Evidence

Woman who confessed to murder to get private room in mental hospital is exonerated decades later

Prosecutors are dropping a murder case against a woman who was twice convicted in a Nevada slaying based on a confession her lawyer says she made in order to get a private room in a psychiatric hospital. Cathy Woods, who is now 64, won a new trial for the second…

Mar 6, 2015 2:30 PM CST

Was crash that killed 3 kids negligent homicide? Prosecutors cite Facebook posts, drugs, bad tires

A Wisconsin woman is now facing negligent homicide charges over a fatal accident in 2013 that took the lives of her 11-year-old daughter and two 5-year-old nieces. Kari Jo Milberg, 34, is also charged with misdemeanor reckless driving in the Dec. 12, 2013 crash. Witnesses said her SUV had suddenly…

Mar 5, 2015 9:10 AM CST

Can police use ‘inadvertently shed’ DNA without a warrant? SCOTUS won’t hear case raising the issue

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied cert in a case challenging the warrantless use of DNA left on the arms of a chair at the police station. The Supreme Court let stand the ruling by Maryland’s top court upholding the rape conviction of Glenn Joseph Raynor, who refused to…

Mar 3, 2015 11:38 AM CST

Teen’s texts encouraging friend’s suicide are cited in decision to charge her in his death

An 18-year-old girl from Plainville, Massachusetts, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter based on allegations she helped a friend research how to kill himself and encouraged him to go through with it. The teen was 17 on July 12 when her friend, Conrad Roy III, killed himself, report the Boston…

Mar 2, 2015 10:36 AM CST

A new defense approach to storytelling changes capital cases in Texas

"The first time he murdered was to get a car," Jill Patterson says, "and the second time he murdered was also to get a car.

"At age 6 his mother didn't have a car, and they were doing illegal things in the house. So when he was 6 she said she was taking the defendant to a birthday party, and instead she drove him to an orphanage.

Mar 1, 2015 6:12 AM CST

Former judge gets 26 months in federal case over $2.9M investment scheme

A former Nevada family court judge accused of using his position to help his ex brother-in-law and others bilk some 50 investors out of nearly $3 million was sentenced Wednesday to 26 months in federal prison. Steven Jones, 57, pleaded guilty last year to one count of wire fraud conspiracy…

Feb 27, 2015 10:43 AM CST

SCOTUS fish case could free friend of Boston bombing suspect, lawyer says

A U.S. Supreme Court decision this week for a fisherman charged under a post-Enron law could benefit a friend of the suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Sarbanes-Oxley law, which bars destruction of “any document, record or tangible object” to impede a…

Feb 27, 2015 10:17 AM CST

Cop uses crowdfunding to pay for DNA test and gets pulled from case

An Indianapolis police detective exceeded his financial goal on Tuesday when he used crowdfunding to raise money for a DNA test in a cold case murder. But it’s unclear whether police officials will authorize the test by a Utah lab that uses DNA to identify genetic descent, the Indianapolis Star…

Feb 27, 2015 9:15 AM CST

Failing to disclose HIV status before swinger sex is not aggravated assault, military top court says

The military’s highest court has reversed an airman’s aggravated assault conviction for failing to disclose his HIV status before having unprotected sex at swinger parties. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces overturned the conviction of David Gutierrez in a decision (PDF) on Monday, the Associated Press reports.…

Feb 25, 2015 12:23 PM CST

Appeals court says only qualified privilege covered lawyer’s demand letter, but nixes libel case

Only a qualified privilege, rather than absolute privilege, applied to demand letters sent by a lawyer on behalf of a corporate client to a former engineering supervisor and his new employer, New York’s top court decided Tuesday. However, the libel and tortious interference case brought by the ex-employee against the…

Feb 25, 2015 10:30 AM CST

Feds won’t prosecute George Zimmerman in shooting of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin

The fatal shooting three years ago of an unarmed Florida teenager in a gated community by volunteer neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman “was a devastating tragedy,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a Tuesday press release. However, an exhaustive investigation has failed to turn up evidence sufficient to prove beyond…

Feb 24, 2015 4:00 PM CST

Houston completes testing on backlog of 6,600 rape kits; 29 are charged so far

Prosecutors in Houston have completed testing on a three-decade backlog of 6,600 sexual assault kits, leading to new charges against 29 suspects. Six of those suspects are accused of committing other rapes before the rape kits were tested, the Houston Chronicle reports. “It did happen unfortunately,” said District Attorney Devon…

Feb 24, 2015 10:39 AM CST

EEOC expert made an ‘alarming number of errors,’ 4th Circuit says in background-check case

Updated: An expert witness for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made “an alarming number of errors” in an analysis of a discrimination claim, according to a federal appeals court opinion that upheld dismissal of an EEOC lawsuit. The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (PDF) on Friday…

Feb 23, 2015 10:55 AM CST

Steamy novel writer will have to get psych exam in wrongful firing suit against BigLaw firm

The self-published author of an erotic novel will have to submit to a psychiatric examination in her suit claiming Allen & Overy used the book as a pretext to fire her. Plaintiff Deidre Clark, who had worked as a senior lawyer in the firm’s Moscow office, must have the exam…

Feb 23, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Angry at 10-year prison term, offender tries to arrange to kill judge and gets another 80 years

Angry at being sentenced to a 10-year prison term in 2013 for failing to register as a sex offender, William Ray Phillips tried to arrange to assassinate the Texas judge who put him behind bars, a state-court jury found Wednesday after less than two hours of deliberation. That solicitation of…

Feb 20, 2015 12:05 PM CST