Tag Archives: jury
Supreme Court stays out of dispute over grand jury secrecy
The Supreme Court refused Tuesday to get involved in a dispute about judges’ authority to order the disclosure of secret grand jury material in rare circumstances. The court turned away an appeal from an 82-year-old researcher who is seeking grand jury records from the late 1950s. The justices’ order does not affect an ongoing court battle over House Democrats’ quest for access to grand jury materials from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
Boston Marathon bomber death penalty jury not properly questioned, lawyer argues
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s lawyer on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to overturn his death sentence, saying prospective jurors were not thoroughly questioned, violating a 51-year-old standard for weeding out bias. Important questions about what prospective jurors saw and heard from newspapers, television and social media were not posed, defense lawyer Daniel Habib argued before a three-judge appellate panel in Boston’s federal courthouse.
Jury would convict Trump 'in 3 minutes flat': Nadler
In Trump adviser trial, comedian contradicts Stone's account, regales jury with jokes
Comedian Randy Credico testified in the trial of President Donald Trump’s adviser Roger Stone on Thursday where he told jokes, did a Bernie Sanders impression and said he never served as a backchannel between Stone and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Credico is a key witness in the government’s case against Stone, who is charged with obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to the House of Representatives intelligence committee in its investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election. The government alleges that Stone misled the committee in September 2017 by claiming, among other things, that Credico was his intermediary to Wikileaks as Stone sought to learn when Assange planned to dump more damaging emails about Trump’s election rival Hillary Clinton.
The Justice Department is fighting a judge's order to turn over grand jury evidence from the Mueller investigation to Congress
As expected, the Justice Department is appealing a federal judge's order that the department must hand over previously withheld grand jury evidence from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into 2016 Russian election interference by Oct. 30, as the House conducts its impeachment inquiry.Additionally, the department asked Monday for a stay of the order until a federal appeals court reviews the case. The department argued that if the grand jury testimony is released to the House Judiciary Committee, it "cannot be recalled, and the confidentiality of the grand jury information will be lost for all time."> The Justice Department also asks for a stay of the order in part because the House could, with a simple majority vote, decide to publicize the grand jury materials. pic.twitter.com/ClRqIObbRK> > — Todd Ruger (@ToddRuger) October 28, 2019This wasn't a surprise to most observers, though it has been argued that the White House may be overreaching. > Predictable. But, inconsistent. If a president can't be indicted, because the only remedy for abuse committed by him is impeachment, then it must be the case that Congress is entitled to access to investigative materials for use in impeachment. t.co/zYJN98aMDM> > — Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) October 28, 2019Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell initially ruled Friday that the Justice Department was required to produce the material because it could contain evidence that affects the impeachment inquiry. In her ruling, she noted the White House's refusal to comply with the investigation only strengthened the Democrats' impeachment arguments.
House Democrats win court case to see Mueller's grand jury evidence
Here comes another two wins for impeachment Democrats.Washington's top federal judge ruled Friday that the House should get to see the previously withheld grand jury evidence from ex-Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. The Justice Department will have to hand over the evidence by Oct. 30, Judge Beryl Howell ruled Friday — along with issuing a ruling in favor of Democrats' impeachment inquiry.House Democrats sued the DOJ for access to the redacted Mueller evidence in July, but the White House counsel's office has held out so far. Howell's ruling to force the DOJ's cooperation will ensure Democrats don't have to "redo the nearly two years of effort spent on the special counsel's investigation, nor risk being misled by witnesses," she wrote in her decision.Howell also struck down Republican arguments that the House's impeachment inquiry requires a chamber vote to be legitimate. "Even in cases of presidential impeachment, a House resolution has never, in fact, been required to begin an impeachment inquiry," Howell wrote in her ruling.> BREAKING (!): Judge rules the House is entitled to Mueller grand jury material. Huge win for Judiciary Committee / Dems. pic.twitter.com/ahru9pUl1y> > — Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) October 25, 2019The two wins continue a long streak of progress for impeachment Democrats, though they have been hindered by White House officials who've been barred from testifying before House committees.
Wisconsin jury awards $450,000 in Sandy Hook defamation case
A jury in Wisconsin has awarded $ 450,000 to the father of a boy killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting after he filed a defamation lawsuit against conspiracy theorist writers who claimed the massacre never happened. A Dane County jury on Tuesday decided the amount James Fetzer must pay Leonard Pozner, whose 6-year-old son Noah was among the 26 victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. Fetzer, a retired University of Minnesota Duluth professor now living in Wisconsin, and Mike Palacek co-wrote a book, "Nobody Died at Sandy Hook," in which they claimed the Sandy Hook shooting never took place but was instead an event staged by the federal government as part of an Obama administration effort to enact tighter gun restrictions.