Evidence

Are federal prosecutors reading inmates’ emails to their attorneys? Memo suggests answer may be yes

A judge has ordered federal prosecutors in Brooklyn to stop reading a high-profile New York prison inmate’s email to his attorney, at least for now. A lawyer for a reputed crime boss awaiting trial in an extortion case told U.S. District Judge Allyne Ross last week about a memo from…

Jun 17, 2014 3:00 PM CDT

Speeding motorcyclist busted by YouTube video and ankle monitor gets 4 years

A speeding suburban Chicago motorcyclist who apparently sought to taunt police by photographing an unsuccessful police chase and posting the video on YouTube in 2012 may have gotten more than he bargained for. On Friday, 31-year-old Hamza Ali Ben Ali was sentenced to four years by a DuPage County judge,…

Jun 16, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

Elevator conversation results in new trial for BP engineer convicted in Deepwater Horizon case

A federal judge in New Orleans on Thursday blasted defense lawyers in a high-profile criminal case for interviewing jurors after their guilty verdict. Doing so may have violated his instructions to the jurors not to discuss their verdict even after the trial had concluded, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr.…

Jun 13, 2014 11:45 AM CDT

Waffle House CEO sues 3 lawyers for alleged extortion during settlement effort

The CEO of Waffle House has filed a civil racketeering conspiracy lawsuit against three attorneys, accusing them of engaging in extortion during settlement negotiations in a sexual harassment matter being pursued by a former employee. CEO Joe Rogers Jr. alleges in the Cobb County, Georgia, suit that attorneys John Butters,…

Jun 11, 2014 3:50 PM CDT

Speeding motorcyclist busted by YouTube video and ankle monitor

A speeding motorcyclist who initially evaded police during a chase in the Chicago suburbs put on new twist on a daredevil practice of recording such incidents on camera. In addition to posting a video on YouTube, motorcyclist Hamza Ali Ben Ali was wearing a GPS ankle monitor during the 2012…

Jun 11, 2014 3:10 PM CDT

A sweet federal court ruling for Mister Softee owners doesn’t prevent Master Softee ice cream sales

For the past decade, attorney Jeff Zucker says he has never lost a case on behalf of a client whose family began selling ice cream in 1956 from what is now an 18-state fleet of some 600 Mister Softee trucks. And, so far, his latest litigation, against a former franchisee…

Jun 10, 2014 2:55 PM CDT

$10.1B verdict against maker of light cigarettes in 2003 is resurrected and appealed

A St. Louis lawyer who succeeded in getting an Illinois appeals court to reinstate a $10.1 billion verdict against a maker of light cigarettes is fighting to preserve the judgment. Lawyer Stephen Tillery’s $10.1 billion verdict against Philip Morris in 2003 was a record amount in Illinois, the Chicago Tribune…

Jun 10, 2014 1:48 PM CDT

7th Circuit holds do-over after secret hearing was recorded but public argument wasn’t

News last week of an unusual closed-door federal appeals court argument Wednesday from which even defense counsel was excluded was quickly followed by news of another rare occurrence the same day in the same case: The public portion of the argument wasn’t recorded. Then on Friday, another unexpected development occurred:…

Jun 9, 2014 10:00 PM CDT

Judge fines man $50 for saggy pants despite lawyer’s claim they revealed gym shorts

Called up in front of a Pennsylvania district judge, told to turn around and then ordered to exit the courtroom and return after he’d pulled up his saggy pants, 18-year-old Adam Dennis complied. But a subsequent wardrobe malfunction the same day, in which his pants again descended to a level…

Jun 9, 2014 6:15 PM CDT

Guilty as charged? No problem, UK expert witnesses tell undercover reporters

Eight out of nine expert witnesses approached by undercover reporters agreed to give helpful reports for court, even though the reporter “clients” admitted their guilt. The findings were broadcast in a documentary for the program Panorama broadcast on the BBC, report BBC News and the Daily Mail. Two handwriting experts…

Jun 9, 2014 1:22 PM CDT

Sprung from zoo by DNA test, hybrid bobcat exits home pen; owner now faces new court date

Questions about whether a 38-pound pet was a hybrid bobcat, as his owner claims, or an illegal purebred weren’t resolved by an inconclusive DNA test. So a municipal judge in Stafford, New Jersey, allowed Rocky to return to his owner from the Popcorn Park Zoo last month, but fined her…

Jun 5, 2014 10:05 PM CDT

GM cites ‘pattern of incompetence,’ fires 15 including legal execs, will pay ignition-switch victims

An internal probe of General Motors found “a pattern of incompetence and neglect” but no intentional cover-up of ignition-switch issues that resulted in a massive vehicle recall this year after a decade of problems including at least 13 fatal accidents. Fifteen employees were fired as a result of the investigation…

Jun 5, 2014 3:30 PM CDT

Domestic violence victim put on stand in pajamas, then jailed overnight for refusing to testify

A 52-year-old woman who had not responded to a witness subpoena in a domestic violence case was picked up at the order of a Maine trial judge and put on the stand last week in fleece pajamas, the clothing she was wearing when police took her into custody. When Sheila…

Jun 3, 2014 9:15 PM CDT

Stash-house-sting charges tossed in two cases; in one, the defendants had already pleaded guilty

Stash-house stings are an increasingly used tactic by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A government informant poses as a drug courier who offers his targets an idea to make some money: Rob a drug stash house. More than 1,000 would-be criminals have been ensnared in such…

Jun 2, 2014 11:45 AM CDT

June 4, 1928: Warrantless wiretaps ruled legal

As bootleggers go, Roy Olmstead was ahead of the curve. The state of Washington began to prohibit the sale of alcohol three years before the Volstead Act made it illegal elsewhere. And as a Seattle police officer, Olmstead was early to recognize the profit potential for various Canadian spirits on…

Jun 1, 2014 6:30 AM CDT