Sentencing/Post Conviction

Tenn. County Deluged with Requests for New Trials After Judge’s Prescription Drug Issue Is Revealed

A Tennessee judge was so addicted to prescription medication during his last two years on the bench that he was buying drugs and having sex during courtroom breaks, sometimes purchasing medication from those he had sentenced, an investigation has found. Convictions in one high-profile murder case have already been reversed…

Apr 4, 2012 7:41 PM CDT

Cop Clocked at 143 Shouldn’t Be Fired Over DUI and Speeding Case, Lawyer Argues

A Denver police officer pulled over and ticketed by the Colorado State Patrol two years ago after being reportedly being clocked speeding at 143 mph in a 55 mph zone is fighting his firing in an administrative hearing before a city Civil Service Commission panel. An attorney for the Denver…

Apr 3, 2012 11:01 PM CDT

Suspended NY Attorney Takes Plea in Law Firm Immigration Scheme, Must Forfeit $2.5M

A suspended New York attorney who fled to Canada in 2006 when he heard he and his law firm were being targeted in an immigration probe has taken a plea after being arrested and extradited to the United States last year. Earl Seth David pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and…

Apr 3, 2012 3:31 PM CDT

Hate Crime Laws Are ‘Something from an Orwell Dystopia,’ Columnist Says

The federal government and nearly every state have hate crime laws, passed with the noble aim of preventing crimes motivated by bias. But a New York Times columnist questions the wisdom of such laws, used in the prosecution of Dharun Ravi, the Rutgers University student who used a webcam to…

Apr 3, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Now 23, Young Woman Says She Made Up Testimony That Put Her Dad in Prison in 2002

Cassandra Ann Kennedy was 11 years old in 2001, when, she now says, she made up a story that put her father in a Washington state prison from 2002 until last week. Disappointed in her father, who, she felt, didn’t love her enough, she falsely told authorities he had raped…

Apr 2, 2012 10:40 PM CDT

Life from Death Row: Inmates Want to Donate Organs, But State Disagrees

“I am 37 years old and healthy,” Oregon death row inmate Christian Longo wrote in the New York Times in March 2011, and “throwing my organs away after I am executed is nothing but a waste.” Longo, convicted of the 2001 killings of his wife and three children, wrote in…

Apr 1, 2012 9:00 AM CDT

Former PI Lawyer Gets 2 Years for Taking $200K Out of Client Trust Account

After his wife discovered he is gay and told their children, Steven Helm said he had an hour to pack his things and go. As he struggled to deal with a fog of depression in the aftermath of losing his home, his marriage and his relationship with his children, he…

Mar 29, 2012 6:52 PM CDT

Ex-Chief of Staff for Blago Says Sorry, Gets 10-Day Jail Term; Former Ill. Gov Is Serving 14 Years

A former chief of staff to Rod Blagojevich who served as a star witness at the political corruption trial of the impeached former Illinois governor was sentenced on Wednesday to 10 days in federal prison after apologizing to a federal judge in Chicago. Blagojevich is serving a 14-year sentence. Attorney…

Mar 28, 2012 9:29 PM CDT

Brooke Astor Estate Fight Settles; Her Son Gets Reduced Share of $14.5M Due to Criminal Conviction

After a five-year legal battle that the presiding judge feared could continue on until it ate up most of the $200 million or so in heiress Brooke Astor’s estate, the warring beneficiaries have settled. The pact frees up $100 million for various charities, and slashes to a mere $14.5 million…

Mar 28, 2012 9:02 PM CDT

For One Prisoner, Nutriloaf Diet May Violate Eighth Amendment, Posner Opinion Says

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit filed by a prisoner who claimed the nutriloaf he ate in the Milwaukee County Jail was cruel and unusual punishment. The opinion (PDF) by Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals suggested appointment of counsel for the…

Mar 28, 2012 11:25 AM CDT

2nd Lawyer Takes Plea in NJ Tax-Lien Bid-Rigging Case; Federal Probe Is Ongoing

A second lawyer has taken a plea in a federal case over alleged collusive bidding in sales of tax liens in New Jersey. Robert E. Rothman, 59, a lawyer and owner of Rothman Realty Corp. in Englewood, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Newark to bid-rigging at auctions between…

Mar 27, 2012 10:02 PM CDT

Talked Into Giving Up Gun by South Fla. Judge, Man Gets 2 Years

A distraught litigant who held a gun to his own head in a South Florida courthouse last year before a judge talked him into giving up the weapon has been sentenced to two years in jail. Marin Stroia, 60, was found guilty in February of armed trespass and reckless display…

Mar 27, 2012 6:30 PM CDT

At First Suspended, Retired Detroit Prosecutor Is Disbarred on Reconsideration for Allowing Perjury

After initially only having her law license lifted for two years, a controversial former chief drug prosecutor in the Detroit area has been disbarred. Reconsidering the penalty for retired Wayne County assistant prosecutor Karen Plants, the Attorney Discipline Board said a harsher penalty was mandated by her “lack of reflection”…

Mar 22, 2012 10:54 PM CDT

Facing Potential Deportation, Convicted Rutgers Student Says He’s Not Sorry He Nixed Plea Deal

Convicted last week of using a webcam to spy on his then-roommate while he was having sex with another man, a former Rutgers University student now says he’s very sorry about a situation that he describes largely as a misunderstanding. Shortly after the September 2010 incident, his roommate, Tyler Clementi,…

Mar 22, 2012 10:18 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Is Also a Rabbi Takes Plea in Mortgage-Fraud Case, Will Give Up Practice for 1 Year

After beating the rap in an earlier trial, a Connecticut lawyer has taken a plea in a mortgage-fraud case. Rabbi David Avigdor, 58, pleaded guilty this week to making a false statement on to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development concerning a real estate closing, the New Haven…

Mar 22, 2012 9:05 PM CDT