News

Midland, Texas, prosecutor's office investigator told jury a reliable source told him that someone named Cali was selling drugs from a hotel and other law enforcement agents told him Cali was the defendant. Defendant: hearsay! Prosecutor: testimony is admissible to give jury context. Fifth…

The White House is nominating seven lawyers for posts on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, a bipartisan panel that helps set policies for punishing people convicted of federal crimes. The panel has lacked enough members to do important work since 2019 (…

In 2016, the Supreme Court tossed out the murder conviction of Michael Wearry, who was found guilty of a 1998 murder and sentenced to death in 2002. After that conviction was vacated, Wearry sued Scott Perriloux, a prosecutor, and Marlon Foster, a police officer, alleging that the prosecutor and…

A man whose death sentence for killing a Missouri couple during a robbery more than a quarter of a century ago was put to death Tuesday, becoming the fifth person executed in the United States this year (…

A Maryland federal judge has approved federal prosecutors' request to bar any discussion of cannabis legalization from the upcoming trial of a man indicted for criminal conspiracy to traffic marijuana from California to Maryland (…

After being struck in the head with a metal handlebar, called the n-word, and having his life threatened by four white men in Lewiston, Me., Black man retrieves a gun from his home nearby, returns to the scene, and fires a shot into a dirt pile. At trial, the prosecutor peremptorily struck the…

President Joe Biden on Wednesday moved to further diversify the federal bench in terms of demographics and job experience with five new judicial nominees, including two women with backgrounds as public defenders selected as appellate judges (…

Today, in the first use of his clemency power, President Biden granted clemency to 78 people, including three pardons and 75 communtations. The Statement by President Joe Biden on the Clemency and Second Chance Month begins with these words:

America is a nation of laws and second chances,…

Although the United States Sentencing Commission lost a voting quorum shortly after enactment of the First Step Act in December 2018--and cannot amend the Guidelines without four commissioners--the Commission continues to do research and generate a wide range of reports.  This week the…

Utah Highway Patrol officer pulls over a car with Kansas plates for speeding and changing lanes without properly signaling. After talking with the driver, trooper returns to his patrol car and calls for a local sheriff's K-9 unit. The K-9 eventually shows up and alerts on the car, and the…