––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
- Posted July 25, 2014
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
State appeals court throws out conviction in 1983 fatal stabbing
HIGHLAND PARK (AP) - The Michigan appeals court has overturned a murder conviction in a Wayne County case that took about 30 years to bring to trial.
The court says the rights of William Lyles Jr. were violated at trial last year. The court says Judge Megan Brennan didn't give the jury a standard instruction about considering evidence of Lyles' good character.
Lyles was convicted of stabbing Andrew Weathers in Highland Park in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. He wasn't charged for nearly three decades. Files and evidence were lost, but the case eventually was reopened.
The appeals court noted that evidence at trial was largely circumstantial. The court says that's why the jury instruction about Lyles' character evidence was important.
Published: Fri, Jul 25, 2014
headlines Oakland County
- Associations gather for Spring Fling
- Supreme Court denies rehearing request by attorneys sanctioned for meritless election lawsuit
- Law school conducts ‘Know Your Rights Day’ for high school students
- Oakland County household hazardous waste dropoff events promote environmental stewardship and safeguard communities
- Nessel testifies in support of BRITE Act
headlines National
- Incarceration series includes female inmates but doesn’t tell full story
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Former DOJ official who alleged election fraud violated at least one ethics rule, ethics committee says
- Winston & Strawn will provide reduced-cost legal services for routine tasks under Winston Legal Solutions umbrella
- Should Justice Sotomayor retire? Chemerinsky, White House haven’t joined calls for her to step down
- Which BigLaw firms are increasing lateral associate hiring the most? One made legal headlines last year