Sentencing/Post Conviction

Lawyer who said he helped client buy marijuana to discredit informant loses license for 9 months

What attorney David Schalk describes as an attempt to help a client by discrediting an informant has backfired badly. Convicted in 2009 of misdemeanor attempted possession of marijuana as a result of trying to set the informant up in a private drug sting, Schalk has now had his law license…

Apr 19, 2013 3:45 PM CDT

Judge grants disbarred lawyer Scruggs’ request to return to prison

Disbarred Mississippi lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is, at his own request, returning to federal prison after losing his latest appeal in a judicial corruption case. Scruggs has been free on $2 million bond since late last year. He asked to resume serving his seven-year sentence after losing an appeal before…

Apr 18, 2013 6:47 PM CDT

Man ups ante in probation violation case, is jailed after allegedly taking judge’s photo

A defendant who apparently didn’t get the memo about not using cellphones in court was taken into custody Wednesday at a suburban Chicago courthouse after allegedly snapping photos of the judge. Already in court to defend a probation violation case, Calvin Woods, 25, told deputies that he was bored and…

Apr 18, 2013 4:10 PM CDT

Oops. Judge holds himself in contempt when his own cellphone rings during court hearing

When a cellphone rang Friday during a prosecutor’s closing argument in a domestic violence trial, a Michigan judge didn’t have to look far to find the culprit. It was Chief Ionia District Judge Raymond Voet himself who was to blame, MLive.com reports. He had recently gotten a new phone and…

Apr 15, 2013 5:35 PM CDT

Special prosecutor to probe more decades-old claims by jailed men of Chicago police torture

Finding that the Chicago prosecutor’s office has a conflict of interest, the top criminal judge in Cook County, Ill., said on Thursday that he will appoint a special prosecutor to review the cases of at least five jailed men, and perhaps dozens of others, who say they were tortured into…

Apr 12, 2013 8:57 PM CDT

Upset by fatal child-abuse trial, juror creates post-verdict college fund for survivor sibling

Josh Henle was initially aggravated to be called for jury duty in a Clackamas County, Ore., case that interfered with his work schedule and Hawaiian vacation plans. Then, as he began to learn about the fatal child-abuse case for which he’d been selected, Henle realized the importance of his role…

Apr 12, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Lawyer accused of operating massive immigration scheme gets 5 years

A New York immigration lawyer accused of earning millions of dollars by processing tens of thousands of falsified immigration applications, continuing to work on them even after he fled to Canada in 2006, has been sentenced to five years in federal prison. Earl Seth David, 49, tearfully apologized before he…

Apr 11, 2013 3:35 PM CDT

Ex-judge gets 6 months for lying to cover up prescription drug conspiracy

A former Tennessee criminal court judge who was convicted last year of lying to cover up a prescription drug conspiracy that involved some defendants in the court system has been sentenced to six months in federal prison. Richard Baumgartner, 65, benefited from the Knox County scheme, which provided him with…

Apr 10, 2013 7:58 PM CDT

Man who paid hospital workers for patient info to sell medical and legal services gets 4 years

A man who admittedly paid husband-and-wife hospital employees over $10,000 to provide confidential patient information that was used to solicit individuals for additional medical and legal services was sentenced this week to four years in federal prison. Sergei Kusyakov, 39, pleaded guilty in January to conspiracy to defraud the United…

Apr 10, 2013 4:22 PM CDT

Disbarred lawyer gets 180 days for misappropriating $225K from client’s estate

A longtime Illinois lawyer who admittedly misappropriated $225,000 from a client’s estate was sentenced Friday to 180 days in jail after turning over a $150,000 check to the court. Earl Wilcek, 59, must also repay another $75,000 over a 30-month period of probation, once he serves his time in the…

Apr 9, 2013 3:30 PM CDT

Convicted Enron chief executive could be released early from prison

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling could win early release from prison under a sentencing agreement with the U.S. Justice Department. The DOJ posted a notice on its website on Thursday to notify victims of Enron fraud that it was considering the agreement, report the New York Times DealBook blog, Reuters…

Apr 5, 2013 11:30 AM CDT

Family lawyer gets life in murder of ex-client and baby; judge calls him a ‘facade’ and a ‘fraud’

An Illinois family law attorney was sentenced to life in prison Thursday in the murders of his former client, Nova Henry, and her 10-month-old daughter. The government said Fredrick Goings, who had represented Henry in a child-support case against a professional basketball player, shot her in January 2009 at her…

Apr 4, 2013 7:10 PM CDT

Judge OKs pro se prisoner’s libel suit over legal publication’s recap of his case

Sentenced to a life prison term in 1983 after being convicted of second-degree murder in the slayings of two U.S. marshals, Yorie Von Kahl has apparently honed his litigation skills in the meantime. Unhappy with a summary of a judge’s sentencing ruling published by a Bureau of National Affairs Inc.…

Apr 3, 2013 5:14 PM CDT

Put on probation in earlier case, man is now charged with making telephone threats to judge

Sentenced in 2011 to 18 months of probation for making telephone threats to a corporation, a suburban Chicago man is facing new charges for allegedly making new telephone threats—this time to the judge who presided over the case. Alexander Wood, 25, left a message March 7 on the work telephone…

Apr 3, 2013 4:20 PM CDT

Suspect in slaying of Colo. prisons chief released too early; court apologizes for clerical error

The deceased suspect believed to have slain the Colorado prisons superintendent last month before being mortally wounded in a shootout with Texas authorities was supposed to have been serving time for an attack on a jail guard. But because of a state district court clerical error, what should have been…

Apr 1, 2013 10:53 PM CDT