For instance, the judge in the attempted murder case of Larry Davis ordered that a new jury be selected after ruling that defense lawyers were trying to exclude whites.
A judge at Guantánamo Bay refused Monday to suspend a pretrial hearing for the prisoner accused of orchestrating the attack on the USS Cole, ruling that defense lawyers had offered no evidence supporting their suspicion that the CIA can eavesdrop on private conversations with their client.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Miriam Cedarbaum delayed ruling on defense motions to dismiss some of the charges, including the securities fraud charge against Stewart.
The judge, Colleen McMahon, has questioned whether prosecutors have proved that a conspiracy existed, but she has reserved ruling on a defense motion to dismiss.
On Wednesday, a federal judge dealt a blow to Mr. Gupta's defense, ruling that he intended to allow the jury to hear the October 2008 call, along with three other potentially incriminating wiretapped conversations involving Mr. Rajaratnam.
— Days after the Army major charged in the Fort Hood shooting rampage here in 2009 argued that he had carried out the attack to protect Taliban leaders from American soldiers, a military judge effectively tossed out his defense, ruling on Friday that the claim had no legal merit.
Such cases come in many varieties; last month, for example, the federal appeals court in New York overturned the conviction of a police officer in the Abner Louima torture case, ruling that a defense lawyer's contract to represent the police union and other officers was a conflict of interest.
Judge Bryan granted a prosecution motion in limine, ruling that the defense would not be permitted to discuss, or even allude to, the fact that the indebted entities had been placed in involuntary bankruptcy.
Judge Gaughan ultimately agreed with the defense, ruling that Van Dyke should only be sentenced for second-degree murder, not the 16 counts of aggravated battery that would have resulted in a heftier prison term.
