Criminal Practice

  • August 05, 2025

    Feds Charge 2 With Shipping Nvidia AI Chips To China

    Two Chinese nationals residing in California were charged with using a company they founded to unlawfully export microchips used in AI applications worth "tens of millions of dollars" to China in violation of the Export Control Reform Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ill. Appeals Court Backs Counsel Redo In Battery Case

    An Illinois state appeals court has ruled that a man found guilty of domestic battery is entitled to a trial court hearing on a motion he personally lodged claiming his attorney was ineffective and that he was unfairly denied the hearing because of how he filed the request.

  • August 05, 2025

    Texas Man Gets Real Sentence For AI-Generated Child Porn

    A Texas man has been sentenced by a Florida federal judge to up to two years in prison for using an artificial intelligence app to generate child pornography, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida announced on Tuesday.

  • August 05, 2025

    DC Circ. Upholds Reincarceration Following Release Mistake

    The D.C. Circuit ruled Tuesday that the lower court in the district did not violate the civil rights of a man who served 27 additional months in prison after the D.C. Department of Corrections accidentally released him and only discovered the error while he was incarcerated again for a different matter.

  • August 05, 2025

    Pa. Court Says State Can Suspend DUI Suspect's License

    In a precedential ruling, Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court has found that a state law stripping those suspected of DUI of their driver's licenses for one year if they refuse to be tested for intoxicating substances is constitutional, despite a driver's contrary assertions.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ex-ComEd Lobbyist Gets 1 Year For Masking Madigan Bribes

    A former lobbyist for Commonwealth Edison was sentenced to a year and a day in prison Tuesday for allowing his lobbying firm to serve as a pass-through for the utility to pay associates of ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan for little to no work, as it sought his support for favorable energy legislation.

  • August 05, 2025

    States Push DOJ To Crack Down On Illegal Offshore Gambling

    Attorneys general from several states have written a letter asking the U.S. Department of Justice to target the "rampant spread" of illicit offshore online sports betting and gambling operations, which they say are harming United States citizens and depriving states of tax revenue.

  • August 05, 2025

    Ghislaine Maxwell Slams Feds' Bid To Unseal Grand Jury Docs

    Ghislaine Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for trafficking children for late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, urged a New York federal judge Tuesday to deny the government's bid to unseal grand jury transcripts, saying release of the sealed materials could jeopardize the appeal of her 2021 conviction.

  • August 05, 2025

    Tenn. Executes Man With Intellectual Disability For 3 Murders

    Tennessee on Tuesday executed Byron Black, who the state conceded had an intellectual disability and should have been removed from death row, for a 1988 triple murder.

  • August 05, 2025

    Utah Judge Blocks 'Bad Faith' Prosecution Of Psilocybin Church

    A Utah federal judge has blocked a state court prosecution of the leader of a church that uses psilocybin in its sacrament, finding the prosecution was initiated in bad faith to harass the church and its members following a ruling against the state in the federal case.

  • August 05, 2025

    Disbarred North Carolina Atty Admits To Wire Fraud Scheme

    A disbarred lawyer in North Carolina has copped to criminal wire fraud charges stemming from the misuse of his trust account after federal prosecutors said he used escrow funds earmarked for the sale of personal protective equipment to pay back another company.

  • August 05, 2025

    NJ Court Clarifies Sentencing Guidelines For Weapons Charge

    First-degree unlawful possession of a handgun does not automatically activate the mandatory parole disqualifiers of the Graves Act, a cornerstone of New Jersey's firearm sentencing framework, the state's highest court ruled Tuesday.

  • August 05, 2025

    Medicaid Cuts May Worsen Incarceration-Linked Death Risks

    A new public health investigation reveals an association between incarceration and elevated risk of early death, not only for people who have been behind bars but for entire communities. Experts caution that impending disinvestment in Medicaid could worsen outcomes in vulnerable populations.

  • August 04, 2025

    5th Circ. Says Appeal Over Mexican Bank Discovery Looks Moot

    The Fifth Circuit pushed a Mexican businessman to explain how his appeal was not moot after a special master was appointed to review documents relating to an alleged fraud against Mexican financial institutions, saying Monday the businessman has seemingly already gotten the relief he sought.

  • August 04, 2025

    New Conn. Assault Trial Ordered Over Crucial Tattoo Evidence

    A Connecticut appeals court has ordered a new trial for a man sentenced to over five years in prison for an assault at a Denny's, finding that his constitutional rights were violated when a trial court refused to allow potentially exculpatory evidence showing that, unlike the perpetrator, he had no tattoos.

  • August 04, 2025

    DC Circ. Backs FBI Agent's Bribery Sentence

    The D.C. Circuit Court has affirmed a former FBI special agent's two-year sentence for taking a bribe in connection with a property-buying scheme, finding that he accepted at least $6,500 from a real estate developer in exchange for illegally sharing information from a protected database to which the FBI subscribed.

  • August 04, 2025

    Fla. High Court Vacates Drug Charges Over Speedy Trial Rules

    A Florida appeals court has permanently tossed a drug case against a man after a counting error led to him being held for over 180 days without a trial after being extradited from another state in violation of his right to a speedy trial.

  • August 04, 2025

    Circuit Split On Geofence Warrants 'Intolerable,' Justices Told

    A Fourth Circuit panel skirted the issue when it was deciding the appeal of a man who was convicted on robbery charges using a geofence warrant to pinpoint his location, but now that man wants the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether such warrants are constitutional.

  • August 04, 2025

    Veteran NJ Prosecutor Takes Over Hudson County Office

    New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin has appointed a state-level prosecutor with experience in high-profile murder cases to take over the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office from longtime prosecutor Esther Suarez, who retired Friday.

  • August 04, 2025

    Connecticut Justices Say Atty Due Extra $300K For ID Theft

    The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled on Monday that an attorney whose identity was stolen by scammers can receive punitive damages under the state's unfair trade practices statute in addition to a separate award of treble damages under a different law, holding that a lower court misjudged the allowable recovery.

  • August 04, 2025

    Ex-Okla. Indigent Defense Leader On Justice Reform Victories

    Charles "Tim" Laughlin spent 28 years working for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, taking the reins as executive director in 2021 before retiring and going into private practice this year. Despite Oklahoma's deeply conservative political climate and high incarceration statistics, he managed to secure more funding for the public defense system and win support for policies to help low-income criminal defendants.

  • August 04, 2025

    Mich. High Court Says Cellphone Search Was Too Sweeping

    A split Michigan Supreme Court has refused to toss a number of charges for larceny, receiving stolen property and safe-breaking, ruling that the defendant did not receive ineffective counsel when his attorney failed to challenge an overly broad warrant issued to search his phone.

  • August 01, 2025

    NC Man Warns Justices Of 'Odor Alone' Pot-Search Dangers

    A North Carolina man who pled guilty to firearms charges after police found a weapon in his vehicle after smelling cannabis is urging the state's Supreme Court to find that the odor alone is not enough to establish probable cause, saying the current state of the law means anyone carrying state-legal hemp effectively gives up their Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches.

  • August 01, 2025

    NJ Court Will Mull Legality Of Habba's US Atty Appointment

    If Alina Habba was illegally appointed acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, a pair of defendants in a drug trafficking case are not entitled to dismissal of the indictment, but it "appears appropriate" that Habba would be barred from prosecuting them, a federal judge ruled Friday.

  • August 01, 2025

    Pa. Appeals Court Affirms Gun Restrictions For Felons

    A man sentenced to up to eight years in prison for carrying a gun illegally as a result of his status as a felon didn't have his constitutional rights violated, the Pennsylvania Superior Court found Friday, affirming his convictions. 

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    The Legal Education Status Quo Is No Longer Tenable

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    As underscored by the fallout from California’s February bar exam, legal education and licensure are tethered to outdated systems, and the industry must implement several key reforms to remain relevant and responsive to 21st century legal needs, says Matthew Nehmer at The Colleges of Law.

  • 'Pig Butchering' Seizure Is A Milestone In Crypto Crime Fight

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    The U.S.' recent seizure of $225 million in crypto funds in a massive "pig butchering" scheme highlights the transformative impact of blockchain analysis in law enforcement, and the increasing necessity of collaboration between law enforcement agencies, cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Rulings On Relevance Redactions

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    In recent cases addressing redactions that parties sought to apply based on the relevance of information — as opposed to considerations of privilege — courts have generally limited a party’s ability to withhold nonresponsive or irrelevant material, providing a few lessons for discovery strategy, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • How DOJ's New Data Security Rules Leave HIPAA In The Dust

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's recently effective data security requirements carry profound implications for how healthcare providers collect, store, share and use data — and approach vendor oversight — that go far beyond the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, say attorneys at Nelson Mullins.

  • Opinion

    Section 1983 Has Promise After End Of Nationwide Injunctions

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down the practice of nationwide injunctions in Trump v. Casa, Section 1983 civil rights suits can provide a better pathway to hold the government accountable — but this will require reforms to qualified immunity, says Marc Levin at the Council on Criminal Justice.

  • Reel Justice: 'Oh, Hi!' Teaches Attys To Return To The Statute

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    The new dark comedy film “Oh, Hi!” — depicting a romantic vacation that turns into an inadvertent kidnapping — should remind criminal practitioners to always reread the statute to avoid assumptions, meet their ethical duties and finesse their trial strategy, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

  • DOJ-HHS Collab Crystallizes Focus On Health Enforcement

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    The recently announced partnership between the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to combat False Claims Act violations, following a multiyear trend of high-dollar DOJ recoveries, signals a long-term enforcement horizon with major implications for healthcare entities and whistleblowers, say attorneys at RJO.

  • How Courts Are Addressing The Use Of AI In Discovery

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    In recent months, several courts have issued opinions on handling discovery issues involving artificial intelligence, which collectively offer useful insights on integrating AI into discovery and protecting work product in connection with AI prompts and outputs, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • Series

    Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

  • APA Relief May Blunt Justices' Universal Injunction Ruling

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    The Administrative Procedure Act’s avenue for universal preliminary relief seems to hold the most promise for neutralizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA to limit federal district courts' nationally applicable orders, say attorneys at Crowell.

  • Opinion

    Prosecutors' Duty To Justice Sometimes Demands Mea Culpa

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    Two recent cases — U.S. v. Lucas and U.S. v. Echavarria — demonstrate that prosecutors’ special ethical duty to seek justice can sometimes be in tension with other obligations and incentives, but it nonetheless requires them to concede their mistakes in the interests of justice, say Eastern District of Texas law clerk Ian Stephens and Texas A&M University law professor Jemila Lea.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Skillful Persuasion

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    In many ways, law school teaches us how to argue, but when the ultimate goal is to get your client what they want, being persuasive through preparation and humility is the more likely key to success, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.

  • FCA Working Group Reboot Signals EHR Compliance Risk

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    The revival of the False Claims Act working group is an aggressive expansion of enforcement efforts by the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services targeted toward technology-enabled fraud involving electronic health records and other data, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

  • Litigation Inspiration: How To Respond After A Loss

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    Every litigator loses a case now and then, and the sting of that loss can become a medicine that strengthens or a poison that corrodes, depending on how the attorney responds, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • New Interpol Silver Notice Could Be Tool For Justice Or Abuse

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    Interpol has issued dozens of Silver Notices to trace and recover assets linked to criminal activity since January, and though the tool may disrupt organized crime and terrorist financing, attorneys must protect against the potential for corrupt misuse, say attorneys at Clark Hill and Arktouros.

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