USA Attorney News Archive (Page 3)

The Macy couple, Kip and Nicole, will be spending more than four years in prison less time already served for their conviction in attacking and threatening the people renting their apartment building in San Francisco.

The couple, who had escaped to Italy when the charges were filed against them, had admitted to the crimes.

While in Italy, they tried to fight getting extradited to the US but failed.

Court heard that the Macys wanted to evict their tenants because they planned to renovate the apartment building and put it on sale.

San Francisco criminal lawyers have acted as defense counsel for the couple with Lisa Dewberry for Kip and George Borges for Nicole.

Kenneth Farnan, an officer of the Pittsburgh Police, will soon be released after he was granted bail.

Farnan, who is about to retire, is charged for the shooting death of Shawn Evans, said to be his close friend, in a bar brawl.

William Difenderfer, a defense attorney in Pittsburgh representing Farnan, said that while the two men know each other they were certainly not close.

Investigation also shows that Evans was the one who started the fight but it was broken up and Evans headed for the restroom. When Evans came out, Farnan restarted the fight.

Lisa Pellegrini, the assistant district attorney, did not agree with the bail but Difenderfer said his client deserves to be granted bail because facts presented so far do not tantamount to murder in the first degree.

Floyd Lee Corkins received a 25-year prison term for shooting Leonardo Johnson, the security guard of the Family Research Council.

Corkins had planned a shooting rampage at the facility of the conservative Christian organization because he viewed the group as anti-gay.

However, he was thwarted by Johnson, who managed to stop him despite getting shot.

The prosecutor wanted Corkins to be imprisoned for more than 40 years while David Bos, the Washington criminal attorney defending for Corkins, suggested an 11-year sentence.

According to Bos, Corkins' case was more of being able to access firearms easily.

Corkins purchased his gun in Virgina just a few days before the incident.

He added that Corkins, who has been diagnosed of having a mental illness, has shown remorse for the incident.

At 18 years old, De'Marquise Elkins will have to live the rest of his life being imprisoned without parole for shooting a baby boy to death.

Elkins was found guilty by a jury and a little more than a week later he was meted with life imprisonment which disappointed his defense attorney in Brunswick, Kevin Gough.

Gough said that the sentence was cruel and uncommon given that his client is a juvenile.

Gough added that his young client has had a hard time growing up as his mother was drug dependent and often neglected his care.

Elkins had killed the baby, who was strapped in his stroller, when he was still 17 years old, while he was attempting to rob the infant's mother.

Gough said he will be appealing both the conviction and the life with no parole sentence.

Franceso Colorado Cessa, convicted of laundering money for the Zetas, is facing new charges for trying to bribe the judge who had sentenced him.

Charged along with Cessa are his son, Francisco Colorado Cessa Jr. and Ramon Segura Flores, his associate in the business.

The three allegedly conspired to hand more than a million dollars in an attempt for Judge Sam Sparks to give Cessa a lesser sentence.

Just hours before the bribery charges were filed, Sparks had handed Cessa the maximum prison term for laundering money for the drug cartel, which had him buying and selling racehorses.

Mike DeGeurin, a defense attorney from Houston who is representing the three, did not comment regarding the bribery charges.

The three accused have yet to enter a plea.

Aaron Hernandez, who used to play for the New England Patriots, submitted a not guilty plea to all the charges he is facing in connection to the death of his friend, Odin Lloyd.

Lloyd's body, which bore five gunshot wounds, was found in a park near Hernandez's home.

The defense team behind Hernandez headed by Boston criminal attorney Charles Rankin is confident that their client will be acquitted of all charges because the evidences against him are circumstantial.

Hernandez allegedly masterminded Lloyd's shooting death because he was angry with his friend for conversing with people he did not like inside a nightspot a couple of days prior.

Charges have also been filed against two men for their alleged involvement in the incident.

Hernandez has also been tied to a probe conducted on a double murder in 2012 after a vehicle police have been searching for was found rented by Hernandez while investigating Lloyd's death.

Cleveland councilor Zack Reed will be spending more than a week in jail for his third drunk driving conviction.

Aside from a 10-day jail term, Reed, who is seeking re-election, will be wearing a bracelet for two months which will monitor his alcohol use.

Cleveland defense lawyers Kevin Spellacy and Jeff Saffold, representing Reed, said their client is being treated for alcoholism and is addressing his addiction to alcohol, which has been going on for much of his life.

Reed's other drunk driving convictions were meted in 2005 and three years later in 2008.

John Chester Stuart has been found guilty of shooting to death Thomas "Tom" Beasley after an argument on the road in 2008.

The jury did not buy Stuart's excuse that he was only trying to defend himself when Beasley got out of his vehicle to argue with him.

This was Stuart's second trial for the incident. The first one wherein he had represented himself ended in a hung jury.

In this trial, Stuart had hired Phoenix criminal lawyer Rick Poster for his defense.

With Stuart's sentencing slated for October 24, more than 40 years of prison stay looms for him.

Daniel Dvorkin, a businessman in Lombard, is looking at either probation or more than 50 years in prison after he was found guilty of trying to hire someone to kill a Texas debt collector.

Chicago criminal lawyer Scott Frankel, who is defending for Dvorkin, said that the decision to find his client guilty was wrong.

He added that an appeal on the conviction is sure to follow.

According to the prosecution, Dvorkin had asked one his renters, Robert Bevis who owns a gun shop, if he knew a hit man, days after he lost a multi-million legal judgment to the creditor.

Bevis, however, had gone to the FBI.

Frankel said that his client was just making a comment offhandedly regarding a hit man and was even scared when Bevis laid down the plans.

Dvorkin's sentencing has been scheduled for November.

A five-year jail term looms over Saynab Hussein after she pleaded guilty to having lied before a grand jury in 2009 about young men leaving Minnesota for Somalia and joining a terrorist group.

Hussein admitted having told the grand jury that she had no idea or was not aware of anyone raising funds for the men being recruited to go to Somalia.

Hussein, now 23 and carrying a child, in fact, was one of those who had raised the funds.

Minnesota criminal defense attorney John Lundquist attributed his client's mistake to being young but that she has regretted what she has done.

Hussein is one of the long list of persons charged in connection with the government's investigation on the recruitment of young men for terrorism in Somalia.

Hussein's sentencing has yet to be scheduled.

Mark Gary, a developer in Gwinnett County convicted for bribery, got a reprieve for his cooperation in an ongoing federal probe of alleged corruption in Gwinnett.

Instead of getting to spend more than four years in federal prison, Gary was meted with just two years plus three years under probation.

Gary was convicted for bribing Shirley Lasseter, the former commissioner of Gwinnett County, to vote for his proposal of a station for waste transfer costing $4 million.

Doug Gilfillan, the assistant United States attorney, said he agreed to reducing the sentence as Gary's cooperation, which included secretly recording his conversations with elected officials, could lead to the indictment of another person involved in the alleged corruption.

However, Atlanta defense attorney Paul Kish representing Gary, said that he and his client are disappointed with the sentence.

According to Kish, Gary deserved more because his cooperation was extensive.

But the judge did not buy Gary's claim that he was a victim of what he alleges as a corrupt system in Gwinnett.

A life in prison will be the next step for Mona Nelson who was convicted of abducting and murdering Jonathan Foster, 12, a day before Christmas in 2010.

Foster's body was found in a burned state, enfolded by a carpet and dumped on a ditch.

Nelson admitted having emptied the contents of a thrash can on the ditch but that she had not known that it had also contained Foster's remains.

According to Allen Tanner, Houston defense attorney, Nelson had told the judge she was innocent after the verdict was read.

The prosecutors took no chances in building a solid case against Nelson but they stop short of asking for a death penalty.

Kareem Mosley has been ordered to stand trial for murder and manslaughter charges for the death of Richard Eley of West Philadelphia.

Philadelphia criminal attorney Gerald A. Stein had asked for the dismissal of the charges against Mosley saying that it cannot be proved that Eley's death was caused by injuries he suffered when Mosley beat him eight months prior to his demise.

Prior to Eley's beating in April, the elderly man has been able to lead a normal and healthy life and has been able to live alone despite suffering a stroke five years ago.

After the beating, Eley was hospitalized and had remained unconscious until his death.

Autopsy results also showed that Eley's brain has continued to bleed and there were still evidence of bruises due to the attack until his death.

Alexander Kinyua admitted to having killed a family friend, Kujoe Bonsafo Agyei-Kodie, and eating his heart and some of his brains.

However, the judge deemed Kinyua not criminally responsible for what he did as he is mentally ill.

Prosecutors conceded with the decision as a consultation with a psychiatrist not involved in the case also resulted to the finding of Kinyua's mental illness.

The judge, who apologised to the victim's family, said he had based his acceptance of Kinyua's guilty plea on the submissions of the prosecutors and defense.

Baltimore criminal lawyer Donald Daneman, representing Kinyua, did not comment on the decision.

Kinyua killed Kodie just days after he was granted bail for another case wherein he mauled another student.

A settlement has been reached by the Pennsylvania State University and one of the victims who was sexually abused by Jerry Sandusky, the school's assistant football coach.

This was confirmed by Philadelphia attorney Tom Kline whose client is known as "Victim No. 5".

Kline's 25-year-old client was sexually assaulted by Sandusky in the shower of the campus.

It is the first settlement of 26 claims filed against the university after Sandusky was found guilty of abusing boys for 15 years.

Victim No.5 was molested by Sandusky a few months after a graduate student had reported to the officials of the university that he had seen Sandusky sexually abused a boy in the showers.

Kline said his client was reassured with the development as he had not sought what had happened.

Karen Latham received the mininum sentence for a murder in the second degree conviction for the death of Zerabruk Habtemiriam.

The prosecution and defense agreed on more than 10 years for Latham after taking into consideration her admission to the crime and that she is also having issues with her mental-health.

Except for prostitution convictions, Latham also has no other history of criminality.

Latham had hitched a ride with Habtemiriam to a fast-food outlet but she had stabbed the victim when he refused to give her more than $5.

During the sentencing, Latham had apologized to the victim's family.

Seattle criminal defense attorney Mark Flora, who represented Latham, said that imprisonment could be good for his client's health noting how she has gained weight from the time of her arrest.

Steven Steiner, who used to be the executive officer of an insurance brokerage, Fort Lauderdale, received a 15-year prison sentence for his part in an intricate plot to launder money.

Early this year, Steiner was found guilty of the money-laundering conspiracy to maintain his expensive way of life.

Miami defense attorney Joaquin Mendez pleaded for a lesser five-year sentence for Steiner. He said his client may not be perfect but he asked for the consideration of the good that Steiner has done as well as his susceptibilities.

This was strongly countered by the prosecutors who insisted that a more than 20-year sentence was appropriate for the crime that Steiner committed.

Judge Kathleen Williams eventually decided on giving an unremorseful Steiner 15 years.

Criminal lawyer Brian Schowalter is facing charges for allegedly interfering in a murder investigation by refusing to turn over evidence to the authorities.

Schowalter's fellow criminal defense attorneys appeared in court during the indictment to show support for their colleague.

Mike Root, a criminal attorney from Denver, called the charges contemptible.

The indictment stated that Schowalter had in his possession a letter which was supposed to be an evidence in an investigation for homicide that involved the attorney's client, Shanice Smith.

Smith was meted an eight-year prison sentence in February after she submitted a guilty plea to charges of robbery and aiding in murder.

According to Todd Risberg, the District Attorney who got the indictment, it is not acceptable for a defense attorney to hide incriminating proof.

Jesse Jackson Jr., the former congressman of Illinois, was handed a 30-month prison term for using more than $700,000 of campaign funds on personal expenditures.

His wife, Sandi, on the other hand, received one year for tax deception.

Jackson Jr., the son of Rev. Jesse Jackson, will have to surrender by November 1. Once he has served out his prison sentence, he will be placed under supervised release for three years.

A maximum of more than four years in jail was recommended for Jackson Jr. and two years for his wife. Both cannot also be meted with probation because they are not eligible.

Washington defense attorney Reid Weingarten proposed less than the recommended sentence for Jackson Jr. and a probation for his wife.

In his request for a lower sentence, Weingarten cited that Jackson Jr. is suffering from bipolar, a mental health disorder.

During the sentencing, Jackson Jr. asked the court to just put his wife under probation otherwise he said he was willing to serve her sentence for her.

He made the request so that their two kids would not suffer.

However, Matt Graves, the prosecuting attorney, said that a jail time is warranted for the seriousness of the crime that Sandi committed.

Graves also pointed that other parents are sentenced all around the country.

Paula Bartolo, the driver who hit and killed Jeffrey Javier, a special education student in 2005 and did not even stop to help the victim, was meted a 10-year sentence for manslaughter.

Bartolo had ran over 15-year-old Javier just a few minutes after dropping his own 16-year-old son in school.

The driver then tried to avoid the repercussions of his act by escaping to the Dominican Republic. He was eventually arrested in Spain.

In a letter read by New York criminal defense attorney Michael Siff, Bartolo also did not express remorse for the accident.

After the 10-year jail term, Bartolo will also be under supervision for five years.

Javier's family, however, is not happy with the sentence that was handed as they were expecting a longer jail term.