Evidence

Lawyer Comments at Public Meeting Are Privileged, Top NH Court Says, if No One’s There to Hear Them

Confidential information discussed by a lawyer with his clients, the New Hampshire Local Government Center, at a public meeting of the center are privileged, the state’s top court has ruled, because no member of the public was present to hear them. Ruling Friday on a claim by the Professional Fire…

May 14, 2012 4:05 PM CDT

Judge Posner, Presiding at Patent Trial, Will Use Court-Appointed Experts to Explain Terms

Judge Richard Posner is experimenting with court-appointed experts in a patent dispute between Apple and Motorola. Though Posner is an appeals judge with the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he likes to volunteer for trials, the Chicago Tribune reports. In a speech at the 7th Circuit Bar Association…

May 14, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Top Neb. Court OKs 90-Day Contempt Term for Claimed Rape Victim, But Prosecutor May Use Discretion

Upholding a trial judge’s power to compel a witness to testify, the Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday said a Kansas woman who says she was raped at age 7 can be jailed for 90 days if she refuses to cooperate with the prosecution of the case. However, the court noted…

May 11, 2012 9:31 PM CDT

Man Charged in Decades-Old Murder After Estranged Wife Gives Authorities Permission to Search

Authorities in Elkridge, Md., didn’t have probable cause to search the lot around Robert Arnold Jarrett Jr.’s home after his then-wife disappeared in January 1991. Nor could they get his permission to do so. But after he and his second wife separated, he moved elsewhere. Last month, she gave authorities…

May 10, 2012 11:04 PM CDT

Judge OKs Special Prosecutor, Calls DA’s Prior Work for Fatal Crash Defendant an ‘Extreme’ Conflict

A newly appointed district attorney can’t simply wall himself off from his office’s prosecution of a man he formerly represented in a felony fatal crash case but must step aside for a special prosecutor, a Nevada judge has ruled. Senior District Judge J. Charles Thompson last week disqualified District Attorney…

May 10, 2012 5:25 PM CDT

Charges Dropped Against Mo. Attorney in Bludgeoning Death of Law Partner

Convicted in 2002 in a first-degree murder case concerning the beating death of his former law partner and sentenced to life, only to see the conviction reversed in 2006 over discovery violations, a Missouri attorney has now had the charges against him dismissed. Richard Buchli had been set for retrial…

May 8, 2012 9:41 PM CDT

Medical Examiner’s Visit to Law School Class Sparks New Defense Claims in Local Manslaughter Case

It’s not clear exactly what lesson a Florida state attorney expected law students to learn when he invited a medical examiner to speak at a class he oversees as an adjunct professor. However, the session apparently was a learning experience for those at the front of the classroom as well…

May 7, 2012 5:17 PM CDT

Prosecutor Is Put On Leave, Accused of Ordering Secret Jail Recording of Murder Defendant and Expert

A veteran prosecutor in Alameda County, Calif., has been put on administrative leave while a potential violation of attorney-client privilege is probed. It was revealed in a court hearing that Danielle London, who has been with the office a decade, had ordered sheriff’s deputies to secretly record a jailhouse conversation…

May 4, 2012 11:17 PM CDT

Hang Glider Allegedly Swallowed Memory Chip After Fatal Accident; Expert Says Device May Still Work

A lawyer for a Canadian man accused of swallowing his camera’s memory chip after a fatal hang gliding accident last week says the device has been recovered. William Jonathan Orders, 50, is now scheduled for a Friday bail hearing in Chilliwack provincial court, where he is facing an obstruction of…

May 4, 2012 9:02 PM CDT

Juror Says He Drank Before DUI Death Case Verdict to Examine Mindset of Accused; Defense Cries Foul

Attention trial attorneys: A new prohibition may need to be added to the ever-lengthening list of potential misconduct against which jurors should be cautioned in advance of deliberations. If you are hearing a drunken-driving case, don’t overserve yourself in an effort to duplicate the defendant’s state of mind. That is…

May 4, 2012 5:33 PM CDT

Defense Lawyer in Trayvon Martin Case Says Unusual Social Media Presence Is a Necessity Today

Faced with the need to defend a client in a high-profile criminal case that has made international headlines, Mark O’Mara took an unusual approach to try to deal with an avalanche of often-adverse publicity. He created a blog as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts for George Zimmerman, who is…

May 3, 2012 8:44 PM CDT

Judge Blasts Prosecutor for Not Viewing YouTube Video of Claimed Crime in Progress

A Canadian judge released on minimal bail Wednesday a taxi driver accused in a hit-and-run incident involving a passenger and blasted a prosecutor for admittedly not reviewing a cellphone video of the incident that has been posted to YouTube, the National Post reports. “All of Quebec has seen it on…

May 3, 2012 7:10 PM CDT

Divorce Trifecta Results in Discipline for Counsel, Attorney Client and Lawyer Employer

A Massachusetts disciplinary matter concerning the handling of an attorney’s divorce has resulted in a legal ethics trifecta: The counsel who handled the divorce has been reprimanded, the attorney client was suspended from practice for three months and her lawyer employer was suspended for one month, the Legal Profession Blog…

May 1, 2012 9:18 PM CDT

Arrested for Passing a Fake $50 That Turned Out to Be the Real Deal, Man Is Released, Gets Apology

Just because a $50 bill doesn’t check out as real when colored with a marker commonly used to detect counterfeit money doesn’t mean it isn’t the real deal. That was the lesson learned by an arresting officer in Shelbyville, Tenn., who jailed a suspect on Friday only to be told…

May 1, 2012 4:34 PM CDT

NYC Bar: Lawyers Must Tell Opponents If Documents Are Mistakenly Sent, But May Be Able to Use Them

An opinion released Monday by the New York City Bar Association attempts to provide a clear pathway through an ethical thicket concerning a lawyer’s duties when he or she receives material from an opponent that was sent by mistake. And Formal Opinion 2012-1 does provide bright-line rules on several fronts,…

May 1, 2012 3:33 PM CDT