Sentencing/Post Conviction

Woman Is Told She’ll Get 10 Lashes for Driving in Saudi Arabia Before King Revokes Sentence

Updated: A woman who defied a religious and cultural ban by driving in Saudi Arabia was initially sentenced to 10 lashes in a landmark case in the ultraconservative Muslim county. It is the first time a court has upheld the rule against women drivers, which previously had been more informally…

Sep 29, 2011 1:50 PM CDT

Virginia AG Not Only Seeks to Exonerate Paroled Rapist But Hires Him to Work in AG’s Office

Convinced that a convicted rapist exonerated by DNA evidence in two cases, after serving 27 years, is also innocent in two other cases, Virginia’s top law enforcement official has personally apologized and is trying to persuade a state appeals court to clear Thomas Haynesworth’s record completely. And Attorney General Ken…

Sep 28, 2011 10:17 PM CDT

Ex-Lawyer and Lawmaker Gets 5 Years for Handling Closings for Mortgage Fraud Ring

A former state representative and attorney in Connecticut who lost his law license years ago was sentenced this week to five years in federal prison for his role in a mortgage fraud ring. Morris Olmer, 83, handled closings as a notary for the group. It allegedly included 14 co-conspirators who…

Sep 28, 2011 4:34 PM CDT

Crank or Serial Killer? So far, Only Self-Admitted Suspect Knows for Sure

Convicted in the 1978 murder of a U.S. Marine, 72-year-old Edward Harold Bell is already serving a 70-year sentence. But it appears that the admitted sex offender and self-described serial killer may also have murdered a number of adolescent girls in various parts of Texas years ago, the Houston Chronicle…

Sep 26, 2011 9:14 PM CDT

Pennsylvania Judge Gets 17.5 Year Sentence in Kids-for-Cash Scandal

A former Pennsylvania judge has been sentenced to 17½ years in prison after his guilty plea in the Luzerne County kids-for-cash case. Former President Judge Michael Conahan, 59, was sentenced Friday, report the Legal Intelligencer and the Associated Press. He also was ordered to pay $874,000 in restitution, the Legal…

Sep 26, 2011 2:06 PM CDT

10 of the ‘Irvine 11’ Are Convicted for Disrupting Israeli Ambassador’s Speech

Ten Muslim college students were criminally convicted today by a California jury of disrupting a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States at the University of California-Irvine last year. The Orange County Superior Court case has been controversial because critics contend the students, who were convicted of conspiracy…

Sep 24, 2011 1:26 AM CDT

Although Crown Counsel Regrets Closing Crime Rhyme, Verse Used as Hammer Put Defendant in Slammer

Presenting his closing argument in rhymed couplets must have seemed like a good idea at the time to John Ramsay. But the Canadian prosecutor apologized today for doing so, saying that he didn’t mean to detract from the solemnity and dignity of the drunk driving case he was trying in…

Sep 22, 2011 11:46 PM CDT

Troy Davis Tells Officer’s Family He Is Innocent, Then Dies by Lethal Injection

A Georgia death-row inmate who asserted actual innocence in failed appeals made the same claim as he lay strapped to a lethal-injection gurney before his execution late Wednesday. Troy Anthony Davis lifted his head and looked at the family of slain Savannah Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail, according to the…

Sep 22, 2011 11:29 AM CDT

Troy Davis Execution Tonight Is Delayed as Nation’s Top Court Mulls Last-Minute Appeal

The scheduled 7 p.m. execution of Troy Davis has been temporarily postponed, as the U.S. Supreme Court mulls arguments by both sides in a last-minute appeal, reports ABC News. Articles in the Guardian and USA Today provide additional details. Plans to put the Georgia inmate to death tonight have sparked…

Sep 22, 2011 12:15 AM CDT

Judge Troubled by Wildly Different Sentencing Proposals for Convicted Greenberg Lobbyist

Prosecutors and defense lawyers offered dramatically different assessments of the sentencing range for former Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Kevin Ring, convicted of bribery in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Prosecutors had recommended a sentencing guidelines range of 17 to 22 years in prison, while defense lawyers said the range should be 21…

Sep 21, 2011 4:43 PM CDT

Top Indiana Court Reaffirms Opinion that Brought Death Threats, with Clarifications

The Indiana Supreme Court has reaffirmed a controversial opinion that found homeowners have no right to resist unlawful police entry, with added clarification. The original opinion was intended to state that a homeowner may not use violence to resist unlawful police entry, the court says in an opinion (PDF) released…

Sep 21, 2011 1:31 PM CDT

For the Second Time in a Week, the Supreme Court Stays an Execution

The U.S. Supreme Court granted two stays of execution involving Texas cases this week, the most recent one involving an Army recruiter convicted of raping and murdering a woman he met at a Fort Worth bar. The court stayed the execution of Cleve Foster to allow time to consider whether…

Sep 21, 2011 11:44 AM CDT

Former Saul Ewing Partner Dies in Prison, Where He Was Serving Life Sentence for Murder of Mistress

Updated: A once politically connected lawyer convicted in the 1996 slaying of his missing mistress has died in prison. Tom Capano, 61, died Monday in his prison cell, report the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Wilmington News Journal. The body of the mistress, Anne Marie Fahey, was never found. A scheduling…

Sep 20, 2011 3:20 PM CDT

Death-Row Inmate Troy Davis, Who Claims Actual Innocence, Loses Bid for Clemency

Updated: Death-row inmate Troy Anthony Davis is set to be executed on Wednesday after the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole denied his bid for clemency. Amnesty International released a statement criticizing the decision on Tuesday, CNN reports. “Allowing a man to be sent to death under an enormous cloud…

Sep 20, 2011 1:20 PM CDT

Former Litigation Partner at Biggest Kansas Firm Gets 10 Years in Teen Sex-Enticement Case

A onetime litigation partner at the biggest firm in Kansas has been sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison. Samuel P. Logan, 46, was sentenced today for using the Internet to entice a child for sex, reports the Kansas City Star. Logan was allegedly chatting online last year, however,…

Sep 19, 2011 11:55 PM CDT