Trials & Litigation

Cell Phone Calls Can Make, Break Cases

When Paul Cortez was tried for the murder of the stripper he had been dating, there was an unexpected witness against the New York actor—his cell phone. Records showed he had called her more than a dozen times in the two hours before her death, and then never again. Plus,…

Jul 16, 2007 9:33 PM CDT

Judge Calls Interference on Prosecutors, Dismisses 13 from KPMG Case

Updated: Saying that prosecutors inappropriately interfered with their defense, a federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed charges against 13 of 16 KPMG former employees charged in a tax shelter fraud case. In a ruling today, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said he had no choice but to dismiss the…

Jul 16, 2007 7:37 PM CDT

Trial and ‘Tru’ for Court TV

Court TV is getting a makeover and a new name. Beginning Jan. 1, the network that featured live trials and legal analysis will add different kinds of programs to its evening lineup, the New York Times reports. Working titles include “Ski Patrol,” featuring crackdowns on unruly snowboarders, and “Bounty Girls,”…

Jul 16, 2007 5:05 PM CDT

Court Fines Law Firm Over Spam Filter

Initially, the problem at a suburban Denver law firm was pornographic e-mail. Employees complained, and the office’s tech administrator was told to do something. He did. Dialing up the spam setting on the firm’s firewall solved the porn problem. But it also created a new issue, PC World reports. Shortly…

Jul 13, 2007 9:26 PM CDT

Tort Trial Here for Deaths in Colombia

War-torn Colombia is the most dangerous country in the world in which to be a labor union member: Well over 2,000 trade unionists have been killed there since 1991, according to Amnesty International. The killings are apparently at least in part attributable to a four-decades-old war between leftist guerrillas, the…

Jul 13, 2007 6:59 PM CDT

Cockfighting Soon Illegal in 50 States

Cockfighting will soon be illegal in all 50 states. A bill banning the sport in Louisiana, the only state where it is currently legal, was signed yesterday by the state governor and takes effect next summer. It is already illegal to gamble on cockfights in Louisiana under a law that…

Jul 13, 2007 5:56 PM CDT

St. Louis Prosecutor: Right Man Executed

Friends of Larry Griffin and death penalty opponents have been eagerly awaiting a report by the chief St. Louis prosecutor on whether Griffin was innocent of the 1980 murder for which he was executed in 1995. But now Chief Prosecutor Jennifer Joyce says the state of Missouri imposed the ultimate…

Jul 13, 2007 5:28 PM CDT

Padilla Prosecution to Rest

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case today against Jose Padilla and two co-defendants accused of aiding terrorist groups. Their biggest challenge is proving the most serious charge—that the defendants conspired to murder, kidnap and maim people abroad, the Miami Herald reports. Prosecutors introduced an application to an al-Qaida training…

Jul 13, 2007 3:55 PM CDT

Irked Judge Upholds Libby Commutation

In what a well-known U.S. Supreme Court blog describes as “a 10-page opinion bristling with actual and implied criticism” of President George W. Bush’s commutation of the 30-month prison term imposed on I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the federal judge who sentenced the former top vice presidential aide held today that…

Jul 13, 2007 2:57 AM CDT

New Housing Rules Hit Katrina Victims

Nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, displaced residents from the lowest economic rungs of the region’s economic ladder are still struggling–often in communities far from home. But as many businesses desperately seek workers, and former residents fruitlessly seek…

Jul 13, 2007 2:17 AM CDT

Mistrial in Rape Trial With R-Word Ban

Updated: Ruling from the bench, a Nebraska judge today declared a mistrial in a controversial acquaintance-rape case in which the accuser was barred from using the word “rape,” among other specific language, when testifying. Defense lawyers said they believe Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront declared the mistrial just before…

Jul 12, 2007 11:26 PM CDT

Spector’s Ex-Lawyer Says She Will Testify

Bowing to the California Supreme Court’s effective decision that attorney-client privilege doesn’t apply, a lawyer who formerly represented music producer Phil Spector says she will testify in his ongoing murder trial. Sara Caplan is expected to testify today about whether she saw an expert mishandle evidence at the crime scene…

Jul 12, 2007 10:05 PM CDT

Form Contract Puts Sprint in Class Action

Sprint-Nextel Corp. essentially scored an own goal, an Illinois appeals court says, by including in its adhesionary form contract a choice-of-law provision that allows customers to bring a national class action. Upholding a Madison County trial judge’s class certification, the 5th District Appellate Court decided the case over the cell…

Jul 12, 2007 9:08 PM CDT

Landmark Google Suit Over Foreign Ads

A landmark lawsuit has been filed over Google’s Internet advertising in Australia and Ireland that could, if successful, force the search engine giant to make significant changes in the way it handles “sponsored links” paid for by advertisers. Described by a company spokesman as an “attack” on all search engines,…

Jul 12, 2007 8:42 PM CDT

Suit in ‘Shackling Case’ Cites Reform-School Problems

Two years after Mississippi settled a lawsuit that claimed abuses at a state reform school, a new suit cites continuing problems. Five of the six plaintiffs say they were shackled for 12 hours a day while at Columbia Training School, and three say they were able cut themselves while on…

Jul 12, 2007 3:50 PM CDT