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Murdaugh She Wrote
FEATURED
May 21, 2026
Murdaugh She Wrote
By: James Trusty
As the information regarding Alex Murdaugh’s conniving, murderous ways began to spread far beyond the Lowcountry of South Carolina and into the cable and social media airwaves, a curious and ominous thing took root. The temptation of star power and riches slumped stealthily behind the public face of the proceedings, causing a low-level bureaucrat to destroy the notion of an impartial jury in one of the country’s more conspicuous trials. High profile trials will always be a big part of American culture. Many of us follow each “trial of the century” with rapt attention. I feel antiquated mentioning the OJ Simpson trial—it now feels like a case that I have to pull out of a dusty World Book Encyclopedia to…
SPLC’s Informant Program – is Dangerously Unwise the Same as Unlawful?
May 11, 2026
SPLC’s Informant Program – is Dangerously Unwise the Same as Unlawful?
By: Lauren Scribner
THE INDICTMENT On April 21, 2026, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit civil rights organization that works to “create a multiracial democracy” by “fight[ing] white supremacy and various forms of injustice”[1] was charged in an 11-count indictment[2] in the Middle District of Alabama. The indictment alleges that the SPLC operated “a covert network of informants who were either associated with violent extremist groups…
Overrun and Overreach: the New Challenge to Grand Jury Subpoenas
March 26, 2026
Overrun and Overreach: the New Challenge to Grand Jury Subpoenas
By: James Trusty
Most criminal law practitioners are quite familiar with clients receiving grand jury subpoenas. There are rituals we go through to figure out whether it’s a “friendly” subpoena, i.e. just trying to get business records from the client to be used against some other target, or whether it’s the visible start of a potential criminal prosecution against the client. Because the legal standard to justify issuing…
Was This Identity Theft? Sixth Circuit Should Limit Meaning of That Term
March 5, 2013
Was This Identity Theft? Sixth Circuit Should Limit Meaning of That Term
By: Nicole Kardell
What’s in a name? When you think of identity theft, you typically think of someone taking a person’s name plus some other identifiers, like their address and Social Security number or credit card number, to go on a spending spree or drain the victim’s bank account. You may think of fraudulent impersonation. But what if someone falsely stated that another person gave him permission to…
Va. Court Declines to Decide Status of Poker Under State’s Gambling Law
March 4, 2013
Va. Court Declines to Decide Status of Poker Under State’s Gambling Law
By: Ifrah Law
On February 28, 2013, the Virginia Supreme Court issued an opinion in which it declined to address the legality of playing poker in the state but left open the possibility for the issue to be decided in a future case. The full opinion in the case, Daniels v. Mobley, is available here. Charles Daniels, a former poker hall operator who operated charitable bingo halls in…
This Gaming Case Didn’t Have to Be Prosecuted
February 26, 2013
This Gaming Case Didn’t Have to Be Prosecuted
By: Ifrah Law
A Nevada man now has a criminal record – simply because he placed a bet in a casino in Las Vegas and a casino employee didn’t ask him enough questions. Robert Walker recently pleaded guilty in federal court to one misdemeanor count involving a record-keeping violation and was sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation. He was also ordered to pay a $250 fine and…
Does ‘Speech or Debate’ Trump the Right to Defend Oneself in Court?
February 20, 2013
Does ‘Speech or Debate’ Trump the Right to Defend Oneself in Court?
By: Jeffrey Hamlin
On February 5, 2013, the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the U.S. House of Representatives filed a brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to hold that U.S. legislators and their aides cannot be forced to testify about their legislative activities, even when their expected testimony might help exonerate a criminal defendant. The case raises interesting questions about the balancing of…
Domain Name Seizure – It’s Not Just a U.S. Law Enforcement Tactic
February 12, 2013
Domain Name Seizure – It’s Not Just a U.S. Law Enforcement Tactic
By: Ifrah Law
We have previously reported in this space about the use of domain name seizures by American law enforcement – for example, here and here. Recent media reports show that domain name seizure has become the go-to tactic for law enforcement for other countries as well. Canadian police made a series of arrests during an invitation-only Super Bowl party attended by 2300 people as part of…
