Sentencing/Post Conviction

11th Circuit: Money in Rothstein law firm accounts can’t be forfeited to feds

In a decision that may benefit ordinary creditors of a defunct Florida law firm and cost those swindled by its imprisoned former managing partner, Scott Rothstein, a federal appeals court has ruled that funds in Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler bank accounts are not subject to forfeiture by the feds. That means…

Jun 12, 2013 9:25 PM CDT

Lawyer gets 3 years for shooting at US census worker

After nearly five hours of deliberation, a jury sentenced a Texas lawyer on Tuesday to three years in prison for firing five shots in 2010 at a U.S. census worker as the woman was trying to get the house number at the lawyer’s residence in the Leander area. Attorney Carolyn…

Jun 12, 2013 5:55 PM CDT

Disbelieved and accused of making a false rape report, now-vindicated victim sues

Despite physical evidence that supported her story that a stranger had bound, gagged, raped and photographed her in 2008 in the transitional housing apartment in which she was living, an 18-year-old Washington state woman was disbelieved. Pressured by police into recanting, she was criminally charged for making a false rape…

Jun 11, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

Lawyer convicted of shooting at census worker

A Texas jury is pondering punishment after finding a lawyer guilty Monday of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for shooting at a U.S. census worker in 2010. Carolyn Barnes, 56, could get as as little as probation or as much as a two- to 20-year prison term in the…

Jun 11, 2013 6:10 PM CDT

Son and lawyer of elderly heiress Brooke Astor are both headed to prison over $60M fraud

The son of heiress Brooke Astor and her former lawyer have exhausted their appeals in a $60 million fraud case concerning her estate and are headed to prison. The New York Daily News reports that state’s highest appellate court on Friday denied appeals by Anthony Marshall, the 88-year-old son of…

Jun 10, 2013 6:30 PM CDT

After ex-NFL star pats his lawyer’s backside, judge nixes his no-jail plea deal

Playfully swatting a teammate on the backside is a common move on the football field. But when former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson patted his lawyer, Adam Swickle, on the posterior Monday, in response to a question from the judge about whether he was satisfied with his attorney, the gesture…

Jun 10, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

Grain operator’s SCOTUS win is ‘a strong reaffirmation of the ex post facto clause’

The ex post facto clause is violated when a defendant risks a harsher penalty under a revised version of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines adopted after the crime in question, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 5-4 decision. The opinion is “a strong reaffirmation of the ex post facto…

Jun 10, 2013 3:02 PM CDT

Jurors in death-penalty case not tainted by watching prison movie, state supreme court rules

The California Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a convicted murderer, despite evidence that two holdout jurors on a deadlocked jury were urged by the foreman to watch a movie about prison violence during a break in deliberations. The court, in a 5-2 ruling last week, said there…

Jun 7, 2013 7:14 PM CDT

Judges correct 124 sentences after early release of suspect in prison-chief slaying

Judges in Colorado have corrected 124 prison sentences for inmates and parolees after an error led to early release of a suspect in the slaying of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements. The corrections were the result of a massive audit ordered after the early release of Evan Spencer Ebel, report…

Jun 7, 2013 3:01 PM CDT

Blogger reads between lines of NSA lawyer’s ‘false myths’ speech, knowing what we know now

Forbes blogger Kashmir Hill remembers a speech that National Security Agency general counsel Rajesh De made at Georgetown in February. “In light of recent reports that the NSA has been routinely sweeping up metadata from phone companies about all calls made in the United States, it’s worth revisiting the remarks…

Jun 7, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

2 former workers get over 1 year in $788K law firm theft

Two former employees convicted of working together to divert $788,000 from an unidentified New Jersey law firm were sentenced Thursday in Trenton to over 1 year each in federal prison. Marla Deptula, 46, and Rose L. Crabbe, 32, previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and Deputa also…

Jun 6, 2013 10:35 PM CDT

Judge who angrily lectured appellate counsel in death-penalty case is suspended with pay

A senior Kentucky judge has been suspended with pay after threatening last year, as a figure of speech, to strangle a lawyer who was making an appellate argument in a high-profile death-penalty case if he ever again called the jurist’s cellphone. (The lawyer had done so with opposing counsel’s permission,…

Jun 6, 2013 9:40 PM CDT

Judge says man who didn’t carry ‘idiot’ sign can try again after 90 days in jail

An Ohio judge has imposed a 90-day jail term on a defendant who failed to comply Monday with a March order to carry an “idiot” sign in front of a Cleveland police station. And once he gets out, Cleveland Municipal Judge Pinkey Carr told Richard Dameron he will comply with…

Jun 5, 2013 10:00 PM CDT

Federal judge calls herself ‘Hulk,’ clashes with prosecutors over info that could extend sentences

A former federal prosecutor now serving as a federal judge has clashed with federal prosecutors in Iowa over information she has sought in several cases that could be used to extend defendants’ sentences. Already under appeal is a sentence in a weapons case imposed on convicted drug dealer Bryan Holm…

Jun 5, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

Attorney’s law license at issue over petition for involuntary mental exam of restaurant proprietor

A West Virginia lawyer is at trial in a legal ethics case, accused of having applied under false pretenses to have a cafe owner taken into involuntary custody for a mental health examination. H. John Rogers was previously convicted of two related misdemeanor counts in Wetzel County Magistrate Court. Attorney…

Jun 5, 2013 3:50 PM CDT