Opponents of the merit-based Tennessee Plan, which currently governs this process, claim voters rejected the Tennessee Plan in a 1978 referendum, but I respectfully disagree.

A Kankakee man has received a 78-year prison sentence in a case that was the first Illinois trial to feature live, gavel-to-gavel TV coverage.

Less is more for Monroe County under the legislative redistricting plan that won final approval Wednesday from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Two terrorism suspects charged with plotting to derail a VIA passenger train, in what police are calling a “Al Qaeda-sponsored” attack with alleged ties to Iran, will appear in court Tuesday morning.

Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. will speak Wednesday at the opening of a three-day conference in of the Mississippi Association of Drug Court Professionals.

A former Berea man convicted of sexually abusing a 17-year-old relative while she stayed at his home lost his appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has rejected Alabama's appeal to revive portions of a state immigration law, including a section that made it a crime to harbor people who are living in the country illegally.

An Alabama resident who allegedly fled Genesee County justice and was later arrested in Arkansas is back in local custody, being held without bail. On March 27, 2012 , Benjamin William Muntz, 24, of Knowlesville Road, reportedly failed to appear for sentencing on his convictions for grand larceny, 3rd, burglary, 2nd, and criminal possession of stolen property, 5th. There were reports of him ...

A man accused of neglecting his pets said he's an animal lover and educator.

BOSTON - Democratic leaders today put a quick stop to a move to reinstate the death penalty in Massachusetts, rejecting a House budget amendment containing a death penalty measure first proposed by former Gov. Mitt Romney in 2005.

With thinning gray hair and intense eyes, Spokane County District Court Judge Vance Peterson presides over his court with a sense of humor and sometimes a hard edge.

PHILADELPHIA, April 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- As Wikipedia puts it "Craig Mitnick is an American lawyer". Born in Philadelphia and raised in Southern New Jersey, Mitnick was named as one of the ...

GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP) — A former district attorney acted improperly when he prosecuted an innocent man who spent nearly 25 years in prison, a Texas judge ruled Friday as he ordered the former prosecutor's arrest on criminal contempt and tampering charges.

Although he wasn't in the courtroom Wednesday, a former state blood analyst was center stage during a North Carolina Court of Appeals hearing on Mike Peterson's effort to be cleared in his wife's 2001 death.

A Baltimore native on death row for killing his Altoona girlfriend nine years ago sucker punched his attorney at the conclusion of a hearing Monday morning in Blair County Court.

Dereon Tayronne Kelley, 22, of Bryan, has been ordered to prison following his convictions on all counts for communicating a bomb threat to an academic institution, United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson announced today.

A Saudi Arabian traveler who was arrested Saturday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport with a pressure cooker in his luggage is not a terrorist, his defense lawyer said today.

After having various Republican-introduced laws challenged by courts the past two years, a GOP-backed motion that would discontinue the power of circuit judges to block state laws passed committee Wednesday.

Rachel Swan Special to The S.F. Examiner Like every court system in California, San Mateo County felt the pinch of budget cuts this year, and it’s enough to rattle administrators. In January, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed cuts that would leave the court with a crippling $4.5 million deficit. Barring a May revision of that proposal, the court would have to adjust by eliminating five commissioners ...

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Trial has been delayed for a man accused of burglarizing "South Park" co-creator Trey Parker's home on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, after Parker didn't show up for a recent hearing.

Nearly 60 years after the Korean War ended and after 15 years of struggle to change his military records, Duane Broten was recognized for his time spent as a prisoner of war in Korea.

JACKSON — The family of a guard killed during a prison riot in Mississippi has filed a federal lawsuit that says inadequate staffing and poor treatment created a dangerous environment.

BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Institute of Technology can black out the names of university officials when releasing documents related to the investigation into free-information activist Aaron Swartz, a federal judge has ruled.        

ATLANTA - A not guilty plea was entered Friday on behalf of Beverly Hall, the former superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools who is charged in a broad conspiracy alleging educators cheated on standardized tests to mask poor student performance for personal gain.

DNA Evidence Links Accused To Crime

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the law is on the side of a Manchester man who had his car towed six years ago from his apartment parking lot during a snowstorm.

A committee has advanced three controversial gun-related bills, sending them to the full Senate. One of the measures would seek to exempt Texas from new federal laws regulating firearms or ammunition, a bill that would face court challenges if it became law and was used.

ATLANTA — In a small city at the southern tip of the Appalachian Mountains, a former judge is accused of sexually harassing three women who worked for him and creating “an atmosphere of sexual dominance.” Another woman who had a case before him said he propositioned her and orchestrated a scheme to have her arrested on bogus drug charges.

Vernon Luke Bowser, 46, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge J. Ronnie Greer to serve 240 months in prison after he was found guilty of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine.

The newspaper was singled out for work on the eight-day sexual abuse trial. The Morning Call was recognized by the Associated Press this weekend with a first-place award for its coverage of the Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse trial in June.        

Wearing jeans and a Gamecocks T-shirt, Wesley Todd McCracken held up his cuffed hands to read a note Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Charleston.

RAEFORD - An inmate dressed in jail stripes raked up turkey feathers as if they were leaves Friday outside the Hoke County Courthouse.

DALLAS, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Hankinson LLP founder Deborah Hankinson and Managing Partner Rick Thompson have been selected among the Best Lawyers in Dallas by D Magazine based upon their work ...

RALEIGH — North Carolina's shortage of options to treat the mentally ill means county jails hold thousands of sick inmates, costing taxpayers big bucks as they wait for weeks or months to be evaluated or treated.

WHEELING, W.Va. -- A federal judge is hearing final motions from both sides before starting the trial of a Virginia woman charged with embezzling more than $1 million in horse racing funds from a West Virginia casino and racetrack. Anita Ambler of Reva, Va...

The sentencing of former East Washington police chief Donald Solomon, who allegedly called himself “the best cop money can buy,” is scheduled next month in U.S. District Court, Pittsburgh, and U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton said he intends to participate personally.

SEATTLE — “Barefoot Bandit” Colton Harris-Moore won’t have to serve any additional prison time for his two-year run from the law in stolen cars, boats and airplanes under a plea deal reached in Skagit County.

Today on Rappler. The Commission on Elections opens the source code of ballot-counting machines for local review. The Bankers Association of the Philippines asks the Supreme Court to lift the Comelec’s money ban. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez says vote buying increased because of the automated election system.

A former Texas parole officer has been sentenced to almost two years in federal prison for taking bribes from a man she supervised and not reporting his alleged financial violations.

BELLAIRE - Police Chief Mike Kovalyk and Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas said a deputy was justified when he shot out a tire of a would-be getaway car Thursday morning in the Eastern Division Court parking lot that was populated with bystanders.

ASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay is poised to elect as its new president a conservative candidate from the party that backed strongman Alfredo Stroessner during 35 years of iron rule, returning the executive branch to the wealthy interests that have traditionally dominated this poor South American nation despite the election of a leftist ex-bishop in 2008.