Recent Updates
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Appeals court: Kansas abortion opponent must stand trial
Criminal Law 07/28/2015A Kansas abortion opponent must stand trial over a letter she sent to a Wichita doctor saying someone might place an explosive under the doctor's car, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned lat...
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Crimean Filmmaker Pleads Not Guilty in Terrorism Trial
Criminal Law 07/22/2015A Ukrainian filmmaker who has been in a Russian jail for more than a year on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. Critics have dismissed Oleh Sentsov's prosecution as revenge for his pro-Ukrainian position in Russi...
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Legal public nudity; cattle rustling; sheriff pays tax
Criminal Law 07/06/2015A Minnesota volunteer firefighter was suspended Sunday for flying a Confederate flag from an engine that he drove in a holiday parade, and he said he expects to be asked to resign. Brian Nielsen, 43, drove a Hartland Fire Department truck in the Thir...
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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...