Sentencing/Post Conviction

Bank-Buying Strategy Backfires

A former Wall Street analyst who happened upon a strategy to make money from banks’ initial public offerings has been sentenced to two years in prison for using other people as fronts to help him profit. Bert Fingerhut, former director of research of Oppenheimer & Co., pleaded guilty in May…

Aug 6, 2007 6:11 PM CDT

Marine Gets 15 Years in Iraq Murder

The claimed ringleader in an alleged conspiracy by eight U.S. soldiers to drag a civilian grandfather from his home in Iraq last year and murder him has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the killing. Marine Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III, 23, would have received a mandatory life…

Aug 3, 2007 9:58 PM CDT

No Address Means Life Sentence

A homeless man who is unable to register his address as a sex offender faces a life sentence under a Georgia law. The lawyer for Larry Moore Jr. of Augusta says an appeal will assert the sentence is cruel and unusual punishment, the New York Times reports. Moore was convicted…

Aug 3, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

ABA Crime Groups’ Goals Spark Criticism

Two ABA groups’ suggestions about limiting access to criminal records—in order to make it easier for convicted criminals to find jobs and housing and thus promote their rehabilitation—have sparked a firestorm of criticism from free speech advocates. In recommendations to the ABA House of Delegates expected to come up for…

Aug 3, 2007 3:52 PM CDT

Hate Not Required for Hate Crime

A New York judge has upheld hate crime charges against three suspects accused of choosing their gay victim because they thought he would be an easy mark. The suspects are accused of robbing, beating and chasing the victim, Michael Sandy, who died after he ran into traffic and was struck…

Aug 3, 2007 1:45 PM CDT

2 Babies Die in Hot Cars, 1 Dad in Prison

Two grieving fathers in far-distant states still reproach themselves over the the deaths of their babies, whom they left alone in cars parked in the sun, years ago now. One does so in his faculty office at the University of California at Irvine. The other, a former horse groom, remembers…

Jul 31, 2007 10:52 PM CDT

Doing Time, Across State Lines

Prison officials in at least eight states are easing crowded conditions by shipping prisoners to facilities in other states. The New York Times spoke to a convicted armed robber from Hawaii who served his sentence in Minnesota, Oklahoma and Arizona. The distance has strained family relationships, says prisoner Bob Weier.…

Jul 31, 2007 1:24 PM CDT

CT Parole System Hit

Connecticut’s parole system is under scrutiny as a result of a home invasion and triple murder, allegedly committed by two paroled burglars. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, accused of breaking into the home of a physician and killing his wife and her two…

Jul 31, 2007 12:53 PM CDT

Mexico City Jails OK Gay Conjugal Visits

Accepting the recommendation of a human rights commission, Mexico City has begun to allow conjugal visits between gay inmates. Such visits are commonly allowed for opposite-sex couples, even when they are not married, and a 2003 Mexico law bans discrimination on the basis of sexual preference, reports the British Broadcasting…

Jul 30, 2007 7:10 PM CDT

8 Targets in Prison Masturbation Cases

Updated: A Florida inmate convicted this week of masturbating while alone in his jail cell is reportedly only one of eight targets—along with state taxpayers—of what a Miami Herald columnist describes as “a spectacular case of selective prosecution.” Given the likely prevalence of such commonplace behavior in state prisons (not…

Jul 27, 2007 8:09 PM CDT

Judge Sentences Nicole Richie to Jail

Following the pathway to California incarceration recently blazed by her reality TV co-star Paris Hilton, 25-year-old Nicole Richie is also headed to jail for a brief period. As part of a plea bargain, the daughter of pop singer Lionel Richie was sentenced to about four days in jail for driving…

Jul 27, 2007 7:07 PM CDT

Record $100 Million for Unjust Conviction

A federal judge in Boston has awarded $100 million to four men unjustly convicted of murder in Massachusetts state court in 1968, reportedly the largest such judgment ever made. Ruling today, U.S. Dist. Judge Nancy Gertner found that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had suppressed evidence that four men convicted…

Jul 26, 2007 8:06 PM CDT

Masturbating Inmate Convicted

Jurors deliberated only 45 minutes before finding a Florida inmate guilty of indecent exposure for masturbating alone in his jail cell. A Broward County sheriff’s deputy claimed inmate Terry Lee Alexander, 20, did not try to hide what he was doing, the Miami Herald reports. Deputy Coryus Veal testified she…

Jul 26, 2007 1:45 PM CDT

Mich. Judge’s Warnings Unheeded

A Michigan judge says he tried to warn Virginia lawmakers about the dangers of high fines for motorist misdeeds, to no avail. Judge William Buhl of Van Buren County told the Washington Post he e-mailed all 140 legislators in Virginia opining that a similar Michigan program begun in 2003 was…

Jul 24, 2007 4:27 PM CDT

Hypnosis Hearing Stuns Petitioner

A federal judge has granted a hearing to determine if the children who agreed to testify in a high-profile sexual abuse case were influenced by hypnosis. U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert of Central Islip, N.Y., issued the order in response to a habeas petition by Jesse Friedman, the New York…

Jul 24, 2007 3:31 PM CDT