Suffolk County lawmakers on Thursday approved a $10 million settlement for Martin Tankleff, who served 17 years in prison for killing his parents before an appellate court overturned the conviction in 2007. The legislature’s Ways and Means Committee voted 5-0 for the settlement, which was recommended by County Attorney Dennis Brown. “There’s no amount of […]
Louisiana man Robert McCoy was accused of killing Christine Colston Young, Willie Young and Gregory Colston, who were the mother, stepfather and son of Mr. McCoy’s estranged wife. There was substantial evidence that he had done so. The actual shooting was caught on tape as the victim had called 911 upon the shooter’s arrival and […]
Suffolk County, NY judge Janine Barbera Dalli sent text messages to Suffolk County prosecutors this week, guiding them on how to charge and try a case against a defendant, in clear violation of judicial ethics that bar judges from communicating privately with one side in a case. To their credit, prosecutors immediately disclosed the texts […]
Some cases take on a bigger life. Some cases get caught up in a political firestorm. Sacco and Vanzetti, The Scopes trial, The Rosenbergs, Willie Horton, Rodney King to name a few. They end up being not about what actually happened but about some larger societal issue that is reflected in the case. Anarchists, Evolution, […]
Illinois Judge Jeffrey O’Connor took a short nap during the presentation of evidence in the murder trial of Nicholas Sheley, charged with a notorious killing spree. At the 2014, trial, the lights were dimmed so the jury could watch security camera footage on a monitor. When the presentation ended, an assistant attorney general asked that […]
The Supreme Court threw open the normally tightly-sealed doors of the jury room in overturning the conviction of Miguel Pena-Rodriguez in the case of Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado. In a 5-3 decision written by Justice Kennedy, the Court ruled that a juror’s racial basis in the jury room – which was only revealed to the public […]
The Trump administration announced earlier this week new directives on deportation of undocumented immigrants, unleashing the full force and fury of the Federal government to find, arrest and deport aliens who have been convicted of all levels of crime. While the Obama administration has deported more undocumented immigrants than previous administrations, it has only deported […]
In 2012, James Holmes killed twelve people and injured seventy others in a ten-minute rampage at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Forty-one victims filed lawsuits some in Federal court and others in State court. According to the state lawsuit, the theater companies failed to hire sufficient security personnel in light of a previous […]
Against the advice of a federal judge, accused South Carolina church shooter Dylann Storm Roof will represent himself in a federal death penalty trial that began Monday. Roof filed a motion under seal Sunday to represent himself having also been found competent to stand trial. Federal District Court Judge Richard Gergel granted the motion moments […]
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