Recent Updates
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Man pleads guilty to charge over noose on Ole Miss statue
Criminal Law 06/21/2015A federal prosecutor said in court Thursday that Graeme Phillip Harris hatched a plan, after a night of drinking at a University of Mississippi fraternity house, to hang a noose on a campus statue of James Meredith, the first black student at Ole Mis...
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High court: Bankrupt homeowners can't void second mortgage
Criminal Law 06/01/2015A unanimous Supreme Court says homeowners who declare bankruptcy can't void a second mortgage even if the home isn't worth what they owe on the first mortgage. The justices on Monday ruled in favor of Bank of America in two Florida cases where bankru...
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Court in Va. examines death row isolation policy
Criminal Law 10/27/2014Virginia's practice of automatically holding death row inmates in solitary confinement will be reviewed by a federal appeals court in a case that experts say could have repercussions beyond the state's borders. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in ...
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Billionaire pleads guilty to sexual assault charge
Criminal Law 06/10/2014A Wisconsin billionaire has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having sexual contact with a teenage girl. Fifty-nine-year-old Samuel "Curt" Johnson III of Racine was originally charged with a felony count of child sexual assault. But prosecuto...
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Court revives victim lawsuit in mistaken shooting
Criminal Law 05/05/2014The Supreme Court has reinstated the lawsuit filed by a former major league baseball player's son who was shot on the porch of his family home by a Houston-area police officer. The justices on Monday ordered a lower court to reconsider the case of Ro...
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Two men found guilty for selling U.S. company’s technology
Criminal Law 03/07/2014A federal jury found two men guilty Wednesday of economic espionage involving the theft and sale of a U.S. company’s technology to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government. The jury returned the verdicts against Robert Maegerle and Walter Li...
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Farmer pleads guilty in pot growing scheme
Criminal Law 02/10/2014A Northern California farmer renowned nationally for his heirloom tomatoes has pleaded guilty to leasing out his greenhouses for growing marijuana. Sixty-four-year-old Thomas Jopson of Sutter County pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture at leas...
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Italian court hears final rebuttals in Knox trial
Criminal Law 01/20/2014A prosecutor urged a court on Monday to take steps to make sure that American Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend would serve their sentences, if they are convicted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher. Prosecutor Alessandro Crini p...
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MacDonald goes to court in 'Fatal Vision' case
Criminal Law 09/20/2012Jeffrey MacDonald, a clean-cut Green Beret and doctor convicted of killing of his pregnant wife and their two daughters, is getting another chance to try proving his innocence — more than four decades after the nation was gripped by his tales of Char...
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California deputy pleads guilty to weapons charge
Criminal Law 08/31/2012A former Sacramento County sheriff's deputy has pleaded guilty to a federal charge stemming from the illegal sale of dozens of weapons, some of which were used by criminals. Prosecutors in Sacramento say Thomas Lu and fellow former deputy Ryan McGowa...
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Pa. high court fast tracks juvenile lifer appeals
Criminal Law 08/10/2012Pennsylvania's highest court is moving quickly to determine how to respond to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles aren't constitutional. The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group based in Wash...
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Etan Patz suspect's court date postponed to Oct. 1
Criminal Law 06/21/2012Prosecutors made it clear Wednesday they are still investigating and assessing a case against a man charged in a notorious 1979 child disappearance, agreeing with his lawyer to postpone a court date for three months for both sides to keep gathering i...