Criminal Procedure

Judge in Lindsay Lohan Case Steps Aside After Claims of Ex Parte Communications

Accused of having improper ex parte communications without a prosecution representative present, the judge in the Lindsay Lohan case has stepped aside. Although there appears to be little more for the new judge to do, now that the 24-year-old actress has been released from jail and gone into rehab, Judge…

Aug 11, 2010 10:23 PM CDT

Does America Need a ‘Justice Index’ to Evaluate Criminal Courts?

Statistics are used to evaluate schools, hospitals and other public services. So why not use numbers to evaluate the court system? Writing in the New York Times, lawyer and author Amy Bach says America needs a “justice index” to evaluate how criminal courts are working. “The index, compiled according to…

Aug 11, 2010 1:19 PM CDT

Prosecutor Says Note About ‘Light Male’ Shooter Wasn’t a Dying Declaration

A Tennessee prosecutor doesn’t want jurors to see a cab driver’s note before his death that identified his shooter as a “light male.” Knoxville County prosecutor Jason Hunnicutt argues the note shouldn’t be admissible as a dying declaration because cabbie John Cooper was on the upswing when he wrote the…

Aug 4, 2010 3:29 PM CDT

NM Governor Considers Pardoning Billy the Kid, Angering Sheriff’s Descendants

A possible pardon for Billy the Kid has brought protests from descendants of the sheriff who may have killed the outlaw. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has said he would consider a pardon, prompting a letter from three grandchildren of lawman Pat Garrett, according to the Associated Press, the El…

Aug 3, 2010 12:37 PM CDT

The Price of Oil

Lawyers see both promise and problems in the $20 billion Gulf Coast compensation fund

Aug 1, 2010 9:17 AM CDT

7th Circuit Cites ‘Unreasonable Fury’ of Chief District Judge as Reason for His Mid-Trial Removal

Putting an end to speculation about why a chief federal district judge was suddenly removed from an ongoing criminal trial in Chicago, the federal appeals court that axed him earlier this week explained today in a written opinion that it acted because of the jurist’s “unreasonable fury” against prosecutors. Responding…

Jul 30, 2010 7:30 PM CDT

7th Circuit Removes Chief District Judge Mid-Trial After Evidence Dispute with US Attorney

Updated: Ruling on an interlocutory appeal by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, a federal appeals court in Chicago not only agreed with the prosecutor that the chief district court judge had erred by excluding fingerprint evidence in a drug case but removed the jurist from the ongoing trial. “The case shall…

Jul 29, 2010 2:43 AM CDT

Jeffs Wins Appeal of Rape Convictions Based on His Role as Minister at 14-Year-Old’s Wedding

Agreeing with defense lawyers that a claimed marital rape involving two teenagers hadn’t been properly focused upon in jury instructions, the Utah Supreme Court has overturned unusual felony accomplice rape convictions of a religious leader based on his role in promoting an underage marriage between an unwilling 14-year-old and her…

Jul 27, 2010 7:14 PM CDT

Prosecutor Can Be Personally Sued Over Search of Journalist’s Home, 10th Circuit Rules

Qualified immunity does not apply to protect a former deputy district attorney from being personally sued for approving a search warrant of a student journalist’s home due to a professor’s unhappiness over a parody in a University of Northern Colorado community newspaper, a federal appeals court has ruled. Although the…

Jul 21, 2010 7:02 PM CDT

3rd Circuit Tells Prosecutors to Cut Brief After ‘Moby-Dick’ Objection

A federal appeals court has ordered prosecutors challenging the fraud sentence for a Pennsylvania politician to slash their brief by about 20 percent. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the shorter brief, despite prosecutors’ objections that they needed the extra pages “to thoroughly describe the numerous sentencing errors…

Jul 21, 2010 11:48 AM CDT

Civil Case Turns Criminal as Lawyer Allegedly Punches Lawyer Who Called Him Stupid, Bald

A 46-year-old Philadelphia area lawyer was briefly jailed and manacled last week after allegedly punching an opposing counsel who reportedly called him stupid, bald and an unprintable word. Authorities said the Thursday incident, which was captured on a surveillance camera at the Lackawanna County Courthouse, showed 46-year-old Michael Rauch throwing…

Jul 19, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

A ‘Disappointed & Shocked’ Top Judge Is Reprimanded for Refusing Execution-Eve Appeal

The top criminal appeals court judge in Texas was reprimanded today for refusing to accept a late appeal hours before an inmate was executed and hence failing in her duty to maintain open access to the courts. The Commission on Judicial Conduct found that Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the…

Jul 17, 2010 3:14 AM CDT

Group Reviewing Indigent Defense in Nevada Stalls over Definition of Criminal Case

A Nevada commission charged with reviewing the state’s defense system for poor defendants is bogged down in a dispute over the definition of criminal cases. Public defenders and prosecutors differ on how they count cases, and the split has stalled the Indigent Defense Commission, the Reno Gazette-Journal reports. The story…

Jul 13, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Sheriff Shouldn’t Have Searched Lawyer’s Home & Office for Cocaine, But Can’t Be Sued, 7th Cir. Says

An informant’s claim that a known thief and cocaine dealer told him he’d paid his unidentified female lawyer, who also happened to be a cocaine user, with two stolen laptop computers was likely insufficient probable cause to search the attorney’s home and office. But even assuming there was no probable…

Jun 28, 2010 8:49 PM CDT

Retired Appellate Judge, 75, Charged with Murdering His Wife

A retired appellate judge has been charged with murdering his wife, in the first such case ever brought against a judge in Canada. Jacques Delisle, 75, faces charges of first-degree murder charge and illegal possession of a weapon, in a case that will be handled with exceptional legal procedures, reports…

Jun 16, 2010 7:34 PM CDT