While his attorneys asked for just 12 years, Bernie Madoff, 71, has been sentenced to 150 years after expressing sorrow for the ruin that he brought to thousands of people — rich and poor — through his criminal enterprise.
Category: Lawyering
As expected, the Supreme Court voted in Ricci v. DeStefano, the New Haven firefighters case, to reverse the decision of the Second Circuit panel, which included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Also as expected, Justice Kennedy played the swing vote in giving cities a new defense in such cases. Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. The fear of litigation was not sufficient to justify the discrimination against white and Hispanic firefighters. Firefighters challenged a decision to throw out promotional exam results because no African-American firefighters were among the top scoring candidates for promotion — only white and Hispanic officers. Judge Sonia Sotomayor was on the panel that upheld the city’s decision in one of her most controversial decisions.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules 5-4 to Reverse Sotomayor Ruling in New Haven Firefighters Case”
Larry Wilder, the City Council attorney for Jeffersonville, Ind. has announced that he will resigned due to recent criticism. It was not Wilder’s skills or courtroom demeanor that proved his undoing. It was the combination of a certain trash can, a lawyer, and a camera. He resign before he was . . . well . . . canned.
Continue reading “Trashed: City Attorney Resigns After Embarrassing Photos in Garbage Can”
Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers and wife of Judiciary Chairman John Conyers has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery. She is free on personal bond awaiting sentencing. This is
only the latest criminal plea or conviction for the Detroit political establishment.
Continue reading “Monica Conyers Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Bribery”
U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent has finally resigned after Congress expedited his impeachment and Senate trial. In a remarkably dim-witted act, Kent’s lawyer announced that they had calculated that Congress could not possibly complete an impeachment and start a trial for a year. Thus, he decided that he would resign in a year to continue to bilk the government for salary and benefits. The inevitable result was that an infuriated Congress expedited the process.
Continue reading “Judge Samuel Kent Resigns to Avoid Senate Hearing”
Manhattan trial attorney Michael Harrison has been named as the unidentified lawyer that is the subject of an ineffective counsel ruling where the court found that counsel fell asleep during trial, read magazines during witness testimony and gave such a rambling, implausible opening argument that the jury laughed.
Continue reading “Court Orders New Trial After Lawyer Allegedly Sleeps in Court, Reads Health Magazines During Testimony, and Gives “Laughable” Opening Argument”
Dane Halovich can hardly complain that justice is slow or distant in Nevada. This week, Supreme Court Justice Kris Pickering drove her Mercedes into his UPS Store.
Continue reading “Blind Justice? Nevada Supreme Court Justice Kris Pickering Plows Into UPS Store With Her Mercedes”
The New York Supreme Court Appellate Division has suspended New York lawyer Cheryl Brodsky in a rather bizarre case where she falsely claimed to be the wife of Queens Supreme Court Administrative Judge Jeremy Weinstein and then refused to get a mental health evaluation.
Continue reading “Marriage of Convenience: New York Lawyer Suspended After Falsely Claiming to Be Judge’s Wife”
Convicted drug dealer Calvin Eugene Wells is looking at a likely release from prison based not on his conduct or innocence, but a three-letter typo. Wells was sentenced in October 2005 to 10 years for his possession of more than 100 grams of cocaine. However, the verdict form signed by the jurors contained a typo that wast eh grounds for an appellate court to slashed his sentence down to a fifth-degree felony.
Continue reading “Ohio Inmate to be Freed Over Typo on Sentencing Form”
DePaul University President The Reverend Fr. Dennis H. Holtschneider (right) has announced his selection of Illinois Appellate Judge Warren Wolfson, 76, as the new interim dean at the DePaul University College of Law for a two-year appointment. The announcement led to the resignation of the associate dean and only further angered the faculty and students.
Continue reading “DePaul President Names Former Judge as New “Interim” Dean for Two Years”
Dorothy Hendricks, 54, of St. Croix has been charged with allegedly trying to sell her vote on a criminal jury. Another juror is also under investigation in the U.S. Virgin Islands for trying to sell their votes for between $3000 and $5000 to a defense attorney.
Continue reading “Jurors Under Investigation for Attempted Bribery”
Attorney Bryan Simmons says that he was brought low by the double scourge of hard work and catfish. Simmons drove off the road and got stuck in a ditch with a flat tire– the result of fatigue from a trial and a reaction to the black pepper sprinkled on his catfish. District Judge John Miller ordered him to pay the costs of a trial that ended in the middle of jury selection due to his failure to appear.
Continue reading “Fish Story? Texas Lawyer Asserts the Catfish Defense in DWI Case”
Gentleman assume your couches! Happy Father’s Day to all of the Turley bloggers.
A state judge in Illinois has ruled that an Illinois law requiring state judges to retire after turning 75 is unconstitutional. Notably, the author of the four-judge decision Justice Charles Freeman (left) would himself be forced to retire under the law. In the meantime, the U.S. Supreme Court has voted against age discrimination claims of older workers.
Continue reading “Illinois Judges Rule That They Cannot Be Forced to Retire Based on Age While Justices in Washington Raise the Bar for Age Discrimination for Citizens”
In a split 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. ruled that an individual cannot demanded access or testing to DNA material after his conviction becomes final in District Attorney’s Office v. Osborne (08-6).
Continue reading “Supreme Court Rules Against Constitutional Right to Access to DNA Testing”