Sentencing/Post Conviction

More Than 2,000 Exonerations for False Convictions in the US Since 1989, New Report Says

An unprecedented report asserted today that more than 2,000 falsely convicted people of serious crimes have been exonerated in the United States in the past 23 years. In the most complete database of exonerations ever compiled, the new national registry closely examines 873 exonerations from 1989 through March 1, 2012…

May 21, 2012 9:08 PM CDT

Former Rutgers Student Gets 30 Days for Webcam Spying on Roommate

The former Rutgers University student convicted of using a webcam to spy on his roommate has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after rejecting a plea deal that called for no prison time. Dharun Ravi could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison, according to the New York…

May 21, 2012 5:21 PM CDT

Top Ohio Court Suspends Former Chief Public Safety Counsel for 6 Months Over Email Interception

Already fired and prosecuted over his role in illegally intercepting worker emails directed to the state inspector general, the former chief counsel for the Ohio Department of Public Safety was slapped with a heavier-than-expected legal ethics sanction by the state’s top court. The Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on…

May 17, 2012 7:34 PM CDT

OJ Simpson Habeas Petition Blames Football Great’s Ex-Counsel for Armed Robbery Conviction

In a habeas corpus petition filed Tuesday, appellate counsel for O.J. Simpson says the NFL Hall of Famer was so poorly represented by defense counsel in his armed robbery case that he should get a new trial. However, the filing in Clark County District Court maintained Simpson’s factual defense, contending…

May 16, 2012 10:59 PM CDT

Defendant Who Planned to Issue ‘Citizen Arrest Warrants’ Gets Four-Year Sentence

A Georgia man has been sentenced to four years in prison in an alleged plot to take over a Tennessee courthouse. Darren Wesley Huff, 42, intended to take over the courthouse and issue “citizens arrest warrants” to several public officials, according to an FBI press release. The Knoxville News, the…

May 16, 2012 1:59 PM CDT

Ex-Pharmaceutical Exec’s New Book Is Available on Pacer; He Was Sentenced to Write It

If you want to read the new book by former pharmaceutical executive Andrew Bodnar, you will need an account with Pacer. The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) explains why. Bodnar pleaded guilty in 2009 to providing a false certificate to the government about his settlement of Plavix patent litigation. He…

May 16, 2012 11:36 AM CDT

ProPublica Eyes Role of DOJ Pardon Atty in Nixing Release of First-Time Offender Serving LIfe

Even the prosecutor’s office and the sentencing judge who put Clarence Aaron behind bars for three life terms, due to his role in a cocaine deal, were in favor of an immediate commutation of his sentence, back when President George W. Bush was in office. But Aaron, a first-time offender…

May 14, 2012 8:02 PM CDT

Husband-and-Wife Attorneys Get Reciprocal Sentences in Tax Case

As part of a plea deal, a former Michigan attorney is serving a 15-month federal prison term in a tax evasion case, now that his attorney wife has completed her own eight-month stint in the slammer on a misdemeanor conviction for failing to file a tax return. Charles Rominger Jr.…

May 11, 2012 4:31 PM CDT

Feds Say Ex-Partner Committed Crimes to ‘Dramatically Increase’ Rothstein Law Firm’s Political Power

A former partner has pleaded guilty to crimes that federal prosecutors say were intended to “dramatically increase the political influence and power” of a South Florida law firm headed by now-convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. Steven N. Lippman, 49, who was a non-equity partner of Scott Rothstein’s law firm in…

May 11, 2012 3:55 PM CDT

Waxman Amicus Brief—One of Six Urging Cert in Rubashkin Case—Raises Questions of Bias

Corrected: Former Solicitor General Seth Waxman has filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to accept cert in the case of Sholom Rubashkin, an executive at a kosher meatpacking plant convicted in a multimillion-dollar bank fraud that came to light after a large-scale immigration raid. The brief is…

May 10, 2012 5:15 PM CDT

Convicted of First Offense, ‘Grandma’ Is Serving Federal Life Term Without Parole

The vast majority of individuals charged with federal drug offenses take plea deals rather than go to trial. But Elisa Castillo told a federal jury in Texas she was innocent, claiming that she was tricked by her boyfriend into helping a Mexican friend set up a bus business in Houston,…

May 10, 2012 4:37 PM CDT

Iranian Lawyer Gets 9 Years for Defending Clients on Death Row

An Iranian lawyer has been sentenced to nine years in prison for defending clients facing the death penalty. In a telephone interview from Tehran, attorney Mohammad Ali Dadkhah told the British newspaper the Guardian that he has also been banned from practicing law or teaching at universities for another 10…

May 9, 2012 8:25 PM CDT

Feds Say ‘Second Chair’ Lawyer Paid $5K Gave OK Murder Defense Though Lead ‘Counsel’ Was a Fake

One might think Gwen Bergman has a slam-dunk argument that she was not adequately represented by legal counsel during a federal murder-for-hire trial that resulted in a conviction and a seven-year stint in jail. The “lawyer” her family paid $70,000 to represent her, Howard O. Kieffer, never went to law…

May 9, 2012 5:56 PM CDT

Longtime Client Died in His Prison Cell, But Lawyer Still Wants Top Calif. Court to Rule on Appeal

For nearly 20 years, Scott F. Kauffman has been representing Dennis Lawley in an appeal of his 1989 first-degree murder conviction. Lawley, who was found guilty of arranging a contract hit on a convicted felon, insisted he was innocent of the crime and the admitted triggerman says it was a…

May 9, 2012 4:05 PM CDT

Texas Inmate Gets 40 Percent of Vote in W. Va. Presidential Primary

President Obama is so unpopular in West Virginia that a Texas inmate won about 40 percent of the vote in the state’s Democratic primary. Keith Judd paid a $2,500 filing fee and filed a form to get on the state ballot, the Associated Press reports. AP says Judd is in…

May 9, 2012 11:33 AM CDT