prosecutor – News Stories About prosecutor - Page 2

Model Cut Off, Wore Lover's Testicles: Lawyer

Renato Seabra pleads guilty to murder by reason of insanity

(Newser) - A Portuguese male model admits to killing his lover in a fit of rage—but says he wore the man's severed testicles as a talisman and became a healer, the Daily News reports. Renato Seabra, 21, "willingly told police" about the crime because "he thought what he...

Prosecutor: No Grand Jury for Trayvon Shooting

Angela Corey to decide herself whether to charge George Zimmerman

(Newser) - Special prosecutor Angela Corey has announced that she will not be handing the Trayvon Martin case over to a grand jury, and will instead decide whether to charge George Zimmerman unilaterally. A grand jury had been set to convene tomorrow, on the orders of Corey's predecessor, CNN explains. But...

Marcia Clark Says Casey Anthony Verdict Worse Than OJ Simpson Acquittal

Marcia Clark: Casey Anthony Verdict Crazier Than OJ's

Anthony wasn't a celebrity, and there was no Mark Fuhrman

(Newser) - When she heard the Casey Anthony verdict, Marcia Clark flashed back to how she felt when OJ Simpson was acquitted. “But this case was different. The verdict was far more shocking,” the ex-prosecutor in the Simpson case writes in the Daily Beast . Casey wasn’t a beloved celebrity,...

Top Las Vegas Drug Prosecutor in Paris Hilton, Bruno Mars Cases Arrested for Crack Cocaine

Paris Hilton Drug Prosecutor Nabbed for Crack

David Schubert caught buying coke on Vegas street: police

(Newser) - A top Las Vegas drug prosecutor is getting a view from the other side: He's been arrested for allegedly buying crack cocaine, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. David Schubert, who has prosecuted the likes of Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars, was spotted buying the drug from a street dealer on...

Cops Dismiss New Natalee Holloway Confession

Suspect says he dumped her body

(Newser) - The young Dutchman who has been arrested twice in connection with the disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005 is on tape confessing to dumping her body—but the prosecutor doesn’t believe him. Joran van der Sloot’s claim that he disposed of her body “...

Knox Acted Out of 'Hatred': Prosecutor

Closing argument speaks of 'crescendo of violence'

(Newser) - Italian prosecutors pulled out all the stops in closing arguments at the Amanda Knox murder trial, telling the court that the American exchange student killed Meredith Kercher in "an unstoppable crescendo of violence." The chief prosecutor restated his argument that Knox murdered her roommate out of spite because...

Prosecutor: I Lied in Polanksi Film About Misconduct

Wells now denies coaching judge on how to send director to jail

(Newser) - A retired Los Angeles County prosecutor who told the creators of a documentary that he coached a judge on how to send Roman Polanski to prison despite a plea bargain now says he lied. David Wells—whose claims in Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired sparked accusations of misconduct and were...

Iran: Protesters Were Tortured

Prosecutor general blamed Basij, Revolutionary Guard for 'painful accidents'

(Newser) - The Iranian prosecutor general admitted today that protesters arrested in the wake of the disputed presidential election were tortured, the New York Times reports. The comments by Qorbanali Dori-Najafabadi were the first official acknowledgments of torture made by an Iranian government official. Dori-Najafabadi blamed what he called a few “...

Sotomayor's Inspiration? Perry Mason

(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor’s zeal for the law comes from the tube, the Los Angeles Times reports. The former prosecutor credits for her conversion a Perry Mason episode where the titular defense attorney “proved his client innocent and got the actual murderer to confess,” the Supreme Court nominee told...

Judge Throws Out Sentence in MySpace Suicide Case

(Newser) - A Los Angeles federal judge has tentatively thrown out the convictions of a Missouri mother for her role in a MySpace hoax directed at a 13-year-old neighbor girl who ended up committing suicide. US District Judge George Wu acquitted Lori Drew of misdemeanor counts of accessing computers without authorization. Wu...

Families Join Manslaughter Probe in Plane Crash

(Newser) - Three families of victims in the Air France crash have signed on as plaintiffs in a manslaughter probe into the Air France crash, reports the BBC. Under French law, they'll now have access to investigative files. The Paris prosecutor launched the probe last week, which is routine in such cases....

Rogue Prosecutor Targets Knox

'Railroad job' of a case lacks clear-cut evidence, motive

(Newser) - With “flawed and flimsy” evidence and “no motive,” the murder trial of Amanda Knox seems more about a prosecutor’s ambitions than any likelihood the American student actually killed her housemate, Timothy Egan writes in the New York Times. “Any fair-minded jury would have thrown” the...

As Threats Soar, Court Officials Pack Heat

Judges, prosecutors hire guards, carry guns after string of slayings

(Newser) - Judges and prosecutors are facing a huge upswing in threats, driving many to carry guns or get 24-hour guard protection, the Washington Post reports. Threats against federal court officials have jumped from 592 to 1,278 in the past 6 years. “I live with a constant heightened sense of...

Jersey Gang Lawyer Charged in Witness Murder

(Newser) - A flamboyant, high-profile New Jersey gang lawyer has been charged with murder for his role in the death of a key witness against his clients, according to law enforcement authorities. Former prosecutor Paul Bergrin, 53, is accused of leaking the name of a confidential witness to gang members who shot...

Nazi Prosecutor Loved Zinging 'Fat Boy' Goering

Letters offer glimpse into Nuremberg

(Newser) - Newly released letters offer a glimpse behind the scenes of the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, reports the BBC. The letters that British prosecutor David Maxwell-Fyfe sent his wife reveal a playful side—he refers to Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering as "the fat boy" and "slap-happy Hermann"—...

Illegal Immigrant Cases Hog Justice's Resources

Once-federal cases get bounced to state, local officials

(Newser) - A federal focus on prosecuting immigration crimes is killing resources to deal with a wide variety of other cases—meaning those cases go to state and local authorities, often overwhelming them, the New York Times reports. Immigration cases have soared in the past 5 years, while federal prosecution of drugs...

Burnt-Out Defenders Refuse New Cases

(Newser) - Public defenders are as overworked as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore, the New York Times reports. Arguing that their hectic schedules result in scant attention for clients, government-appointed lawyers around the country are refusing new cases and suing to limit their workload. “The quality...

Jury Selection Turns to Facebook, Blogs, Data

Experts mine online profiles for background on jurors' views

(Newser) - Get called for jury duty these days, and you can expect attorneys to know a lot more about you than they let on. Trial consultants who used to specialize in legwork—visiting neighbors and friends to gather clues to potential jurors' views—are now expert Web surfers, tracing things like...

Con Wins Death Stay in Judge Affair Appeal

Relationship between judge and prosecutor not reason for decision

(Newser) - A Texas death-row inmate who filed an appeal alleging that an affair between the judge and prosecutor compromised his trial has been granted a stay of execution. But, ABC News reports, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals approved Charles Dean Hood's request based not on the affair but because of...

Death Row Con Wins Hearing Over Courtroom Hanky Panky

Alleges affair between judge, prosecutor

(Newser) - A condemned Texas inmate has won a hearing to decide whether his lawyers can question the judge and prosecutor at his capital case trial about an alleged affair the two were having while the proceedings were unfolding, ABC News reports. A former county DA filed a sworn statement last year...