Category: Case Lawyer

In April 1999, John Balentine, a Black man on trial for murder in Amarillo, Texas, sat before an all-white jury as they deliberated whether he should live or die. Should he be given a life sentence, in which case he would probably end his days behind prison bars? Or should they send him to death row to await execution? Balentine had been convicted days earlier of murdering three white teenagers who had threatened to kill him because he was romantically engaged with one of the teenagers’ white sisters – an interracial liaison widely frowned upon in heavily segregated Amarillo. Now it was the sentencing phase of the trial, when his fate would be decided.…

The attorney for the University of Idaho stabbing victim Kaylee Goncalves’s family has filed an appeal of a Latah County judge’s gag order regarding the case against her suspected killer, Bryan Kohberger. The order is “facially overbroad and vague” and unconstitutional, Goncalves family attorney Shanon Gray wrote in an appeal filed Friday. Judge Megan Marshall issued the initial gag order Jan. 3, shortly after Kohberger’s arrest, restricting comments from prosecutors, the defense, law enforcement and other officials. On Jan. 18, she expanded the scope of her order, restricting attorneys for the victims and their families from speaking with the media. IDAHO MURDERS AMENDED GAG ORDER NOW SILENCES ATTORNEYS FOR VICTIMS AND WITNESSESThe Goncalves’ family attorney, Shanon Gray, leaves the Latah County Courthouse with the family Jan.…

The gag order issued by a judge in the Idaho murders case is “likely unconstitutional”, according to outside criminal defense attorney Philip Holloway “The gag order in the #IdahoMurders case is likely unconstitutional under the #1st Amendment,” Holloway wrote in a tweet on Monday. Holloway is not directly involved in the Idaho murders case.Following the arrest of 28-year-old Bryan Kohberger in the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20 and Xana Kernodle, 20, a judge in Latah County, Idaho, issued a nondissemination order, or a gag order, barring anyone involved in the case to speak about it publicly.…

Kochi: New allegations have been raised against Saiby Jose Kidangoor, who has been accused of receiving money from his clients in the name of bribing high court judges. Kothamangalam native Basil James made the accusations against Saiby, who appeared against him in the court in a divorce case. He alleged that Saiby took Rs 5 lakh from him offering to withdraw the criminal charges against him.Basil said that he handed over the amount at the advocate’s house in Divine Nagar. “Following this, the case at the Judicial First Class Magistrate court in Aluva was withdrawn. However, the case in the family court was not withdrawn,” he claimed.…

Saiby High Court Lawyer Jose Kidangoor, against whom the police have registered a criminal case following allegations of collecting money on the pretext of bribing High Court judges, on Friday approached the Kerala High Court seeking to quash all further proceedings in the case. He said in his petition that the allegations against him had no basis either in law or in fact. The crime was registered based on their hearsay. In fact, it was at the time of election to the Kerala High Court Advocates’ Association that a group of three or four lawyers had submitted a false complaint to the Registrar General who had asked the State Police Chief to investigate the matter.…

The Kerala high court on Monday refused to stay the case registered against senior lawyer and high court advocates’ association president Saiby Jose Kidangoor over allegations that he collected large amounts of money from clients under the pretext of bribing judges to get favorable orders. Dismissing the plea to stay the case, justice Kausar Edappath asked the petitioner why he was in a hurry to block the investigation and also turned down his plea to avoid arrest. “Allegations are serious. It is something that is maligning the entire justice delivery system,” the judge orally observed. The court also said as an office bearer of a responsible institution, it was also his responsibility to prove his innocence.…