Private probation firms cash in on monitoring offenders
Whenever Lowndes County Justice Court Judge Ron Cooke imposes a fine on someone, he always asks them, “How much can you afford to pay?”
‘A better deal’: Plea agreements incentivize defendants to admit to crimes, keep the justice system moving
Starkville resident James Bardwell had a choice.
He could go to trial for sexual battery and two counts of being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon. Or, he could accept a plea agreement from the state to confess to the weapons charges, spend the next 18 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections and not have to register as a sex offender when released.
JA of Columbus announces 2017 Charity Ball court
Junior Auxiliary of Columbus has announced the members of its 67th annual Charity Ball court to be presented April 1 at Trotter Convention Center.
Court: New health law doesn’t infringe on religious freedom
The federal health care law doesn’t infringe on the religious freedom of faith-based nonprofit organizations that object to covering birth control in employee health plans, a federal appeals court in Denver ruled Tuesday.
Marathon bomber ‘sorry’ for attack after 2-year silence
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev broke his silence on the death and devastation he caused two years ago with words that were not a political tirade or a justification.
Boston bomber will get chance to break silence at sentencing
Will he finally speak?
‘Justice’: Jury orders death for the Boston Marathon bomber
After slouching through his trial for months with a bored look on his face, the defendant was ordered to rise.
Boston Marathon bomber shows emotion for 1st time at trial
For the first time since his trial began four months ago, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev dropped his blank, impassive demeanor and showed emotion as his Russian aunt sobbed uncontrollably and had to leave the witness stand.
Jurors see defiant Tsarnaev in photo as feds argue for death
As jurors looked at a photograph of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev giving the finger to a security camera in his jail cell, a federal prosecutor described it as a defiant act by an unrepentant man who didn’t care that he had killed four people, including an 8-year-old boy and a police officer.
Tsarnaev’s lawyers try to show brother in charge of bombing
Lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber Dzkhokar Tsarnaev started their case by trying to show that his older brother was the driving force behind the 2013 terror attack.
Unpaid city, justice court fines worth millions
Municipal and justice courts in the Golden Triangle tally millions of dollars worth of old, uncollected fines, but many of these courts are more aggressively seeking to reduce that number.
FBI: Bomb components found in Tsarnaev’s family home
FBI agents told jurors in the Boston Marathon trial that nails, BBs, pressure cooker parts and other items similar to those used in two pressure-cooker bombs that exploded near the marathon’s finish line were found in Dzokhar Tsarnaev’s family apartment in Cambridge.
Court reporters key part of trials
Cindy Zelinka and Melanie Morel both hold vital jobs in the justice system.
They are court reporters for the Clay County Circuit Court — they record every single word uttered during courtroom proceedings.
Photos by nanny Vivian Maier, focus of film up for Oscar, in legal limbo
A messy legal fight over copyrights to streetscape photos shot by a Chicago nanny whose life is chronicled in “Finding Vivian Maier,” which is nominated for an Oscar today, threatens to slow or even stop new releases of her once-unknown work that has become a sensation only after her death.
Report: Theft-related cases surged in 2014
Starkville Municipal Court handled more misdemeanor and felony charges involving theft, burglary and robbery last year than in 2013, a report shows.
Tsarnaev appears in court for first time since 2013
Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev returned to court Thursday for the first time since he was arraigned in July 2013.
Ruling: Mississippi abortion law remains blocked
A federal appeals court said Thursday that it won’t reconsider its earlier ruling that a 2012 Mississippi abortion law is unconstitutional.
U.S. appeals court blocks Mississippi abortion law
Mississippi’s governor and attorney general will have to decide whether to challenge a federal appeals court ruling that is keeping the state’s only abortion clinic in business.
A western wrinkle on eminent domain
The view from the deck of the small, century-old cabin was a dream come true for Andy and Ceil Barrie — a sweeping panorama of 13,000 and 14,000-foot peaks towering above the forest of centuries-old bristlecone pines.
Murder, pornography cases headline circuit court
The February session of the Lowndes County Circuit Court begins Monday with the trial of three Columbus men accused in the 2011 shooting death on College Street.