Authorities have made new surprising disclosures today about Fredrick Goings, 36, the lawyer who is accused of killing New York Knicks player Eddy Curry’s ex-girlfriend and her infant daughter. It turns out that Goings had four past battery convictions on his record but was allowed to continue to practice in Illinois.
Category: Lawyering
The Supreme Court has decided to take up the criminal case of Frank Spisak for a second time. Spisak is a neo-Nazi who was convicted of murdering three men in Ohio and sentenced to death twenty-five years ago. However, the Sixth Circuit threw out the conviction after two sentencing hearings, one demanded by the Supreme Court after reviewing the case in October 2007. The Court has previously reinstated the sentence in disagreeing with the Sixth Circuit, but the appellate court proceeded on remand to again throw out the sentence. The case involved a bizarre argument by the defense counsel that encouraged the jury to consider damaging non-aggravating factors in sentencing, including a rambling and dark description of the “smell of death” surrounding the crimes.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Takes “Smell of Death” Case”
A bizarre case in New York has snared the careers of New York State Supreme Court Joseph G. Makowski, 55, and former prosecutor and Buffalo Law School professor Anne E. Adams. Adams pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors: drunken driving, offering a false instrument for filing and attempted tampering with physical evidence. Makowski resigned on the same day that Adams was fired by the law school. Makowski was accused of falsely attesting that Adams was not drunk when she left a bar.
Continue reading “New York State Supreme Court Justice and Law Professor Lose Jobs in Scandal”
U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice today and retired from the bench. In exchange, the prosecution will drop sexual assault charges. He will also avoid impeachment with the plea, though the status of his pension remains unclear.
Continue reading “Judge Kent Pleads Guilty to Obstruction; Faces Maximum of 20 Years in Prison”
Chicago Lawyer, Frederick Goings, 36, has been arrested for murder of 24-year-old Nova Henry and her 9-month-old daughter, Ava. Henry is the former girlfriend New York Knicks player Eddy Curry and mother of his 3-year-old son and daughter, Ava.
Continue reading “Chicago Lawyer Arrested for Murder of Former Girlfriend and Baby of New York Knicks Player Eddy Curry”
It has often been remarked that being a member of the Bush Administration would hardly be a resume advantage, particularly in scandalized agencies like the Justice Department. It turns out that many ex-Bush people are finding themselves radioactive in the job market, which is itself smaller than usual in the economic crisis that they helped create. Only 25 to 30 percent of 3,000 political appointees who served President George W. Bush have found work.
Continue reading “Will Work For Food or Favors: Roughly 70% of Bush Appointees Remain Unemployed”
There appears to be no professional courtesy between counsel and rodents at the Palm Beach County Courthouse. The court is overrun with mice that are falling from the ceilings and running across the floor during trials.
Continue reading “The Pitter Patter of Little Litigator Feet: Florida Courthouse Overrun With Mice”
A frequent commentator on local television in Las Vegas, Douglas Crawford, 53, admits to stealing roughly $400,000 from his client, charging for work never performed, and violating court orders. Despite 65 violations of the Rule of Professional Conduct, the Nevada Supreme Court declared him to be addicted to both gambling and drug and rejected calls for disbarment. Instead, it suspended him for five years.
Pillsbury partner Robert Robbins is facing some stern looks at his firm this week after it was revealed that he was the inadvertent source of the leaks of the firm’s plan to lay off lawyers that found its way to the Above the Law website. It turns out the Robbins took the opportunity to speak loudly on a cellphone on a train about the secret firings of almost two dozen lawyers, including listing them by name. He was sitting next to a law student at the time.
Continue reading “Pillsbury D’oh!boy: D.C. Partner Leaks Firing Plan on Train By Speaking Loudly Into Cell Phone”
Texas Judge Sharon Keller is having a bad month. Just last week, there was a move in the legislature to impeach her. Now the state judicial ethics commission has charged her with violating her duty and bringing discredit upon the judiciary. It is hard to be sympathetic with her position, however, given Judge Keller’s decision to told the Clerk’s office to close in 2007 when attorneys were rushing over with an after-hours final death row appeal for Michael Richards — who was then executed.
Continue reading “Judge Sharon Keller Charged With Five Ethics Violations”
Descendants of the Apache leader Geronimo have sued the ultra secret society, Skull and Bones, over rumors that the society stole his skull in a grave robbery detailed in society lore.
For those of you who believe that you have tough clients, you might want to consider the fate of Seattle attorney John Hicks. He represents rapist Curtis S. Thompson who must be wheeled into court with his chest, wrists and ankles bound due to prior threats against attorneys and a judge. That did not stop Thompson from lunging at Hicks in a recent hearing and screaming “You scared to death, ain’t you punk?” Hence the popularity of transactions law.
Continue reading “Accused Serial Rapist and Murderer Lunges At Counsel in Seattle Courtroom”
Newsweek is reporting that former Attorney General Michael Mukasey delayed a critical internal report on the conduct of senior Justice lawyers in the torture scandal, including Jay Bybee, John Yoo and Steven Bradbury. The delayed report not only adds another contradiction to Mukasey’s claims before Congress, but should add pressure on the Obama Administration to stop delaying a criminal investigation into the commission of war crimes by the Bush Administration.
Texas Rep. Lon Burnam has filed a resolution seeking an impeachment investigation of Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller, who has been denounced around the world for her refusal to keep a court office open to allow the filing of a late appeal in a death case. The prisoner, Michael Richard, was executed that night.
Continue reading “Texas Legislator Moves to Impeach Judge Sharon Keller Over Execution of Prisoner”
A judge in Muncie, Indiana has accepted a plea of guilty in a bizarre case involving a white supremacist and Satan worshiper who turned a prior hearing into chaos by shouting “Heil Hitler” and “White Power” at the judge before being held in contempt. Dmitriy V. Sklyarov, 20, has now pleaded guilty to biting a 9-year-old child 13 times on the arms and legal in October.
Continue reading “Nazi Satanist Bites Boy and Verbally Attacks Judge in Indiana”