Birmingham, AL Attorneys, Lawyers and Law Firms

A plea deal agreement has Broderick Kenyo Smith admitting to manslaughter instead of capital murder in the death of Arlando Maurice Pritchett in 2012.

The plea agreement will have Smith serving just a year in jail for a split sentence of 10 years.

His jail stay will be followed with probation for three years.

Should Smith violate his probation, he could be made to serve the rest of his 10-year sentence.

According to the police, Pritchett had an argument with a cab driver prior to his shooting while Smith admitted that he had been driving a cab during the time of the incident.

Birmingham defense attorney Charles Salvagio said Smith had shot Pritchett because the latter had robbed him.

The murder charge filed against Freddie Earl Patton,53, for the shooting death of his girlfriend's father, Kenneth Millar, 81, has been dismissed upon the request of the Deputy District Attorney.

An order for Patton's release from jail has been signed, however, he may not be off the hook yet as the DA's office has stated that the case will be turned over to the grand jury in Jefferson County.

The prosecution moved for the dismissal after arguing with the defense who wanted to further question the detective about the autopsy report.

Birmingham criminal attorney John Lentine said that a manslaughter charge should have been filed instead of murder because the shooting was an accident.

If Patton gets indicted, he will have to go back to jail.

Emory Anthony, Birmingham criminal defense attorney, described his client's sentence as too severe and laced with racism.

Anthhony's client, Nathaniel Lee Baker, will be imprisoned for 228 years after he was convicted of raping a jogger in 2010. The sentence also includes conviction for related charges such as kidnapping, abuse and sodomy.

Baker added that the sentence had something to do with his client being black and the victim, a white female.

However, Anthony's claims were denied by Brandon Falls, Jefferson County District Attorney.

Falls said lengthy sentences are handed down to dissuade criminals from committing violent offenses.

He added that Anthony is the only one who sees racism in the judge's decision.

Blair Berk and Leonard Levine, defense lawyers in Los Angeles, are arguing for the release of their client, Darren Sharper, who used to play in the National Football League.

Sharper has submitted a not guilty plea to sexually assaulting two women in Los Angeles.

However, Sharper remains on indefinite custody with no bail after prosecutors pointed out that he also has an arrest warrant issued by authorities in Louisiana.

Sharper's lawyers are insisting on his release because no case has been filed yet pertaining to the Louisiana arrest warrant.

Wade Bradford's defense did not convince the jury as they found him guilty in the shooting death of Natalie Allan.

Bradford and Allan had met when Allan worked in one of Bradford's massage parlors. While they were dating, Allan was also dating Kevin Myles, her massage client.

During the trial, the prosecutors told the court that Bradford had shot Allan when she broke up with him and she and Myles had gone to Bradford's place to get her things.

This was countered by Phoenix defense lawyer Jamie Jackson saying that Bradford did not know that he had shot Allan.

According to Jackson, the gun accidentally went off because Myles had suddenly lunged at Bradford.

The jury, however, did not buy this.

Aside from Allan's death, Bradford is also facing charges for the death of another of his former girlfriend, Eleanor Su.

The jury returned a guilty verdict against Rudy Kurniawan, a star wine collector, for faking vintage wines, which he apparently just manufactured from his home.

Kurniawan was convicted for fraud and is looking at a massive 40-year sentence.

Kurniawan was once known as among the top five collectors of wine in the world.

Prosecutors accused Kurniawan of earning millions from selling and auctioning fake vintage wines.

Found in the home that Kurniawan shared with his mother were unlabeled bottles and labels of Burgundy and Bordeaux wines.

Suspicions against Kurniawan started during an auction in 2008 wherein he offered to sell Domaine Ponsot wines.

But it wasn't until a 2012 wine auction in London that Kurniawan was arrested.

Los Angeles criminal lawyer Jerome Mooney, defending for Kurniawan, said his client was not trying to defraud people. Instead, all he wanted was to belong.

Ken Anderson, the former District Attorney of Williamson County, was meted with a 10-day jail term after the judge accepted his no-contest plea for the charge of contempt of court.

The charge steamed from the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton who was found guilty for the murder of his wife in 1986 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, in 2011, Morton's conviction was overturned using DNA as proof that he did not kill his wife.

In the light of that development, Anderson, who had prosecuted Morton's case, was scrutinized and was determined to have erred when he withheld evidence which would have been beneficial for Morton's defense.

Aside from the short jail stay, Anderson will also have to give up his license as a lawyer and as part of the plea bargain, he will also be disbarred for five years.

Austin attorney Eric Nichols, however, pointed out that there will be no conviction for Anderson on any criminal charge.

Morton, for his part, said he is more than happy with the result because all he wanted was for Anderson not to practice law anymore to prevent what happened to him from happening to anyone else again.

Anderson was also fined and made to do community service.

Richard Thomas may only be 16 years old but he will be facing the charges filed against him as an adult.

Thomas is facing several charges including "hate crime" after he set another teenager, Luke "Sasha" Fleischman, 18, on fire.

Both were riding on a bus when the incident happened with Fleischman wearing a skirt.

Fleischman's parents said their son does not identify himself either as a male or female.

According to police, Thomas had told them he set Fleischman on fire because he is homophobic.

San Francisco defense attorney Michael Cardoza said his client, Thomas, if convicted would be facing a longer sentence because of the hate crime charge.