Evidence

No Criminal Charges in Case Over School District’s Alleged Webcam Spying on Students

Saying that they could not prove requisite intent, federal authorities today announced they do not intend to pursue criminal charges against those responsible for admittedly taking photos of some students within their homes and elsewhere on webcams embedded in laptop computers issues by a Pennsylvania school district. However, civil litigation…

Aug 17, 2010 11:26 PM CDT

Pro Se Inmate Scores 7th Circuit Win, Says His Own Lawyer Was Targeted by the Feds, Too

A pro se prison inmate has notched a federal appeals court victory in a drug and weapons case, winning a ruling from the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a trial judge erred by not looking more carefully at a claimed conflict of interest on the part of…

Aug 17, 2010 5:47 PM CDT

Reverberating Courtroom Forces Mistrial; Lawyer Files Motion for Fix

The echo in a Mississippi courtroom is so bad that a judge declared a mistrial in a personal injury case last week. Judge Lisa Dobson declared the mistrial after jurors raised their hands and said they couldn’t hear the testimony, WLOX ABC 13 reports. Juror Jonathan Caston told the broadcast…

Aug 17, 2010 1:44 PM CDT

Despite Support From Fellow Prosecutors, Asst. DA Loses License for 4 Years

The California Supreme Court has upheld a four-year law license suspension for a former assistant Santa Clara District Attorney found to have committed “inexcusable” violations of ethical rules requiring prosecutors to apprise defense lawyers of exculpatory evidence. Ben Field could still take his case to federal court on constitutional grounds,…

Aug 16, 2010 6:04 PM CDT

Business Brief Hits $30M ‘Civil Death Penalty’ for Goodyear Pretrial Foot-Dragging

Several business groups are asking the Nevada Supreme Court to reconsider a $30 million verdict against Goodyear issued after a judge struck its defenses in a rollover case because of pretrial foot-dragging. In the July1 ruling, the Nevada high court in a 6-1 vote upheld the discovery sanction, issued by…

Aug 16, 2010 11:00 AM CDT

Dell Disputes Claim It Hid E-Mail Evidence in Suit Claiming Faulty Computers

A spokesman for Dell is disputing a claim that it withheld evidence in a lawsuit that claims it sold faulty computers and then tried to hide the problems. A motion by the plaintiff, Internet services company Advanced Internet Technologies, claims that Dell violated discovery orders by failing to produce e-mails…

Aug 13, 2010 12:59 PM CDT

DA Fights Potential Reprimand re Claimed Concealment of Plea Deal with Witness

A Wisconsin prosecutor is vowing to fight a disciplinary case in which she faces a potential public reprimand after being accused of concealing a plea deal with a witness in a robbery trial. The ethics case against Outagamie County District Attorney Carrie Schneider resulted from a campaign by a former…

Aug 10, 2010 5:31 PM CDT

Sypher Convicted in Rick Pitino Extortion After Her Divorce Lawyer Testifies Against Her

Charged with attempting to extort money from Rick Pitino by falsely accusing the University of Louisville basketball coach of raping her, Karen Sypher has been convicted on all of the six counts she faced. She never testified and her defense counsel presented no witnesses on her behalf. But he said…

Aug 6, 2010 7:17 PM CDT

Wife Says She Learned From Facebook That Her Hubby Had Another Wedding

Lynn France thought her husband might be having an affair. But she found out from Facebook, she says, that the situation was even worse. Although Lynn France, who is now 41, had married John France in Italy in 2005, wedding photos posted on the social networking site showed had married…

Aug 5, 2010 11:17 PM CDT

Cell Phone Tracking Puts Domestic Violence Victims at Risk

Tracking devices in cell phones can help locate users in an emergency, including children. But they can also help stalkers follow domestic abuse victims, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). Because federal law allows cell phone companies to turn over location information to police without a warrant, the tracking…

Aug 5, 2010 5:16 PM CDT

Federal Judge Says Fellow Jurist’s Ethics Testimony Can Be Used in US Senate Impeachment Trial

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has refused a fellow jurist’s plea to block his testimony in a judicial ethics proceeding from being used in an upcoming U.S. Senate impeachment trial. U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous contended that a grant of immunity for testimony he gave to investigators for a…

Aug 4, 2010 7:38 PM CDT

Haitian ‘Baby Lift’ Brings Legal Limbo as Skeptical Judges Question Adoptions

Legal requirements that had stymied some U.S. adoptions of Haitian children went by the wayside after an earthquake devastated the county and the United States lifted visa requirements for kids in the process of being adopted by Americans. The effort “quickly evolved into a baby lift unlike anything since the…

Aug 4, 2010 5:40 PM CDT

Prosecutor Says Note About ‘Light Male’ Shooter Wasn’t a Dying Declaration

A Tennessee prosecutor doesn’t want jurors to see a cab driver’s note before his death that identified his shooter as a “light male.” Knoxville County prosecutor Jason Hunnicutt argues the note shouldn’t be admissible as a dying declaration because cabbie John Cooper was on the upswing when he wrote the…

Aug 4, 2010 3:29 PM CDT

7th Circuit Cites ‘Unreasonable Fury’ of Chief District Judge as Reason for His Mid-Trial Removal

Putting an end to speculation about why a chief federal district judge was suddenly removed from an ongoing criminal trial in Chicago, the federal appeals court that axed him earlier this week explained today in a written opinion that it acted because of the jurist’s “unreasonable fury” against prosecutors. Responding…

Jul 30, 2010 7:30 PM CDT

Admitted Dates, IMs & Defendant Lawyer’s Depo of Plaintiff Paralegal Now Issues in Trial

Years ago, when attorney Thomas Ostly was still on good terms with his paralegal, he joked with her in an instant message that he was going to be careful not to give her “any evidence for the inevitable lawsuit.” But there appears to no dearth of material for the now…

Jul 29, 2010 7:43 PM CDT