Trial Skills

In an Idaho tax-fraud trial, just as the jury is on the cusp of a verdict, one juror informs the judge that another juror made a racist comment about people of Mexican ethnicity. Things like, "The Mexicans, all they want to do is screw us over anyway”; Defendant’s employer "could have come up from the cartel”; and "when Mexicans come here, they act like they can't speak English to get away with certain things."

Defendant in a North Dakota fraud trial wasn't permitted to introduce statements from a recording of the gov't preparing its star witness, a co-fraudster who received a sweetheart plea deal of pretrial diversion even though he was facing 60 years imprisonment. Defense: I'd like to show portions of the videotape to show prosecutor coached the witness. District court: Nah.

Luigi Mangione, 27, will not face the death penalty for allegedly fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a federal court ruled Friday, delivering a blow to federal prosecutors bid to see him executed.

According to the Court order, the court dismissed two of the four federal counts against Mangione: murder through use of a firearm, which carries a potential death sentence, and a related firearms offense. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Sept. 8.

The Federal Defender’s Office for Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, working in collaboration with the Federal Capital Trial Project, will host a regional training on the Fundamentals of Federal Capital Defense on January 15, 2026, in Boston. This is a first of its kind.

Not guilty. That was the finding of a jury fully acquitting the man charged with assault for throwing his hoagie at a federal officer in Washington, D.C.

The case of the Subway sandwich has come to symbolize how many in the nation's capital feel about the administration's surge of federal law enforcement to the city.

He volunteered to surrender to authorities, but at least 20 federal agents showed up at his apartment to arrest him. Later, the White House posted a highly produced promotional video of the arrest on its X account.

A few fellas were drinkin' moonshine in a Tishomingo County, Miss. trailer when things get out of hand and one is arrested for shooting some bullets—which he denies. Due to a prior conviction he's held awaiting trial. That lasts 1,233 days, during which he's given four attorneys—some of whom he's not told of—and three judges and files four pro se speedy trial motions. He's convicted. District court: Speedy trial violation, but only on one of the two counts in the indictment. Fifth Circuit: Nope.

Midland, Texas, prosecutor's office investigator told jury a reliable source told him that someone named Cali was selling drugs from a hotel and other law enforcement agents told him Cali was the defendant. Defendant: hearsay! Prosecutor: testimony is admissible to give jury context. Fifth Circuit: Not admissible. Introducing testimonial hearsay of non-testifying witnesses violates the Confrontation Clause. And since we've had to say this a lot as of late, "we are concerned that the government has repeatedly failed to take the lesson."

After being struck in the head with a metal handlebar, called the n-word, and having his life threatened by four white men in Lewiston, Me., Black man retrieves a gun from his home nearby, returns to the scene, and fires a shot into a dirt pile. At trial, the prosecutor peremptorily struck the only person of color from the jury pool. Man: this is discrimination and violates Batson v. Kentucky. Trial court: "I can't make any findings." Man is convicted and sentenced to three years in prison.