Free Republic

KENOSHA, Wis. — In the weeks leading up to Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial, attorneys on both sides made clear they wanted prospective jurors to fill out questionnaires before the selection process began. It was a fairly routine request, given judges and attorneys across the country have relied upon such forms for decades in high-profile trials to identify people with potential biases and conflicts of interest. But Kenosha Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder wouldn’t hear of it...... Local attorneys say the decision reflects Schroeder’s penchant for giving defendants wide latitude to tell jurors their side of the story. Several told the Tribune...

Last month American Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were re-convicted of the murder of 21-year-old Meredith who was knifed to death in October 2007 He is the only one currently behind bars for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher – but jail is turning into an education for knifeman Rudy Guede. The 27-year-old has secretly been given permission to leave his cell on the sex offenders’ wing of a top security Italian jail – so he can pursue his studies for a history degree. But the fact that he is now able to enjoy day release to...

The trial of four men accused of murdering former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri has begun at an unprecedented tribunal at The Hague. The four - alleged associates of the Syria-backed militant Shia movement Hezbollah - have not been arrested and are being tried in absentia. Hariri and 21 others were killed by a massive car bomb in Beirut in 2005. The killings polarised Lebanon and led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops. Hezbollah denies any involvement. It instead says the assassination was part of an Israeli and US conspiracy. Shortly before the trial was to start, a suicide bomb blast...

Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was granted a new trial on Wednesday by a Connecticut judge who ruled his attorney failed to adequately represent him when he was convicted in 2002 of killing his neighbor in 1975. The ruling by Judge Thomas Bishop marked a dramatic reversal after years of unsuccessful appeals by Skakel, the 52-year-old nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy. Skakel is serving 20 years to life. … Skakel argued his trial attorney, Michael Sherman, was negligent in defending him when he was convicted in the golf club bludgeoning of Martha Moxley when they were 15 in...

A legal debate over whether one member of a same-sex couple has spousal privilege that would shield her from testifying against her partner is at the heart of a capital murder case in politically conservative Kentucky. Geneva Case, 49, does not want to testify in a Louisville court against her partner, Bobbie Jo Clary, 37, who is accused of beating George Murphy, 64, to death with a hammer in 2011 and then stealing his van. Prosecutors say Case must testify because of her value as a witness, since she heard Clary admit to the slaying and also saw blood on...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A dream honeymoon to scuba dive on Australia's Great Barrier Reef turned into a terrible nightmare, and the horror is about to play out years later in a courtroom in Alabama. An Alabama man who already served prison time in Australia after pleading guilty to a reduced charged in the death of his bride goes to trial Monday, accused of murdering her for insurance money. Tina Thomas Watson drowned during a scuba dive on the reef just days after her wedding in October 2003.

Matthew Bartlett, a 28-year-old server at an Orlando TGI Fridays, was disciplined before a national audience by an Orlando judge on Thursday during the proceedings in the Casey Anthony murder trial, reports WOFL-FOX TV-35 in Orlando. Bartlett had directed his middle finger at prosecuting attorney Jeff Ashton. "What is that symbol you are projecting with your fingers?" asked the judge. "I'm using my middle finger and I'm sorry," Bartlett stated. After asking repeatedly if Bartlett had any excuse for his behavior, the judge found him guilty and sentenced him to six days in the Orange County Jail. The judge also...

Attorneys for Ray Lemes, whose murder trial was derailed when a member of his jury was found to have conducted outside legal research, said Thursday the errant juror should be held accountable — with a fine or a jail term, if necessary. Lemes had been on trial for five days for the 2007 shooting death of a college student in the street in front of his home, and the jury had been deliberating for almost seven hours when the foreman sent a note to state District Judge Lori Valenzuela stating that one member had independently looked up the legal definitions...

Indianapolis - A witness in a murder trial is missing, leading to an extensive hunt to find him...

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A U.S. Border Patrol agent went on trial on Tuesday in the killing of a Mexican man attempting to cross illegally into Arizona, a case closely watched by pro- and anti-illegal immigrant groups. Jury selection began in U.S. District Court in Tucson, Ariz., to decide the fate of agent Nicholas Corbett, who faces second-degree murder charges for killing Francisco Dominguez Rivera in the southern Arizona desert. Corbett, who has claimed through attorneys that he shot in self defense, is also charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in connection with the January 12, 2007, incident. Dominguez Rivera, 22,...

Muslim juror ‘listened to iPod under hijab’ A woman juror has been arrested after she was allegedly caught listening to an MP3 player hidden beneath her hijab during a murder trial. The Muslim woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of concealing the device beneath her headscarf so that she could listen to music during the testimony of a man who bludgeoned his disabled wife to death. [more]

For decades, famed music producer Phil Spector was a recluse, hiding in his hilltop suburban castle. Then, a glamorous actress who starred in a cult movie was shot and killed there, and he could no longer run from the Hollywood spotlight. "'I think I killed somebody,'" Spector was quoted by his chauffeur, Adriano De Souza, who also told a grand jury that Spector had emerged from his mansion holding a gun, with blood on his hands. "What happened sir?" De Souza said he asked. "'I don't know,'" Spector responded. On Monday, the search begins for a jury to decide if...

Defense attorney Daniel Horowitz said Wednesday that his client, Susan Polk, no longer wants his services and prefers to represent herself when she goes on trial this month on charges she killed her husband in their Orinda home. "It doesn't matter why she wants to represent herself," Horowitz said. "She doesn't have to have a reason." Polk and her defense team are scheduled to meet with Contra Costa Superior Court Judge Laurel Brady on Friday, about three weeks before Polk's second trial is set to begin, Horowitz said. Polk will argue that she is competent and ready to represent herself....

Posted on Fri, Dec. 02, 2005 Prosecutors: Hargon said 4-year-old 'didn't even cry' before being killed HOLBROOK MOHR Associated Press YAZOO CITY, Miss. - Earnest Lee Hargon's ex-wife testified Friday that he admitted killing his cousin, his cousin's wife and 4-year-old son on Valentine's Day 2004. The testimony of Lisa Ainsworth came in the second day of Hargon's capital murder trial in Yazoo County. The family's disappearance attracted national action. Prosecutors said Hargon beat and shot his 27-year-old cousin, Michael Hargon, then shot Michael's 29-year-old wife, Rebecca, in the arm before beating and strangling her and the couple's son, James...

It was probably big news across the USA, but it was certainly big news in Los Angeles, when a jury found Robert Blake "Not Guilty" of murdering his wife, and of soliciting her murder. While few will doubt that this was always going to be a hard trial for the prosecution, given the very unsympathetic character of the victim, I doubt that anyone could have forseen how much our legal system is incapable of dealing with jurors with "hidden adgendas" who get themselves onto juries in order to further their personal objectives. In a wild interview on the John Ziegler...

<p>NASH COUNTY, N.C. -- The latest fight over the display of the Ten Commandments found its way into a Nash County murder trial.</p> <p>Jeremy Hayes said after three long years, he is relieved to see Andre Edwards, who is accused of killing Hayes' wife, Ginger Hayes, and leaving his then-11-month-old son for dead, going to trial. However, before Edwards walked into the courtroom, his attorneys fought to make changes to the courtroom walls.</p>

FORT WORTH - After deliberating about 10 hours over three days, jurors sentenced a mother to 15 years in prison Thursday for using heroin with her 15-year-old daughter hours before the teen-ager died after using the drug.

NewsMax.com's religion editor Fr. Mike Reilly argues that the Laci Peterson case poses a problem for America's abortion advocates. "[Scott] Peterson, who is to be arraigned on charges for the death of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, was arrested Friday morning ..." reports the New York Post. We can all agree that Laci Peterson was murdered, but I thought that the unborn baby was just a fetus. How can Scott Peterson be arraigned on charges for murdering a non-person? If Lacihad brought the child to a local abortionist, he could have killed the baby - and the state...

May trial set for heir accused in Galveston slaying Judge says date is firm; NY, LA police have interest in suspect 12/24/2002 Associated Press GALVESTON - The heir to a New York real estate fortune accused of killing a 71-year-old neighbor and then dismembering and dumping his remains into Galveston Bay will stand trial in May, a judge has ruled. "I intend for that to be a firm trial setting," state District Judge Susan Criss said Friday, scheduling the trial to begin on May 12. Robert Durst, the 59-year-old millionaire son of New York skyscraper tycoon Seymour Durst, is...

Retrial may win Omar a new life KARACHI, July 16 (PNS): Notwithstanding the death sentence to Omar Sheikh and life imprisonment to three other co-accused by an anti-terrorism court judge yesterday, senior legal experts and Sindh police officials still believed that an official confirmation about the arrest of three other persons -- directly involved in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Daniel Pearl -- may prompt the appeal court to remand the case back to the trial court for a fresh trial. Legal experts said that in case of new arrests and fresh evidence, the appeal court would direct...