Evidence

Colo. Supreme Court Nixes Attorney-Client Privilege for Children in Guardianship Cases

In a decision that is controversial among child advocates, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that attorney-client privilege is trumped, in guardianship cases, by the duty of a child’s attorney to protect his or her client from abuse. A divided court ruled that a lawyer acting as a guardian ad…

Nov 3, 2011 6:27 PM CDT

Brain Researcher Cautions About Using Neuroscience in the Courtroom

A psychologist known for his studies about the differences between the brain’s left and right hemispheres has written a new book that expresses concern about the use of neuroscience in society and the courtroom. Some lawyers are already seeking to introduce brain images as courtroom evidence, the New York Times…

Nov 3, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Judge Sets Contempt Hearing for Prosecutors and Court Reporters in Runaway Grand Jury Probe

Two prosecutors and two court reporters have been ordered to appear before a Texas judge Nov. 7 to show cause why they should not be held in contempt concerning an unusual runaway grand jury probe, the Houston Chronicle reports. The grand jury excluded prosecutors from the courtroom last month, and…

Nov 1, 2011 5:48 PM CDT

Sky-High Spy: With GPS Probing, the Zone of Privacy Is Getting Even Smaller

Since at least the 1920s, the U.S. Supreme Court has grappled with whether “sensory-enhancing” techniques used by the police constitute searches or seizures requiring a warrant under the Fourth Amendment. Included are wiretaps, detectaphones, “pen registers” (the phone company’s log of numbers customers dial), eavesdropping (but not wiretapping) of a…

Nov 1, 2011 8:20 AM CDT

No Laughing Matter: Failing the Giggle Test Might Leave You Crying

Jim McElhaney’s 25-year run as Litigation columnist for the ABA Journal will come to a close next fall. During those years, McElhaney’s straightforward advice on trial practice became one of the most popular features in the magazine. The Journal is reprinting some of McElhaney’s “greatest hits” from the past quarter-century.…

Nov 1, 2011 8:09 AM CDT

Read All Over: Two New Opinions Describe Need to Keep Email from the Wrong Hands

With all due respect to basic paper and direct conversation, email and other electronic vehicles are becoming the dominant forms of communication in today’s world. But while email, text messaging and cellphones offer speed, efficiency and convenience that are hard to resist, they can have downsides. One is the fact…

Nov 1, 2011 8:00 AM CDT

Out of the Crowd: Public-Supplied Info Gains Ground in Courts

In past years it wasn’t uncommon for a law firm, hired to defend a lucrative patent, to send associates and law clerks on time-consuming, poorly directed missions to scour old filings and Internet databases in search of prior art to determine the origins of the invention in question. No more.…

Nov 1, 2011 7:40 AM CDT

Booted From Grand Jury Probe, Texas DA Must Now Testify in Misdemeanor DUI Case

In the latest unusual development this week for a Texas prosecutor’s office, a judge has ruled that the Harris County district attorney will be required to testify in an individual’s misdemeanor drunken-driving trial. After giving an interview to a local television station last week about the reliability of breath alcohol…

Oct 27, 2011 10:21 PM CDT

Judge Disqualifies DA’s Office, Names 2 Lawyers Temporary Prosecutors in Runaway Grand Jury Case

In the latest development in an unusual runaway grand jury investigation in Texas, the judge overseeing the Harris County case has disqualified the local district attorney’s office and appointed two private practitioners as temporary prosecutors. In an order today appointing the lawyers, who are both former prosecutors, State District Judge…

Oct 27, 2011 12:14 AM CDT

Inmate Seeking Execution Says He Wants to Kill Again; Judge Mulls Aggravation Arguments

Updated: Accused of beating a 63-year-old South Dakota prison guard to death in a failed escape attempt in April, Eric Robert pleaded guilty and said he wants to be executed. And a judge agreed that death was the only appropriate punishment, reports the Argus Leader. He’s ready to kill again,…

Oct 26, 2011 11:29 PM CDT

Runaway Grand Jury May Be Probing DA’s Office, Has Asked for 3 More Months and Special Prosecutor

An unusual runaway grand jury in Houston may be probing the local district attorney’s office in addition to issues with the city police department’s breath alcohol testing vans. But the grand jury might also, or alternatively, be looking at other issues; not even the Harris County DA’s office knows. That’s…

Oct 25, 2011 10:03 PM CDT

Judge OKs Law Student’s Dying Declaration as Evidence, But Nixes MySpace Page Related to Defendant

Comments made by a University of Pittsburgh law student to witnesses, after he was shot outside bar in York, Pa., that someone had tried to steal his cell phone will be admissible at the forthcoming trial of a 16-year-old defendant facing adult charges including first-degree murder in the alleged robbery-related…

Oct 25, 2011 12:56 AM CDT

Expert Witness Lawyer Morphed Stock Photos Into Alleged Child Porn for Exhibits, Told to Pay $300K

A lawyer who digitally altered stock photographs of children into explicit images to help in the defense of child pornography cases in Ohio and Oklahoma has himself been found to have crossed the line and ordered by a federal court yesterday to pay $300,000 in damages. The judgment against attorney…

Oct 22, 2011 2:03 AM CDT

Ferret Autopsy Pending in Minn. Domestic Abuse Case

It appears that prosecutors will have to prove the cause of death of a ferret in a domestic abuse case in Minnesota if it is not resolved before trial. Authorities filed felony animal cruelty charges today in Hennepin County District Court against a 23-year-old Minneapolis man who allegedly drowned his…

Oct 22, 2011 12:40 AM CDT

Houston Grand Jurors Boot Prosecutors; Judge and Appeals Court Nix Gov’t Re-Entry Plea

Grand juries are often thought of as rubber stamps for prosecutors. But a Houston grand jury has proven an exception to that perception, banning prosecutors from the courtroom while it hears testimony concerning issues with the city’s mobile alcohol-testing vehicles, the Houston Chronicle reports. After the government’s lawyers got the…

Oct 21, 2011 11:26 PM CDT