Criminal Practice

  • August 21, 2025

    Nursing Home Wins Appeal In Criminal Case Over COVID Deaths

    Criminal charges against a Southern California nursing home in connection with the COVID-19 deaths of 14 people were properly dismissed, a California appeals court has ruled, finding that the prosecution improperly relied on evidence that was inadmissible under the Fifth Amendment.

  • August 21, 2025

    Ga. Panel Backs Obstruction Charge Over ID Refusal

    The Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday upheld a felony and three misdemeanor counts of obstruction of a law enforcement officer for the passenger of a car who refused to produce her driver's license during a traffic stop, despite possessing a valid license.

  • August 21, 2025

    US Navy Sailor Found Guilty Of Spying For China For $12K

    A former U.S. Navy machinist's mate has been found guilty by a California federal jury of espionage and export violations when he shared sensitive military defense information about amphibious assault vessels, their weapons, and desalination systems to a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for $12,000.

  • August 21, 2025

    Texas High Court Restores 35-Year Sentence In Pit Bull Attack

    The highest criminal appeals court in Texas has put back in place a sentence for a man convicted after his pit bulls attacked a 10-year-old boy, following an intermediary appeals court's reversal of his conviction based on its reading of Texas criminal law.

  • August 21, 2025

    Mass. Sheriff Pleads Not Guilty To Pot Extortion Scheme

    Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins pled not guilty Thursday in a federal courtroom to charges that he used his position to obtain pre-IPO shares in a cannabis retailer, then a refund when the investment lost money.

  • August 21, 2025

    Texas High Court Takes Down Hurdle On Campaign Prosecutions

    The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled that prosecutors do not need referrals from the Texas Ethics Commission to bring campaign misconduct charges, reversing its own recent decision that had thrown out a grand jury indictment against a former judicial candidate.

  • August 21, 2025

    Judge Finds Habba Unlawfully Serving As NJ's US Atty

    Alina Habba, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and his pick to remain the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, was unlawfully given an extension of her temporary post after her "interim" appointment expired, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Thursday.

  • August 21, 2025

    NY Court Says Passenger Can't Challenge Gun Evidence

    A man charged with criminal weapons possession and other crimes after police pulled over the car in which he was riding had no reasonable expectation of privacy as a passenger, a New York appeals court has found, reversing a trial court's decision to suppress evidence of a gun.

  • August 21, 2025

    Oklahoma Gov. Challenges Tulsa's Tribal Jurisdiction Deal

    Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is asking the state's high court to block a settlement between the city of Tulsa and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, arguing that without intervention the agreement will erode state sovereignty, undermine public safety and invite other municipalities to surrender their legal obligations.

  • August 20, 2025

    Feds Lose Bid To Unseal Epstein Grand Jury Files In NY

    A Manhattan federal judge Wednesday rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the trafficking case against the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, saying the government has not justified unsealing the materials and did not give Epstein's survivors sufficient notice before filing its request.

  • August 20, 2025

    Tribes Say Calif. Cannabis Raids Violate Sovereignty

    The Round Valley Indian Tribes are fighting a Mendocino County sheriff's attempt to toss their California federal court suit claiming law enforcement illegally raided cannabis growing operations on three tribal members' trust allotments, arguing that the raids are illegal and violate their sovereign rights.

  • August 20, 2025

    'Door To Tyranny' Ajar In Pot Smell Appeal, NC Justices Told

    A man appealing his conviction for unlawful firearm possession told North Carolina's highest court this week that state law enforcement entities were attempting to erode the separation of powers by inserting themselves into his case.

  • August 20, 2025

    10th Circ. Says NM Gun Waiting Period Is Unconstitutional

    The Tenth Circuit has struck down New Mexico's seven-day waiting period on gun purchases as unconstitutional, finding in reversing a lower court's decision that the law aimed at reducing violence, including suicides, unduly limits the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

  • August 20, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Rejects Retrial Of SF Gang Members

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the life sentences of two San Francisco gang members for committing a murder at a 2019 funeral, finding that the district court correctly refused to bifurcate their trial since legal precedent prohibited it.

  • August 20, 2025

    Ark. Woman Gets Probation After Looting Native Burial Site

    An Arkansas woman was sentenced to four years of probation after the U.S. Department of Justice said she excavated a Native American archeological site in the Ozark Mountains and took human remains and Indigenous artifacts.

  • August 20, 2025

    11th Circ. Revives Cannabis Users' 2nd Amendment Challenge

    The Eleventh Circuit said Wednesday that a federal law disarming medical cannabis users likely ran afoul of the Second Amendment because it was inconsistent with the nation's history of gun regulation.

  • August 20, 2025

    In Illinois, Public Defender Welcomes Sea Change In Structure

    Illinois is set to receive the first overhaul of its public defense system in 75 years, and Champaign County Chief Public Defender Elisabeth Pollock is "very much looking forward" to it, she told Law360.

  • August 20, 2025

    NC Bankruptcy Atty Charged With 2nd-Degree Murder

    A North Carolina bankruptcy attorney is facing murder charges after police said he shot and killed a 43-year-old man in a small town in the mountains over the weekend, court records show.

  • August 20, 2025

    9th Circ. Axes Navajo Man's Confession Over Missing Woman

    A split Ninth Circuit panel has ruled that a Navajo man in Arizona can suppress a statement he made to law enforcement about assaulting a missing woman after ruling that officers violated his right to remain silent by luring him back into questioning.

  • August 19, 2025

    Split Ohio Supreme Court Clarifies Early Release Eligibility

    The Ohio Supreme Court held Tuesday that inmates sentenced indefinitely before Ohio's "truth-in-sentencing" law took effect in 1996 aren't eligible for an early, judicial release, although one justice said a later amendment excludes some inmates.

  • August 19, 2025

    Wash. Court Nixes Rape Convictions Over Too-Broad Warrant

    A Washington appellate court Tuesday reversed a man's convictions on 12 counts of rape, saying the detectives who obtained videos of the man's alleged assaults upon an unconscious ex-girlfriend used an overbroad search warrant in an auto theft investigation.

  • August 19, 2025

    Wash. Panel Nixes Child Sex Convictions Over Court Errors

    A Washington state appeals court Tuesday ordered a new set of trials for a man accused of sexually abusing two minors, finding that mistakes during the pair of trials caused him to not receive fair treatment in either one. 

  • August 19, 2025

    Calif. Man Gets 8 Years For Shipping Firearms To North Korea

    A Chinese national has been sentenced in Los Angeles federal court to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to illegally exporting firearms, ammunition and other military items to North Korea in exchange for $2 million, prosecutors said Monday.

  • August 19, 2025

    3rd Circ. Upholds Conviction After Traffic Stop 'Small Talk'

    A man sentenced to 10 years in prison after police found guns and drugs in his car during a traffic stop can't have the evidence suppressed even though the police engaged him in small talk unrelated to the stop, the Third Circuit affirmed Tuesday, finding that the rapport-building conversation was warranted.

  • August 19, 2025

    21 AGs Push DEA To Schedule 'Designer Xanax'

    Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman and 20 other state attorneys general are urgently asking the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to schedule an unregulated substance known as "designer Xanax" under the Controlled Substances Act, saying it is contributing to overdose deaths and posing a growing threat to public health.

Expert Analysis

  • Fleeing Or Just Leaving Quickly? 2nd Circ. Says It Depends

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    The Second Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Bardakova decision adopted a new approach for determining whether a defendant who commits a crime in the U.S., and then leaves and remains abroad, intends to avoid prosecution — making it more difficult to argue against the fugitive disentitlement doctrine in most cases, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • What 2 Profs Noticed As Transactional Law Students Used AI

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    After a semester using generative artificial intelligence tools with students in an entrepreneurship law clinic, we came away with numerous observations about the opportunities and challenges such tools present to new transactional lawyers, say professors at Cornell Law School.

  • Reel Justice: 'Eddington' Spotlights Social Media Evidence

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    In the neo-Western black comedy “Eddington” released last month, social media is a character unto itself, highlighting how the boundaries between digital and real-world conduct can become blurred, thereby posing evidentiary challenges in criminal prosecutions, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • Rebuttal

    BigLaw Settlements Should Not Spur Ethics Deregulation

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    A recent Law360 op-ed argued that loosening law firm funding restrictions would make BigLaw firms less inclined to settle with the Trump administration, but deregulating legal financing ethics may well prove to be not merely ineffective, but counterproductive, says Laurel Kilgour at the American Economic Liberties Project.

  • 5 Ways Lawyers Can Earn Back The Public's Trust

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    Amid salacious headlines about lawyers behaving badly and recent polls showing the public’s increasingly unfavorable view of attorneys, we must make meaningful changes to our culture to rebuild trust in the legal system, says Carl Taylor at Carl Taylor Law.

  • How To Successfully Challenge Jurors For Cause In 5 Steps

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    To effectively challenge a potential juror for cause, attorneys should follow a multistep framework rather than skipping straight to the final qualification question, says Ken Broda-Bahm at Persuasion Strategies.

  • Series

    Hiking Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    On the trail, I have thought often about the parallels between hiking and high-stakes patent litigation, and why strategizing, preparation, perseverance and joy are important skills for success in both endeavors, says Barbara Fiacco at Foley Hoag.

  • DC Circ. Ruling Augurs More Scrutiny Of Blanket Gag Orders

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    The D.C. Circuit’s recent ruling in In re: Sealed Case, finding that an omnibus nondisclosure order was too sweeping, should serve as a wake-up call to prosecutors and provide a road map for private parties to push back on overbroad secrecy demands, says Gregory Rosen at Rogers Joseph.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Negotiation Skills

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    I took one negotiation course in law school, but most of the techniques I rely on today I learned in practice, where I've discovered that the process is less about tricks or tactics, and more about clarity, preparation and communication, says Grant Schrantz at Haug Barron.

  • What Justices Left Unsaid About The Federal Tort Claims Act

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Martin v. U.S. rejected the Eleventh Circuit's interpretation of the Federal Tort Claims Act in the case of a botched police raid — but left unresolved many questions about plaintiffs' ability to hold the government accountable for officers' misdeeds, says Scott Brooks at Levy Firestone.

  • Opinion

    Bar Exam Reform Must Expand Beyond A Single Updated Test

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    Recently released information about the National Conference of Bar Examiners’ new NextGen Uniform Bar Exam highlights why a single test is not ideal for measuring newly licensed lawyers’ competency, demonstrating the need for collaborative development, implementation and reform processes, says Gregory Bordelon at Suffolk University.

  • A Simple Way Courts Can Help Attys Avoid AI Hallucinations

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    As attorneys increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence for legal research, courts should consider expanding online quality control programs to flag potential hallucinations — permitting counsel to correct mistakes and sparing judges the burden of imposing sanctions, say attorneys at Lankler Siffert & Wohl and Connors.

  • Strategies For ICE Agent Misconduct Suits In The 11th Circ.

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    Attorneys have numerous pathways to pursue misconduct claims against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Eleventh Circuit, and they need not wait for the court to correct its misinterpretation of a Federal Tort Claims Act exception, says Lauren Bonds at the National Police Accountability Project.

  • DOJ Consumer Branch's End Leaves FDA Litigation Questions

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    With the dissolution of the U.S. Department of Justice's Consumer Protection Branch set to occur by Sept. 30, companies must carefully monitor how responsibility is reallocated for civil and criminal enforcement cases related to products regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Cos. Must Tailor Due Diligence As Trafficking Risks Increase

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    As legislators, prosecutors and plaintiffs attorneys increasingly focus on labor and sex trafficking throughout the U.S., companies must tailor their due diligence strategies to protect against forced labor trafficking risks in their supply chains, say attorneys at Steptoe.

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