criminal prosecution

18 Stories

RFK Jr. Flips Again on Jan. 6: 'I Will Right Any Wrongs'

Presidential contender had earlier walked back a campaign email on 'J6 activists'

(Newser) - Last week, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign walked back an email they'd sent in which the independent presidential candidate referred to "J6 activists sitting in a Washington DC jail cell stripped of their Constitutional liberties." The team blamed the insertion of that sentence on a...

Prosecutor Changes Policy on Sex Worker Cases
Manhattan Drops
Prostitution Cases
Apr 21, 2021 6:25 PM CDT

Manhattan Drops Prostitution Cases

Vance changes policy on prosecuting sex workers

(Newser) - Prostitution and unlicensed massage criminal cases will no longer be prosecuted in Manhattan, the district attorney announced Wednesday, joining a national trend. "Over the last decade we've learned from those with lived experience," Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a statement, "and from our own experience on...

GOP DA Threatens Sex-Ed Teachers With Jail

Wis. lawman: Classes may contribute to delinquency of a minor

(Newser) - A Republican district attorney in Wisconsin is warning teachers who talk about contraceptives in class that they may be prosecuted for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Juneau County DA Scott Southworth calls a state law establishing a new sex-ed program in schools a "sick and shameful piece...

Oh, Poor Polanski, Child Rapist
 Oh, Poor Polanski, Child Rapist 
OPINION
Sep 28, 2009 1:31 PM CDT

Oh, Poor Polanski, Child Rapist

He pleaded guilty and fled. How can anyone rationalize that?

(Newser) - Kate Harding would like to remind everyone crowing about the injustice of arresting a 76-year-old man who’s put in 31 years of exile that Roman Polanski is a fugitive and, coincidentally, a child rapist. The director “gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne,” according to her...

Pfizer Pays Record $2.3B Fine for False Marketing

(Newser) - Pfizer will shell out $2.3 billion—a record for a health care fraud settlement—over deceptive marketing of its drugs, the Los Angeles Times reports. Pfizer and one of its subsidiaries marketed four drugs based on off-label uses specifically prohibited by the FDA. The settlement with the Justice Department...

Burress Indicted, Faces 15 Years

(Newser) - Former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was indicted on gun charges today in New York, where he accidentally shot himself in the leg with an unlicensed handgun in November, the Post reports. Burress is charged with two felony counts of criminal possession and one count of reckless endangerment, a...

US Won't Charge Ruth Madoff

Not enough evidence to nab Bernie's wife in Ponzi scheme

(Newser) - Ruth Madoff won’t be prosecuted in her husband’s giant Ponzi scheme, insiders tell the New York Post, because the feds didn't find enough evidence against her after a 6-month probe. She had “no criminal exposure,” one source says. But if something new turns up, authorities could...

Court: Defendants Can Question Crime Lab

Scientists must be brought to court

(Newser) - A 5-4 Supreme Court ruling yesterday gives defendants the chance to face authors of crime lab reports in their cases. Prosecutors who want to use lab testing undertaken for a given case will be required to bring its authors to court, where the defense can confront them. The ruling shows...

FBI to Expand Role Battling Terrorism

Marks effort toward investigation, criminal prosecution of accused terrorists

(Newser) - The FBI will take a bigger role in the fight against terrorism, the Los Angeles Times reports, moving into investigation and criminal prosecution of accused terrorists. The shift marks a change from the secretive CIA operations favored by the Bush administration, and ties in with President Obama’s assertion that...

Craigslist to SC AG: Apologize, and Back Off

(Newser) - Craigslist is due an apology from South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, the site’s CEO writes on his company blog, after threatening “unwarranted and unconstitutional charges against us that are clearly barred by federal law.” What’s more, Jim Buckmaster charges, Craigslist isn’t the only outlet...

Obama Must Oppose Spain's Bush Lawyer Probe: Bolton

Only our Constitution should judge policy decisions

(Newser) - President Obama’s "John Ehrlichman approach" to Spain’s investigation of Bush officials may be “smart politics,” but it’s dangerous for the country, writes John Bolton in the Washington Post. If the administration doesn’t speak out against the probe, it allows an “unaccountable...

Judge Holds Madoff Assets for Feds
Judge Holds Madoff Assets for Feds
Apr 20, 2009 6:19 PM CDT

Judge Holds Madoff Assets for Feds

Holdings may go to government through criminal forfeiture

(Newser) - A federal judge stopped Bernard Madoff's assets from moving into bankruptcy today, saying the government may claim them through criminal forfeiture because of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg reports. US District Judge Denny Chin blocked more than $100 million from being moved, a setback to investors who had won the right...

Sexting Is Naive—But Cops Calling It Child Porn Is Stupid

(Newser) - The recent—or recently discovered—“sexting” epidemic has produced a reasoned response from educators, and a wild overreaction from police,” Dahlia Lithwick writes on Slate. “Schools are enacting what amounts to a don't-ask-don't-tell policy” on teenagers sending out naked pictures of themselves, and others, she writes. But...

Prosecution in 'Baby Grace' Trial to Call Final Witness

Mother faces life in prison for toddler's murder

(Newser) - Prosecutors will call their final witness today in the case against Kimberly Dawn Trenor, the Texas mother accused of beating her 2-year-old daughter to death, the AP reports. The Galveston County medical examiner will testify today as the prosecution finishes presenting evidence that Trenor, 20, with her husband, killed Riley...

What Crime Did He Actually Commit?

Despite phone taps, evidence against Blago may not secure conviction

(Newser) - Rod Blagojevich's foul-mouthed conversations about Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat may have been "appalling," as Patrick Fitzgerald said last week. But were they actually illegal? With no appointment made and no evidence that the governor received anything, prosecutors may have a difficult case if and when Blagojevich...

Was Wal-Mart Trampling a Crime?

Experts mixed on whether death can be prosecuted

(Newser) - Trampling a Long Island Wal-Mart worker in a frenzied rush for flat-screen TVs may be a prosecutable crime, reports Newsday, but experts are split. “In order to prosecute a homicide, you have to establish that someone caused a death," said a lawyer. "If I stepped on his...

Hooker Bookers Fume After Spitzer Let Off

Club VIP managers face sentencing as ex-governor walks

(Newser) - The prostitution agency that once served Eliot Spitzer is hardly happy that the disgraced former governor is getting off, at their expense, Salon reports. Spitzer evaded federal charges for patronizing a prostitution ring, prompting an attorney for one of the agency’s bookers—who is facing 6-16 months in jail—...

US, Iraq Close to 2011 Pullout Pact

Deal would also allow Iraq prosecutions of US soldiers who commit rape, murder

(Newser) - The US and Iraq are close to clinching a new security agreement which would include a targeted 2011 date for troop withdrawal—and a provision to allow US troops to be prosecuted in Iraqi courts. The US military has enjoyed blanket immunity from criminal prosecution, but under the new agreement...

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