Recent Updates

  • Court to weigh cocaine cases, could alter sentencing in Ohio

    Court to weigh cocaine cases, could alter sentencing in Ohio

    Politics 02/11/2016

    Prosecutors across Ohio are concerned that a ruling under review by Ohio's top court could delay and shorten sentences for suspects caught with cocaine and force costly changes upon law enforcement.The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday ...

  • Supreme Court puts Obama's climate change plan on hold

    Supreme Court puts Obama's climate change plan on hold

    Political and Legal News 02/11/2016

    A divided Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to halt enforcement of President Barack Obama's sweeping plan to address climate change until after legal challenges are resolved.The surprising move is a blow to the administration and a victory for the coaliti...

  • Rick Perry indictment goes before Texas' top criminal court

    Rick Perry indictment goes before Texas' top criminal court

    Political and Legal News 11/18/2015

    Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants the state's highest criminal court to dismiss felony charges against him that the Republican has partly blamed for his failed 2016 presidential bid.  The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will hear arguments Wedn...

  • Court: Therapy dog didn't sway jury against sex offender

    Court: Therapy dog didn't sway jury against sex offender

    Focused Practice 11/04/2015

    A therapy dog used to calm a testifying young victim did not influence the jury during the trial of an Ohio man who was convicted of having sex with a minor and providing drugs to another, an appeals court ruled.The Akron Beacon Journal reports the r...

  • California appeals court rejects right-to-die lawsuit

    California appeals court rejects right-to-die lawsuit

    Court News 11/04/2015

    A California appeals court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit by three terminally ill patients that sought to clear the way for doctors to prescribe fatal medication to them and others like them who want the option of taking their lives.A state law that ...

  • Chinese woman pleads guilty in college test-taking scheme

    Chinese woman pleads guilty in college test-taking scheme

    Legal Review 11/04/2015

    A Chinese woman pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiring to have two other women take college admissions examinations in her place to help her get accepted to Virginia Tech.  Yue Zou acknowledged having her boyfriend contact a China-based test-taki...

  • Supreme Court troubled by DA's rejection of black jurors

    Supreme Court troubled by DA's rejection of black jurors

    Legal Interview 11/04/2015

    The Supreme Court signaled support Monday for a black death row inmate in Georgia who claims prosecutors improperly kept African-Americans off the jury that convicted him of killing a white woman.  Justice Stephen Breyer likened the chief prosec...

  • Supreme Court considers if Pistorius guilty of murder

    Supreme Court considers if Pistorius guilty of murder

    Political and Legal News 11/04/2015

    South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal grilled Oscar Pistorius' attorney and a prosecutor on Tuesday as it weighed whether to convict him of murder for killing his girlfriend, uphold a lower court's manslaughter conviction or order a retrial.  P...

  • Lawyer tried to keep Somali rape victim in Australia

    Lawyer tried to keep Somali rape victim in Australia

    Legal Review 10/19/2015

    A lawyer for a pregnant Somalia refugee rape victim said Monday that he wanted to seek a court order keeping her in Australia before the government suddenly flew her to Nauru without providing the abortion she had requested.The case of the 23-year-ol...

  • 'Whitey' Bulger's lover heads to court on contempt charge

    'Whitey' Bulger's lover heads to court on contempt charge

    Political and Legal News 10/19/2015

    The longtime girlfriend and fugitive companion of James "Whitey" Bulger is expected in federal court to face a contempt charge for refusing to tell whether other people helped the Boston mobster during his 16 years on the run.  Catherine Greig i...

  • Suspect in some Phoenix freeway shootings pleads not guilty

    Suspect in some Phoenix freeway shootings pleads not guilty

    Practice Legal News 10/12/2015

    A man accused in some of the freeway shootings that put Phoenix drivers on edge for weeks pleaded not guilty Thursday as his defense lawyers questioned the strength of the evidence against him.Attorneys for Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., 21, who was arrai...

  • Arkansas court tosses conviction in woman's meth case

    Arkansas court tosses conviction in woman's meth case

    Legal Review 10/12/2015

    The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the conviction of a woman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison after giving birth to a baby with methamphetamine in his system. Melissa McCann-Arms, 39, was convicted by a jury in Polk County ...