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$1,000,000 Jury Verdict Against Sheriff Who Engaged in Political Retaliation

A Chicago area jury awarded $1,000,000 to a DuPage County Sheriff’s deputy who claimed that she was passed over for a promotion because she didn’t support the Sheriff’s political campaign. Susan Lakics was a longtime employee of the DuPage County Sheriff’s Office. In her decade of service as an officer, she received perfect and near-perfect

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Proposed Bill Would Allow For New Sentencing Juries

Move Comes After Deadlock on Killer of BOP Officer After an 11-1 jury split on the penalty for the inmate convicted of killing a guard at the federal penitentiary in Canaan, Pennsylvania, two House members want to give federal prosecutors the right to empanel a new jury to decide the proper sentence if the original

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Eleventh Circuit Grants Habeas Hearing in Judicial Bias Case

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has reversed a district court and ruled that an evidentiary hearing is required when a criminal defendant has sufficiently alleged actual bias on the part of a trial judge. Harrison Norris, Jr., who is black, was convicted of 24 counts of forced prostitution of several

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Virginia Supreme Court Orders Retrial in Civil Commitment Proceeding

The Virginia Supreme Court has reversed a jury’s finding that a convicted sex offender was not a sexually violent predator who must be civilly committed. On Aug. 12, 2014, the Commonwealth of Virginia moved to involuntarily commit Brady Arnold Proffitt, Jr. as a sexually violent predator. In order to commit Proffitt pursuant to the Sexually

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Seventh Circuit Upholds Denial of FOIA Request for Terrorist Organization Information

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has upheld a district court’s ruling that certain information relating to terrorist organizations is not disclosable under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Heartland Alliance National Immigrant Justice Center (“The Center”) submitted to the Department of Homeland Security a FOIA request for information related to

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$82,500 Damages to Detained American, Federal Judge Blasts ICE

In a scathing opinion, Judge Jack B. Weinstein, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, awarded a wrongfully detained American citizen $82,500 in damages for false arrest and false imprisonment at the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Davino Watson was born in Kingston, Jamaica November 17,

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State Governors Grant Over 500 Pardons, Commutations

In what is typically a politically risky move, six state governors recently granted pardons and commutations to hundreds of current and former prisoners. In California, Indiana, Kentucky, New York, Arkansas, and Vermont, more than 500 pardons were granted along with another 20 commutations or grants of clemency. In January 2017, outgoing Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin

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