Evidence

Bicyclist’s helmet cam video persuades police officer to ticket driver in road-rage incident

Admittedly, flipping the bird—more than once—at the driver of the blue pickup that repeatedly passed close to him on a Georgia roadway one Saturday last month was not the best idea, bicyclist Alan Crocker now says. But his road-rage story has a somewhat happy ending because of the helmet cam…

May 14, 2015 3:05 PM CDT

Suits over fatal Philadelphia Amtrak crash will depend on what NTSB finds: Was train going too fast?

After a fatal Amtrak crash in Philadelphia on Tuesday, it is virtually a certainty that litigation is on the horizon concerning at least some of the seven people killed and over 200 injured. But until the National Transportation Safety Board completes an investigation, it won’t be clear what direction that…

May 14, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Surreptitious collection of DNA from water bottle lands lawyer for exonerated inmate in hot water

An ethics complaint accuses the executive director of the North Carolina Center on Actual Innocence of trying to exonerate a client by surreptitiously collecting DNA from a water bottle. The lawyer, Chris Mumma, “has received many accolades as a champion for the falsely accused,” the News & Observer reports. But…

May 14, 2015 9:39 AM CDT

2 lawyers and paralegal take Fifth; name partner says he didn’t direct DUI setup of trial opponent

A legal ethics trial of three Florida lawyers accused of setting up their opposing counsel for a drunken-driving arrest during a hard-fought, high-profile 2013 defamation trial has involved one consistent defense theme during the first two days. None of the three Adams & Diaco lawyers accused of playing a role…

May 12, 2015 2:50 PM CDT

Rap video, tattoo photos on defendant’s Facebook page were admissible, 2nd Circuit says

A defendant convicted in a gang prosecution has lost a First Amendment appeal that contended prosecutors wrongly used a rap video and Facebook photos against him. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the rap video and images of tattoos did not violate free-speech rights because they…

May 12, 2015 1:42 PM CDT

Wife of appellate judge charged with threatening him in effort to get son-in-law arrested

The wife of an Indiana Court of Appeals judge has been cited for obstruction and making a false report after allegedly threatening the jurist in an effort to get the couple’s son-in-law arrested. Beverly “Star” Cochran is accused of threatening Judge Edward “Ted” Najam in cellphone text messages and in…

May 12, 2015 12:45 PM CDT

Woman gets life without parole for running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death

Following the recommendation of the Alabama jury that convicted a woman of capital murder earlier this year for running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death, a judge on Monday sentenced Joyce Hardin Garrard to life without parole. The 50-year-old woman in the Etowah County case, told the judge at one point,…

May 11, 2015 5:15 PM CDT

Judge may allow video of paralegal at trial of 3 lawyers accused in DUI setup of opposing counsel

A judge overseeing a legal ethics trial against three Florida lawyers accused of helping to orchestrate the drunken-driving arrest of a trial opponent gave short shrift on Friday to an argument that the case should be dismissed because of the state bar’s reliance on an allegedly illegal cellphone video of…

May 11, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

TSA returns $100K watch forgotten by traveler, after investigating ownership claim

Travelers so frequently forget items at airport security checkpoints that the federal Transportation Security Administration has a routine procedure for logging and holding lost property. However, a watch left at Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday apparently required some extra effort. Covered in gold and diamonds, the Cartier timepiece is…

May 8, 2015 7:30 AM CDT

Sheriff’s investigator convicted Thursday of extorting doctor also targeted lawyer, prosecutor says

When a married South Florida physician complained to law enforcement about a woman who had threatened to reveal their sexual encounter if he didn’t pay her $7,000, they discovered she was a part of their own team. Debbie O’Flaherty-Lewis, who was convicted Thursday of extortion, was working as a child…

May 8, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Judge’s unusual paternity case ruling: Dad fathered one twin, but not the other

There was good news and bad news when DNA test results arrived for a man who contested paternity of twin girls a New Jersey woman said he had fathered. He was the father of one of the girls, but not the other. In what is said to be the first…

May 8, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

11th Circuit nixes lawyer’s work-product claim, says he must produce documents to client’s creditor

A federal appeals court has upheld an attorney-client privilege ruling by a trial court judge, putting a Georgia criminal defense attorney in an uncomfortable position. If Jerry Froelich Jr. discloses information about his client, disbarred attorney Mitchell Gross, as the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that…

May 7, 2015 3:15 PM CDT

Photo of airborne bike lock in cyclist-driver road-rage incident sparks public advice

An Oregon woman, her teenage daughter and two bicyclists have different perspectives about what went wrong during a Tuesday evening road-rage incident in Portland, Oregon. One thing, however, is clear, thanks to a cellphone photo snapped by one of the participants: A u-shaped metal bike lock went flying through the…

May 7, 2015 2:45 PM CDT

Lawyers accused of DUI setup of opposing trial counsel fight to suppress video of paralegal

At the center of an ongoing legal ethics case against three Florida lawyers accused of playing a role in setting up opposing counsel in a hard-fought defamation trial for a drunken-driving arrest is a paralegal who worked for the trio’s law firm. As the Florida bar’s disciplinary case against attorneys…

May 6, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

All charges dropped against man accused in massive Yosemite forest fire, due to deaths of witnesses

Federal prosecutors have dropped all charges against a bow hunter accused of causing a massive forest fire in 2013, due to the deaths of two key witnesses. Keith Matthew Emerald, 32, had faced charges of starting a fire and lying to a government agency concerning the Rim fire that burned…

May 1, 2015 3:30 PM CDT