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In November 2022, four University of Idaho students — Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Kaylee Goncalves — were murdered in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. Law enforcement is charging Washington State University criminology student Bryan Kohberger with four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary. Pennsylvania authorities arrested the murder suspect and are extraditing him to Idaho. He could face the death penalty for the quadruple homicide....

In what might be one of the oddest of oddball politician-related lawsuits we’ve seen this year, Devin Nunes, the Republican representative from California, is suing Twitter and the owners of two parody Twitter accounts pretending to be his cow and his mother, for one quarter billion dollars. The lawsuit alleges defamation, negligence, and seeks an injunction demanding Twitter deactivate the defendants’ Twitter accounts and reveal their true identities. Based on the commentary to date, the lawsuit has been called frivolous, and has been ridiculed by nearly every single late night comedy host....

After a district court blocked Ohio’s attempts to limit early voting opportunities, and after the Sixth Circuit refused to issue a stay pending appeal, the state was down to a Hail Mary petition in the last few minutes of the game. With early voting set to commence, including the “Golden Week,” which allows voters to register and vote on the same day (and is a logistical headache for the state, which has to verify those registrations on the spot), the U....

In plaintiffs’ suit against their former employer alleging employment discrimination on the basis of their religious belief that homosexual conduct is sinful and other claims, summary judgment in favor of the employer is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff cannot show that she met the newspaper’s legitimate performance expectations or that a similarly situated employee who did not share her religious beliefs was treated more favorably; 2) the other plaintiff’s discrimination case based on religion, race, and age, and his retaliations claim, also failed because he could not show that he was meeting the employer’s legitimate performance expectations; and 3) district court properly dismissed the plaintiffs’ claims for negligent infliction of emotional distress as, under the “modified impact” version of the tort, there is no evidence whatsoever to support such a claim....

As legal practitioners, we have had to endure - on average - seven years of higher education to become attorneys. During those years, we’ve come across hundreds of teachers of all different backgrounds, genders and ethnicities. But were the majority of them liberal and purposely so? One University of Iowa College of Law part-time employee, Teresa Wagner, believes she, at least, was discriminated against and refused a full-time position because of her conservative background....

In US v. Batton, No. 09-8079, the Tenth Circuit affirmed defendant’s conviction under the Interstate Transportation of a Minor for Unlawful Sexual Relations Act, holding that 1) the evidence of defendant’s prior sexual assault against a fourteen-year-old boy was strikingly similar to the charged offense and helped the jury determine the validity of the victim’s accusations; 2) the jury instructions as a whole were not misleading; and 3) the expert testimony explained the characteristics and techniques of sex offenders in a way helpful to the jury....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judicial Conduct and Disability Committee ruled last week that Judge George C. Paine, II, Chief Judge of the Middle District of Tennessee Bankruptcy Court, committed judicial misconduct by violating Canon 2C of the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which prohibits “holding membership in an organization that practices invidious discrimination on the bases of race and sex.” Judge Paine is a Resident Member of the Belle Meade Country Club, a 110-year-old private social club located in Nashville, Tennessee....

Despite which side of the debate one falls on, abortion has always been a hot button issue. Those who are “pro-life” believe that it’s more important to protect the life of a fetus than give women autonomy over their own bodies. On the other side of the debate, those who are “pro-choice” don’t address whether abortion is right or wrong; instead, they argue that the government shouldn’t be involved in decisions women make about their own body....

If this were the Old West, John MacDonald might’ve said he got scalped. But times have changed, and so MacDonald just says he got ripped off in a bad loan. He borrowed $5,000 at 116 percent annual interest, resulting in a $35,994 finance charge over seven years. Fortunately for MacDonald, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals let him get out of part of the deal. And as it turns out, a Native American tribe was involved....

Defendant’s wire fraud and bid rigging convictions are affirmed where: 1) defendant’s conduct did not need to violate a rule or regulation of the E-Rate educational funding program in order to be fraudulent; 2) even accepting that her ultimate motives were laudable, defendant concealed material facts from the federal government in an attempt to induce it to fund her projects; and 3) the evidence at trial easily supported the jury’s finding that defendant participated in multiple bid-rigging conspiracies....

Conviction and sentence for wire fraud is affirmed where: 1) application of the mass-marketing sentencing enhancement was appropriate, as defendant used the Internet to conduct large-scale advertising to attract bidders to his fraudulent online auctions; 2) the district court did not err in adding criminal-history points to defendant’s total based on his previous state conviction; and 3) defendant’s sentence is reasonable. Read US v. Heckel, No. 07-3514 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin....

Conviction and sentence for aggravated identity theft and related crimes is affirmed where: 1) the evidence was sufficient to support defendant Strothers’ conviction for engaging in a loan fraud conspiracy; 2) the district court did not err in denying defendant a minor role reduction, in calculating the amount of loss attributable to him, and in imposing various sentencing enhancement; 3) the evidence was sufficient to support defendant Liwaru’s conviction for conspiracy to defraud the United States; 4) the court erred in allowing the jury to see an exhibit which was not introduced at trial, but its admission did not affect the outcome of the case; 5) supplemental jury instructions given in response to a jury question were specific and neutral and were not error; 6) the court did not err in imposing various enhancements to defendant Liwaru’s sentence; 7) defendant Jenkins-Watts’ Speedy Trial Act rights were not violated, and the court did not err in denying her motion to sever her case; 8) the court did not err in denying her motion to supress evidence as statements she gave to bank personnel were not taken in violation of her Miranda rights; 9) the indictment was sufficient to charge Jenkins with aggravated identity theft, and the evidence was sufficient to support her conviction....

In large part, the dividing line between essential and nonessential businesses in the time of coronavirus depends on where you live. In the absence of a national order that would define essential businesses, state and local governments are left to develop their own plans. While many businesses are considered essential everywhere — think health care services, grocery stores, and gas stations — others are OK in one location but not in another....

For almost any industry, the idea of cybersecurity has moved from science fiction to a viable business concern in just a few decades. The safety of confidential information is such a concern that many view a data breach as something a business can basically count on dealing with. The only question is, when. Are Hackers Really Interested in Law Firms? The short answer? Absolutely. In 2017, twenty percent of law firms in the United States experienced either a data breach or cyber-attack....

Missing persons reports appear routinely on crime and legal shows, but these reports involve much more dramatic situations in real life. By the time a missing persons report is filed, tensions are often running high, meaning important details might be missed. It doesn’t help that TV and movies don’t tell the whole story about how to file missing persons reports. They often leave out important information and say things that just aren’t true....

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies to employees, not job applicants. That’s the ruling in Kleber v. CareFusion Corportion, a case from the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. A majority said the plain language of the law protects only current employees. It was an 8-4 decision by a 12-member panel, setting the stage for a possible appeal. But for attorney Dale Kleber, it’s been too long already. Age Discrimination In 2011, Kleber applied for a senior staff position with CareFusion....

Martin Luther King Jr. defined a genuine leader as “not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” The United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) addresses the subject of leadership and organizational roles in USSG §3B1.1 by stating: If the latter definition makes you nauseated, you aren’t alone. “in distinguishing a leadership and organizational role from one of mere management or supervision . . . the court should consider” factors that “include [and thus are not necessarily exhausted by] the exercise of decision making authority, the nature of participation in the commission of the offense, the recruitment of accomplices, the claimed right to a larger share of the fruits of the crime, the degree of participation in planning or organizing the offense, the nature and scope of the illegal activity, and the degree of control and authority exercised over others....

Calling all experienced motion practice attorneys out there: what does the following mean? “Affidavit of Truth Notice of Conditional Acceptance of Offer Upon Proof of Claim.” We’ve seen some awful motion captions before, but the above takes the cake. And because of ridiculous behavior by a litigant who wanted to represent himself pro se, the circuit court affirmed a lower court’s decision that he should lose that privilege. When people representing themselves pro se, they risk losing in disastrous fashion....

Timing, they say, is everything. But sometimes it’s about where you are. Like Mark Horton, who was waiting for a decision from the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. In Horton v. Midwest Geriatric Management, he wanted the appeals court to say he had a right to sue for sexual orientation discrimination. If he had sued in the Seventh Circuit, he would already have an answer. But now he’ll have to wait for the U....

When people clamor for more gun control laws in response to firearm violence, one response from gun rights advocates is pointing out how many more people are killed in motor vehicle accidents every year. And, in recent years, the retort to that argument has increasingly been to regulate guns the same way as cars – with strict licensing requirements and restrictions, compulsory annual registration, and mandatory liability insurance. That latest prong is being pushed more heavily following the recent spate of mass shootings in California, Texas, and Ohio....