Evidence

Defending the Defenders: New Guide Covers How to Defend Veterans with Invisible War Wounds

Invisible wounds of war such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury affect veterans in different ways. For some, the combination of mental strain and impulsivity can lead to criminal court. The National Veterans Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit, plans to release a new manual this month for defense…

May 1, 2012 9:00 AM CDT

Show Me Your ID: Cops, Courts Re-evaluate Their Use of Eyewitnesses

After more than three decades of laboratory studies, experts have found that a few simple changes in police lineup procedures improve the accuracy of eyewitness identifications. For example, having someone administer the lineup who doesn’t know who the real suspect is can prevent inadvertently influencing the witness’s pick. And telling…

May 1, 2012 8:10 AM CDT

Direct Answers: Examining a Witness Is Telling a Story—So Make It a Good One

Editor’s Note: Jim McElhaney’s 25-year run as Litigation columnist for the ABA Journal will come to a close this fall. During those years, McElhaney’s straightforward advice on trial practice became one of the most popular features in the magazine. To recognize McElhaney’s contributions, the Journal is reprinting some of his…

May 1, 2012 7:49 AM CDT

Public Defender Testified, Against Ex-Client, re Transcript Accuracy; Will Ex-Client Get New Trial?

One day in May 2010, an assistant public defender in Newport News, Va., got an unusual phone call. A prosecutor pursuing a case against a former client of Brian Keeley’s wanted his help. A witness who had testified earlier and pointed the finger at defendant Mario Lamar Turner now said…

Apr 25, 2012 4:13 PM CDT

NJ Judge OKs AG’s Plan to Subpoena Legal Fee Info re 20 Mob Case Defendants, Nixes Privilege Claim

A New Jersey judge has approved a plan by the state attorney general to subpoena legal-fee information concerning 20 of 34 defendants indicted in 2010 on charges they participated in a claimed $2.2 billion international gambling ring operated by an organized crime family. Although defense lawyers argued that attorney-client privilege…

Apr 24, 2012 6:34 PM CDT

DOJ Files First Criminal Charges in BP Oil Spill; Engineer Is Accused of Deleting Texts

The first criminal charges have been filed by the federal government relating to the BP oil spill. A former BP engineer, Kurt Mix of Katy, Texas, is accused of deleting more than 300 text messages about the amount of oil leaking from the well, according to the Associated Press, Bloomberg…

Apr 24, 2012 6:12 PM CDT

Applying New Law, NC Judge Overturns Death Sentence Due to Racial Bias

In a landmark North Carolina ruling that is the first to apply the state Racial Justice Act to the case of a death row inmate, a Cumberland County judge has determined that racial bias infected the trial and sentencing of Marcus Reymond Robinson. His death sentence is now automatically converted…

Apr 20, 2012 9:40 PM CDT

Tough Judge Who Intended to Give Witness Contempt Time for Causing Mistrial Relents After Testimony

Angry over a February courtroom outburst by a witness that caused a mistrial in a murder case, a Florida judge had told Raynaldo Carrillo, the 46-year-old brother of the slain man, to come back for a contempt hearing in April prepared to serve up to six months in jail. But…

Apr 20, 2012 6:39 PM CDT

2 Okla. Lawyers Temporarily Suspended After Taking Alford Pleas in Police Misdemeanor Case

Two Oklahoma City lawyers have been temporarily suspended from practice after taking Alford pleas earlier this month in a misdemeanor case involving alleged obstruction of a police officer. Robert Samuel Kerr IV, 33, and Josh T. Welch, 43, each paid a $500 fine and received two years of probation. Under…

Apr 20, 2012 5:35 PM CDT

Malpractice Insurance Fraud Charge Is Dropped Against Ky. Lawyer Disbarred for Role in Fen-Phen Case

Disbarred even after he was acquitted in a high-profile criminal case against three attorneys accused of swindling clients in multimillion-dollar fen-phen diet drug litigation, a Kentucky lawyer has won another round in criminal court. A Fayette Circuit Court judge has acquiesced to a prosecutor’s request to dismiss without prejudice a…

Apr 18, 2012 8:07 PM CDT

2 McCarthy Tetrault Lawyers Testify About Files for a Current Client, the Ex-CEO of Nortel Networks

Updated: In what may be the first such testimony ever in a Canadian white-collar crime trial, two Bay Street lawyers for a former CEO of a major corporation are being called upon to offer potentially incriminating evidence against the client they are representing in ongoing legal proceedings. Attorneys Tom Heintzman…

Apr 18, 2012 6:47 PM CDT

No-Drinking Rule Nixed for Administrative Law Judge, Absent Evidence of Drinking Problem

An administrative law judge was appropriately reprimanded for violating his probation when he tested positive for alcohol after a misdemeanor case in which he was convicted of operating a motor vehicle while impaired and ordered to abstain from drinking as a condition of probation. However, there was no basis for…

Apr 18, 2012 5:52 PM CDT

Federal Judge Mulls Prosecutor Sanctions Over DEA Agent’s Concealment of GPS Monitoring

A federal judge in Iowa is pondering possible sanctions on prosecutors in a narcotics case after learning that a Drug Enforcement Administration agent didn’t reveal in investigative reports that GPS monitoring was being used on vehicles related to then-suspect Angel Amaya. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett said DEA policy required…

Apr 18, 2012 5:25 PM CDT

9th Circuit Says Privilege Waived re Superman Comic Docs Stolen From Lawyer and Sent to Warner Bros.

Attorney Marc Toberoff cooperated with prosecutors after he said privileged documents concerning his efforts to help survivors of the creators of Superman gain rights to the famous comic character were stolen by another lawyer then working for him. But because of that he has lost his legal battle to prevent…

Apr 17, 2012 11:31 PM CDT

Review Found FBI Hair Analysis Flaws in 250 Cases, But DOJ Didn’t Inform Defendants and Public

An inspector general’s nine-year review of misconduct at the FBI crime lab found forensic flaws in hair analysis, but the results of the probe that ended in 2004 were revealed only to prosecutors. The Justice Department did not separately inform defendants whose cases could be affected, including one Maryland man…

Apr 17, 2012 12:00 PM CDT