Sentencing/Post Conviction

Release looms for nurse, a suspected serial child killer, unless DA can prove more crimes

Genene Jones was denied parole last week. But it could be only a question of time until the former Texas pediatric nurse, convicted of killing one 15-month-old child in her care and suspected in as many as 46 other child deaths, is free, according to KPRC and the San Antonio…

Aug 11, 2014 4:55 PM CDT

Chicago lawyer gets 6-year sentence for sexual assault

Chicago real estate lawyer Anthony Bergamino Jr., has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in a Gold Coast hotel two years ago. Bergamino, 51, was convicted of sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times report. “There…

Aug 8, 2014 5:18 PM CDT

Arrested Monday in LA as airline stowaway, woman is released Wednesday, arrested again Thursday

A California woman who seemingly is fixated on ticketless airline travel is no longer a problem for San Francisco airport officials after succeeding in stowing away on a Monday night flight to Los Angeles. Marilyn Jean Hartman, 62, is now in the news again after being found at LAX on…

Aug 7, 2014 10:40 PM CDT

E-book author pleads in online community-service scam, gets $5K fine and 300 community-service hours

An e-book author accused by New York prosecutors of using an online community service scheme to increase her profits has taken a plea. Both Marina Kushner and her Caffeine Awareness Association each pleaded guilty to false filing on Thursday, the Associated Press reports. Her group offered through its website letters…

Aug 7, 2014 9:40 PM CDT

After billionaire ex-client testifies, man who sold $20M in fake French wine gets 10 years

Many of the super-rich who collectively spent over $30 million on fake wine vintages sold to them by a single individual don’t want the publicity involved in admitting they were cheated. But billionaire William Koch isn’t among them. An avid wine collector, he has spent millions in efforts to collect…

Aug 7, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

On probation for stowaway attempts, woman flew from San Jose to LA sans ticket, officials say

Airport security screening may be effective at preventing terrorism. But it didn’t stop a 62-year-old woman already on probation for repeated stowaway efforts at a nearby airport from boarding a flight to Los Angeles from San Jose, Calif., without a ticket, officials say. Discovered Monday night when Southwest flight attendants…

Aug 6, 2014 6:50 PM CDT

Physical castration request by imprisoned sex offender is denied by Florida judge

A Florida judge has refused an imprisoned sex offender’s request to be physically castrated. Circuit Judge Hale Stancil of Ocala said he had no jurisdiction and denied the request last week, the Ocala Star Banner reports. Lester Leroy Williams had written the judge and asked for a modification of his…

Aug 6, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Son-in-law takes plea in fatal bombing of retired lawyer and wife, will be in prison for life

Charged earlier this year with first-degree murder in the bombing deaths of a retired Tennessee trusts and estates lawyer and his wife, Richard Parker—the couple’s son-in-law—has agreed to a plea deal that will put him in prison for life. During a Tuesday hearing in the Wilson County case, a prosecutor…

Aug 5, 2014 9:05 PM CDT

Ex-BigLaw partner gets 6 months in massive tax-shelter case, must help pay $220M restitution

A former partner of Jenkens & Gilchrist was sentenced last week to six months in federal prison and ordered to help pay $220 million in restitution, along with two co-defendant ex-partners in the Chicago office of the now-defunct law firm. Erwin Mayer had faced as much as 10 years in…

Aug 4, 2014 2:40 PM CDT

Innocence Project seeks ethics probe of prosecutor in Willingham case

The Innocence Project has asked the State Bar of Texas to investigate the prosecutor in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was executed in 2004 for the deaths of his three children in a 1991 fire. Jailhouse informant Johnny Webb had testified that Willingham told him he deliberately set…

Aug 4, 2014 12:51 PM CDT

Attorney General Holder says sentencing based on predictive data discriminates

Attorney General Eric Holder says judges rely too much on predictive data in determining criminal sentences, and that it often results in minorities being treated unfairly, the Associated Press reports. Holder, in a speech Friday at the annual meeting of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Philadelphia, said…

Aug 1, 2014 4:58 PM CDT

New documentary looks back at the Pamela Smart murder trial

Before O.J., before Casey Anthony and even before CourtTV, there was Pamela Smart. Smart, whose 1991 murder trial may be better remembered for its headline-grabbing details of sex, violence and power, was actually the defendant in the country’s first-ever fully televised trial. She was convicted of conspiracy to murder her…

Aug 1, 2014 9:50 AM CDT

Lawyer ordered to repay $5.8M in alleged scheme to defraud; relatives were among the victims

A Long Island lawyer convicted of a scheme to defraud was sentenced to 15 months to four years in prison on Tuesday and ordered to repay $5.8 million to victims that included his relatives. Lawyer Robert Cassandro, 47, was convicted of a first-degree scheme to defraud in May but acquitted…

Jul 30, 2014 4:02 PM CDT

11th Circuit OKs $67M verdict against bank in case linked to ex-law firm chief’s $1.2B fraud

A federal appeals court in Atlanta on Tuesday affirmed a $67 million jury award to investors fleeced by now-disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein. Rejecting arguments that a federal district judge shouldn’t have let a former Toronto-Dominion bank executive testify at a civil damages trial (he took the Fifth a total of…

Jul 30, 2014 2:05 PM CDT

E-book author and her group charged in community-service scam; prosecutors say it may be widespread

An enterprising author of e-books about the dangers of caffeine addiction used an online community-service scheme to increase her profits, New York prosecutors say. Marina Kushner, 47, is accused by the Manhattan district attorney’s office of selling bogus certificates of completion online to individuals sentenced to community service, according to…

Jul 29, 2014 5:45 PM CDT