Sentencing/Post Conviction

Elevator conversation results in new trial for BP engineer convicted in Deepwater Horizon case

A federal judge in New Orleans on Thursday blasted defense lawyers in a high-profile criminal case for interviewing jurors after their guilty verdict. Doing so may have violated his instructions to the jurors not to discuss their verdict even after the trial had concluded, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval Jr.…

Jun 13, 2014 11:45 AM CDT

Domestic violence suspect gets 364 days for contempt after cursing at judge

A bond hearing Thursday did not go well for a Florida domestic violence suspect. Angry at being denied bond in the Fort Lauderdale hearing, Christoper Burgor Colon, 27, cursed and ranted at Broward County Judge John “Jay” Hurley for several minutes, according to the Sun Sentinel and WPLG. Deputies can…

Jun 12, 2014 6:40 PM CDT

Judge grants execution stay, cites possible intimidation of prison worker supporting clemency bid

A federal judge has issued a stay of execution for a Missouri inmate because of evidence suggesting that correctional officials tried to intimidate a prison laundry director who supported the inmate’s clemency request. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry stayed the execution of John Winfield, who was scheduled to die June…

Jun 12, 2014 3:55 PM CDT

Canada grants asylum to US woman sentenced to 30 years for having sex with teen

A mortgage broker who fled Florida with her family after being criminally convicted in 2008 for having sex with a 16-year-old boy on her son’s baseball team has been granted asylum in Canada. Denise Harvey, 47, won the rare permission to apply for permanent residency because her 30-year sentence was…

Jun 10, 2014 9:40 PM CDT

ABA and DOJ seek retroactive application of new federal drug-sentencing guidelines

The Department of Justice on Tuesday formally announced that it would support a plan to reduce sentences for drug offenders who have not been involved in violent crimes. The DOJ is backing those who have suggested applying retroactively new reduced sentencing guidelines for drug trafficking to those who are already…

Jun 10, 2014 9:28 PM CDT

Ex-judge is sentenced to 4 years in federal corruption case

A former longtime West Virginia judge was sentenced Monday to four years and two months in prison for his role in a Mingo County corruption case. Comparing Michael Thornsbury’s actions to those of a Third World dictator, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas E. Johnston said he would have given Thornsbury…

Jun 9, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

Judge fines man $50 for saggy pants despite lawyer’s claim they revealed gym shorts

Called up in front of a Pennsylvania district judge, told to turn around and then ordered to exit the courtroom and return after he’d pulled up his saggy pants, 18-year-old Adam Dennis complied. But a subsequent wardrobe malfunction the same day, in which his pants again descended to a level…

Jun 9, 2014 6:15 PM CDT

Does Ohio get a do-over execution attempt? State’s high court to decide

The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the state may try once again to kill Romell Broom, whose first execution was called off after executioners couldn’t find a suitable vein. The court accepted the case this week, report Mother Jones, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.…

Jun 6, 2014 12:55 PM CDT

9th Circuit allows class action over prison conditions in Arizona

A federal appeals court has upheld class-action status in a suit filed on behalf of more than 34,000 inmates in Arizona’s state-run prisons. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the Eighth Amendment suit on Thursday, report the Arizona Republic and Capitol Media Services. The court…

Jun 6, 2014 12:10 PM CDT

80 years for shooting a gun in the air? Florida’s top court mulls consecutive-sentence mandate

A man sent to prison for to 80 years for shooting a gun into the air was sentenced under an ambiguous law, his lawyer argued before the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday. Ronald Williams was convicted in 2010 of four counts of aggravated assault with a firearm for firing several…

Jun 5, 2014 3:03 PM CDT

Feds seek ‘very substantial’ sentence for corrupt judge who had ‘enormous power’ in his county

Federal prosecutors are seeking a “very substantial” prison sentence for a former West Virginia judge, arguing that the guideline sentence for the crime to which he pleaded guilty isn’t sufficient to send a message that will deter others. Former Mingo Circuit Judge Michael Thornsbury pleaded guilty last year to conspiring…

Jun 4, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Paleontologist, ‘a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils,’ gets time for $1M dinosaur sale

A paleontologist described by a federal prosecutor as “a one-man black market in prehistoric fossils” was sentenced to three months in prison on Tuesday for his role in plotting to smuggle dinosaur bones and other remains from Mongolia. Eric Prokopi, 39, pleaded guilty in 2012 to three felony counts related…

Jun 4, 2014 4:50 PM CDT

Domestic violence victim put on stand in pajamas, then jailed overnight for refusing to testify

A 52-year-old woman who had not responded to a witness subpoena in a domestic violence case was picked up at the order of a Maine trial judge and put on the stand last week in fleece pajamas, the clothing she was wearing when police took her into custody. When Sheila…

Jun 3, 2014 9:15 PM CDT

Questions are raised about midazolam as an execution drug; dosage ranged from 10 to 500 milligrams

A drug being used to calm anxiety before surgery is now being used in executions amid a shortage of the usual drug cocktail. The drug, midazolam, has been used in nine executions, the first in October, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. But questions are surfacing after inmates in…

Jun 2, 2014 12:31 PM CDT

Massive volunteer effort will help with Obama clemency proposal

The criminal defense bar is mobilizing volunteers to help prisoners serving long drug sentences petition for clemency in huge numbers. In a move the New York Times described as unprecedented, the Justice Department announced in January that the president was inviting petitions for clemency—sentence commutations or pardons—from federal prisoners serving…

May 30, 2014 8:45 PM CDT