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Criminal Practice

  • May 12, 2025

    Deny 'ComEd Four' A 'Third Bite' At Posttrial Apple, Feds Urge

    Prosecutors are asking an Illinois federal judge to disregard a former Commonwealth Edison CEO and three lobbyists' bid to use a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to try again to unwind their bribery convictions, arguing their motion is untimely and ignores the inapplicability of the high court's ruling, the jury instructions and "overwhelming evidence" proving their guilt.

  • May 12, 2025

    Diddy Abuse Case About 'Private' Sex Life, Atty Tells Jury

    Sean "Diddy" Combs is a "complicated man" whose allegedly violent sexual relationships involved "voluntary adult choices," a lawyer for the hip-hop icon told a Manhattan federal jury Monday at the start of a trial on sex-trafficking charges that could put him in prison for life.

  • May 08, 2025

    Feds Urge High Court Not To Take Jury-Right Case

    The government has asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to take up the case of a social media influencer who was denied a jury trial for a misdemeanor, arguing precedent and tradition show that "crimes" meriting a jury are distinct from petty offenses.

  • April 21, 2025

    Justices Sympathetic To Inmate Who 'Messed Up' Appeal

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday seemed dubious of a Fourth Circuit ruling refusing an inmate's appeal on procedural timing grounds, as the justices weighed a case that will likely disproportionately affect pro se litigants.

  • March 20, 2025

    NH Justice Can't Use Immunity To Escape Criminal Charges

    New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, indicted last year on charges she interfered with the state attorney general's investigation of her husband, has lost her second bid to dismiss the case, with a state judge rejecting her judicial immunity argument.

  • March 06, 2025

    Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

    Believe it or not, there's still important litigation happening that doesn't involve President Donald Trump, and the proof exists in this month's circuit court calendars. During the remaining weeks of March, arguments will explore numerous high-profile topics, including a law firm's severe punishment for alleged misconduct in 9/11 litigation and a judicial rebuke of Trader Joe's for "an attempt to weaponize the legal system."

  • March 04, 2025

    AG Asks Mich. High Court To Preserve Anti-Terrorism Law

    Michigan's attorney general asked the state Supreme Court to put on hold a ruling striking down the state's anti-terrorist threat law as unconstitutional, saying the ruling threatens to unravel ongoing prosecutions and hamper future responses to threats of violence.

  • March 03, 2025

    Justices To Weigh Double-Jeopardy Claim In Robbery Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to wade into a seven-circuit split over whether the double jeopardy clause allows for separate sentences on different charges stemming from the same robbery — an issue that can lead to significantly longer prison terms.

  • February 24, 2025

    3rd Circ. Says $31M Order To Refill Class Funds Isn't Enough

    The Third Circuit on Monday vacated and sent back a district court's order for a New Jersey man convicted of stealing $40 million from settlements in stockholder class actions to pay $31 million in restitution, ruling the order didn't fully compensate each victim of the fraud.

  • January 17, 2025

    High Court To Weigh Repeat Federal Prisoner Appeals

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear a Florida man's challenge to his 24-year bank robbery sentence, a case that aims to resolve a circuit split over whether federal prisoners can file multiple motions to vacate their convictions.

  • January 07, 2025

    Cato Institute Urges Justices To Hear Jury Right Case

    The Cato Institute asked the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday to accept a social media influencer's certification petition over the denial of a jury trial for a misdemeanor, saying the erosion of the Constitutional jury right for "all crimes" goes against the founders' intentions.

  • December 18, 2024

    The Biggest 1st Circ. Rulings Of 2024

    The nation's smallest federal circuit court in 2024 issued an opinion tackling the government of Mexico's efforts to hold U.S. firearms makers responsible for the flow of illegal arms across the southern border, determining the claims are not barred by a litigation shield, among other high-profile decisions.

  • December 02, 2024

    Ex-Soccer Boss Fears He'll Die While Fighting Conviction

    The ailing former president of the Brazilian soccer federation urged a New York federal judge to rule on his petition to have his FIFA bribery conviction overturned, telling the court Monday that he could die before a scheduled January hearing on the issue.

  • November 21, 2024

    4th Circ. Tells Judge To Try Again After 'Vindictive' Sentence

    A federal judge has been given a third chance to impose a proper sentence on a man who pled guilty to a drug-trafficking conspiracy charge, with the Fourth Circuit finding the judge erred when, after the defendant successfully appealed his initial sentence, he handed down an even harsher one.

  • October 31, 2024

    3rd Circ Rejects Charter Co. Exec's Ineffective Counsel Claims

    The co-founder and former executive of a now-defunct public air charter operator has lost a bid to escape a fraud conviction on the grounds her lawyers provided ineffective counsel in her criminal trial, with a unanimous Third Circuit panel determining the jury would not have been swayed by a different trial strategy.

  • October 28, 2024

    Mass. Court's Wiretap Ruling May Be Bad Omen For Plaintiffs

    A ruling by the Massachusetts high court rejecting wiretap claims over website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics shows the steep climb plaintiffs may continue to face as they try to apply older laws to modern technologies, experts told Law360.

  • October 03, 2024

    NJ Panel Opens Door To Remote Testimony In Criminal Cases

    Trial courts have the authority to hear requests for experts to testify remotely in criminal trials without the state's permission, a New Jersey state appellate panel found in a precedential ruling on Thursday, saying court rules and precedent that seemed at odds could be interpreted harmoniously.

  • September 27, 2024

    1st Circ. Drops Bribery, Reinstates Extortion In Casino Case

    The First Circuit on Friday reversed both convictions and acquittals in a high-profile bribery and extortion case involving a Rhode Island architect and a Massachusetts tribal official who had been found guilty of a quid pro quo exchange of pricey gifts related to a valuable design contract on the tribe's $1 billion casino development.

  • September 12, 2024

    Calif. OTA Denies Refund For Criminal Restitution Payments

    California's Office of Tax Appeals said it is unable to refund criminal restitution payments to a couple who operated 21 Subway franchises in the southern part of the state between 2003 and 2010 and pleaded guilty to tax fraud and evasion for some of those years.

  • September 06, 2024

    Baltimore, DC Legal Wins Help Curb Police Property Seizures

    In a span of less than two weeks this summer, a coalition of nonprofit civil rights litigators and private pro bono counsel notched a pair of legal victories in cases over two mid-Atlantic city police departments’ property seizure. Lawyers have expressed hope the impact could reach past their communities.

  • July 26, 2024

    Illinois Cases To Watch In 2024: Midyear Report

    Illinois attorneys say they are considering the path forward for Springfield corruption prosecutions following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, as well as paying attention to what comes next in Motorola Solutions' trade secret contempt fight and potential new guidelines for music copyright cases. Here are the cases to watch in Illinois for the rest of 2024.

  • July 01, 2024

    Court Tosses Constitutional Challenge To Pot Prohibition

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday granted the U.S. Department of Justice's bid to dismiss a constitutional challenge to federal marijuana prohibition, delivering a blow to an effort brought by a group of cannabis companies represented by litigator David Boies.

  • July 01, 2024

    Supreme Court Gives Trump Immunity For Official Acts

    Former presidents are entitled to absolute immunity from prosecution related to an indefinite list of official acts, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday, partially releasing Donald Trump from liability for allegedly interfering with the 2020 presidential election, but ultimately tasking lower courts with sussing out the full extent of his immunity.

  • June 05, 2024

    1st Circ. May Undo Tribal Casino Bribery Convictions

    First Circuit judges hinted Wednesday that jurisdictional flaws and other issues could reverse the bribery convictions of an architect and tribal chairman in connection with a proposed $1 billion casino in southeastern Massachusetts.

  • May 22, 2024

    Boies Urges Judge To Rethink Precedential Cannabis Case

    Attorney David Boies, representing a group of cannabis companies challenging federal marijuana prohibition, told a Massachusetts federal judge Wednesday that his clients' case should proceed because a U.S. Supreme Court case governing marijuana policy is out of date.

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