Latest Legal procedure Stories

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has delayed deliberations in the Phil Spector murder retrial after a juror came down with the flu. The famous music producer's 5-month-long retrial went to the jury last week. Spector faces a minimum of 18 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the 2003 shooting death of Lana Clarkson, an actress and club hostess. His attorney has maintained that Clarkson could have killed herself in Spector's Alhambra, Calif., home and that only reasonable...

The Los Angeles jury that heard Phil Spector's 5-month-long murder retrial began deliberations Thursday. The Los Angeles Times said Spector faces a minimum of 18 years in prison if convicted of second-degree murder in the 2003 shooting death of an actress and club hostess. The famed music producer's attorney has maintained that Lana Clarkson could have killed herself in Spector's Alhambra, Calif., home and that only reasonable doubt is required to acquit his client. The Grammy...

Phil Spector's attorney maintained at the famed music producer's retrial that Lana Clarkson could have killed herself in Spector's Alhambra, Calif., home. Defense attorney Doron Weinberg told the jury during closing arguments in Spector's second-degree murder retrial that the possibility Clarkson shot herself in 2003 couldn't be ruled out, CNN reported. Weinberg also reminded the jurors that only reasonable doubt was needed to acquit his client. This is a circumstantial evidence case ... no...

Jurors in the Los Angeles trial of music producer Phil Spector can convict him of manslaughter if they do not think he's guilty of murder, a judge said Friday. Judge Larry Paul Fidler said that neither defense nor prosecution versions of the death of Lana Clarkson suggest involuntary manslaughter, the Los Angeles Times reported. But he said jurors might place a different interpretation on the evidence presented during the trial. Clarkson, an actress, was shot in Spector's home six years ago....

First study of its kind highlights whether people called for jury service should be screenedA new report by psychologists at the University of Leicester warns of the dangers of jurors facing trauma because of their exposure to harrowing and gruesome evidence.In the first study of its kind, the research highlights how women jurors are more vulnerable, particularly if the trial covers material that resonates with their personal histories.The research confirms that jury service, particularly for...

Across the country, jurors are falling prey to an epidemic. It appears that many are using their smartphones to access Google and social networking sites during court proceedings. Their actions represent a conflict of interest in court, as US law clearly prohibits jurors from researching the case at hand. But research once meant reading news articles or discussing the trial with friends or family. Now technology is changing that definition."We were stunned," said Peter Raben, a defense lawyer...

DALLAS, Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- On February 6, 2009 a federal jury returned a 12.5 million dollar verdict for ORIX Capital Markets LLC ("ORIX") in the first major commercial internet defamation cases tried to verdict in Texas and one of the few tried to verdict in the United States. The suit was originally brought by one of the defendants as an attempted class action securities case, but all of those claims were dismissed on summary judgment. ORIX counterclaimed, seeking damages as a...

CHICAGO, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- In a 17-page Order dated January 26, 2009, United States District Court Judge, Ruben Castillo, reduced a jury verdict against the City of Chicago and three Chicago police officers from $7.9 million to $1.9 million. The plaintiff, Rachelle Jackson, had sued claiming she was falsely arrested and detained for attempting to disarm a Chicago police officer. Ms. Jackson was arrested on November 19, 2002 for attempting to disarm Chicago police officer...

A Houston judge says he had to declare a mistrial in a murder case when no one realized there were too many people on the jury until the verdict was being read. The error means that Charles Mapps won't be going to prison for shooting his girlfriend, at least until after he stands trial a second time. Although the 13th juror dutifully sat through the testimony and the 45-minute deliberation, District Judge Mark Ellis said the extra hand could be considered an undue influence. In 23 years I've...

A San Diego judge ordered a mistrial when a defendant in an assault and robbery trial smeared feces on his lawyer and then flung the rest at the jury box. Weusi McGowan was awaiting a new trial date Wednesday after his crude antics Monday prompted the judge to bring the proceedings to a halt. McGowan smuggled a plastic bag filled with waste into the downtown San Diego courthouse where he was being tried for a 2007 assault and robbery, The San Diego Union-Tribune said Tuesday. Paul Levikow,...