Evidence

Rolling Stone backs away from UVa gang-rape story that resulted in fraternity sanctions

Rolling Stone ignited a firestorm last month by publishing a story about a young woman who said she had been gang-raped at a fraternity event at the University of Virginia in 2012. Students at U.Va. protested, the fraternity named in the story was vandalized and all fraternity activities at the…

Dec 5, 2014 2:32 PM CST

Uh-oh. Did lead plaintiffs seeking $350M in Apple trial purchase iPods as required?

Several days into the trial of a federal antitrust class action in which some 8 million iPod purchasers seek $350 million in damages from Apple Inc., a problem has arisen. It isn’t clear that the two lead plaintiffs did, in fact, purchase devices at issue in the nearly 10-year-old case,…

Dec 5, 2014 10:15 AM CST

DOJ report says Cleveland police have pattern of using unreasonable force

In a report (PDF) released Thursday, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice said police in Cleveland have a pattern of using unreasonable force, sometimes endorsed by their supervisors. In response to the report, the city and the DOJ will “develop a court-enforceable consent decree that will…

Dec 4, 2014 4:30 PM CST

Ex-lawyer found guilty of killing DA’s wife; jury to decide next week on death penalty

Updated: It didn’t take a Texas jury long to find a former justice of the peace guilty of shooting to death the local district attorney’s wife last year. Within two hours of starting deliberations Thursday, the panel had reached a guilty verdict, although the case against 47-year-old Eric Lyle Williams…

Dec 4, 2014 12:00 PM CST

11th Circuit bans drug tests for welfare applicants, says they’re not students or working risky jobs

Differentiating welfare applicants from students and employees working risky jobs, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the state of Florida could not require individuals to undergo drug testing as a condition of receiving government benefits. “Outside the context of employees in especially hazardous occupations, the Supreme Court has recognized…

Dec 4, 2014 11:00 AM CST

Denver to pay $5K to $52K to settle mistaken-arrest cases blamed on ‘recklessly sloppy police work’

The Denver City Council agreed Monday to pay $337,250 to settle federal civil rights litigation brought by three men who were arrested and jailed after being mistaken for someone else. Most of the money will got to the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which pursued the Denver case on…

Dec 2, 2014 4:30 PM CST

Capital murder trial begins for ex-justice of peace accused of slaying DA, wife and prosecutor

A capital murder trial began Monday for a former justice of the peace accused of killing two senior Texas prosecutors last year, along with one man’s wife. However, Eric Lyle Williams is being tried right now only for the slaying of Cynthia McLelland, who was shot to death along with…

Dec 2, 2014 10:30 AM CST

Feds say 1789 law requires Apple to help government get encrypted smartphone data

A portion of a 1789 law signed by George Washington requires Apple Inc. to help decrypt information on smartphones and tablets marketed as protected against government intrusion, the feds say. And federal magistrates in at least two states have agreed with government lawyers that, under the All Writs Act, companies…

Dec 1, 2014 4:20 PM CST

Prosecutors are using rap music to convince jurors of gang ties

Desean Haywood of Richmond, California, didn't write or perform the lyrics in "What U Do It Fo," a rap video popularized on YouTube. He does stand behind the performers—a group of young men, most of them black, like Haywood.

Dec 1, 2014 5:10 AM CST

DA’s men accused of stealing rare comics forfeited by in-house lawyer jailed in $9M theft scheme

An in-house lawyer accused of stealing $9 million by paying fake law firm bills took a felony plea and was sentenced to 40 years by a Texas judge six months ago. But that wasn’t the end of the fallout over Anthony Chiofalo’s theft scheme. A onetime investigator for the Harris…

Nov 26, 2014 1:45 PM CST

Top state court nixes lawyer’s drunken-driving conviction over blocked effort to consult counsel

Arrested under suspicion of drunken driving in 2013, an Iowa family law attorney tried to consult with a criminal defense lawyer before taking a Breathalyzer test to determine his alcohol level at the Polk County Jail. But when David Hellstern asked the arresting officer to let him speak privately over…

Nov 26, 2014 12:35 PM CST

Woman sues prosecutor and wife for defamation, says he sought nude photos, wife lied to protect him

A woman has filed a defamation suit against a former Alabama municipal prosecutor and his wife, contending that he abused his position by contacting her and seeking nude photos, and that his wife lied to protect him. The Coffee County Circuit Court suit filed by Sherry McCormick also seeks damages…

Nov 26, 2014 11:10 AM CST

Mayor says FBI cleared 2 officers in chaotic arrest after seat-belt stop, returns them to duty

Two police officers in Hammond, Indiana, who were involved in a chaotic arrest after stopping a car because the driver and a front-seat passenger weren’t wearing seat belts, have been returned to duty. The family, who are black, allege in a federal civil rights suit that the officers, who are…

Nov 25, 2014 4:40 PM CST

Former prosecutor talks of living in fear after slayings of Texas DA and senior colleague

Prosecutor Shannon Hebert at first thought her colleague, Mark Hasse, must have been struck by a car before he was found fatally injured not far from the courthouse in Kaufman County, Texas. When she found out he had been shot to death on Jan. 31, 2013, she thought Hasse must…

Nov 25, 2014 1:20 PM CST

Ferguson case demonstrates the potential shortcomings of eyewitness testimony

The most credible eyewitnesses to the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown said the youth charged toward Ferguson, Missouri, police officer Darren Wilson when the officer fired the fatal shots, according to St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch. But eyewitness reports differed, McCulloch said, and some witnesses clung to their…

Nov 25, 2014 8:33 AM CST