Criminal Procedure

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

Supreme Court Rules for Online Tobacco Seller in NYC’s RICO Suit

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that New York City may not sue an online tobacco seller for RICO violations in an effort to collect tax revenue. The Associated Press and Bloomberg covered today’s 5-3 decision. New York had claimed that the tobacco seller, a New Mexico company called the…

Jan 25, 2010 5:20 PM CST

Supreme Court Punts on Crime Lab Case

During January oral arguments in Briscoe v. Virginia, Justice Antonin Scalia made clear he wasn’t happy with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to grant cert in the confrontation clause case. At issue was the constitutionality of Virginia’s rules for the use of laboratory reports at trial in light of Scalia’s…

Jan 25, 2010 3:56 PM CST

FBI Illegally Obtained 2,000-Plus Phone Records; Lawyer Raised Concerns

The FBI illegally obtained more than 2,000 telephone call records by invoking terrorism emergencies that weren’t real or by persuading telecommunications companies to cooperate, a newspaper investigation has found. The illegal requests were made between 2002 and 2006, the Washington Post reports. FBI director Robert Mueller did not know about…

Jan 19, 2010 7:46 PM CST

Supreme Court Vacates Conviction, Cites Jurors’ Chocolate Penis Gift

The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered a federal appeals court to reconsider the claims of a Georgia death row inmate who is challenging his rape and murder conviction based on some unusual chocolate gifts given to the trial judge and bailiff. Some jurors hearing the case against defendant Marcus Wellons…

Jan 19, 2010 5:51 PM CST

High Court Tells 3rd Circuit to Reconsider Death Sentence for Abu-Jamal

The U.S. Supreme Court has directed a federal appeals court to reconsider the death penalty for former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a police officer in 1981. The Supreme Court directed the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision invalidating the death penalty for…

Jan 19, 2010 4:54 PM CST

Supreme Court Rules Defendant Has Right to Open Voir Dire

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the cocaine trafficking conviction of a defendant who claims his Sixth Amendment rights to a public trial were violated when the trial court excluded his uncle from voir dire. The high court granted certiorari and ruled on behalf of defendant Eric Presley in a…

Jan 19, 2010 4:16 PM CST