Sentencing/Post Conviction

Inmate’s claim that Pennsylvania’s top justice should have recused himself gets SCOTUS review

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether a death-row inmate’s constitutional rights were violated when Pennsylvania’s then-chief justice refused to recuse himself, despite approving the inmate’s capital prosecution as district attorney. The court granted cert on Thursday in the case of Terrance Williams, who says Chief Justice Ronald…

Oct 2, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Man convicted of robbing, raping and murdering lawyer in her office gets life term

Convicted in August of posing as a client in order to rob, rape and murder a Colorado attorney in her law office, Warren Dale Watson has been sentenced to a life prison term without parole. Evidence presented at trial showed Watson had sought out a female family law attorney in…

Oct 1, 2015 3:00 PM CDT

Judge delays Virginia execution amid questions about execution drug

A federal judge in Virginia on Wednesday stayed the execution of Alfredo Prieto to allow time to consider his claim that one of the lethal injection drugs could cause “gratuitous and unnecessary pain.” U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga of Alexandria temporarily enjoined Prieto’s execution, scheduled for today, in this order…

Oct 1, 2015 11:46 AM CDT

Prison time for lawyer accused of stealing $1.9M from PI settlements to 57 clients

A New York personal injury lawyer accused of stealing over $1.9 million from 57 clients was sentenced Tuesday to a 4- to 12-year prison term. Stephen Krawitz, 63, was originally accused of stealing only $600,000 between November 2008 and March 2014, by depositing settlement checks into his law firm trust…

Oct 1, 2015 10:25 AM CDT

Bipartisan bill is ‘most ambitious’ sentencing-reform effort since 1980s, law prof says

A bipartisan sentencing bill unveiled in a press conference on Thursday would lower mandatory minimum sentences in some cases and would aid juvenile offenders. The bill, which has the support of Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, would lower the mandatory minimum for nonviolent repeat drug offenders from life…

Oct 1, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Is video visitation helpful or harmful for prisoners and their families?

Prison can be a lonely place. Few of the estimated 2.2 million Americans behind bars get regular visitors due to cost, distance and the stress of prison visits. But that may soon change thanks to new video visitation technology akin to Skype or FaceTime that has already been introduced into some 500 penal institutions across the country.

But critics say the technology may do more harm than good.

Oct 1, 2015 8:35 AM CDT

Will the Supreme Court ‘peck away at’ capital punishment?

On the final day of the term in June, a high-profile death penalty case exposed deep fissures and raw tensions on the U.S. Supreme Court, with two justices signing an opinion that said capital punishment was “very likely” unconstitutional. Soon after their new term begins in October, the justices will…

Oct 1, 2015 8:05 AM CDT

Divorce litigant is sentenced for hatchet attack on wife’s lawyer

A Massachusetts man was sentenced on Wednesday to seven to nine years in prison for attacking his wife’s divorce lawyer with a hatchet and wasp spray. The defendant, 54-year-old Michael Kelly of Quincy, was sentenced after pleading guilty on Wednesday to armed assault with intent to murder, the Patriot Ledger…

Oct 1, 2015 7:58 AM CDT

Attorney General Loretta Lynch praises ABA efforts in sentencing reform

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says a program announced at the ABA Annual Meeting two years ago by then-Attorney General Eric Holder—reorienting the criminal justice system away from harsh mandatory sentences for minor drug offenses—has, with ABA help, “been a resounding success” through bipartisan efforts. Lynch received a standing ovation…

Oct 1, 2015 7:10 AM CDT

Oklahoma governor stops execution of Richard Glossip after SCOTUS denies last-minute appeal

For the second time this month, the scheduled execution of Richard Glossip has been canceled within hours of when he was to be put to death by the state of Oklahoma, for a murder he says he had no role in committing. This time, it was the state’s governor who…

Sep 30, 2015 5:10 PM CDT

Lawyer who dodged train fare will pay restitution based on discounted weekly pass rate

A British lawyer who cut the cost of commuting to London by pretending to travel from a station much closer to the city’s center would have had to—over a period of more than 2½ years— pay tens of thousands of pounds in train fare at the daily rate. But a…

Sep 30, 2015 1:50 PM CDT

Convicted judge can’t get pension back, even after felony is reduced to a misdemeanor

Convicted in 2004 of one felony and multiple misdemeanors for giving preferential treatment to friends and local sports team members in traffic ticket and driving-under-the-influence cases, a former California judge had hoped to get his pension back after the trial court reduced the lone felony to a misdemeanor. However, a…

Sep 29, 2015 4:35 PM CDT

Judge says he isn’t an ‘ogre’ and didn’t jail defendants for unpaid fines, despite threats

A Georgia judge caught on cellphone video threatening to jail defendants who didn’t pay their traffic fines says his threats were never carried out. Judge Richard Diment of Bowdon, Georgia, tells the New York Times he made the jail threat to determine whether defendants could actually pay. “I am not…

Sep 28, 2015 8:54 AM CDT

77% of prisoners in DOJ recidivism study were rearrested within 5 years

The Department of Justice released its largest-ever study of recidivism rates across state lines today. The Bureau of Justice Statistics report (PDF) examines the criminal history and recidivism rates for prisoners released in 2005 in 30 states—representing, the study says, about 75 percent of all released prisoners that year. Of…

Sep 24, 2015 3:40 PM CDT

Does ‘election effect’ influence state justices in capital cases? Study finds correlation

A study of capital appeals raises questions about the influence of political pressure on elected judges hearing the cases. The Reuters study found that state supreme courts made up of directly elected justices reverse deaths sentences in just 11 percent of appeals, compared to a reversal rate of 27 percent…

Sep 23, 2015 12:06 PM CDT