Ethics

Two former law enforcement officers who were part of a self-styled “Goon Squad” that tortured, sexually assaulted and beat residents of a Mississippi county were given hefty prison sentences on Tuesday for brutally attacking two Black men last year (view full article).

A federal judge ordered Hunter Elward, who shot one of the victims in the mouth, to serve 20 years in prison. Jeffrey Middleton, a former lieutenant who supervised the Goon Squad, was sentenced to nearly 18 years.

Federal public defenders would avoid the most dire budget scenarios under the fiscal 2024 funding package unveiled Thursday, with Congress set to spend tens of millions of dollars more than previous proposals from the House and Senate (View press release).

In April 2023, Elizabeth Brown Luck made history as the first person of color appointed as Chief of the Defender Services Office at the Administrative Office (AO) of the United States Courts.

Former Assistant Federal Public Defender, (AFPD), Tamara Giwa, has been selected to serve as the new Executive Director for the Federal Defenders of New York.Notably, Giwa is the first Black woman to lead the organization. Giwa joined the Federal Defenders of New York in 2009 and served as an AFPD until her promotion. Prior to serving as an AFPD, Giwa worked at the Legal Aid Society of New York and the Brooklyn Family Defense Project.

Practice tip: When briefing, do not cite cases that don't exist (even if cleverly named Smith and Jones) and, for cases that do exist, do not misrepresent their facts and holdings. If you do, you might face a difficult oral argument followed by the court striking your brief from the record and dismissing your appeal, as the Ninth Circuit demonstrates.

Just one day after being appointed a public defender due to indigency, Puerto Rican man charged in a criminal case has private counsel appear in the case. The gov't thinks something fishy is going on and asks for a hearing about the source of funds. Trial court: Agrees and puts one of the defendant's private lawyers on the stand. Lawyer: I don't think this is any of your business. Court: "So you're saying you've done something criminal?!" Well, lawyer is disqualified and must return his fees.

Tennessee’s GOP-controlled Senate advanced legislation on Tuesday allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions as critics raised concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases (view full article).

It must still clear the similarly conservatively dominant House chamber before it can go to the governor.

The beleaguered federal Bureau of Prisons said Monday it will close a women’s prison in California known as the “rape club” despite attempts to reform the troubled facility after an Associated Press investigation exposed rampant staff-on-inmate sexual abuse (

FBI agents on Monday raided a federal women’s prison in California so plagued by sexual abuse it was known among inmates and workers as the “rape club.” The action coincided with the ouster of the new warden from the federal correctional institution in Dublin (view article).

Terra Morehead, a longtime county and federal prosecutor who helped police frame at least one innocent man, has agreed to surrender her law license and faces disbarment (view full article).