Former lawyer will be retried for murder after top Georgia court overturns conviction

Prosecutors are planning to retry a former Atlanta lawyer after his murder conviction was overturned Tuesday by the Georgia Supreme Court.

May 6, 2024 9:26 AM CDT

Lawyer’s new book traces today’s true-crime fascination to salacious 1800s murder trial

The case of Polly Bodine is the subject of Alex Hortis’ new book, The Witch of New York. But a whodunnit is only part of the story that Hortis, the associate university counsel at the University of Maryland Baltimore, sets out to tell. The book’s subtitle shares the rest: “The cursed birth of tabloid justice.”

May 2, 2024 2:16 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: SCOTUS winds up term with rulings expected on major cases about government power, accountability

The Supreme Court heard the last oral arguments of the term on April 25, and now we wait for the decisions with the expectation of the usual flurry of rulings at the end of June. In thinking about the pending cases, a significant number involve the scope of government power and how to hold the government accountable.

May 1, 2024 12:08 PM CDT

‘In the Shadow of Liberty’ shines light on American immigration history

Ana Raquel Minian uses the personal experiences of four immigrants to walk readers through the history of immigrant detention in the United States in In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States.

May 1, 2024 9:00 AM CDT

Former general counsel failed to file federal tax returns while earning $54M, he admits in guilty plea

The former general counsel for the Moody’s Corp. pleaded guilty last week to willfully failing to pay tax returns during a four-year period in which he earned $54 million in total gross income.

Apr 30, 2024 9:30 AM CDT

Lawyer shot while allegedly trying to rob armored car

An Arkansas lawyer was taken to the hospital Wednesday after he was allegedly shot by an armored car employee during an attempted robbery, according to Little Rock, Arkansas, police.

Apr 29, 2024 10:51 AM CDT

Lawyer suspended after he’s accused of plying teens with alcohol and touching one of them sexually

The Ohio Supreme Court has suspended a lawyer who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault after being accused of touching his stepdaughter’s 18-year-old friend in a sexual manner during a sleepover in which she became sick from drinking the alcohol that he supplied.

Apr 25, 2024 3:21 PM CDT

Takeaways from the Supreme Court argument on Trump’s criminal immunity

The Supreme Court spent hours Thursday morning debating former president Donald Trump’s claim of immunity from prosecution for allegedly conspiring to undo the results of the 2020 election. The ruling, which could come in June, could do far more than chart the course of Trump’s case; it may forever alter the boundaries of presidential power.

Apr 25, 2024 2:00 PM CDT

Lawyer who argued Nixon-Watergate case fears SCOTUS might expand presidential immunity for Trump

Philip Lacovara, counsel to the Watergate special prosecutor, spoke with the ABA Journal about his experience with U.S. v. Nixon and his concerns about Trump v. United States. “When the Nixon case was decided, I thought that while it would give subsequent presidents the opportunity to claim executive privilege, which was not an established doctrine, I never thought it would lead to a former president claiming immunity from criminal prosecution. Yet here we are.”

Apr 23, 2024 11:19 AM CDT

Netflix’s ‘The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker’ smashes the circumstantial evidence argument

Netflix’s The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker tells the story of a man experiencing homelessness, whose rise and fall overshadowed what may have been telltale signs of someone suffering from mental health issues.

Apr 18, 2024 10:08 AM CDT

In New York, top federal prosecutor Damian Williams preaches speedy justice

Federal criminal cases are built on data, and Manhattan U.S Attorney Damian Williams has made a name for himself in law enforcement circles as wanting to modernize how prosecutors get, analyze and use that data.

Apr 10, 2024 12:30 PM CDT

Some Jan. 6 rioters win early release, even before key Supreme Court ruling

Federal judges have begun ordering the early release pending appeal of Jan. 6 defendants who challenged their sentences even though the Supreme Court is a week away from hearing arguments on whether a key charge brought against them is legally sound.

Apr 10, 2024 10:00 AM CDT

Parents of Oxford school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years each

James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the Oxford school shooter, were sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison by a Michigan judge on Tuesday, after their convictions in separate trials on involuntary manslaughter charges that stemmed from their son’s 2021 rampage that killed four students.

Apr 9, 2024 1:15 PM CDT

What to know about Trump’s New York charges—and any potential sentence

Former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, scheduled to begin Monday, centers on 34 counts against Trump of falsifying business records in the first degree, a felony that could result in his serving time at New York’s jail complex on Rikers Island or in state prison.

Apr 9, 2024 11:50 AM CDT

Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn’t tell full story

“Moreover, the series has thus far failed to explain some of the most counterintuitive aspects and sex-based discrepancies of American sentencing and incarceration,” writes Oklahoma lawyer and ABA Journal columnist Adam Banner.

Apr 8, 2024 12:32 PM CDT