Murder

A probable cause affidavit alleges involvement by Wendi Adelson's brother, Charles Adelson.

* The Justice Department is seeking a stay of Judge Andrew Hanen’s benchslap and order of ethics training while it appeals the ruling — a ruling the DOJ says could cost approximately $5 million to $8 million to comply with. [Texas Lawyer]

* Cheryl D. Mills, chief of staff to Hillary Clinton at the State Department, wishes that the issue of Clinton’s private email server “had been something we thought about.” [New York Times]

* Jim Lewis, counsel to Sigfredo Garcia, the man charged last week with the murder of Professor Dan Markel, maintains that Garcia had “had nothing to do with” the crime. [Tallahassee Democrat]

* Former attorney general Eric Holder says NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden performed a “public service” by sparking a debate over government surveillance — but still must pay a price for his illegal actions. [CNN]

* The Fourth Circuit holds that the police don’t need a warrant to obtain a person’s cellphone location data. [How Appealing]

* In other Fourth Circuit news, the court won’t go en banc to rehear its prior ruling in favor of the Obama Administration’s policy that transgender students are protected under existing civil rights law (aka the “transgender bathroom case”). [BuzzFeed via How Appealing]

* Those unsealed Trump University documents we mentioned yesterday? They don’t put the Donald in the best light. [New York Times]

* And Donald Trump isn’t getting much financial love from the legal community, as measured by campaign contributions (c’mon, Jones Day lawyers, help your client out). [American Lawyer]

* Judge Joseph Portelli of New Jersey, recently reprimanded for alleged inappropriate comments to counsel, gets renominated to the bench. [ABA Journal]

* Legal Eagle Wedding Watch: congratulations and best wishes to acclaimed novelist (and Dentons partner) Scott Turow and fellow lawyer Adriane Glazier — who first met when he interviewed her years ago for a summer associate gig. [New York Times]

We know a little bit more, but many details are being withheld because the investigation is still ongoing.

More details should emerge at a press conference later today.

* “Congress is the only source for such an appropriation, and no public money can be spent without one.” The House was successful in its suit over the improper funding of an Obamacare subsidy program, but this victory may serve as a setback to those who have come to rely upon it. You can expect the Obama administration to appeal. [POLITICO]

* The Ninth Circuit will allow attorneys who secured a victory in the Stetson BARBRI antitrust case to get a second chance to score the nearly $2M in attorneys fees they originally requested before Judge Manuel Real shot them down. Due to his prior “erroneous findings and conclusions,” the Ninth Circuit has essentially removed Judge Real from the case. [Courthouse News Service]

* “People are turned off on legal education because of a lack of suitable paying jobs.” Even while facing a dearth of applicants, Minnesota Law has decided to scale back on the size of its first-year class — taking in less of the tuition income that it needs to survive — in order to preserve its standing as a top law school. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Former partners of the dearly departed Dickstein Shapiro will no longer have to worry about that $8.4 million sublease lawsuit filed by Sullivan & Worcester after they left the firm’s New York office to lateral en masse to Blank Rome. Both sides have amicably resolved their dispute, but we wonder how much it cost to do so. [Big Law Business]

* A grand jury has upgraded the charges against Ryan Petersen, the man alleged to have shot 23-year-old law firm clerk Chase Passauer to death in his office chair. Peterson had been charged with second-degree murder in Passauer’s death, but now faces a charge of premeditated first-degree murder for the commission of the crime. [Star Tribune]

After 52 years this man's name is cleared.

* Amal Clooney lays the smackdown on Donald Trump, all without even uttering his name. Classy. [Vanity Fair]

* If you’re convicted of a felony in connection with the murder of your mother, then you should probably expect to lose your law license. [Law Profession Blog]

* Yes, Ted Cruz is making a fool of himself, running a Sisyphean race for president. But does that mean the founding fathers were right about that natural born citizen crap? (If someone born in Canada to an American mother is even what they meant by the phrase.) [Lawyers, Guns and Money]

* BYU’s Title IX problem: Are they making sexual assault more likely by linking honor code investigations to reports of rape? [Slate]

* Hooah! Army Captain Kristen Griest, one of the first women to earn a Rangers tab, will be transferring branches, becoming the first female infantry officer. Combat arms branches were recently opened to women for the first time, and Captain Griest’s move is part of the Army’s effort to integrate those branches. [Army Times]

* Encounter with Ted Bundy! A victim of the notorious serial killer recalls the experience. [Huffington Post]

* Should a settlement deal with a federal agency include a clause to prevent people from speaking negatively about the agency to Congress and the press? [Volokh Conspiracy]

* The robots are coming for our jobs, but maybe, if we are lucky, some of us can survive. [Speechwriter Ghostwriter]

He’d worked for the firm for just under one year’s time, and was considering applying to law school in the future.

* Kimberly Kitchen, the woman who was parading around and pretending to be a lawyer for a decade before she was caught in the act, was recently convicted of forgery, unauthorized practice of law, and felony records tampering. On the bright side, at least she doesn’t have six figures worth of law school debt to worry about right now. [WSJ Law Blog]

* President Obama published an op-ed in praise of SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland on AL.com, pleading with Alabamians to let their senators know that it’s their duty to give Scalia’s would-be replacement a hearing and a vote, lest we “jeopardize our system of justice, hurt our democracy, and betray the vision of our founding.” [AL.com]

* Who is the real Merrick Garland? Not only does he have a “résumé that makes you want to cry,” but he’s also a pretty endearing gent. He used to want to be a doctor, he loves singing show tunes, and he was once so nervous when officiating a wedding that he began the ceremony before the bride even walked down the aisle. [New York Times]

* “We are heartened by this development and look forward to the Committee making this request directly … as is standard practice.” Republicans may be willing to accept Merrick Garland’s nominee questionnaire, but the White House has yet to receive one from Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley or Senator Patrick Leahy. [BuzzFeed]

* Judge Pamela A.M. Campbell, who presided over Hulk Hogan v. Gawker, has had more decisions reversed on appeal than any other judge in her county, but “a judge who’s not afraid to make a decision and a not afraid to be reversed, is quite naturally going to be reversed more, and that doesn’t mean the judge is not a good judge.” [Tampa Bay Times]

* A judge has ruled that Ropes & Gray, the firm that once represented ex-New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez, must turn over the murder convict’s cellphone to his new attorneys so they can analyze it for his defense in the double murder case he’s being prosecuted for by the Suffolk County DA’s Office in Massachusetts. [Boston Herald]

There are still many unanswered questions in this case.

To paraphrase what O.J. Simpson said when he entered his not-guilty plea, you will “absolutely, 100 percent” love this show.

It seems that Ken Kratz has always thought of himself as the prize.

Making a murder serial in the making!

What do brides-to-be think about Making A Murderer?

Making a Murderer is an excellent addition to the Netflix oeuvre, according to culture critic Harry Graff.

* British trainee lawyer arrested for Christmas Eve murder of a young teacher. [Legal Cheek]

* Judge John Gleeson is stepping down and returning to private practice. [New York Daily News]

* 31 law professors think this case about the right of publicity and video games should be heard by the Supreme Court. [The Volokh Conspiracy]

* Are Harvard Law professors unfairly going after a former student and alleged sexual assault survivor? [Huffington Post]

* Even people in liberal states should care about the erosion of reproductive freedom rights in Red States: NYC, joined by a coalition of other cities, has filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down Texas’s restrictive abortion law. [Jezebel]

* Looks like legal work won’t be outsourced to the robots any time soon. [New York Times]

* If you are on the criminal defense side of things, you’d always better be ready for a battle. [Katz on Justice]

* It’s the Miss Universe pageant lawsuit you’ve all been waiting for: attorneys at a Colombian law firm say they will be filing suit due to Miss Colombia’s crowning and de-crowning, noting “the crown is an acquired right that cannot be taken away from us.” [WGNO]

* The Federal Circuit handed down a major ruling yesterday, saying that the government can no longer bar the registration of offensive trademarks due to restrictions on free speech. This will likely be appealed to SCOTUS, but the Redskins must be pretty pumped. [Reuters]

* In an effort to avoid another Kim Davis fiasco (and to protect clerks’ religious beliefs), Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin has signed an executive order directing that his state prepare new marriage licenses without the names of county clerks. [Associated Press]

* Lil Wayne may be a “motherf**kin’ cash money millionaire,” but he reportedly can’t spare the cash to pay his attorneys’ fees. This marks the second time in recent months that he’s been sued for allegedly failing to pay his lawyers what they’re owed. [SPIN]

* Lakeisha Holloway, the woman accused of using her car to mow down and kill a pedestrian and injure many others on the Las Vegas Strip, has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon. She faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. [NBC News]

District Attorney Abel Reyna may not be able to get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, but he could probably get a grand jury to indict defendants for the murder of a ham sandwich.

* Robert Lewis Dear, the man accused in the Colorado Planned Parenthood shooting, had this outburst during a hearing yesterday: “I am guilty, there will be no trial. I am a warrior for the babies. You’ll never know the amount of blood I saw in that place.” [CBS Denver]

* The American Bar Association has approved the merger between William Mitchell Law and Hamline Law to form Mitchell|Hamline Law. Since law school mergers now seem to be a viable option, struggling schools may be able to find a way to survive instead of closing. [Pioneer Press]

* In yesterday’s affirmative action duel at the Supreme Court, Bert Rein of Wiley Rein and Gregory Garre of Latham & Watkins faced off for the second time in Fisher v. University of Texas: The Reckoning. Will SCOTUS kill AA this time? [WSJ Law Blog]

* According to the Rhode Island Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline, Judge Rafael A. Ovalles brought his office into disrepute after sexually harassing a female court clerk and sitting in chambers with his hand in his underwear. [Providence Journal]

* A settlement in the “Happy Birthday to You” copyright case has thrust the song into the public domain where it belongs. Now employees at chain restaurants across the country won’t have to sing cheesy soundalike songs to birthday diners anymore. [Reuters]

* My, but how quickly things change! Manhattan prosecutors might not be retrying the D&L criminal case after all. Instead, they’ve offered all of the remaining defendants plea deals. Dewey know if any of the former execs of this failed firm will take a deal? [WSJ Law Blog]

* In case you’re wondering what’s going to happen to Zachary Warren after all of this, it looks like Cyrus Vance found it in the goodness of his heart to offer the would-be Biglaw associate a plea deal: he’ll have to plead guilty to a misdemeanor to get 200 hours of community service. [DealBook / New York Times]

* Law students, get ready to lobby even harder for this, because a proposal to do away with the American Bar Association’s ban on law students receiving academic credit for paid externships is moving forward to a notice and comment period. [ABA Journal]

* If you’re preparing for a law school interview, you should stop freaking out about it and focus on the things that matter — like showing off your social skills to prove you’ll be employable in some way after graduation. [Law Admissions Lowdown / U.S. News]

* After having a culpable homicide conviction for which he already served time overturned and turned into a murder conviction instead, Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius was granted $688 bail since he’s not considered a “flight risk.” [NBC News]