Fryeburg, ME Attorneys, Lawyers and Law Firms

Nicholas Christopher Ferro was denied a third trial for the death of Marques Butler in 2009.

Ferro's first trial had ended in a hung jury. In his second trial, he was convicted of murder in the second degree last September.

However, he had asked for a third trial with Miami attorney Carlos Gonzalez pointing out several things, the main of which is that the charges should not have been murder in the second degree because of the scant amount of time that Ferro and Butler have known each other before the incident happened.

According to Ferro's defense, a murder in the second degree charge would require that the perpetrator and victim are familiar with each other thus the need for a time requirement on how long they have known each other basing on the murder laws of Florida.

However, the judge said the amount of time is not required.

With Ferro's demand for a third trial denied, a life imprisonment sentence looms for him.

Kevin Keheley can breathe a sigh of relief after a jury exonerated him of theft.

Keheley was accused of defrauding a man after entering into a contract of developing an application for a smartphone, which he was never able to produce.

The contract was for $17,000 and Keheley was paid up front with $10,000.

Keheley then relocated to Austin but promised to finish the application. This, however, never happened.

Denver criminal lawyer Laurie Schmidt, who defended for Keheley, said that what happened was a business dispute.

Schmidt added that Keheley had no intention of running away from giving back the money that he received as evidenced by emails showing his intention to pay the money back.

William Walker was handed a minimum of 24 years and a maximum of 60 years in prison after admitting to rape charges.

Walker submitted a guilty plea to allegations that he raped four women who are disabled in a span of 12 days in 2012.

The judge said Walker is a danger to society and rehabilitating him may not help.

Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer Catherine Berryman said Walker was abused while growing up.

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.