A judge from McHenry County is holding a hearing Tuesday afternoon in the involuntary-manslaughter case against Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko, a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley. The hearing before Judge Maureen P. McIntyre is being held at the Cook County regional courthouse in Rolling Meadows. Vanecko, 38, of Costa Mesa, Calif., was indicted Dec. 3 by a Cook County grand jury that charged ...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California may speed up the release of some inmates while allowing other inmates with a violent history to become firefighters, under a proposal to cut crowding in state prisons Gov. Jerry Brown filed late Thursday night.        

Under the scrutiny of a forensic audit ordered by Gov. Robert Bentley, Alabama State University has tapped former Federal Judge U.W. Clemon, Montgomery's WSFA 12 News reports.

An Oregon State Police trooper accused of fondling a woman during a traffic stop pleaded guilty Tuesday in Clackamas County Circuit Court to official misconduct.

In a 4-3 decision, the Montana Supreme Court Tuesday overturned a lower-court ruling that had granted a new trial for convicted murderer Barry Beach, likely sending him back to the Montana State Prison.

A northern Idaho judge has rejected a request by a Moscow man charged with helping another man kill his wife to be released on his own recognizance or have bail set.

Washington — An Idaho man charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama by shooting at the White House practiced with his weapon for six months and may have been upset about the country's marijuana policy, prosecutors said in a newly filed court document.

Yesterday the Court heard the final two oral arguments scheduled for this Term. In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, the Court is considering what standard of proof should apply to retaliation claims brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Coverage of the argument comes from Jesse J. Holland [...]

A 30-year-old Uzbek national who has been arrested on federal terrorism charges pleaded not guilty in a Boise, Idaho court.

SafeLaunch, a teen addiction prevention initiative started in Santa Barbara, will announce the winners of their tri-county Media $500 Contest on Thursday, May 2nd at the Veterans Memorial Building, located at 112 W. Cabrillo Boulevard in Santa Barbara. The theme for the contest is “Written reflections: Exposing the roots of addiction and smashing the stigma.”

The leader of a Cicero church facing a federal fraud indictment will continue to call his house of worship home after a judge refused to let him live with family in Georgia while awaiting trial. Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman did, however, tell Herman Jackson he can move freely about the Chicago area for 12 hours a day, and she gave him permission to visit his wife, co-defendant Jannette Faria ...

EDGERTON, MO. (AP) — Two of three inmates who walked away from a northeast Kansas prison surrendered Friday afternoon at a northwest Missouri home where they had been holed up for hours, authorities said.

Phyllida Lloyd's production, which places Shakespeare's tragedy in a prison, to open Brit-heavy season at St Ann's Warehouse The Donmar Warehouse's all-female Julius Caesar will get a New York run in the autumn, becoming the first US transfer of artistic director Josie Rourke 's tenure. In October Phyllida Lloyd's production, which stars Harriet Walter as Brutus, will open a new season at St Ann ...

G'Quan "Tuttie" Baker was convicted last September of three counts of second degree murder was sentenced Friday to life in prison.  District Court Judge Don Johnson made him eligible for parole in 35 years.

A 66-year-old Logansport man was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in the Indiana Department of Correction Tuesday for robbing a Twelve Mile bank.

CORVALLIS — A former Oregon State University football player has entered Benton County Adult Drug Treatment Court as part of a plea agreement to settle drug and theft charges filed against him in four separate cases.

An Oregon federal judge has ruled the practice of limiting inmates' mail to only postcards is unconstitutional.

NEW YORK - The federal judge overseeing the stop-and-frisk trial that has put New York Police Department officers in the spotlight says she knows she's not the government's favorite judge.

Child welfare workers cannot be sued in the death of a Centreville teen who died in a 2008 fire, even if they knew she was regularly tied to her bed by her parents, a federal appeals court said.

Observers are predicting a speedy confirmation to the federal bench for Jackson attorney Debra M. Brown.

The 37-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, left a state prison in central New York in February after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession, going straight into federal custody in a tax evasion case.

A Montana man who was told — incorrectly – that he was dying of cancer and had less than six months to live was awarded $59,820 in a lawsuit filed in federal court, the Helena Independent Record says. ...

A South Carolina man has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for robbing more than a dozen banks in multiple states, including Tennessee.

A former Oregon State University football player has entered Benton County Adult Drug Treatment Court as part of a plea agreement to settle drug and theft charges filed against him in four separate cases.

New Hampshire’s highest court has ruled that a lawsuit brought against the state by operators of the Mount Sunapee Ski area can go to trial.

An Idaho man charged with attempting to assassinate President Obama by shooting at the White House practiced with his weapon for six months and may have been upset about the country's marijuana policy, prosecutors said in a newly filed court document. 

A female Air Force instructor who had sex with a recruit was sentenced to three months in jail Thursday, but will remain in the service for now. [...] Allen's military defense team bashed the prosecution's call for six months in jail, a bad-conduct discharge and reduction to airman first class. Allen pleaded guilty to having sex in 2011 with an airman in training at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss ...

Joanne Chesimard, the Black Liberation Army militant who fled prison for Cuba after being convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973, was added to the FBI most-wanted terrorist list, and a reward doubled to $2 million.

By Marty Graham VISTA, California (Reuters) - Heavy metal singer Tim Lambesis, the frontman for Christian rock band As I Lay Dying, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to a charge of soliciting the murder of his estranged wife. North San Diego County Superior Court Judge Martin Staven set bail for Lambesis at $3 million. He ordered Lambesis to surrender his passport, stay away from his wife Meggan ...

Four environmental groups are asking a federal judge to order the temporary shutdown of a sheep research station on the Idaho-Montana border that they say is harming the region's grizzly bear population.

Anthony Balbirnie is in a state prison for past convictions. SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Greene County prosecutors this month filed new criminal charges against a man connected with the death of a teenager from the Willard area. Anthony Balbirnie previously was charged in Benton County with dumping the body of Khighla Parks, 15, in Truman Lake last September.

The court issued an order on April 24 in response to questions posed by the board regarding the process it was expected to use in the latest court-mandated revision of the redistricting map.

OKLAHOMA CITY, May 7 (UPI) -- An Oklahoma woman has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for defrauding would-be parents, adoption agencies and law firms.

George Thomas is one of four defendants accused of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and murdering Channon Christian and Chris Newsom in 2007.

A South Carolina man has been sentenced to nearly six years in prison for robbing more than a dozen banks in multiple states.

Authorities say they believe two armed men holed up in a northwest Missouri home escaped from a Kansas prison Friday.

By Caitlin Conrad/KTVL.com KLAMATH FALLS, Ore -- A major drug bust in Klamath County went down under the cover of darkness. The number of arrests so large it forced the jail to open an extra wing. The investigation, named operation trojan horse, started in October when two men were found dead in Bonanza. ...

A national fraternity with chapters on more than 125 campuses must stand trial over the drinking death of a Wabash College freshman, an Indiana court said in a ruling that may force the organizations to take more responsibility for misconduct at chapter houses.

To most observers, Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade Harper McCree had it all: a top-drawer education, a prestigious career and a family pedigree of accomplishment that goes back at least three generations. But in the past five months, he has been battling sordid allegations that could derail his career and dishonor his family name.

Editor's note: In December 1984, Daniel Remeta, Lisa Dunn and Mark Walter left Traverse City, Mich., ...

The 2013 session of the Kansas Legislature nears an end with the chief justice of the state Supreme Court accusing a leading senator with political coercion. Meantime, efforts are picking up steam to force appellate judges into retirement and to build separate civil and criminal appeals courts.