|
|
|
DA asks court to reject OJ co-defendant appeal
Criminal Law Updates |
2009/10/18 08:19
|
O.J. Simpson's convicted co-defendant got a fair trial and wasn't a victim of "spillover prejudice" as he alleges in his appeal, a prosecutor told the Nevada Supreme Court on Friday. "A defendant 'is not entitled to a perfect trial, but only a fair trial,'" wrote Clark County District Attorney David Roger, citing state and federal case law supporting his position that Clarence "C.J." Stewart should remain in prison for his role in a September 2007 armed hotel room heist. Stewart's lawyer, Brent Bryson, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Bryson still has a chance to answer the district attorney's 46-page response to Stewart's initial request for the court to overturn Stewart's conviction. The former Simpson golfing buddy claims he should have been tried separately from the former NFL football star, whose acquittal in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, in Los Angeles was dubbed the "trial of the century." Stewart also maintains that evidence was improperly used against him, and that the jury foreman hid a bias toward Simpson until after the pair were convicted and sentenced. |
|
|
|
|
|
Attorney convicted of stealing from law firm
Criminal Law Updates |
2009/10/07 16:24
|
A La Fox woman has been convicted of stealing $137,237 from the St. Charles law firm of Day and Tietz in 2004, it was announced Tuesday. Ann M. Day, 52, of the 1N600 block of Harley Road, was convicted Friday by Kane County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Sheldon. Testimony was heard in May. Sheldon issued his verdict in writing. Day was found guilty of 12 counts of theft (four of them a Class 1 felony and eight a Class 2 felony) and 16 counts of forgery (a Class 3 felony), according to the Kane County State's Attorney's Office. Day was arrested in late February of 2005 by St. Charles police after a four-month investigation. Her law partner, Karen Tietz, called police when irregularities in the firm's accounting surfaced. The two women had formed the firm in January 2004. They knew each other from participation at Hosanna! Lutheran Church in St. Charles, for which Day provided legal services.
From January to October 2004, Day took checks made out to the firm and altered them to make them payable to herself, including forging her partner's name. She would then deposit them in her personal account. She also wrote checks to herself from the firm's checking account and then altered the firm's ledger to misrepresent the purpose of the reimbursement. Additionally, she asked clients to make checks payable to her, not the firm. Day faces a sentence of probation or between four and 15 years in prison. She remains free on $2,500 bond. No sentencing date has been announced. |
|
|
|
|
|
Woman charged in $700G theft from NY law firm
Criminal Law Updates |
2009/09/20 16:28
|
State police say a secretary has been charged in connection with the theft of more than $700,000 from the Hudson Valley law firm where she worked. Troopers say 43-year-old Mary Merten of New Paltz was charged Wednesday with grand larceny, forgery, falsifying business records and possession of a forged instrument. The arrest follows a five-month investigation into an embezzlement scheme at a local attorneys office where Merten worked as a legal secretary and bookkeeper. Investigators say more than $700,000 was stolen from corporate and personal accounts associated with the firm. The law firm's name wasn't released. Merten was being held Thursday in Ulster County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. It couldn't be immediately determined if she had a lawyer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lab tech arrested in Yale killing arrives at court
Criminal Law Updates |
2009/09/17 16:25
|
A lab technician charged with murdering a Yale grad student is in court for arraignment.
Raymond Clark III arrived at court in New Haven just after 10 a.m. escorted by police with his hands cuffed behind his back. Clark was arrested Thursday at a hotel and charged with murdering Annie Le, whose body was found stuffed in the wall of a research building on what would have been her wedding day. Police say it was a case of workplace violence, but didn't elaborate. Police had been waiting outside the Super 8 hotel in Cromwell, about 25 miles north of the Ivy League campus, where Clark got a room shortly after being released from police questioning in the death of the 24-year-old student. |
|
|
|
|
|
Court sets execution date for DC sniper mastermind
Criminal Law Updates |
2009/09/16 15:26
|
A Virginia judge has set a Nov. 10 execution date for John Allen Muhammad, mastermind of the 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area.
The attorney general's office had requested a Nov. 9 execution. But Muhammad's attorney Jonathan Sheldon says Prince William County Circuit Judge Mary Grace O'Brien delayed it one day. That's because Nov. 9 is a Monday and they want government offices to be open the day before in case of last-minute court action. Muhammad was sentenced to death for the slaying of Dean Meyers, one of 10 people shot to death during a 2002 rampage that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area. Sheldon says Muhammad will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and ask the governor for clemency. |
|
|
|
|
|
Conn. Supreme Court rejects appeal in 1997 murder
Criminal Law Updates |
2009/08/24 10:18
|
The Connecticut Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of one of eight people in the rape and murder of a 13-year-old New Milford girl in 1997.
The state's high court in Hartford ruled unanimously Monday to uphold the conviction of Keith Foster. He was convicted of nine charges, including felony murder, conspiracy to commit murder, first-degree sexual assault and three counts of first-degree kidnapping. He was sentenced in August 2006 to 60 years in prison on a murder charge and 50 years on the other counts. Maryann Measles was kidnapped on Oct. 19, 1997, while she was waiting in the parking lot for her mother, who was shopping for groceries. She was raped and strangled, and her body was wrapped in a blanket and chains and dumped into the Housatonic River. |
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|