Sentencing/Post Conviction

‘Unorthodox gimmick’ in former justice’s sentence is voided

A Pennsylvania justice convicted for using publicly paid staffers in her judicial campaign won’t have to write letters of apology on a photo of herself in handcuffs, a state court has ruled. A Pennsylvania superior court panel said former Justice Orie Melvin will still have to send apology letters to…

Aug 25, 2014 3:00 PM CDT

Losing litigant who threw chair at defendant cop after verdict gets 5 years

A Chicago man who has a history of issues with a suburban police officer had hoped for a jury award in his favor after filing a federal civil rights suit. But when the jury ruled in the defendant’s favor last yea,r Lavelle Watts Jr. lost it. He threw a courtroom…

Aug 21, 2014 10:20 PM CDT

Ex-attorney put on probation in $500K client theft now gets 10 years for drinking, practicing law

A disbarred Texas lawyer was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday for violating the terms of his probation in a client-theft case. David Bonilla, 59, got a suspended prison sentence and was put on probation for 10 years in 2011, when he pleaded guilty to stealing some $500,000…

Aug 21, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

Man beat murder charge in detective’s death, but feds seek life term in drug case, citing slaying

State prosecutors dropped a murder case against Justin “J-Rock” Austin in the 2008 slaying of a Chicago police officer, alleging the defendant and others intimidated witnesses from testifying. However, federal prosecutors are now seeking a life sentence for Austin in an unrelated Chicago drug case in which he has been…

Aug 21, 2014 7:50 PM CDT

Driver takes misdemeanor plea after striking and killing judge on bicycle; should law be upgraded?

A distracted driver who veered onto the shoulder of a Utah roadway last year, striking and killing a bicycling district court judge, quietly took a misdemeanor reckless driving plea in May and is well into a six-month probation sentence. Because there was no sign that David E. Bertelson, now 79,…

Aug 20, 2014 9:50 PM CDT

‘Best mug shot ever’: Man poses in T-shirt displaying booking photo as he begins DUI jail sentence

Busted in June for drunken driving and driving without a license, a Maine teenager was ready to make a fashion statement by the time he began a two-day jail sentence in August in his driving-under-the-influence case. For the new booking photo, Robert Burt, 19, was wearing an orange T-shirt featuring…

Aug 20, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Man exonerated by own research gets $13M for wrongful conviction in rabbi slaying

Wrongfully convicted of murdering a rabbi in 1994, a high-school dropout who served 16 years before being exonerated due largely to his own pro se legal work from prison has won one of the largest settlements in New York City history. Now represented by a lawyer, Jabbar Collins, 42, is…

Aug 19, 2014 9:25 PM CDT

Ex-lawyer gets 2 years for his role in stealing much of disabled client’s $500K settlement

A former Seattle lawyer has been sentenced to two years for his role in stripping a disabled client of much of the money she was entitled to receive from a $500,000 insurance settlement in an auto accident case. Edward Joseph Callow, 39, must also pay $167,500 in restitution, representing his…

Aug 18, 2014 4:55 PM CDT

Sentencing Commission to consider penalties for economic crimes

The U.S. Sentencing Commission will consider revising penalties for economic crimes this year, according to priorities adopted on Thursday. Defense lawyers are pushing for reduced penalties for certain white-collar criminals as some judges have rejected the guidelines as too harsh, the Associated Press reports. The Sentencing Commission indicated it wants…

Aug 15, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Jailed for 48 hours for not paying $2K in truancy fines, woman suffers heart failure and dies

Jailed for 48 hours in Pennsylvania for failing to pay some $2,000 in truancy fines and costs on behalf of her children that had been adding up for over a decade, Eileen DiNino died there after only a day. A Berks County coroner’s office report released Thursday attributes her death…

Aug 14, 2014 9:20 PM CDT

On probation after serial stowaway attempts, woman gets 177 days for returning to airport

Ten days ago, Marilyn Jean Hartman managed to sneak onto a flight from San Jose, California, to Los Angeles without a ticket. Discovered once she arrived in LA on Aug. 4, the 62-year-old San Francisco Bay area resident was arrested, charged with a misdemeanor and released on probation two days…

Aug 14, 2014 11:15 AM CDT

Judge bans live tweets by opposing counsel during deposition

Convicted for his role in a money-laundering conspiracy involving election contributions from a drug trafficker, a former South Texas sheriff got five years in federal prison. After his sentencing last month, KGBT reported on tweets of what disgraced ex-Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño was saying during the federal court hearing.…

Aug 13, 2014 8:50 PM CDT

SCOTUS sends inmate’s claim he didn’t authorize cert petition to ethics board

The U.S. Supreme Court has forwarded to Pennsylvania lawyer ethics regulators a death-row inmate’s claim that he never authorized anyone to file a cert petition on his behalf. The Supreme Court referred the claim to the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board for “any investigation or action it finds appropriate,” report the Legal…

Aug 12, 2014 2:24 PM CDT

James Brady’s death ruled a homicide from 1981 attack, but whether case will be pursued is unclear

Severely wounded in a 1981 attack on then-President Ronald Reagan, press secretary James Brady survived with disabling injuries. His death last week has now been ruled a homicide caused by the Washington, D.C., shooting, according to the Associated Press and the New York Times (reg. req.). However, it is unclear…

Aug 11, 2014 11:02 PM CDT

Worker who robbed bank of $565K in fake-bomb scenario now faces new charge over disability claim

There’s new trouble for a California woman already sentenced to nine years for conspiring with her boyfriend to rob a Los Angeles bank of $565,500 by pretending to be kidnapped and strapped to a fake bomb. Aurora Barrera is now facing a fraud charge over a related disability claim. Prosecutors…

Aug 11, 2014 10:21 PM CDT