Defendants facing competency hearings have a constitutional right to testify that cannot be waived by defense counsel, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The difficult judicial issue of handling disruptive defendants and competency hearings didn’t get any…
A federal judge stuck to his promise Tuesday of a tougher prison sentence for a conman than even the government sought. Michael “Ferrari Mike” Banuelos got six and one-half years in prison for running an investment scam that garnered him…
A federal appeals court Monday reinstated the death sentence of triple murderer Ronald Deere, over a dissent saying the majority would allow a judge suffering from dementia to impose the death penalty. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a…
The 1988 law that gives California governors the power to review parole board decisions in any murder case is constitutional, a federal appeals court said Wednesday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the claim by a man convicted…
Letters from victims of financial crime to sentencing judges do make a difference. A federal judge refused Tuesday, for a second time, to go along with the government’s deal of five years in prison for a man who claimed he…
[UPDATED] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has pleaded guilty Tuesday to illegal disposal of hazardous waste in three criminal cases in California and Missouri, agreeing to pay nearly $82 million in fines. A lawyer for the company showed up in federal court…
Four scheduled furlough days have been canceled in the Northern District of California by delaying technology projects and other belt-tightening, Chief Judge Claudia Wilken announced Monday. The decision applies only to clerk’s office staff in the San Francisco, Oakland and…
Just four states along the U.S. border with Mexico account for more than three-quarters of all immigration offenses in federal courts nationwide, the Administrative Office of the Courts reports. Defendants charged with immigration offenses constitute 27 percent of all federal…
A notorious 1996 case of two execution-style murders, in which prosecutors initially sought a death penalty, will have to go back to court for resentencing. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 the government violated the plea deal with…
A federal judge in San Francisco sentenced AU Optronics Corp. executive Steven Leung to two years in prison and fined him $50,000 Monday for his role in a price-fixing conspiracy for liquid-crystal display panels. Leung was convicted in December by…
Federal judges had better be careful when they instruct jurors not to “speculate.” A San Diego judge, without being asked by the government, “effectively instructed the jury not to fall for defense counsel’s argument,” the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…
A federal jury convicted former Korn/Ferry Int. executive recruiter David Nosal on all six counts Wednesday in a conspiracy to steal trade secrets from his employer in order to set up his own recruiting firm. Nosal, 55, of Danville, Calif.,…
A former investment banker and his college friend pleaded guilty to an insider trading scheme in which they shared information about two pending corporate mergers, according to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. Jason Lee, 29, of New York and Victor Chen,…