Sentencing/Post Conviction

Federal judge stuns courtroom with probation sentences in $5M mortgage-fraud case

A federal judge stunned five defendants in a Sacramento, California, mortgage fraud case and their lawyers Tuesday by imposing probation sentences instead of the multiyear prison terms sought by the prosecution. “Our jaws just dropped,” attorney Mark Reichel told the Sacramento Bee. Although defense counsel argued that the five were…

Nov 11, 2015 12:10 PM CST

Given 20 days for contempt, lawyer blames judge and says he would like to sanction jurist

A Michigan lawyer has been given 20 days for contempt after a judge said he “defiantly refused to answer” questions on Friday about a loud conversation that took place near a jury room. The sentence is to be served by attorney Tim Barkovic at the conclusion of an ongoing criminal…

Nov 10, 2015 1:05 PM CST

Federal judge imposes $70K sanction on defense attorney over witness gaffe that caused mistrial

A federal judge on Friday imposed a sanction of nearly $70,000 on an attorney representing the city of Chicago in a wrongful-conviction case last year because of a gaffe by a testifying police witness that caused a mistrial. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said in his opinion that he believed…

Nov 9, 2015 5:00 PM CST

New California plan calls for single-drug executions; drug to be chosen on ‘case-by-case’ basis

California’s governor on Friday announced a plan for a new single-drug execution protocol in death-penalty cases. It would replace a three-drug lethal cocktail that has been the subject of court challenges throughout the country. In California, the three-drug approach was struck down by a federal judge in 2006 as inhumane,…

Nov 6, 2015 4:15 PM CST

Defendant who says he was pressured by judge to give blood sues company that accepted his donation

An Alabama man says he was pressured into donating blood by a state-court judge during a Sept. 17 hearing. He has sued the blood donation center which was operating out of a bus outside the Perry County Courthouse that day. Filed Friday in Perry County by attorney Martin Weinberg, the…

Nov 6, 2015 2:55 PM CST

Ex-prosecutor who choked woman at bar while costumed as Clark Kent gets community service

A former Manhattan prosecutor has been sentenced to 10 days of community service and alcohol counseling concerning a 2014 incident in which he choked a woman at a Halloween party being held at a New York City bar, while costumed as Clark Kent. Eli Cherkasky, 35, was convicted of assault,…

Nov 5, 2015 2:05 PM CST

2nd lawyer avoids conviction in case related to developer’s bankruptcy

Initially convicted by a federal jury in a bankruptcy fraud case related to a client real estate developer’s financial collapse, an Arkansas attorney is now in the clear. After the trial, the district court reversed attorney Kenneth Vaughn Knight’s conviction on a false statement count and granted him a new…

Nov 4, 2015 11:35 AM CST

Convicted in WikiLeaks case, Chelsea Manning uses time behind bars to draft anti-spying bill

One of the country’s best-known leakers of classified government information has been using some of her time behind bars to draft a bill that would curtail U.S. spying powers. Convicted in a high-profile military secrets case involving material provided to WikiLeaks, former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning revealed the…

Nov 3, 2015 4:15 PM CST

Despite guilty plea and 50-year term, many in small town support child molester, not his victim

Corrected: Darren Paden pleaded guilty in August to sexually abusing a child for at least a decade, beginning when she was less than 5 years old. However, the weight of public sympathy remains strongly on his side in the tiny Missouri town where both he and the victim, now a…

Nov 3, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Lawyer gets prison time for secretly using client cases as collateral to obtain litigation funding

A disbarred California lawyer has been sentenced to five months in jail for forging the signatures of personal injury clients so he could use their cases as collateral to obtain litigation funding. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez sentenced lawyer Todd Macaluso on Monday, report the San Diego Union-Tribune and 10News.…

Nov 3, 2015 10:29 AM CST

Protesters may pay the price when civil disobedience becomes costly

Michigan State University student Duncan Tarr knew he could face criminal trespass charges when he decided to protest the construction of a pipeline that would transport crude oil known as tar sands from Canada through Michigan. Tarr and Dylan Ochala-Gorka, a carpenter, put U-locks around their necks and connected themselves to a truck to block access to the pipeline road in Oxford. The men, both organizers of a group called Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands, were indeed arrested after firefighters were called to cut the locks during the August 2014 incident. They pleaded guilty to trespassing charges.

Nov 1, 2015 2:50 AM CST

Polish judge rejects extradition for Polanski; will US continue to pursue case?

An Oscar-winning film director has won another round in a long-standing battle to avoid extradition to the U.S., where he has admitted having unlawful sex with a minor and was convicted in 1977 after fleeing the country. A Polish judge on Friday ruled against extraditing Roman Polanski, whose age is…

Oct 30, 2015 5:00 PM CDT

Ex-client charged with arson in fires at law firm and prosecutor’s office gets 16 years

A New Jersey man was sentenced Friday to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty to crimes related to fires set earlier this year at the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office and a Vineland law firm. Felix R. Lopez, 30, pleaded guilty to arson and employing a juvenile in the commission…

Oct 30, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Pregnancy tests on jailed women required under old settlement are now voluntary due to new lawsuit

Decades ago, to help settle a lawsuit that alleged inadequate prenatal care for women jailed in Alameda County, California, officials decided to have pregnancy tests routinely performed on all women under 60. Now, in response to a new federal civil rights suit, they have agreed to curtail the practice. Women…

Oct 29, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Criminal lawyer accused of charging clients $1M for ‘guaranteed’ dismissals gets 15 years

A Texas criminal defense attorney was sentenced by a federal judge on Tuesday to 15 years in a conspiracy that, according to trial testimony, involved bilking clients of big bucks for bribes that were never paid. Abraham Moses Fisch, 56, through his defense counsel, made last-minute arguments to delay sentencing,…

Oct 28, 2015 10:15 AM CDT