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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…
A Tragic Result of the Stevens Case
January 3, 2011
A Tragic Result of the Stevens Case
By: Ifrah Law
We have discussed the fallout from the Ted Stevens prosecution several times in this blog. See this post, this post, and this post. The Jan. 3, 2011, issue of the New Yorker magazine has a fascinating article about another, very sad result of that case – the September 26, 2010, suicide of Nicholas Marsh, a Department of Justice attorney who was part of the prosecution…
Judges Push Back Against Prosecutorial Abuses
December 23, 2010
Judges Push Back Against Prosecutorial Abuses
By: Ifrah Law
Prosecutorial overreaching is still occurring in courts across the nation, but judges are beginning to push back. In the Ted Stevens case, the former senator was prosecuted on charges that he failed to properly report gifts from a lobbyist—only for the government to later drop all charges against him, saying that his jury conviction should be dismissed because government prosecutors and investigators improperly withheld evidence…
Federal Strike Forces Will Boost Medicare Fraud Enforcement
December 17, 2010
Federal Strike Forces Will Boost Medicare Fraud Enforcement
By: Ifrah Law
In October 2010, federal enforcers announced a plan to nearly triple the number of its Medicare fraud strike force units around the nation. In view of the magnitude of health care fraud, this plan is understandable, but the vast majority of providers, who comply with the law, will also see their compliance and other costs increase. The new strike force teams are a central feature…
ISPs Take Note: Court Rules E-mails Have Full 4th Amendment Protection
December 15, 2010
ISPs Take Note: Court Rules E-mails Have Full 4th Amendment Protection
By: Ifrah Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit has just issued a trail-blazing opinion that is good news for anyone who has ever sent an e-mail – and that needs to be carefully read and adhered to by all Internet service providers (ISPs). We noted six months ago that ISPs have been all too ready to satisfy prosecutors’ requests for access to customer e-mails…
Stacking the Deck Against Defendants in Conspiracy Cases?
December 13, 2010
Stacking the Deck Against Defendants in Conspiracy Cases?
By: Ifrah Law
Are prosecutors stacking the deck against defendants in conspiracy cases? A case now on appeal in the Second Circuit is posing that interesting question. On appeal from his conviction in a fake reinsurance deal scheme, former General Re Corporation assistant general counsel Robert Graham is arguing that the government denied him a fair trial by preventing a key witness from testifying. By amending the original…
