Criminal Practice

  • March 30, 2026

    Justices Won't Review Juror Conduct In Ohio Rape Trial

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would not take up the case of an Ohio man seeking to have his rape conviction overturned because a juror admitted to potentially being biased but was still allowed to serve during his trial.

  • March 30, 2026

    Justices Reject 'Tiger King' Appeal Over Witness Recantations

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review Joseph "Tiger King" Maldonado's murder-for-hire conviction on the basis of the Netflix documentary star's claim that a judge failed to properly examine several witnesses' post-trial recantations.

  • March 30, 2026

    Justices To Review Nix Of Fired Atlanta DA Aide's Bias Suit

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear a challenge to the dismissal of a bias suit from a former aide to Atlanta's district attorney, an appeal that turns on whether the district attorney's office should've been allowed to argue that her position was exempt from anti-discrimination law.

  • March 27, 2026

    Mich. Panel Affirms Man Was Warned About Self-Rep Risks

    A Michigan appellate court on Thursday confirmed the sentence and conviction of a Farmington Hills man who doused his ex-girlfriend with gasoline and lit her on fire, dismissing his argument that a lower court did not properly communicate the risks of representing himself.

  • March 27, 2026

    Jailed Energy Trader Won't Fight $7.7M Judgment

    An energy trader who reported to prison this year told a Texas federal court Friday he does not oppose entry of a more than $7.7 million civil judgment in favor of his former employer, as long as it's credited against the restitution he was ordered to pay by the federal government in separate proceedings.

  • March 27, 2026

    Lawyer Says Contract With Rivera Was For Venezuela's Oil Co.

    The $50 million consulting contract that former Florida Congressman David Rivera signed with the U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state-owned oil company was ultimately funded and controlled by the Venezuelan parent company, the attorney who drafted the document said Friday at Rivera's trial on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent.

  • March 27, 2026

    Up Next At High Court: Birthright Citizenship, Arbitration

    The U.S. Supreme Court will close out its March oral arguments session by hearing a nationwide class's blockbuster challenge to President Donald Trump's limited view of birthright citizenship, as well as a dispute over federal courts' authority to confirm or vacate arbitration awards in cases they've formerly overseen.

  • March 27, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Earned Credits Can't Trim Supervised Release

    A Second Circuit panel rejected an inmate's argument that he was wrongly kept on house arrest for more than a year too long given that he had early release credits, finding in a reversal that such First Step Act reductions cannot be used to shorten time on supervised release.

  • March 27, 2026

    Pa. Justices Keep Death Sentence Despite Flawed Cross-Exam

    The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has ruled that the execution of a man can move forward despite the high court agreeing that the man's attorneys did not do enough to impeach a jailhouse informant who was the prosecution's star witness.

  • March 27, 2026

    Atty Asks To Stay Out On Bond Amid $22M Tax Fraud Appeal

    A Missouri lawyer convicted of helping perpetrate a $22 million tax scheme is asking to stay out of prison while she appeals, telling a North Carolina federal court that she believes her appeal could be successful on grounds that her indictment was obtained unconstitutionally.

  • March 27, 2026

    Calif. Court Tosses Conviction Over Bad Immigration Advice

    A California appellate panel has vacated an immigrant's jury-trial conviction for assault with attempt to commit rape, finding his lawyers did not tell him about a change in case law that opened the door to an immigration-safe plea that there is a "reasonable possibility" he would have sought instead of trial.

  • March 27, 2026

    Ex-CEO Sues Former NJ AG Over Tossed RICO Case

    The former CEO of The Michaels Organization, who was indicted in New Jersey's now-dismissed criminal racketeering case against South Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III, has accused former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and other members of his office of commencing the prosecution knowing there was no probable cause.

  • March 27, 2026

    Family Members Get Prison Terms For Tax Refund Scheme

    Family members convicted of designing a trust scheme that tried to net $8.5 million in tax refunds were sentenced to prison by a Texas federal judge and ordered to pay back $1.7 million they spent on cryptocurrency and luxuries, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

  • March 27, 2026

    Man Convicted Over Threats To Kill Trump, Burn Courthouse

    An Illinois federal jury has convicted a man who posted a video online threatening to kill President Donald Trump and other public officials and who told a Lake County judge presiding over his foreclosure case that he would burn the courthouse down.

  • March 26, 2026

    Atty. Conduct Gets Fraud Conviction Thrown Out By 2nd Circ.

    The Second Circuit has vacated a New York man's fraud conviction, pointing to the conduct of his former counsel, who had a private conversation with the judge in which he said he was worried the defendant was engaging in "delay tactics" that could include punching the lawyer in the head.

  • March 26, 2026

    Fla. Justices Halt Ex-Officer's Execution To Allow DNA Testing

    The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday halted the execution of a former police officer convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl nearly four decades ago in order to wait for results of DNA testing that could prove his innocence. 

  • March 26, 2026

    Venezuelan Leader Says Ex-Fla. Rep Couldn't Get US Meetings

    A Venezuelan political opposition leader told jurors Thursday that he connected with former Florida congressman David Rivera to try to secure meetings with high-level U.S. officials in the first Trump administration, but Rivera — who is on trial for allegedly failing to register as a foreign agent — failed to deliver.

  • March 26, 2026

    FBI Agent Doesn't Have To Testify In Ga. Ballot Fight

    The FBI special agent behind the bureau's seizure of 2020 election records from Fulton County, Georgia, will not have to testify in an upcoming evidentiary hearing in the county's suit seeking return of the materials, a federal judge said Thursday.

  • March 26, 2026

    3rd Circ. Says DNA Software Is Reliable Enough For Trial

    A Third Circuit panel rebuffed a man's attempt to argue that DNA software called TrueAllele shouldn't have been used to convict him for unlawful possession of a firearm, finding that the program was sufficiently verified as reliable under court rules of evidence.

  • March 26, 2026

    Pa. Justices End Mandatory Life Sentences For Felony Murder

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ended the use of mandatory life-without-parole sentences for felony murder offenses Thursday, potentially upending the sentences of more than 1,000 incarcerated people in a case that has drawn national attention.

  • March 26, 2026

    Colo. Appeals Court Rules Presentence Credit Can Be Waived

    A criminal defendant can waive their statutory right to presentence confinement credit as a negotiated term of a plea agreement, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday for the first time.

  • March 26, 2026

    Crypto Developer Loses Bid To Block Potential DOJ Action

    A Texas federal court tossed a crypto software developer's suit against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking protection over his forthcoming software from an enforcement action under federal money transmitting laws, finding the developer failed to show a substantial threat of prosecution.

  • March 26, 2026

    Pa. Justices Deem Pot Group Unharmed By Abstinence Rule

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday held that a cannabis trade association lacks standing to argue that a local court's policy of regulating medical marijuana use for treatment court participants hurts dispensary businesses, upholding a ruling that the association didn't suffer any harm itself from the policy.

  • March 26, 2026

    Ill. Man Pleads Guilty To Sending Threats To Judges

    An Illinois financial analyst pled guilty Thursday to sending threatening letters to two federal judges in Texas and Florida, as well as to employees of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, that contained pictures of ammunition and a warning to "be careful."

  • March 26, 2026

    Pa. High Court Nixes Convictions Over Use Of Silent Witness

    Pennsylvania's highest court vacated a man's drug and gun crime convictions Thursday due to prejudice, finding that a witness who had no intent to testify should never have been questioned before the jury by the prosecutor.

Expert Analysis

  • 'Pig Butchering' Seizure Is A Milestone In Crypto Crime Fight

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    The U.S.' recent seizure of $225 million in crypto funds in a massive "pig butchering" scheme highlights the transformative impact of blockchain analysis in law enforcement, and the increasing necessity of collaboration between law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Reel Justice: 'Oh, Hi!' Teaches Attys To Return To The Statute

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    The new dark comedy film “Oh, Hi!” — depicting a romantic vacation that turns into an inadvertent kidnapping — should remind criminal practitioners to always reread the statute to avoid assumptions, meet their ethical duties and finesse their trial strategy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • DOJ-HHS Collab Crystallizes Focus On Health Enforcement

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    The recently announced partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat False Claims Act violations, following a multiyear trend of high-dollar DOJ recoveries, signals a long-term enforcement horizon with major implications for healthcare entities and whistleblowers, say attorneys at RJO.

  • How Courts Are Addressing The Use Of AI In Discovery

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    In recent months, several courts have issued opinions on handling discovery issues involving artificial intelligence, which collectively offer useful insights on integrating AI into discovery and protecting work product in connection with AI prompts and outputs, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Opinion

    Prosecutors' Duty To Justice Sometimes Demands Mea Culpa

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    Two recent cases — U.S. v. Lucas and U.S. v. Echavarria — demonstrate that prosecutors’ special ethical duty to seek justice can sometimes be in tension with other obligations and incentives, but it nonetheless requires them to concede their mistakes in the interests of justice, say Eastern District of Texas law clerk Ian Stephens and Texas A&M University law professor Jemila Lea.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • FCA Working Group Reboot Signals EHR Compliance Risk

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    The revival of the False Claims Act working group is an aggressive expansion of enforcement efforts by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeted toward technology-enabled fraud involving electronic health records and other data, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • New Interpol Silver Notice Could Be Tool For Justice Or Abuse

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    Interpol has issued dozens of Silver Notices to trace and recover assets linked to criminal activity since January, and though the tool may disrupt organized crime and terrorist financing, attorneys must protect against the potential for corrupt misuse, say attorneys at Clark Hill and Arktouros.

  • Justices' Resentencing Ruling Fortifies First Step Act Tools

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Hewitt v. U.S. ruling clarifies that resentencing after vacatur must reflect the law in effect at the time of the new sentencing, ultimately strengthening the strategic tools available to defense attorneys under the First Step Act, says Benson Varghese at Varghese Summersett.

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