Associated Press: Minnesota courts expand camera access to criminal trials. “Minnesota courts will allow greater audiovisual coverage of criminal proceedings starting next year under an order filed Wednesday by the Minnesota Supreme Court, but the rules will nonetheless remain more restrictive than those in many other states.”
New York Times: Clearview AI, Used by Police to Find Criminals, Now in Public Defenders’ Hands. “After a Florida man was accused of vehicular homicide, his lawyer used Clearview AI’s facial recognition software to prove his innocence. But other defense lawyers say Clearview’s offer rings hollow.”
New York Times: Twitter Worker Accused of Spying for Saudi Arabia Heads to Trial. “While working at Twitter from 2013 to 2015, Ahmad Abouammo was responsible for helping celebrities, journalists and other notable figures in the Middle East promote their Twitter accounts. He handled requests for Twitter’s coveted blue verification badges and arranged tours of the San Francisco headquarters. But the Justice Department says he misused his access to Twitter user data, gathering the personal information of political dissidents and passing it to Saudi Arabia in exchange for a luxury watch and hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
The Guardian: Ghislaine Maxwell: jury weighs charges as judge warns Covid could derail trial. “As jury deliberations in Ghislaine Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial resumed in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, the judge told lawyers jurors should prepare to deliberate later in the day – because the surge in Covid-19 cases threatens to derail proceedings.”
AP: How AI-powered Tech Landed Man In Jail With Scant Evidence. “Forensic reports prepared by ShotSpotter’s employees have been used in court to improperly claim that a defendant shot at police, or provide questionable counts of the number of shots allegedly fired by defendants. Judges in a number of cases have thrown out the evidence. ShotSpotter’s proprietary algorithms are the company’s primary selling point, and it frequently touts the technology in marketing materials as virtually foolproof. But the private company guards how its closed system works as a trade secret, a black box largely inscrutable to the public, jurors and police oversight boards.”
Scottish Legal News: Database of miscarriages of justice in UK launched. “The Laboratory for Evidence-Based Justice, based at Exeter Law School, is a new research group working at the intersection of cognitive psychology, data science, and law. The new database, created by the lab, includes the most comprehensive set of information to date about convictions overturned as a result of factual error in the UK, and covers cases in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, from 1970 to the present.” Currently information is available on 346 cases.
Stanford Libraries: Stanford Libraries to make the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal Trial Archives 1945-1946 accessible online with funding from Taube Philanthropies. “In pursuit of the common goal of dissemination and long-term preservation of the archives of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, Stanford Libraries has been authorized by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to manage long-term digital preservation and online hosting with significant scholarly functions for records of the war crimes trial conducted at Nuremberg in 1945 and 1946.”
Library of Congress: Library Acquires Courtroom Sketches of Trials on Police Brutality Against Rodney King. “The Library of Congress has acquired more than 200 sketches of the Rodney King police brutality trials against four Los Angeles police officers in the 1990s, drawn by courtroom sketch artist Mary Chaney (1927-2005).”
CNET: Minneapolis abandons plan to pay social media influencers during Floyd trial. “Minneapolis has scrapped plans to pay social media influencers to post city-approved messages to combat misinformation ahead of the trial of a former police officer in the killing of George Floyd.”
Mashable: Minneapolis will pay influencers to post during the George Floyd murder trials. “Minneapolis, Minn. approved a unique program on Friday. The city will pay social media influencers to spread ‘approved messages’ during the trials of the police officers charged with killing George Floyd.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Threats to feds lead to more than 4 years in prison for man convicted in first pandemic jury trial. “A jury convicted 40-year-old Robert Haas in August. His trial became a test run of sorts for new COVID-19 safety protocols at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. Jurors were spread out beyond the traditional jury box, taking breaks and deliberating in a separate courtroom. Public seating was limited, and witnesses were asked to wipe down the witness stand after their testimony.”
Law Society Gazette: Justice delayed is justice denied for clients in lockdown limbo. “No matter how long a criminal case goes on for, the mental anguish of being accused is unavoidable. The adversarial process which is already long and tortuous (the investigation stage alone can take years) is exacerbated by the Covid-19 delays and will take its toll on the most hardened of clients. Tragically for some it can be too much and I am not alone in representing clients who have sought to end their lives as a result of the unbearable pressures caused by an on-going criminal investigation.”
BBC: Charlie Hebdo trial suspended as suspect catches Covid-19. “The main suspect in the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack in France has tested positive for Covid-19 and his trial has been suspended, lawyers say. Ali Reza Polat is accused of helping the militant Islamist attackers who killed 12 people at the satirical magazine four years ago. The presiding judge says 10 accused accomplices must be tested for the virus before the trial can resume.”
Courthouse News: The Donziger Exception: How SDNY’s First Covid-Age Criminal Trial Fell Apart. “Private lawyers tapped as prosecutors asked the defendant to foot the technology bill for holding the proceedings remotely. Witnesses from around the globe prepared to testify, and attorneys from across the country worried about how to best serve their client in New York. There would have been no jury. It was supposed to have been the first criminal trial in Manhattan Federal Court for the coronavirus age, but the plan fell apart — with the man on the dock complaining about a constitutional and public-health crisis in the making.”
Omaha World-Herald: First Douglas County murder trial in months ends abruptly over apparent coronavirus case. “The search for justice in an Omaha double-homicide case continues to be plagued by the novel coronavirus. Douglas County District Judge Marlon Polk declared a mistrial Monday in the case of Nyir Kuek after Kuek’s sister informed attorneys that she had tested positive for COVID-19.”
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