Category: Attorney

Gary Zerola, a former prosecutor in Suffolk and Essex counties who became a defense attorney who was twice acquitted on charges that he sexually assaulted women, goes to trial Tuesday, where he’ll face a third woman to take him before a Suffolk County jury on two counts of rape. Zerola, 51, has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him by a 23-year-old woman who told police that a night of partying in the North End in November 2016 ended with her waking to find Zerola undressing and assaulting her, according to criminal court filings. Opening statements and witness testimony are slated to begin Tuesday before Judge Michael Ricciuti in Suffolk Superior Court.…

The precise nature of the litigation is unclear. However, docket entries connected to the case suggest it has been ongoing for months, one of a growing list of secret battles Smith has waged to secure testimony and documents in his probes of Donald Trump. Smith has won similar fights to secure testimony from key members of Trump’s inner circle, including former vice president Mike Pence, former chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump social media manager Dan Scavino. But the nature of the secretive fight against Holtzblatt and his client has been difficult to pinpoint, identifiable only by a series of clues on the appeals court docket.…

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.AMY GOODMAN: this is Democracy Now!democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman. We continue to look at the life and legacy of Malcolm X, born 98 years ago today, as we turn to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, representing Malcolm’s family in a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against the FBIthe CIA, New York City and state, and the New York police, as well as the District Attorney’s Office, for concealing evidence of their involvement in Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination. Three men were convicted of his murder, two of them fully exonerated in 2021.…

Arizona Republicans should pay heed to what happened this week at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Rachel Mitchell, the Republican elected to the job in 2022, announced she would not prosecute two Phoenix police officers who shot and killed a man who was hurling rocks at a patrol car and later at them. Mitchell was in charge of the case because she did not run for office as a MAGA Republican. She did not kiss the Trump ring. She did not climb into the Stop-the-Steal barrel and ride it over Fantasy Falls to crushing defeat, as did so many other Arizona Republicans.…

WASHINGTON, D.C — On Thursday, May 18, the US Senate voted 49-47 to confirm Nancy G. Abudu to a lifetime appointment as a judge on the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Her confirmation is historic, as she is the first Black woman to ever serve on the 11th Circuit, which rules on appeals originating out of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Before her nomination to the 11th Circuit, Abudu was a voting rights attorney, making her pro-voting perspective a crucial and exciting addition to the court. As a civil rights litigator she challenged Florida’s felony disfranchisement law and omnibus voter suppression law, Georgia’s omnibus voter suppression law and more.…

Seattle elected officials are considering whether the city should take on the responsibility of prosecuting public drug use and possession charges, amid a new state law and a rising substance use crisis. City Attorney Ann Davison is asking the City Council to approve a bill classifying public drug use and drug possession as gross misdemeanors, which would give the city attorney’s office the authority to prosecute both charges. In a special session on Tuesday, state legislators passed a bill that changes drug possession to a gross misdemeanor and criminalizes public use, after the Legislature failed to agree on a replacement for the current possession law, which is set to expire in July.…

BATESVILLE, Ark. – The attorneys for Lunden Roberts, an ex-stripper and the mother of Hunter Biden’s unacknowledged four-year-old daughter born out of wedlock, spoke to members of the media Monday following a court hearing in the open child support case between the two parents. “We feel like it went well, and we appreciate Judge Meyer and her impartiality and her directness,” attorney Clint Lancaster said when asked how he thought the proceedings went. The team of lawyers remained tight-lipped for most of the media’s questions, refusing to comment on certain aspects of the case, including the $20,000-per-month payments Biden’s attorney said during the hearing her client was paying Roberts in child support.…

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is running for governor, he announced in a video Tuesday morning, wasting no time in launching an exploratory campaign just one day after Gov. Jay Inslee said he would not seek a fourth term. A three-term Democratic attorney general, Ferguson touted his battles with the Trump administration over issues such as immigration and abortion rights, as well as his recent legislative success in banning semi-automatic rifles like AR-15s. “I’ve never been afraid to take on big fights,” Ferguson wrote on Twitter. “From the Trump Admin & gun lobby to anti-abortion extremists & corporate interests, I’ve taken on powerful adversaries, and won.…