Evidence

Supreme Court allows statistical evidence to establish unpaid work time in Tyson Foods class action

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld class certification in a lawsuit that used statistical evidence to support overtime pay for workers who weren’t compensated for time spent donning and doffing protective gear at a Tyson Foods plant in Iowa. In a 6-2 opinion, the court upheld certification of a class…

Mar 22, 2016 10:35 AM CDT

Releasing legal documents under public records law didn’t waive privilege, top California court says

Legal documents mistakenly provided by the city of Los Angeles in response to a public records request by a plaintiff in a tax class action are still privileged and should have been returned unread by the lawyer who received them, California’s top court ruled Thursday. Drawing a distinction between inadvertent…

Mar 18, 2016 10:55 AM CDT

Lawyers who pointed out judge’s ex parte courtroom chat say fee for recordings just shot up

Last month, a husband-and-wife legal team created a stir by saying that a courtroom security tape showed a Georgia judge having an ex parte chat with prosecutors. Getting that daylong video from the Cobb County sheriff’s office, pursuant to a public-records request, cost $5. But since then, the sheriff’s office…

Mar 17, 2016 4:15 PM CDT

Case cracked: Neighbor accused of egging senior’s home over 100 times faces felony vandalism charge

Police say they have cracked the case of an Ohio senior citizen whose home was reportedly pelted with eggs more than 100 times in little over a year. After hundreds of man-hours of investigation that included stakeouts, questioning of neighbors, a surveillance camera and DNA testing, former neighbor Jason Kozan,…

Mar 17, 2016 10:00 AM CDT

ABA urges California governor to grant ‘executive reprieve’ to convicted murderer

Supporting a clemency petition for a man convicted of murdering a California couple, one of their children and a visiting child in 1983, the president of the American Bar Association is urging the state’s governor to grant an “executive reprieve” until his guilt or innocence can be determined. Although Kevin…

Mar 16, 2016 2:30 PM CDT

Viral video of tire-squealing dune buggy puts San Diego driver in jail

A smiling driver seen behind the wheel of his dune buggy in a viral YouTube video of a tire-squealing on- and off-road ride through San Diego may not be smiling now. Blake Wilkey, 27, was sentenced Monday to 45 days in jail, plus three years of probation after pleading guilty…

Mar 16, 2016 1:00 PM CDT

Accused Russian hacker’s laptop was accessed without US search warrant, suppression motion says

A well-known criminal defense lawyer representing an accused Russian hacker in a high-profile federal case is seeking to have the contents of his client’s laptop suppressed as evidence. That’s because thousands of files were accessed—and hundreds were modified—between the time Roman Seleznev was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service and…

Mar 14, 2016 1:05 PM CDT

Landmark sleep apnea ruling helps plaintiffs collect $6M in Greyhound crash

A court-ordered sleep apnea test of a Greyhound Lines bus driver is said to have paved the way for a $6 million settlement in a Texas rollover crash case. This was the first such overnight assessment ever OK’d by a trial court and upheld on appeal, according to attorney Ryan…

Mar 10, 2016 5:00 PM CST

DA’s office disavows 19th conviction in ongoing probe of old convictions; ex-inmate served 25 years

Andre Hatchett was on crutches on Feb. 18, 1991, recovering from bullet wounds to his neck and trachea when Neda Mae Carter was found dead in New York City. Her body had been moved into a cross-like position, and a man said he had witnessed a portion of the crime…

Mar 10, 2016 4:30 PM CST

Cash stacks seen on Instagram weren’t real, 50 Cent tells judge, then posts another photo

Updated: Recent Instagram photographs posted on the Internet show 50 Cent against a background of big bucks. What appear to be stacks of bills are piled behind him in one photo, strewn around him on a bed in another and spell out the word “BROKE” in a third. But they…

Mar 10, 2016 12:10 PM CST

Commuter faces felony case, accused of acting as ‘cellphone police’ with jamming device

A Chicago man who works as a certified public accountant is facing a felony case because he allegedly used a jamming device to prevent fellow riders on a city train line from using their cellphones. Judge James Brown called Dennis Nicholl the “cellphone police” on Wednesday before setting his bail…

Mar 9, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Attorney who defended himself at trial found guilty of trying to put contract hit on wife

A former bankruptcy practitioner in one of the collar counties outside Chicago has been convicted after a bench trial of unsuccessfully attempting to arrange a contract hit on his then-wife. Rejecting an argument by Robert Gold-Smith, who defended himself at trial, that a jailhouse “snitch” had faked a recording in…

Mar 9, 2016 2:50 PM CST

First-time offender blames lawyers for 33-year DUI term, but judge points to beer pong video

Lawyers for Kenneth Richard Jenkins had hoped for a four- to eight-year prison term in his driving-under-the-influence case because he was a first-time offender and expressed remorse for the accident he caused that killed three people. But a judge gave Jenkins nearly 33 years at his 2011 sentencing, unfavorably influenced…

Mar 7, 2016 4:10 PM CST

Passersby douse courthouse flames with building fire extinguishers; police seek arson suspect

A Thursday morning fire at a courthouse on Hawaii’s Big Island had already been doused by passersby with fire extinguishers by the time police and firefighters arrived. But an investigation is now underway to determine who is responsible for the arson at or near the doorway of Kona’s drug court,…

Mar 4, 2016 3:25 PM CST

Prosecutor’s failure to warn witness about inadmissible evidence was harmless error, court says

A prosecutor’s alleged failure to properly prepare a murder witness for trial, resulting in his reference to threats that had been excluded as evidence, did not require a new trial for the man who was convicted in the killing, the Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled. The alleged misconduct in the…

Mar 4, 2016 11:27 AM CST