Sentencing/Post Conviction

Former police chief gets time, another takes plea for using stun gun on compliant inmates

A former small-town Louisiana police chief was sentenced Tuesday to a year and a day in jail after pleading guilty earlier this year to a federal civil rights violation involving excessive use of force on inmates. Meanwhile, another man who replaced Gregory Dupuis, 57, as chief of police in Mamou…

Oct 14, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

Supreme Court considers Florida’s advisory death penalty system, juvenile sentencing

Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about Florida’s advisory system for determining capital punishment as they heard oral arguments in two sentencing cases on Tuesday. In the Florida case, a judge sentenced Timothy Lee Hurst to death for the 1998 murder of his fast-food co-worker after jurors found two aggravating circumstances…

Oct 14, 2015 10:49 AM CDT

Lawyer convicted of murder, then granted new trial, has conviction reinstated

In 2013, a Calfornia divorce lawyer was convicted of second-degree murder in the Arizona slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband. Then, only a few months later, Robert Fischer had the rare experience of seeing his jury conviction reversed by the trial judge due to insufficient evidence. Now Fischer has suffered another…

Oct 13, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

Potential juror who disregarded judge’s order is sentenced to additional jury duty

A potential juror in Florida who admitted she disregarded a judge’s order to refrain from reading about a case will have to pay for her mistake with additional jury duty. The potential juror, Alisia Carnes, will have to show up for jury duty every other Monday until she is selected…

Oct 13, 2015 10:30 AM CDT

Judges frees man imprisoned for 28 years; discredited bite-mark evidence is cited

A Texas judge has ordered the release of a man who spent 28 years in prison after prosecutors and defense lawyers cited the use of now-discredited bite-mark evidence in his case. Steven Mark Chaney was freed Monday, report the Associated Press, the Dallas Morning News and the Washington Post. Dallas…

Oct 13, 2015 8:13 AM CDT

California prison guards’ union protests program providing condoms to inmates

Saying condoms could be used as weapons or to transport drugs, the California prison guards’ union on Wednesday criticized the new practice of giving them out to inmates. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the statement published by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association. President Chuck Alexander says the union…

Oct 8, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

Scalia focuses on murder details during arguments in Kansas cases, notes Breyer’s capital views

During oral arguments on Wednesday, Justice Antonin Scalia focused on the details of a heinous murder and noted a colleague’s views questioning the constitutionality of capital punishment. Justices were considering two issues during oral arguments in the sentencing of brothers Reginald and Jonathan Carr, report the Washington Post, the New…

Oct 8, 2015 10:50 AM CDT

Conviction overturned in 1990 NYC subway slaying

A New York man was freed on $1 bail Thursday after a judge overturned his murder conviction in the 1990 subway stabbing death of a tourist. Johnny Hincapie, 43, broke down in tears when the ruling was announced, the Associated Press and the New York Times report. Hincapie was convicted…

Oct 7, 2015 2:00 PM CDT

About 6,000 federal inmates will get early release at month’s end; will crime go up?

A retroactive reduction in some federal drug sentences will begin to be implemented at the end of the month when the U.S. Bureau of prisons will release about 6,000 inmates. The number is the largest amount of federal prisoners ever released at one time, the Washington Post reports. The U.S.…

Oct 6, 2015 11:57 AM CDT

Supreme Court declines appeal citing juror’s racial slur in post-conviction affidavit

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to consider whether the courts can consider a juror’s affidavit that uses a racial slur to describe the defendant who was sentenced to death in 1997. The court denied cert Monday in the case of death-row inmate Kenneth Fults, who contends he was deprived…

Oct 6, 2015 11:19 AM CDT

Rule that forgives the dead allows convicted lawyer’s family to claw back forfeited cash, judge says

The family of a convicted lawyer who forfeited $150,000 in an alleged pension fund bribery scheme will get the money back because he died before sentencing and appeal, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds ruled for the estate of Detroit pension fund lawyer Ronald Zajac, who…

Oct 6, 2015 7:41 AM CDT

Firm’s pre-indictment representation of co-defendants didn’t violate right to counsel, judge rules

A federal magistrate has refused to dismiss the indictment against a drug defendant who contended his right to effective assistance of counsel for pre-indictment plea bargaining was violated because his law firm also represented a man who would become his co-defendant. The Sept 28 decision (PDF) by U.S. Magistrate Nannette…

Oct 6, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

What’s wrong with executions? Breyer offers opinions; 6 capital convictions to be reviewed

Justice Stephen G. Breyer has a couple reasons why he wants to hear arguments from both sides on the constitutionality of capital punishment. Breyer called for briefing on the issue in a dissent, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a June decision that upheld the use of the execution…

Oct 5, 2015 7:27 AM CDT

Did Posner opinion calling murder conviction ‘nonsense’ violate precedent? SCOTUS to decide

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether an opinion by Judge Richard Posner overturning an Illinois murder conviction violated clearly established precedent. The court agreed on Thursday to review Posner’s opinion for the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Courthouse News Service reports. Posner’s March opinion (PDF)…

Oct 2, 2015 7:11 AM CDT

Virginia inmate is executed after judge rejects claim execution drug could be ineffective

A Virginia inmate was executed on Thursday after a judge rejected his claims about the efficacy of one of his execution drugs. Alfredo Prieto, who was convicted of three murders and linked to six others, had an “utterly painless death,” the Washington Post reports. In his last statement, Prieto thanked…

Oct 2, 2015 6:40 AM CDT