American Baptist missionaries held in Haiti for trial should be released, according to news reports. The missionaries have been detained on kidnapping charges since they were arrested Jan. 29 for attempting to take 33 children across the border to an orphanage they were…

Feb 11, 2010 8:35 PM CST

Haitian Lawyer for US Missionaries Fired, Bribery Alleged

Edwin Coq, the Haitian lawyer hired to help win the release of 10 U.S. missionaries arrested on kidnapping charges, has been fired for reportedly trying to buy their way out of jail. Coq, however, has denied the allegations and instead insists that the $60,000 he requested from the missionaries’ families…

Feb 8, 2010 11:30 AM CST

10 Americans Charged in Haitian Child-Kidnap Case, Their Lawyer Says

A lawyer for 10 Americans being held in Haiti for allegedly trying to take a busload of 33 children to the neighboring Dominican Republic without the government’s permission says his clients have now been charged with child kidnapping and criminal association. Speaking after a closed court hearing in Haiti today,…

Feb 4, 2010 10:42 PM CST

Lawyer Seeks New Trial for Client After Luckily Finding Out Juror Wasn’t a US Citizen

It looks like a Pennsylvania man convicted of selling $40 worth of cocaine to an undercover officer might have a chance of winning a retrial because his lawyer happened across helpful information about a juror. Attorney Thomas Shaffer, who represented Troy Mannery, fortuitously was in the courtroom when one of…

Feb 4, 2010 1:24 AM CST

US Won’t Try Alleged Sept. 11 Plotters in NY; What Is Plan B?

The administration won’t try five alleged plotters of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in Manhattan after all, a decision announced after Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the security costs could be at least $200 million a year. The New York Times had the story on Friday, and ran a story about…

Feb 1, 2010 1:32 PM CST

Sen. Wants AG to Resign; Others Also OK’d Miranda for Alleged Bomber

The Department of Justice was one of at least four agencies that approved giving a Miranda warning to alleged underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab—after he had stopped talking, according to a published report. “Knowledgeable law enforcement officials” told the Los Angeles Times that other agencies consulted included the FBI, the…

Feb 1, 2010 12:18 PM CST

7th Cir. Skewers Judge Shadur Over Ex-Lawyer’s Sentence, Remands Case to Another Judge

In a stinging rebuke to a federal judge who sentenced a well-known former Chicago lawyer and politician to probation in a corruption case, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today not only reversed the sentence but remanded the case to a different judge. And, in an opinion (PDF) authored…

Jan 29, 2010 7:46 PM CST

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