Criminal Practice

  • June 17, 2025

    DOJ Tells Md. Judge That Abrego Garcia Suit Is Now Moot

    The Trump administration has urged a Maryland federal court to throw out Kilmar Abrego Garcia's suit challenging his wrongful removal to El Salvador, saying his claims are moot now that the federal government has facilitated his return to the United States.

  • June 16, 2025

    NJ Justices OK Grand Jury Investigations Of Clergy Abuse

    New Jersey can empanel a special grand jury to investigate allegations of clergy sexual abuse, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday, saying that no case law or court rule allows a judge to prohibit a grand jury inquiry before it has even begun.

  • June 16, 2025

    Convict's Outbursts Didn't Warrant DQ, Conn. Justices Rule

    A Connecticut trial court judge acted within his power to consider and then add three criminal contempt sentences to a murder convict's prison term after the defendant hurled a series of racial and profane attacks at the court when a habeas corpus hearing concluded, the state's highest court ruled Monday.

  • June 16, 2025

    High Court Turns Down Influencer's Jury Right Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear the case of a social media influencer who argued his case deserved to be heard by a jury after he was convicted of a misdemeanor in a bench trial.

  • June 16, 2025

    Council on Criminal Justice, Rand Partner On AI Task Force

    The Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank, announced Monday that it had struck a new partnership with the Rand Corp. to launch a national task force working to develop standards and recommendations for the integration and oversight of artificial intelligence in the criminal justice system.

  • June 13, 2025

    Omitted Jury Instruction Tainted Fraud Trial, DC Circ. Says

    A D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday that a new trial was warranted in a pandemic relief loan fraud case based on the trial court's inadvertent failure to instruct jurors to not draw negative conclusions from the defendant's decision not to testify.

  • June 13, 2025

    Ex-UMich Coach Fights Default Judgment In Hacking Case

    A former University of Michigan assistant football coach accused of hacking the personal information and intimate photos of thousands of students has asked a Michigan federal judge to set aside a default entry against him, saying in the pro se filing that he was never properly served.

  • June 13, 2025

    4th Circ. Axes Guilty Plea Over Police Misconduct

    The Fourth Circuit vacated a North Carolina man's guilty plea on drug trafficking charges, holding Friday that new information regarding "egregious police misconduct" that plagued the prosecution's case rendered his plea involuntary. 

  • June 12, 2025

    Texas Man Gets 11 Years In Cross-Border Transport Case

    A Texas federal court has sentenced a man to 11 years in prison for helping lead a violent conspiracy to monopolize the transport of used vehicles and other goods from the U.S. through Mexico for resale in Central America.

  • June 12, 2025

    Weinstein Sex Abuse Trial Ends After Mixed, Partial Verdict

    Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse retrial ended Thursday with a Manhattan jury failing to reach a verdict on a count alleging the movie mogul raped an actress, one day after he was convicted of forcing sex on a production assistant and cleared on a third charge.

  • June 12, 2025

    Justices Clarify Appeal Deadline In Win For Pro Se Inmate

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a pro se inmate to appeal a suit alleging harsh treatment while behind bars, reversing the Fourth Circuit in an opinion that says civil litigants do not need to file a second notice of appeal if they filed prior to a court's decision to reopen the case.

  • June 11, 2025

    11th Circ. Says Cop ID'ing Driver Justified Arrest Over Car Theft

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a false arrest and malicious prosecution suit against city of Miami police officers after finding they had probable cause to arrest a man who had reported a stolen vehicle because of an officer's identification of him as the reckless driver who had crashed the vehicle.

  • June 11, 2025

    Ex-Judges Urge High Court To Protect Right To Counsel

    A group of six high-profile retired judges urged the Supreme Court to protect criminal defendants' right to consult with counsel during overnight trial recesses, saying a current "patchwork" of practices in this area is bad for judges as well as defendants.

  • June 11, 2025

    Phone Search During Traffic Stop Aboveboard, 8th Circ. Says

    A police officer's search of a registered sex offender's phone during a traffic stop that revealed images of child pornography was lawfully used as evidence in a trial that resulted in a more than 17-year prison sentence, the Eighth Circuit ruled Wednesday.

  • June 11, 2025

    11th Circ. OK's Probationer's Malicious Prosecution Suit

    The Eleventh Circuit said a man can continue with his suit against two Georgia probation officers accused of filing a false warrant application for his extradition back to the Peach State, affirming that the Fourth Amendment's protections are not limited to the officers' "narrow definition" of a criminal proceeding.

  • June 11, 2025

    2nd Circ. Rules Girlfriend's Phone Search Didn't Violate Rights

    The Second Circuit on Wednesday upheld the conviction of a New York man on charges over the receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material, rejecting claims that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated when his girlfriend unlocked his phone, found illicit images and showed them to a police officer. 

  • June 11, 2025

    Amazon Union Reps Defend Suit Challenging NYPD Arrests

    Amazon should face claims that it started illegally calling the police on labor demonstrations after its workers' union affiliated with the Teamsters, Amazon Labor Union officials argued, asking a New York federal judge to preserve a lawsuit that also names the New York Police Department as a defendant.

  • June 10, 2025

    US Judge Tells Some Agents To Disarm In Connecticut Courts

    Connecticut's chief federal judge issued a standing order Monday updating the weapons policy for the state's federal courthouses, including limiting some law enforcement officers' ability to carry weapons in certain areas without permission, a step he took not long after banning most arrests and detentions in the courthouses.

  • June 10, 2025

    Mass. Court-Appointed Attys Hit 'Boiling Point' Over Low Pay

    Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."

  • June 10, 2025

    Ex-Conn. Attorney Sues AG Bondi To Restore Gun Rights

    A Connecticut attorney who served prison time for a tax offense has sued federal and state officials to demand the restoration of his right to possess firearms and ammunition, arguing that the prohibition on that right is unconstitutional as applied to him.

  • June 09, 2025

    Man Gets New Trial After Cop Testified To Witness Credibility

    A Florida appeals court reversed a man's conviction on charges of burglary, manslaughter and conspiracy for his alleged role in a home invasion robbery after finding that the court erred in allowing a detective to testify to the credibility of the prosecution's key witness.

  • June 09, 2025

    Russian Crypto CEO, Charged With $530M Fraud, Can't Get Bail

    The Russian CEO of Miami-based cryptocurrency firm Evita was arrested and charged Monday with 22 criminal counts for allegedly orchestrating a $530 million scheme to dodge U.S. sanctions and export controls and launder funds, prompting a New York federal judge to deny him bail given his incentive to flee.

  • June 09, 2025

    Judge Denies Obstructing ICE As Disciplinary Hearing Begins

    An attorney for a Massachusetts state judge, who was accused of plotting to let a man wanted by immigration agents escape out of a back door of a courthouse in 2018, said at the start of a disciplinary inquiry Monday that the judge did not know about the plan, pointing the finger at the wanted man's lawyer.

  • June 09, 2025

    Senators Seek Probe Into SEIU Leader's Arrest At ICE Raid

    Three Democratic senators called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Justice on Monday to provide legal justification for the arrest of the president of a Service Employees International Union affiliate in California during an immigration enforcement raid last week.

  • June 09, 2025

    Chinese Student Accused Of Smuggling Roundworms To US

    A Chinese student pursuing a doctoral degree in Wuhan has been charged with smuggling roundworms to recipients associated with a University of Michigan laboratory and lying to federal agents about it, according to an announcement Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. 

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