Recent Updates
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Arkansas court tosses conviction in woman's meth case
Criminal Law 10/11/2015The 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 after...
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Supreme Court declines to review insider trading case
Criminal Law 10/05/2015The Supreme Court said Monday it won't hear the Obama administration's appeal of a lower court ruling that made it tougher to prosecute people for trading on leaked inside information. The justices let stand a decision by the federal appeals court in...
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Court rejects ex-NY Fed employee's retaliation claim lawsuit
Criminal Law 09/24/2015A New York-based federal appeals court has rejected claims of a former employee of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who says she was fired for her probe into the banking firm Goldman Sachs. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on We...
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Charleston church suspect's friend charged with lying to FBI
Criminal Law 09/16/2015A friend of the man accused of gunning down nine parishioners at a Charleston church is charged with lying to federal authorities and concealing information during their investigation, and he was scheduled for his first court appearance Friday. ...
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Appeals court won't reinstate 1990 arson-murder conviction
Criminal Law 08/18/2015An elderly man who spent 24 years in prison for his daughter's death in a fire will remain free after a federal appeals court in Pennsylvania on Wednesday refused to reinstate his murder conviction. Han Tak Lee, 80, a native of South Korea who earned...
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Texas inmate executed for killing police officer in chase
Criminal Law 08/13/2015Texas inmate Daniel Lee Lopez got his wish Wednesday when he was executed for striking and killing a police lieutenant with an SUV during a chase more than six years ago. The lethal injection was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appe...
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Appeals court: Kansas abortion opponent must stand trial
Criminal Law 07/28/2015A Kansas abortion opponent must stand trial over a letter she sent to a Wichita doctor saying someone might place an explosive under the doctor's car, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned lat...
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Crimean Filmmaker Pleads Not Guilty in Terrorism Trial
Criminal Law 07/22/2015A Ukrainian filmmaker who has been in a Russian jail for more than a year on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. Critics have dismissed Oleh Sentsov's prosecution as revenge for his pro-Ukrainian position in Russi...
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Legal public nudity; cattle rustling; sheriff pays tax
Criminal Law 07/06/2015A Minnesota volunteer firefighter was suspended Sunday for flying a Confederate flag from an engine that he drove in a holiday parade, and he said he expects to be asked to resign. Brian Nielsen, 43, drove a Hartland Fire Department truck in the Thir...
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Man pleads guilty to charge over noose on Ole Miss statue
Criminal Law 06/21/2015A federal prosecutor said in court Thursday that Graeme Phillip Harris hatched a plan, after a night of drinking at a University of Mississippi fraternity house, to hang a noose on a campus statue of James Meredith, the first black student at Ole Mis...
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High court: Bankrupt homeowners can't void second mortgage
Criminal Law 06/01/2015A unanimous Supreme Court says homeowners who declare bankruptcy can't void a second mortgage even if the home isn't worth what they owe on the first mortgage. The justices on Monday ruled in favor of Bank of America in two Florida cases where bankru...
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Court in Va. examines death row isolation policy
Criminal Law 10/27/2014Virginia's practice of automatically holding death row inmates in solitary confinement will be reviewed by a federal appeals court in a case that experts say could have repercussions beyond the state's borders. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in ...