Recent Updates
-
High court sides with ex-Enron CEO Skilling
Lawyer Blogs 06/24/2010The Supreme Court has sided with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling in limiting the use of a federal fraud law that has been a favorite of white-collar crime prosecutors.The court said Thursday that the "honest services" law could not be used in convi...
-
2nd Mass. man to change plea in black church arson
Lawyer Blogs 06/22/2010A second man is expected to change his not-guilty plea in the arson fire that destroyed a predominantly black Massachusetts church hours after Barack Obama was elected president.Thomas Gleason Jr. has a change-of-plea hearing scheduled Tuesday in U.S...
-
Judge: Slaughterhouse manager will get 27 years
Lawyer Blogs 06/22/2010A former vice president of an Iowa kosher slaughterhouse will be sentenced to 27 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $27 million restitution for his conviction on financial fraud charges, a federal judge said Monday.Chief U.S. District Court Ju...
-
High court upholds anti-terror law
Lawyer Blogs 06/21/2010The Supreme Court has upheld a federal law that bars "material support" to foreign terrorist organizations, rejecting a free speech challenge from humanitarian aid groups.The court ruled 6-3 Monday that the government may prohibit all forms of aid to...
-
Pa. ex-lawmaker to be sentenced in corruption case
Lawyer Blogs 06/18/2010A central figure in Pennsylvania's legislative corruption case — former lawmaker Mike Veon — is scheduled for sentencing in Harrisburg.The former state House Democratic whip is to appear Friday before Dauphin Court Judge Richard Lewis.Veon stands con...
-
US court tosses protester's arrest at Liberty Bell
Lawyer Blogs 06/17/2010An anti-abortion protester arrested in 2007 had a First Amendment right to demonstrate on a sidewalk near the entrance the building that houses the Liberty Bell, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.The decision overturns lower-court rulings that ...
-
BP agrees to $20B fund for spill victims
Lawyer Blogs 06/16/2010President Barack Obama met on his own turf with top BP officials on Wednesday to press his demands that the London-based oil giant pay into a claims fund for victims of the worst oil spill in the nation's history.BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, CEO...
-
Utah man facing firing squad seeks federal stay
Lawyer Blogs 06/15/2010A death row inmate set to be executed by firing squad Friday is scrambling to block his execution after losing an appeal at the Utah Supreme Court and failing to persuade the state parole board to grant him clemency.Ronnie Lee Gardner's attorneys are...
-
High court rejects appeal in rendition case
Lawyer Blogs 06/14/2010The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Canadian engineer who was caught up in the U.S. government's secret transfer of terror suspects to other countries.The court did not comment Monday in ending Syrian-born Maher Arar's quest to sue top U....
-
Lawsuit alleges Palace ex-staffers took secrets
Lawyer Blogs 06/11/2010The company that owns the Detroit Pistons is alleging that former employees stole trade secrets when they quit to join a former executive at a sports-and-entertainment rival. The Detroit News says Thursday that a lawsuit filed by Palace Sports & ...
-
Rwandan judge says no bail for US lawyer
Lawyer Blogs 06/10/2010A Rwandan judge Monday turned down a bail application by an American lawyer charged with denying Rwanda's 1994 genocide and publishing articles that threaten the country's security. Peter Erlinder pleaded not guilty to the charges in court last Frida...
-
Court sides with paper mill in Fox River cleanup
Lawyer Blogs 06/09/2010A lawyer for Appleton Papers, Inc. says a court has ruled that two insurance companies will have to contribute $10 million toward the cleanup of the Fox River. Madison attorney Ron Ragatz says Tuesday's ruling by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals means ...