Recent Updates
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Billionaire pleads guilty to sexual assault charge
Criminal Law 06/10/2014A Wisconsin billionaire has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having sexual contact with a teenage girl. Fifty-nine-year-old Samuel "Curt" Johnson III of Racine was originally charged with a felony count of child sexual assault. But prosecuto...
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Court revives victim lawsuit in mistaken shooting
Criminal Law 05/05/2014The Supreme Court has reinstated the lawsuit filed by a former major league baseball player's son who was shot on the porch of his family home by a Houston-area police officer. The justices on Monday ordered a lower court to reconsider the case of Ro...
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Two men found guilty for selling U.S. company’s technology
Criminal Law 03/07/2014A federal jury found two men guilty Wednesday of economic espionage involving the theft and sale of a U.S. company’s technology to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government. The jury returned the verdicts against Robert Maegerle and Walter Li...
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Farmer pleads guilty in pot growing scheme
Criminal Law 02/10/2014A Northern California farmer renowned nationally for his heirloom tomatoes has pleaded guilty to leasing out his greenhouses for growing marijuana. Sixty-four-year-old Thomas Jopson of Sutter County pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture at leas...
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Italian court hears final rebuttals in Knox trial
Criminal Law 01/20/2014A prosecutor urged a court on Monday to take steps to make sure that American Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend would serve their sentences, if they are convicted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher. Prosecutor Alessandro Crini p...
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MacDonald goes to court in 'Fatal Vision' case
Criminal Law 09/20/2012Jeffrey MacDonald, a clean-cut Green Beret and doctor convicted of killing of his pregnant wife and their two daughters, is getting another chance to try proving his innocence — more than four decades after the nation was gripped by his tales of Char...
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California deputy pleads guilty to weapons charge
Criminal Law 08/31/2012A former Sacramento County sheriff's deputy has pleaded guilty to a federal charge stemming from the illegal sale of dozens of weapons, some of which were used by criminals. Prosecutors in Sacramento say Thomas Lu and fellow former deputy Ryan McGowa...
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Pa. high court fast tracks juvenile lifer appeals
Criminal Law 08/10/2012Pennsylvania's highest court is moving quickly to determine how to respond to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles aren't constitutional. The Sentencing Project, an advocacy group based in Wash...
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Etan Patz suspect's court date postponed to Oct. 1
Criminal Law 06/21/2012Prosecutors made it clear Wednesday they are still investigating and assessing a case against a man charged in a notorious 1979 child disappearance, agreeing with his lawyer to postpone a court date for three months for both sides to keep gathering i...
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Ohioan to plead guilty to defrauding fellow Amish
Criminal Law 03/14/2012An Ohio man will plead guilty in federal court to defrauding fellow Amish in 29 states out of nearly $17 million as part of a case the man's church had hoped to shield from publicity and outside involvement, the government said Tuesday. The attorney ...
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Iowa man pleads not guilty to bestiality charge
Criminal Law 03/08/2012A northern Iowa man who allegedly performed a sex act on a dog has pleaded not guilty to a bestiality charge. The Globe Gazette says 50-year-old Steven Schindler, of LuVerne, waived his right to a preliminary hearing set for March 15 in Hancock Count...
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Driver acquitted in deadly Megabus crash in NY
Criminal Law 02/28/2012A bus driver was acquitted Tuesday of homicide charges in the deaths of four passengers killed when his double-decker crashed into an overpass in upstate New York. A judge announced the verdict after a non-jury trial for 60-year-old John Tomaszewski ...