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USA Attorney News Archive (Page 4)

One of US' most wanted fugitive found guilty of murders and gang-related crimes

A jury found James "Whitey" Bulger guilty of killing 11 of the 19 people he was accused of murdering and committing grisly crimes related to his being the leader of an Irish mob, considered as the most ruthless in Boston.

Bulger's trial exposed the corruption that existed within the FBI in Boston as well as the close ties that it had with its criminal informants.

An impending life sentence looms for the 83-year-old former Irish mob boss with his sentencing scheduled for Nov. 13.

Boston criminal defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr. representing Bulger said his client has plans of appealing the conviction based on an immunity that he was granted which the judge did not allow him to argue.

He said that the immunity was granted by a federal prosecutor, who has already passed away.

Despite the conviction, Carney said that Bulger was satisfied with how the trial turned out because he had always wanted to expose the corruption that existed within the government.

Drunk driver to serve sentences from three convictions simultaneously

Nicholas Colunga will be spending 14 years in jail for hitting Kylie Doniak while driving intoxicated.

Doniak was among the pedestrians whom Colunga hit when he ignored a red light.

Aside from Doniak, two others were also injured in the incident for which Colunga was also convicted.

The judge ordered for Colunga to serve the sentences of his two other convictions simultaneously.

He also received more than $2,000 fine for all three convictions.

Prosecutors had wanted Colunga to be handed the maximum penalties for all charges but Amber Vasquez Bode, Austin defense attorney representing Colunga, told jurors that a longer stay in prison would make offenders more dangerous once they go back into society.

Judge grants delay of DeKalb County CEO’s trial in corruption case

It is not known when the trial of DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis will begin after Courtney L. Johnson, a Superior Court Judge, approved the defense's request for a delay.

Ellis was supposed to stand trial for corruption starting August 19.

The defense lawyers' request did not include a date for the trial to begin.

Jill Polster, Atlanta criminal defense attorney, said the delay will be for the best interest of the residents of DeKalb County.

She added that no one wants to have a trial twice which is what happens when the first trial ends in a conviction and an appeal is filed because it was rushed.

Black Guerrilla Family chief admits to jail conspiracy and murder attempt

Tavon White, a convicted murderer, submitted a guilty plea to operating a scheme to bring in drugs and cellphone into the Baltimore jail, and of trying to kill Devon Butler over a drug dispute.

Having gone in and out of jail, and already a member of the Black Guerilla Family (BGF), White rose up the ranks of the gang to lieutenant commander when he went back in jail in 2009 while awaiting the trial for the attempted murder rap.

He became the gang chief in 2011 and started the scheme of smuggling drugs and cellphone into the facility with the help of corrections officers, mostly female, some of whom he admitted he got pregnant.

White was handed a 20-year sentence for the attempted murder case and weapon offense.

His sentencing for the drug and cellphone scheme is scheduled for February 20 yet.

Gary Proctor, Baltimore criminal lawyer representing White, had asked for more time to probe into the background of his client.

Castro gets life prison with no parole

Ariel Castro will be spending the rest of his life in prison and will never be getting a chance for parole after he admitted to kidnapping and abusing three women for about a decade.

Castro, who used to work as a driver for a school bus, submitted a guilty plea to more than 900 charges in connection with the decade-crime.

The Puerto Rican kidnapped Michelle Knight, Gina DeJesus and Amanda Berry from the years 2002 to 2004, and held them as prisoners in his home until May this year, when they managed to flee.

He made the three women live in appalling conditions, sexually abused them several times which resulted to him fathering a boy with Berry.

Castro also assaulted them several times which also resulted to Berry miscarrying five times.

Despite his guilty plea, Castro had objected to being called a "sexual predator".

Cleveland criminal defense attorney Craig Weintraub said Castro has a mental illness but a forensic psychiatrist said otherwise.

Judge Michael Russo of the Cuyahoga County told Castro that he is not the victim but the victimizer.

Stepdad found guilty of killing daughters

Robert Lee Phillips was convicted of killing his two stepdaughters in a 2006 birthday celebration for one of the victims.

Jurors found the 66-year-old South Los Angeles man guilty of murder in the first degree for the shooting death of Sabrina Taylor, 30, and murder in the second degree for the death of Charlotte Johnson, 33.

Phillips was also found guilty of attempting to kill two other people during the incident.

The jury had agreed with the Prosecutors that it was clear that Phillips had the intentions of committing the murders to pay the two women for their acts towards him all those years.

This was countered by Louis Sepe, the defense attorney from Los Angeles, who questioned what was his client's motive when he never even lived with the victims.

The incident stemmed from an argument that they were having over the kind of music that was played at the party.

Phillips is looking at a life sentence with no chance of parole.

Man cleared of husband’s murder

Timothy Stewart was finally released from jail after he was cleared of the death of his husband, Terry Rex Spray.

Spray was found insensible in the garage of the couple's apartment with blood gushing from a wound in his head.

He died more than a month after he was brought to the hospital for treatment.

Stewart was charged after a surveillance video showed him having left the garage a few minutes before the assault on Spray.

Prosecutors pointed Stewart's erratic relationship with a woman as a motive for the crime. They added that Stewart did it to get Spray's pension.

They also claimed that their evidence was enough to pursue the case despite the police not finding anything to link Stewart to the assault.

Danielle Harris, San Francisco defense attorney, said deciding to file the murder raps against her client was farfetched.

Jury deadlock prompts judge to declare mistrial

Murder suspect Alex Roberson will undergo a new trial for the killing of a toddler after Judge Mike Snipes of the State District announced a mistrial.

The mistrial was prompted when two of the 12 jurors made a stance in their belief that Roberson was not guilty of beating to death one-year and eight-month old Trey Jenkins, the son of his girlfriend.

If the jury had not been deadlocked, Roberson would have automatically received a sentence of life imprisonment.

Roberson has been accused of mauling the little boy which resulted to broken ribs. The boy also had damaged liver, adrenal glands and lungs, which caused his death.

During the trial, Dallas criminal defense attorney Bill Cox said that the toddler's mother, Precious Williams, could have been the one to inflict the fatal injuries on her boy.

Shequitta Kelly, who was prosecuting the case, said that Williams may be far from an ideal mother but she could have never killed her own son.

Birmingham attorney cries foul over client's more than 200-year sentence for rape

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.

Jury exonerates man of shooting another man to death

A jury found Bernard Carter of Rankin not guilty of shooting to death William Harrington last year.

Carter was charged of murder in the first degree after police claimed that a witness had pointed at him as the one who shot Harrington as he was walking out of an apartment in Pittsburgh.

James Wymard, Pittsburgh defense attorney representing Carter, said he was satisfied with the ruling.