Evidence

Defense lawyers abuzz about judge who found a drug-case defendant more credible than a cop

Criminal defense lawyers in Pinellas County, Florida, are talking about an unusual ruling earlier this month by a judge in a drug case. Perhaps even rarer than a “Perry Mason” moment in which a police officer’s testimony is contradicted by video evidence, it resulted from a St. Petersburg police officer’s…

May 30, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Sentencing-mitigation videos portray defendants in a sympathetic light; are they admissible?

The idea first caught on in federal public defenders’ offices. The lawyers submitted mini-documentaries portraying their clients’ lives in a sympathetic light to judges mulling sentences. Now some private lawyers and investigators have embraced the videos too, using them to supplement sentencing memos and letters of support, the Wall Street…

May 30, 2014 5:15 PM CDT

Ex-law library chief, accused of offering workers stolen perks in lieu of raises, pleads guilty

A former director of the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, law library has taken a plea in a theft case over stolen perks he is accused of providing to workers, including himself, in lieu of raises. Bruce Piscadlo, 62, pleaded guilty to felony theft by taking and a misdemeanor count of misapplication…

May 28, 2014 9:20 PM CDT

1st Circuit says woman had right to video traffic stop, OKs civil rights suit against police

A federal appeals court has given the green light to a New Hampshire woman’s civil rights lawsuit against Weare police. Carla Gericke had a constitutional right to video a police traffic stop of a friend in 2010, the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. Hence, she may…

May 27, 2014 9:45 PM CDT

In wake of Credit Suisse plea, US expects ‘wealth of information’ leading to ‘the rest of the world’

A guilty plea earlier this month by a leading Swiss bank to a charge of conspiring to aid tax evasion is expected to open the door to worldwide enforcement against Americans who sought to hide their assets. Characterized by one tax lawyer as “a less-than-subtle message” to banks worldwide to…

May 27, 2014 7:15 PM CDT

Witness for the prosecution: Your own car?

Originally, automobile manufacturers installed so-called black box recorders in vehicles for their own benefit. In case of any product liability suit, they wanted to be able to prove that airbags had deployed properly. But then GM expanded on that concept in 1999 by installing devices that could also capture vehicle…

May 27, 2014 5:45 PM CDT

Facing decades in prison, computer hacker ‘Sabu’ gets time served due to cooperation with feds

A prolific corporate and government computer hacker known as “Sabu” could have gotten decades in prison for attacks he orchestrated against targets including credit card issuers, the U.S. Senate and other government entities worldwide. However, Hector Xavier Monsegur was sentenced Tuesday to time served after cooperating with the feds and…

May 27, 2014 5:10 PM CDT

Judge hits sheriff’s vehicle in courthouse lot, is county’s 2nd jurist charged with DUI in a month

A Florida judge was arrested Tuesday morning after her BMW sports utility vehicle struck a parked sheriff’s department vehicle in a Broward County courthouse parking lot Circuit Judge Lynn Rosenthal, 56, was charged with driving under the influence after the 8 a.m. incident, reports the Sun Sentinel. It is the…

May 27, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Top state court OKs $1.2B defamation suit over ABC ‘pink slime’ news coverage

A producer of chemically treated cartilage and scrap meat can pursue a $1.2 billion defamation case against ABC and several correspondents for the network, including Diane Sawyer, over a series of 2012 broadcasts, the Supreme Court of South Dakota ruled on Thursday. It declined to hear an interlocutory appeal of…

May 23, 2014 8:25 PM CDT

Lawyer charged with felony intimidation over Facebook message to client’s ex-husband

Attorney James Allen “Jim” Hanson says he was just trying to send a message to his client’s ex-husband to expect a vigorous defense. But his profanity-laced Facebook post to the man, which concludes “I’ve got you in my sights now,” conveyed more, Indiana prosecutors say. They have charged the 41-year-old…

May 23, 2014 7:10 PM CDT

In a policy shift, FBI will record most interrogations

The FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies will begin recording most interrogations. The Justice Department announced the policy change on Thursday after the Arizona Republic obtained a May 12 memo about the changes that will begin July 11, the New York Times reports. The memo (PDF) by Deputy Attorney…

May 23, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Report says Chicago police, FBI joined in warrantless probation searches; law firm to investigate

The judge in charge of all Chicago-area courts announced Wednesday that he had retained a private law firm to investigate claims made in a lengthy Chicago Tribune article published earlier in the day. Cook County probation officers had for years been allowing Chicago police and agents of the Federal Bureau…

May 22, 2014 4:50 PM CDT

Akin Gump withdraws from case after winning $25M jury verdict, says client admitted evidence issues

After winning a verdict of nearly $25 million in a federal trade secrets case earlier this year, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has filed a motion to withdraw from its representation of LBDS Holding Company, LLC. Noting that it is unusual to do so after a favorable jury verdict…

May 22, 2014 3:57 PM CDT

Investigators seek tattoo artist info in murder cases against former football star Aaron Hernandez

Investigators in the Boston area area hoping to talk to tattoo artists about a double-murder case against former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez concerning two 2012 slayings. Specifically, city police and Suffolk County prosecutors want to talk to anyone who can provide information about tattoos he got on his…

May 21, 2014 11:10 PM CDT

Accused triple murderer’s ‘death row x 3’ tattoo poses hairy issue for trial court judge

Convicted last year in a brutal slaying and sentenced to death, William Clyde Gibson decided to get a tattoo on his neck. It says “death row x 3.” Now an Indiana trial judge must decide how best to obscure it before the 56-year-old’s pending trial in another murder case, the…

May 21, 2014 10:40 PM CDT