st. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Millions of extra dollars are working their way through the Minnesota Legislature to both beef up the ability of Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office to prosecute violent crime and the state’s public defender system to relieve the staffing shortages that nearly led to a last strike year. Ellison assembled the team that got former Minneapolis Officer Derek Chauvin convicted of murdering George Floyd in 2021, but the Democratic attorney general had been unable for four years to persuade a divided Legislature to give him more money to hire more prosecutors. Now that Democrats control both chambers of the statehouse, Ellison is eager to get that money.…
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Beach lawyer Mark Tinsley testifies at Murdaugh murder trial
READ MORE Alex Murdaugh Coverage The Murdaugh family saga has dominated the news after another shooting, a resignation and criminal accusations — with Alex Murdaugh at the center of it all. Here are the latest updates on Alex Murdaugh. Expand All WALTERBORO, SC The attorney suing Alex Murdaugh over the death of a young woman in a boating accident testified that he thought he would have to drop the case after Murdaugh’s wife and son were murdered. [–Mark Tinsley, a lawyer who represented the family of Mallory Beach, took the stand Monday morning without the jury present. Judge Clifton Newman later decided that the jury can be told about the financial crimes Murdaugh has been accused of, a big win for prosecutors.…
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/BQO62RNOQVGHNASERLF6URBPLI.PNG "Judge to issue warrant if owner of collapsed Davenport apartment doesn’t appear in court")
Judge to issue warrant if owner of collapsed Davenport apartment doesn’t appear in court
DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – A judge this morning rejected an agreement between the city of Davenport and Andrew Wold, the owner of the downtown building that collapsed Memorial Day weekend. Wold was scheduled to appear at the Scott County District Court on an enforcement action filed by the city that aims to keep Wold from transferring the building to other ownership and avoiding demolition costs and other fees. In a bizarre scene in court, Wold’s attorney, Jack O’Brien, called the judge instead of appearing in person. He said the city and Wold had come to an arrangement before the court hearing in which Wold would plead no contest.…
Businessman linked to Texas AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment charged with lying to get $172M in loans
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas businessman at the center of the scandal that led to the historic impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton was charged Friday with making false statements to mortgage lenders to obtain $172 million in loans. The federal indictment of real estate developer Nate Paul is the result of a yearslong FBI investigation — a probe Paxton involved his office in, setting off a chain of events that led to a separate federal probe of the attorney general and his impeachment and suspension from office last month. Paul was charged with eight counts of making false statements while seeking loans from mortgage lenders in the US and Ireland.…
Rape trial to begin for Boston attorney previously acquitted on sexual assault charges
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.…
Thank the Maricopa County attorney for not being a MAGA Republican
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.…
Democracy Alerts – Voting Rights Attorney Nancy Abudu Confirmed to 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals
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.…
WA Attorney General Bob Ferguson announces campaign for governor
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.…