Criminal Practice

  • August 21, 2026

    Vandy Law Grad Can Keep Hidden-Evidence Suit Against Attys

    A Connecticut federal judge ruled Friday that a Vanderbilt Law School graduate can continue a suit against the town of Westport and two attorneys who defended him in a criminal case when he was a teen and, he claims, helped cover up critical information — causing him to be incarcerated.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-Abercrombie CEO Fit For Sex-Trafficking Trial

    A Brooklyn federal judge found Friday that former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries is mentally fit to stand trial for sex trafficking after a four-month rehabilitation committal.

  • August 21, 2026

    Divided 2nd Circ. Backs DQ Of Acting NDNY US Attorney

    The Second Circuit on Friday upheld a lower court's decision that found the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York, John Sarcone III, was unlawfully serving in his position when he obtained grand jury subpoenas of the New York attorney general's office.

  • August 21, 2026

    Colo. Appeals Panel Clarifies Destruction Of Wildlife Statute

    A Colorado Court of Appeals panel Thursday provided clarification on the state's willful destruction of wildlife statute, finding that a hunter who abandoned an animal carcass after collecting only its trophy parts without intending to return violated the law even if they returned at a later date.

  • August 21, 2026

    Calif. Panel Creates Exception To Successive Prosecution Ban

    A California state appeals court panel has upheld the convictions of a man who illegally bought large-capacity magazines, creating a new exception to a rule barring successive prosecutions for multiple related crimes that have already resulted in judgments.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-CIA Analyst Loses Bid To Bar FBI Interview In FARA Case

    A former CIA analyst accused of aiding the South Korean government without proper registration can't suppress statements she made to FBI agents in a series of interviews that lasted more than six hours, a New York federal judge has ruled.

  • August 21, 2026

    Balancing The Scales: Diminished Capacity, Sentencing Rules

    The Michigan Supreme Court has overturned 25 years of state precedent by reviving the diminished capacity defense, and the justices in Pennsylvania said the Legislature is out of time to craft new sentencing guidelines for second-degree murder. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

  • August 21, 2026

    Hall Booth Fights Malpractice Discovery Amid Appeal

    Hall Booth Smith PC and two of its attorneys on Friday asked the North Carolina appeals court to pause a legal malpractice suit against it from the court-appointed receiver for two wrongfully convicted brothers awarded millions in an underlying suit, arguing their appeal challenging jurisdiction should be handled first.

  • August 21, 2026

    Ex-Tenn. AUSA Charged With Federal-Official Murder Threats

    A former Tennessee assistant U.S. attorney was indicted on 12 counts of threatening to murder law enforcement officers and members of their immediate family, according to federal prosecutors.

  • August 21, 2026

    3rd Circ. Reverses Drug Conviction Over Jury Instruction

    In a precedential ruling Friday, the Third Circuit upended a man's conviction on drug and gun charges, ruling that the trial judge should not have told a deadlocked jury that jurors "have to" come up with a verdict, which eventually resulted in the defendant being found guilty.

  • August 21, 2026

    Trump Says Pardon Atty Ed Martin Leaving For Midterms

    U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin will be leaving the administration to work on the midterm elections, President Donald Trump announced on Friday.

  • August 21, 2026

    DNA Can Prove Your Innocence — If They Let You Test It

    Since the mid-1980s, DNA testing has exonerated hundreds of wrongfully convicted people and reshaped the criminal justice system. Rodney Reed's decades-long unsuccessful effort to test the belt prosecutors say he used to kill a woman, however, shows how difficult access to post-conviction DNA testing can be, even for prisoners with credible innocence claims.

  • August 21, 2026

    Fla. Panel Cuts Juvie Sentence Over Double Jeopardy Finding

    A Florida appeals court has ruled that a juvenile must have one of her two resisting arrest charges dropped and be resentenced accordingly, finding that double jeopardy rules bar the second charge because they both stemmed from the same incident.

  • August 21, 2026

    8th Circ. Won't Revisit Cannabis User's Gun Conviction

    The Eighth Circuit on Thursday declined to revisit its decision to preserve a man's conviction for possessing a firearm while being a user of cannabis.

  • August 21, 2026

    Gov't To Take 9th Circ.'s Bar Of Nev. US Atty To High Court

    The U.S. government asked the Ninth Circuit to stay its ruling disqualifying Nevada's top prosecutor from assuming that role without Senate confirmation, saying it plans to take the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • August 21, 2026

    Judge's Job Bid Sinks Conn. Atty's Homicide Conviction

    Former Cramer & Anderson LLP partner Robert L. Fisher Jr. is entitled to a new manslaughter trial because the presiding judge at his original trial "created an appearance of a lack of impartiality" when he did not disclose to the parties that he had applied for an oversight job with the state prosecutor's office, an appeals court ruled Friday.

  • August 20, 2026

    10th Circ. Backs Immunity In Shooting Of Man Aiming At K-9

    The Tenth Circuit has upheld a grant of qualified immunity to four Colorado police officers who fatally shot a man after he drew a gun on a police dog during an armed standoff, saying a lawsuit filed by his estate failed to show officers clearly violated his constitutional rights.

  • August 20, 2026

    Colo. Panel OKs Suspect's DNA Collection From Trash

    A divided Colorado state appeals court panel Thursday ruled that investigators did not need a warrant to collect a cold-case murder suspect's DNA from garbage he left in a publicly shared dumpster, saying abandoned property is not subject to privacy protections.

  • August 20, 2026

    Mich. Appeals Court Bars Hearing Testimony At Murder Retrial

    A Michigan state appeals court has ruled that testimony provided by witnesses at a hearing where a defendant argued he had ineffective counsel at his murder trial cannot be used in an upcoming new trial, even though the hearing witnesses are not available to testify again.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ex-Michigan Judge To Lead Macomb Conviction Integrity Unit

    Former Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Mary Chrzanowski will step into a new role as the chief of the Macomb County Prosecutor's Conviction Integrity Unit at the end of the month, the county prosecutor's office said Thursday.

  • August 20, 2026

    Staffing Co. Owner Charged In $7M Employment Tax Scheme

    A Philadelphia business owner was charged Thursday with filing false tax returns and failing to pay $7 million in payroll taxes owed to the IRS from his staffing agency, which federal prosecutors say provided companies with workers who were ineligible for employment in the U.S.

  • August 20, 2026

    Ethics Complaints Barred In Mass. Sheriff's Pot Extortion Trial

    The government cannot use records of past state ethics commission complaints against a Massachusetts sheriff in an extortion trial set to get underway next week, a federal judge said Thursday.

  • August 20, 2026

    Man Accused Of Threatening Judge In Mass Shooting Case

    A Texas man is accused of threatening the state judge and district attorney in a Georgia school shooting case, as well as a federal judge in Alabama, according to an announcement from federal prosecutors.

  • August 20, 2026

    2nd Circ. Says Justices' Remand Can't Save Immigrant's Case

    The Second Circuit rejected a Chinese citizen's bid to avoid removal after he pleaded guilty to theft by deception under New Jersey law and forgery under New York law, analyzing what "conviction" means after the U.S. Supreme Court remanded the case.

  • August 20, 2026

    Conn. Justices Let Parole Outcomes Impact Resentencing

    Judges at sentence modification hearings can consider the decisions of the state parole board as part of a broader array of evidence, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Thursday in turning down an appeal from an elderly convict who lost his bid for release from prison.

Expert Analysis

  • Mitigating The Risk Of Antiestablishment Jurors

    Author Photo

    The legal battles currently embroiling social media companies underscore that jurors with anti-corporate bias and conspiratorial thinking patterns pose myriad risks to corporate defendants, and defense counsel should adapt their trial strategies accordingly, say consultants at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Series

    Being In A Band Made Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Playing shows in storied New York City venues and rehearsing with my bandmates in poorly ventilated rooms helped develop the professional qualities I rely on as a litigator, including an ability to collaborate with strong-minded equals and the determination to treat each client with singular focus, says Eliad Shapiro at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Rethinking Corporate Travel Rules After Device Search Cases

    Author Photo

    A recent New York federal court decision approving a warrantless seizure and search of company laptops and a pending Georgia federal court criminal case over a phone's data deletion underscore how little protection corporate personnel have at the border, necessitating a review of corporate travel programs, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • Reel Justice: 'Disclosure Day' Teaches Attys To Listen

    Author Photo

    The underlying message in “Disclosure Day” suggests that communication often breaks down because of a failure to hear and understand, highlighting why a lawyer's ability to listen is not ancillary to their practice — it is what makes effective representation and justice possible, says Veronica Finkelstein at Widener-Delaware Law.

  • Series

    Going To Hardcore Shows Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    While government contracts law and the hardcore scene may seem entirely unrelated, in my experience, both are about community, focus, being prepared for the unexpected and managing chaos, says Isaac Natter at Fluet.

  • 9th Circ. Rule Block Unlikely To Deter FinCEN Cartel Focus

    Author Photo

    The Ninth Circuit recently blocked the Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit's border cash reporting rule, interpreting it as an impermissible use of an emergency anti-money laundering tool, but regulators are more likely to see the opinion as a road map for building a more defensible rule, say attorneys at Bradley Arant.

  • Series

    Being A Sommelier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Being a sommelier has quietly shaped how I practice law by changing the way I think, communicate and connect with people, and offers a constant reminder that expertise is about making your knowledge useful and accessible to others, says Kara Du at Sheppard.

  • Series

    Teaching SEC Investigations Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Instructing a law school course on U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigations has made me a more thoughtful, deliberate practitioner because it requires me to continually reassess and challenge what I know about securities law enforcement, how I know it and how best to explain it, says David Chase at Miami Law.

  • Opinion

    Qualified Immunity Bill's Reach Goes Beyond Federal Officers

    Author Photo

    The federal Qualified Immunity Abolition Act, introduced earlier this year and described by the bill sponsors as a federal-officer measure, would in actuality reach the entire universe of Section 1983 defendants, a distinction that matters as much to defense counsel as to plaintiffs, says attorney V. James DeSimone.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: Examining Administrative, Organizational Uses

    Author Photo

    U.S. District Judge Alan Albright of the Western District of Texas examines how artificial intelligence could transform a court's ability to deal with administrative work and organize materials when preparing for hearings or drafting opinions, thereby affording judges more time to resolve contested issues.

  • Series

    Being A Singer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Before law school, I spent seven years trying to make it as a professional singer in Los Angeles, and nearly everything I learned about preparation, humility, confidence and more has followed me into my legal practice, says Jessica Caterina at Moses & Singer.

  • Opinion

    Justices' Parole Ruling Degrades Green Card Holders' Rights

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Blanche v. Lau, holding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers can parole a returning lawful permanent resident without clear and convincing evidence of a crime, weakens the statutory and practical protections Congress intended, say attorneys at Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

  • RETRACTED: Updated Fraud Sentencing Guidelines Add New Defense Tools

    Author Photo

    Editor's note: This guest article has been removed to address author updates.

  • How Justices Stayed Off The Geofence In Location Data Case

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent Chatrie v. United States decision reaffirms Fourth Amendment protections for location data but avoids more complicated questions about geofence warrants, say attorneys at Adams Duerk.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Post-Award Noncompliance

    Author Photo

    Grainful Holdings v. Mineev, a recent Commercial Court decision that resulted in a sentence for contempt following post-award enforcement proceedings, illustrates the point at which proceedings, having moved beyond recognition of an arbitral obligation, engage the court's own coercive jurisdiction, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here