| Evidence is questioned in Campbell case | | Posted Saturday, January 13, 2007 12:45:27 PM by Blog57 Team | | Pretrial actions in the case involving Lonokes former mayor and police chief have trimmed one charge from the list by Lona McCastlain, 23rd judicial district prosecuting attorney. The state has agreed with counsel for Larry Norwood, and has agreed to nol pros the charge of a continuing criminal enterprise (CCE), McCastlain said in Fridays hearing. Norwoods case will also be severed, treated separately, from the charges against the others, for appeal purposes, McCastlain said. Other charges in the pending in the case involve Thomas Privett, former mayor; Ronald Jay Campbell, former chief of police; Kelly Campbell, Campbells wife; Bobby Junior Cox of Little Rock; and former Lonoke jailer Amy Staley. Norwoods pre-trial date is now April 12, with a jury trial on May 1.... | |
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| | | Whig.com | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 10:45:38 PM by Blog57 Team | | CARROLLTON, Ill. ? A former Plainville and Carrollton pastor who pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse was sentenced Monday to four years of probation. Jeffrey D. Heberlein, 43, pleaded guilty Sept. 22 to having inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in Carrollton. He could have received up to four years in prison. He was a pastor at two Carrollton churches in 2003 and 2004 when the offenses took place, authorities said. Heberlein was pastoring at Akers Chapel Church in Plainville for about two years when he made the guilty plea. He left that church last month. Several Akers Chapel church members declined to comment when contacted by The Herald-Whig, but one member did say Heberlein was voted out by church members. In court Monday, Heberlein apologized to the victim's family, his family and supporters, attorneys and Judge Lois Bell.... | |
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| | | Inquiry brings some anxiety | | Posted Monday, November 06, 2006 2:46:12 PM by Blog57 Team | | DEATHS PROBED: Criminal-liability issues have arisen since a 2002 law was passed by Congress. 11:28 PM PST on Sunday, November 5, 2006 By LORA HINES The Press-Enterprise A U.S. Forest Service employee has asked to have an attorney present before answering investigators' questions involving the deaths of five Forest Service firefighters in last month's Esperanza Fire. Anxiety over answering questions may spring from a 2003 fire in Idaho that killed two firefighters and resulted in an incident commander being held criminally liable, investigators said. The incident commander lost his job and was placed on federal probation for 18 months. The commander in Idaho was found liable after an investigation by the office of the inspector general in the U.S.... | |
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| | | Wingfield's escape trial on hold | | Posted Saturday, October 28, 2006 10:46:02 PM by Blog57 Team | | A state district judge in the escape trial of convicted murderer Raymond Wingfield temporarily put the proceedings on hold after his state-appointed defense attorneys requested fees that are above what the law allows.Officials from the Texas Attorney General's Office and the Special Prosecution Unit confirmed last week that the judge halted the trial for Wingfield's escape attempt from a state prison in Houston County in October of 2004.Gina DeBottis, chief attorney for the Special Prosecution Unit, said the judge granted a stay on the trial until after the issue goes before the Texas Supreme Court."It's not really our issue," DeBottis said. "It's more between the Attorney General's Office and the defense attorney's office at the Supreme Court on the issue of payment."Tom Kelley, a spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said the issue is the next course of action for when an attorney for an indigent inmate who commits a crime while he still in custody requests fees from the state that are higher than the legal cap."The law only allows so much legal expenses for attorneys," Kelley said.... | |
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| | | Defense Against Anonymous Blogger Backfires | | Posted Friday, October 20, 2006 10:45:31 AM by Blog57 Team | | Highlighting blogs as a potential trove of information for criminal defense lawyers, attorneys for a Connecticut school official tried to use MySpace to challenge the "Jane Doe" status of a former student who is suing for failure to protect her from the sexual advances of a coach. Anthony B. Corleto argued that the plaintiff waived anonymity by voluntarily publicizing her name, image and the "circumstances of her case" on a Web site. The attempt backfired, and a judge socked Corleto with a $1,000 sanction.Read the article: law.com | Posted: 10/18/2006 05:40:00 PM | Permalink .... | |
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| | | Branded for life | | Posted Thursday, October 12, 2006 12:45:31 PM by Blog57 Team | | Some believe convicted sex offenders will simply move from urban centers to rural areas if Proposition 83 is approved, actually making it easier for child molesters to commit crimes due to a lack of resources by small-town police. One reason for that fear is a key provision of Proposition 83 that makes it illegal for convicted sex offenders to live within 2,000 feet of a school or a park for the rest of their lives. Another provision makes possession of child pornography a felony, and another perhaps the most controversial requires convicts to wear global positioning system (GPS) devices for life. The proposition, which has equally strident supporters, was inspired by 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford, whose body was found on March 18, 2005, in Citrus County, Fla., shortly after twice-convicted sex offender John Evander Couey confessed to kidnapping the girl three weeks earlier.... | |
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| | | Deputy Attorney General Paul J. Mcnulty Announces Formation of National Procurement Fraud Task Force | | Posted Thursday, October 12, 2006 2:45:41 AM by Blog57 Team | | Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty announced today a new national procurement fraud initiative established by the Justice Department's Criminal Division to promote the early detection, prevention and prosecution of procurement fraud associated with increased contracting activity for national security and other government programs. In partnership with U.S. Attorneys' Offices, the Justice Department's Civil Division, and other federal law enforcement agencies, the department will form the National Procurement Fraud Task Force, chaired by Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division, to intensify the government's detection efforts and to continue prosecuting those who defraud taxpayers. Among others, the federal agencies that will participate in the Task Force include the FBI " /> FBI, the Special Inspector General for Iraq " /> Iraq Reconstruction and the Offices of Inspectors General (OIGs) for the Department of Defense " /> Department of Defense, CIA " /> CIA, NASA " /> NASA, General Services Administration, the Civil and Criminal Divisions of the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security " /> Homeland Security, Department of Energy " /> Department of Energy, Department of Veterans Affairs " /> Department of Veterans Affairs, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration " /> Social Security Administration, U.S.... | |
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| | | Wait's too long, say terror suspect's attorneys | | Posted Tuesday, October 03, 2006 6:45:53 PM by Blog57 Team | | It's been a year since terror suspect Mohammed Warsame has seen the inside of a courtroom and nearly three since his Minneapolis arrest, his attorneys say. Now an attorney is asking a federal judge to throw out the charges of aiding al-Qaida because of what he describes as unconstitutional delays. Warsame, a former Minneapolis Community and Technical College student, has been in custody since his December 2003 arrest with no trial date and no movement on his case, defense attorney David Thomas wrote in his motion filed with the court. "He has remained in custody under the most onerous of conditions because he has been accused of a 'terrorist offense.' It is undisputed that he has no prior criminal record," Thomas wrote. Federal authorities first arrested Warsame as a material witness in their investigation of the al-Qaida terrorist network.... | |
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| | | Death row appeals system flawed, advocates say | | Posted Monday, September 25, 2006 6:45:34 AM by Blog57 Team | | EDINBURG, Texas Texas allows inadequate legal work in the final stages of death penalty cases and provides minimal oversight for attorneys who handle the life or death claims. Judge Cheryl Johnson, a Republican on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, says that's a problem. Writs of habeas corpus are the court challenges meant to ensure no one unfairly convicted is executed. Habeas attorneys are supposed to find any misconduct or mistakes made by the defendant's trial lawyers, investigators, prosecutors, judges and jurors in the case. But if a state habeas attorney doesn't find or address a detail, the inmate may never get another chance to raise it. Activists say there are several examples in Texas of faulty work in writs of habeas corpus, the San Antonio Express-New reported in its editions today.... | |
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| | | Industry Insider: New faces and new places for Somerset County judges | | Posted Saturday, September 16, 2006 6:45:52 PM by Blog57 Team | | Somerset County Courthouse renovations and an expanding criminal caseload have resulted in some significant reshuf fling for judges and attorneys. Superior Court Judge Robert Reed has become the third criminal judge for the county, which is part of the state's 13th Vicinage, along with Hunterdon and Warren counties. He joined Presiding Criminal Judge Edward Coleman and Judge Frank Gasiorowski. All three judges are now located on the fifth floor of the courthouse building, in an attempt to make it easier to locate interpreters and at torneys who have matters before multiple judges during busy calendar days. The reshuffling comes as new Assignment Judge Yolanda Cic cone takes over for Judge Graham Ross, who retired at the end of last month.... | |
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