A little more than two years ago, a young man with the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts” was convicted of running the dark web drug marketplace known as the Silk Road. It was considered a major coup for the government, although it is unclear whether shutting down the Silk Road was effective at curtailing the sale […]

A Washington, Sheriff’s detective was so sure Clyde Spencer was sexually abusing children that she made up dozens of false quotations and attributed them to his children, according to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Those lies coerced him into entering a no-contest plea and spend nearly 20 years in prison. He deserves the $9 […]

If a jury convicts someone and the court later learns that one juror’s vote was based entirely on racial animus, should the conviction be overturned? Traditionally, the answer has been no. Appellate courts have long held that what happens in the jury room, for the most part, stays in the jury room. And yet, “the […]

Becoming a federal judge is the dream of a lifetime for many, but it does have its downsides. Those downsides could include something like the lack of ability to advocate for causes you care about, or they might involve dissatisfaction with aspects of the position itself. For former federal district court judge Kevin Sharp, it […]

Authorities characterized the outcome of a recent sting operation spanning 29 states as bringing down the Uber of sex-trafficking. The operation reportedly placed around 18,000 adds on Backpage.com to advertise the sexual services of foreign women. The women, many of whom were undocumented immigrants from China and Korea, were intimidated with threats of deportation. Many […]

A former Murfreesboro City Schools band teacher recently sought to appeal certain evidence admitted in his criminal case. The denial of that request for an appeal of a sex crime conviction sends a cautionary note. Specifically, the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed that evidence has been improperly admitted in the criminal case. At issue […]