Sentencing/Post Conviction

Did inmate really plot to kill a federal judge and prosecutor, or was it just ‘tough talk’?

An imprisoned con man didn’t really mean it when he allegedly talked with fellow inmates in 2012 about killing a federal judge and prosecutor in a gruesome manner, his lawyer told jurors on Thursday as he outlined an entrapment defense. Joseph Romano, 50, resorted to “tough talk” to protect himself…

Jan 9, 2014 8:50 PM CST

Beanie Babies founder deserves prison time for Swiss bank account, prosecutors say

Prosecutors say Beanie Babies founder Ty Warner should go to prison for hiding money in a Swiss bank account. Prosecutors says the 69-year-old Illinois billionaire avoided paying more than $5.5 million in taxes by underreporting his income, report the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune. The government is asking the…

Jan 8, 2014 2:58 PM CST

Boston Bar opposes federal death penalty, cites ‘inevitability of error’

The Boston Bar Association has taken a stand against capital punishment at the federal level as prosecutors consider whether to seek the death penalty against the suspected Boston Marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The Boston bar announced its position on Tuesday in a press release, saying the stance is based on…

Jan 8, 2014 2:23 PM CST

Slapping crying toddler on plane nets jail time for former executive

A former aerospace executive from Idaho has been sentenced to eight months in prison for slapping a crying toddler on a plane. Joe Rickey Hundley admitted he used a racial slur to refer to the child during the Feb. 8 flight, report Reuters, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Associated Press.…

Jan 7, 2014 2:18 PM CST

Architect gets 1 year for death of firefighter in ceiling collapse of LA home he built

An architect pleaded no contest Friday to involuntary manslaughter in an unusual case over the death of a firefighter in a luxury California home he designed and built in Hollywood Hills. Gerhard Becker was sentenced to a year in jail and three years of probation in the Los Angeles Superior…

Jan 3, 2014 7:50 PM CST

Divorce lawyer convicted in slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband

A California divorce lawyer has been convicted in Arizona of second-degree murder in the slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband three years ago. Attorney Robert Douglas Fischer was accused of shooting to death Norman “Lee” Radder in his Queen Creek, Ariz., home, then staging the scene as a suicide and calling…

Jan 2, 2014 7:15 PM CST

Judge orders release of dying, disbarred lawyer imprisoned for aiding terrorism

A judge has ordered the release of a dying, disbarred lawyer who was serving a 10-year sentence for passing messages from an imprisoned terrorism client to his followers. U.S. District Judge John Koeltl ordered the “compassionate” release of Lynne Stewart, 74, on Tuesday, report Reuters and the New York Times.…

Jan 2, 2014 12:15 PM CST

Church official gets $250K bail after reversal of landmark conviction

Updated: The first Roman Catholic church official criminally convicted over his handling of child sex-abuse allegations against other priests sought and got bail that will allow him to be released from prison, following an appellate court’s reversal last week of his conviction. At a Monday hearing, Common Pleas Court Judge…

Dec 30, 2013 3:55 PM CST

‘Bolder than most’ rapist, due for release, must now face trial that may keep him behind bars

A notorious San Diego rapist has spent 25 years in prison and is set for release, at age 51, but a judge has ruled he must undergo another trial to determine if he still is a sexual predator and should be kept in a state mental hospital, the Los Angeles…

Dec 20, 2013 9:25 PM CST

Extreme heat at Louisiana prison amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, rules judge

A federal judge has ruled that death row in Louisiana’s infamous Angola prison gets so hot in the summer that it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, the Associated Press reports. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson, who sits in Baton Rouge, ordered state corrections officials and the Louisiana State Penitentiary…

Dec 20, 2013 5:55 PM CST

Obama commutes sentences of eight crack cocaine offenders, cites ‘unfair system’

Eight crack cocaine offenders imprisoned for at least 15 years will be released as a result of action by President Obama on Thursday. Obama said in a statement that he commuted the prison terms of the prisoners, who were sentenced under an “unfair system,” according to The BLT: The Blog…

Dec 20, 2013 4:52 PM CST

Convicted rapist sentenced to 75-100 years threatens judge, prosecutor in courtroom

Convicted rapist Bryan Preston Farmer had a few choice words for the judge and the prosecutor at his sentencing Wednesday. Farmer, 50, called the judge a “biased bitch,” and said he would “send someone to see” her and the prosecutor, the Lansing State Journal reports. He was sentenced to 75…

Dec 19, 2013 9:22 PM CST

Estate planning lawyer gets 6 years in $46 million scheme preying on terminally ill

A Rhode Island estate planning lawyer who ran a $46 million scheme preying on the terminally ill—buying bonds and annuities in their names that would pay out upon their deaths—was sentenced today to six years in prison, the Associated Press reports. U.S. District Judge William E. Smith said the lawyer,…

Dec 16, 2013 8:45 PM CST

Former judge seeks to set aside his verdict in murder case, cites his own liberal bias

A former Brooklyn judge testified last week on behalf of a man he convicted in a bench trial in 1999, saying he was swayed by his own liberal bias against a white defendant he saw as a bigot. Former Judge Frank Barbaro, now 85 years old, said he had questioned…

Dec 16, 2013 12:05 PM CST

Wrongfully convicted inmate’s quest for compensation is derailed by Detroit bankruptcy

A Michigan man seeking $5 million for spending 10 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit is encountering more bad luck as a result of Detroit’s bankruptcy. Dwayne Provience’s case “was inches from being settled for $5 million,” says his lawyer, Wolfgang Mueller, but now he will have…

Dec 13, 2013 8:01 PM CST