By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A 76-year-old Connecticut man has been arrested after authorities discovered he was released from a mental hospital in 1992 after being found incompetent to stand trial for a 1991 murder.

Prosecutors say they should have been notified 18 years ago when Pedro Custodio was released from a state hospital in Newtown. Authorities had expected Custodio to be committed to the hospital for much longer.

A judge had asked about the status of the case this month because it had been open for almost two decades. Custodio was arrested Monday and ordered held on $200,000 bail during a court appearance Tuesday.

Custodio's sister tells the Republican-American newspaper that the state approved his release from the hospital. She says his arrest this week amounts to a death sentence.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A former New Hampshire high school teacher has pleaded guilty to a charge she e-mailed nude photographs of herself to a 15-year-old student.

Forty-one-year-old Melinda Dennehy of Hampstead entered the plea Monday to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure.

As part of a plea agreement, Dennehy was given a suspended jail sentence on the condition that she remain on good behavior and have no contact with the child or go to the high school.

In court, Dennehy apologized for her actions and poor judgment. She told the court she's continuing counseling and hopes to lead a productive life.

Dennehy was arrested in March after the photos were found circulating around the high school. She resigned three weeks later.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A lawyer was accused of burglarizing the home of a client who filed a complaint against him with the Florida Bar. Albert Ford II was being held on charges of burglary to a structure causing damage, grand theft, criminal mischief and burglary to an occupied dwelling. The 43-year-old Longwood environmental and land use lawyer was arrested Thursday. He has his first court appearance Friday afternoon.

A person who answered the phone at Ford's law office declined to comment.

Lake Mary police said Ford went to the client's home, threw something into the pool and removed a tank and filter near the pool. He also took a flag from the front of the house.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

The young man accused of being the "Barefoot Bandit" is scheduled to make his first court appearance Thursday in Seattle, one day after returning to the state where authorities say his crime-spree started.

After a two-year run from the law that stretched across the nation and to the Bahamas, 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore was returned to Washington state Wednesday.

The hearing is a procedural appearance in which he will be advised of the charge against him and possible penalties.

Harris-Moore was arrested July 10 in the Bahamas. Authorities say he flew there and crash landed in a plane he stole a week earlier from Indiana.

Police dubbed Harris-Moore the "Barefoot Bandit" because he's accused of committing some crimes without shoes.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A 34-year-old Clearwater woman is accused of stealing at least $175,000 from her employer over several years and spending it on vacations, trips to the hair salon, personal bills and student loan payments.

Kerry Sue McCallister-Higgins was arrested Monday night on a felony charge of grand theft.

According to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, McCallister-Higgins had check-signing privileges as an office manager and bookkeeper at Golson Law Firm, which used to be at 601 Cleveland St. N.

Over the course of six years or longer, McCallister-Higgins wrote "multiple, unauthorized" checks to herself, an arrest report shows.

She used others to pay for credit card purchases at grocery stores, movie theaters, drugstores and various other shops. Others paid bills for hotels, hair-dos, rental cars, student loans and a cell phone, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda.

At the time of her arrest, Detective David Kavanagh with the Sheriff's Office economic crimes unit had identified $175,939 in missing funds. But that amount may rise as detectives continue to investigate, Barreda said.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

Former Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell pleaded not guilty to a charge of illegal drug possession Tuesday in Alabama.

Russell, 24, is a former LSU star who was released by Oakland after being the No. 1 draft choice in 2007. He entered the plea in court in Mobile. He is charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, codeine syrup.

Authorities have said that he did not have a prescription for the drug and that he was arrested July 5 at his home as part of an undercover investigation.

His attorney, Donald Briskman, said in a phone interview that there were about nine or 10 people in the house and that he believes once all the evidence is known, Russell will be exonerated.

Russell, a prep star in Mobile, had no comment after his court appearance. He has been free on $2,500 bond.

Briskman said he asked for an early hearing in order for Russell to get the case behind him and renew his effort to play professional football. A hearing in his case is set for Aug. 11 to determine if there is enough evidence to send the case to a grand jury.

One of the NFL's biggest No. 1 draft busts, Russell completed just 52.1 percent of his passes in his career, with 18 touchdowns, 23 interceptions and 15 lost fumbles. He won only seven of 25 starts.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

Another person accused of viewing President Barack Obama's student loan records at a U.S. Department of Education contractor in Iowa has pleaded guilty.

Patrick Roan pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor. The Iowa City man is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 12.

He was one of nine people indicted on charges of accessing Obama's student loan records while they were employed at Vangent Inc. in Coralville.

A telephone message left for Roan's attorney wasn't immediately returned. Court records did not indicate what sentence Roan could receive. A telephone message left for a U.S. attorney spokesman wasn't immediately returned.

Two others pleaded guilty last month.

Trial for one woman is set for Aug. 24. Trial for the remaining five defendants is set for Sept. 7.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A Pakistani man detained on an immigration violation in Maine while authorities investigated the attempted Times Square car bombing will continue to be held in jail because an immigration judge revoked his bail.

Mohammad Shafiq Rahman's family rounded up the $10,000 to secure his release only to learn the judge had revoked bail at the urging of immigration officials, said Barry Hoffman, Pakistan's consul general in Boston.

Rahman's attorney is seeking another bail hearing, Hoffman said. Rahman, a computer specialist who overstayed his visa, continues to be held in the Cumberland County Jail.

It was unclear why immigration officials urged the judge to reverse the June 30 decision to set bond.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "has determined it is most appropriate he remain in custody," spokesman Richard Rocha said.

But Hoffman said it appeared ICE was spending too much of its resources going after someone like Rahman. "I'm sure there are real terrorists out there. Spending all their resources on this case has me mystified," he said.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

A man accused of shooting and wounding two eighth-graders outside their middle school pleaded not guilty Monday by reason of insanity.

Bruco Strong Eagle Eastwood, 32, entered his plea in Jefferson County District Court, and was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation at the state Mental Health Institute in Pueblo. The evaluation would take at least 45 days.

Eastwood faces 15 charges, including attempted first-degree murder in the Feb. 23 shootings outside Deer Creek Middle School in south suburban Denver. Teachers tackled and restrained Eastwood until deputies arrived.

He faces decades in prison if convicted of the charges or an indefinite amount of time in a mental health institute if found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Before Eastwood accepted the plea, District Judge Christopher Munch told him that "commitment could be the rest of your life." Eastwood nodded that he understood.

Prosecutors are seeking access to observations of Eastwood's actions in jail and conversations between Eastwood and a psychologist made on a jail phone.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Jensen said during Monday's court hearing that because Eastwood is making his mental health an issue in the case, Eastwood's private medical records are no longer private.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.

By Breaking Legal News, Breaking Legal News.

Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor War Machine has been sentenced to a year in jail for violating probation after he assaulted people at two San Diego bars.

War Machine pleaded guilty Thursday to two felony counts of assault and to violating probation in a previous assault case. He has a professional fight scheduled for July 9 and was ordered to surrender for jail a week later.

Prosecutors say the 28-year-old fighter knocked away some bottles and glasses on a bar, cutting a bartender. He also got into a scuffle and punched a security guard.

His attorney says an acquaintance started one of the fights but War Machine failed to stop it. The fighter legally changed his name from Jon Koppenhaver.

Originally posted at Breaking Legal News. Please visit http://www.breakinglegalnews.com/.