State Assemblyman William Boyland was grinning and pumping his arms in the air after being acquitted of corruption charges in federal court yesterday. Boyland, who represent Brooklyn, had been indicted, along with powerful State Senator Carl Kruger, on charges of bribery and accepting money from hospital executives in exchange for state contracts. But a jury found Boyland not guilty and a juror told the Daily News that the feds “didn’t give us enough evidence to convict him and send him to jail." more ›

The abused wife who killed her husband but was acquitted of his murder surrendered herself to authorities yesterday. Barbara Sheehan, 50, beat the murder charge but was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon—she used two guns to shoot her husband Raymond, a retired cop, 11 times in their Howard Beach home in 2008—and she went to jail ahead of her lawyers' appeals. According to WPIX 11, "It was an emotional morning as Sheehan's daughter, sister and mother all wept in court while Sheehan resolutely offered her hands to a court officer who cuffed her and took her off to Riker's Island." more ›

Barbara Sheehan was found not guilty of second-degree murder for fatally shooting her husband, but she was convicted of criminal possession of a weapon. She told reporters, "I’m going to spend [the weekend] with my children here in the house. We’re going to stay home and relax for a few days"—because on Wednesday, she plans on surrendering to authorities for sentencing. more ›

The Queens woman who was acquitted of second-degree murder for killing her abusive, retired cop husband spoke out yesterday. Barbara Sheehan told reporters, "No victory right now. Somebody’s dead. I can’t say anything due to the case," and also said, "There are really no winners. I don't know what to say." more ›

The Queens woman who admitted to killing her husband was found not guilty of second-degree murder by a jury today. Barbara Sheehan, 50, had argued that she shot her husband Raymond in self-defense, fearing for her life after 17 years of abuse. more ›

The two former police officers acquitted of raping an East Village woman are in court this morning. Kenneth Moreno and Franklin Mata were convicted of misdemeanor official misconduct in May and face up to two years in jail. more ›

The third defendant for the Deutsche Bank fire trial was found not guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide today. Michael Alvo was the third and final defendant to be acquitted of charges related to the tragedy that took the lives of two firefighters trying to put out the 2008 seven-alarm fire. more ›

Nearly four years after a seven-alarm fire killed two firefighters at the under-dismantling Deutsche Bank site, a construction supervisor was acquitted of manslaughter charges. Salvatore DePaola cried after also being cleared of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, "It's a happy day and a sad day, We've still got two firefighters that are deceased." more ›

Yesterday, the NY Post published an interview with Julia Moreno, the wife of the (now former) police officer acquitted of raping a drunk East Village woman while on duty, where the weary spouse said the accuser "should go to jail for this" and should "go to hell." Now, the NY Times has run its interview with Mrs. Kenneth Moreno: She said the accuser made up a story, "From the beginning of time, this is what girls do — young girls, inexperienced. They’re not mature. They get drunk. They do these things and, you know, they want sympathy. In his case I believe she wanted sympathy from her friends because they threw her out of her own party." more ›

On Friday, a retired NYPD officer was acquitted of felony assault charges for allegedly punching a female police officer at the 30th Precinct in 2010. Almonor and his wife had been arguing with cops at the Harlem station house that their 14-year-old son, who was arrested in a stop-and-frisk, was the victim of racial profiling. Almonor's lawyer told the NY Times, "The verdict supports the claim that their son was picked up only because he was African-American." more ›

The former WPIX reporter who was accused of slapping the Bahamian UN ambassador’s chauffeur over a parking spot was acquitted yesterday. Self-described "bad boy" Vince DeMentri was fired three days after the incident came to light last year, and immediately turned his focus onto getting his job back: "I'm the victim and I'm not the villain and guess what, I need a job," he said, moments after dramatically throwing up his arms in a victory sign. more ›

Larry Bodden, 19, spent nearly three years in prison before being acquitted of murder, and he's blaming the NYPD. Bodden claims the police withheld key evidence that would have exonerated him, including videos of confessions and several witnesses testifying to his alibi. "I basically grew up in jail. They should answer for what they did," he told the Daily News. more ›

In an age when nearly everyone's vision has been permanently messed up due to their unbreakable attachment to computer screens (and in an age when anyone can buy contact lenses), the stereotype that people who wear glasses are smarter than people who don't should be all but dead. But not in the court of law! more ›

The Australian sheep farmer who was accused of drugging and raping a LI speech therapist was found not guilty of all charges related to the alleged rape yesterday. David Green was acquitted of raping Elizabeth Roarke in 2005 at the Affinia Hotel, though he was convicted of reckless endangerment for drunkenly tossing bottles off a 26th-floor balcony of the midtown hotel. Green, who said he was "over the moon," now plans on suing Roarke for making false claims: "The time has stopped for women to make false claims of rape and then walk away without any deterrent," Green's lawyer Ronald Fischetti told the Post. more ›

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was detained in Guatanamo Bay for his alleged bombing of the U.S. embassies in Africa and then moved to NYC for a civilian trial, was found not guilty on 284 terror-related charges and guilty of just one. The New York Law Journal reports, "Clearing the Tanzanian native of four conspiracies and the murder of 224 people in the near-simultaneous bombings of the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on Aug. 7, 1998, the jury in Judge Lewis A. Kaplan's courtroom shocked prosecutors and defense lawyers alike with its verdict." more ›

The owner of a building site at 791 Glenmore Avenue in Brooklyn was acquitted of manslaughter for the death of an Ecuadorean day laborer who died when a wall collapsed at the site in 2008. The NY Times reports that owner William Lattarulo "hired an architect to draw plans and an engineer to do periodic inspections. But rather than relying on a professional to complete the job, he chose to do it himself, and made an incorrect measurement that led to the collapse." Lattarulo was also acquitted of criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. more ›

A career criminal accused of breaking into actress Amanda Peet's apartment last October and stealing her jewelry was acquitted yesterday—and he wasn't even there for the good news. Jurors cleared Henry Santos in an hour, saying there wasn't enough evidence, but he had other things to do at the time. "I went to my house and had something to eat," he told the Post. "I thought the judge said five o'clock to come back." more ›

Last year the Bronx set records not just for the borough but for the state, with felony conviction rates at an all time low of 43%. Every other borough had rates of 70% or higher, and attorneys believe the numbers can be attributed to the high arrest rates in the borough. The ">Wall Street Journal noted the closing statement of defense attorney Seann Riley, who said,"To [police], getting a guilty verdict would mean they've done a good job. An acquittal would mean they didn't do a good job," and added the police "have a motive to lie." (Riley's client was acquitted.) more ›

The three police officers accused of sodomizing a man inside a Brooklyn subway station were found not guilty this morning by a Brooklyn jury, the Post and City Room are reporting. Despite testimony from a transit cop who says he witnessed the assault, Officer Richard Kern has been acquitted on all counts of sexually assaulting Michael Mineo with his police baton during an arrest in a Brooklyn subway station in 2008. Two other officers, Andrew Morales, 27, and Alex Cruz, 28, were found not guilty of helping cover up the crime. more ›

A jury acquitted tenants who illegally subdivided their Bronx apartments for subleasing which, in turn, became a fatal warren for firefighters to navigate during a 2005 fire. Six firefighters ended up jumping out of a 6th floor window, with two, Lt. Curtis Meyran and firefighter John Bellew (pictured), falling to their deaths. Caridad Coste and Rafael Costillo were facing charges including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide; the Daily News reports that Coste cried out in Spanish, "God is great! Jesus was looking out for me" when she heard the verdict. The Post says that Meryran's and Bellew's widows, as well as other firefighters, were stunned. Another jury is expected to give a verdict for the building's owner and manager. This fire also highlighted some FDNY shortcomings, like frozen hydrants and lack of escape ropes. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg spoke out against the murder acquittal of Lillo Brancato Jr. Brancato, on trial for the death of an off-duty police officer, had claimed he was "dope sick" and didn't realize his friend Steven Armento was armed during their quest for drugs. Bloomberg said, "This business that, 'Oh, I was high on drugs' is no excuse. This business that 'I didn't know there was a gun' is no excuse... If you and somebody else choose to rob somebody and the other person pulls a gun, you're as culpable under the law and should be held to the same standards as the one that actually did the shooting... It's society that is hurt by the juries' not standing up for those that are putting their lives on the line." Armento, who shot an off-duty cop who interrupted their attempt to get drugs from a friend's house, was convicted and Brancato's lawyer had emphasized Brancato was not the shooter. more ›

Yesterday, juries in two separate cop killing cases came back with news that left the victims' families upset: Lee Woods, on trial for killing police officer Russel Timoshenko during a traffic stop, was granted a mistrial because one juror was ill while Lillo Brancato Jr., on trial for killing off-duty police officer Daniel Enchautegui, was found not guilty of murder. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg couldn't help but comment on the acquittal of Robert Ellis, who was on trial for the fatal shooting of police officer Russel Timoshenko (pictured). The Mayor said, "I don't want to criticize, but... inside I feel very strongly about it. There's something wrong here. A police officer [was] dedicating his life to protecting all of us. I found it very hard to understand how they could come up with the decision that they made." The Daily News' Errol Louis writes, "The jury's mind-boggling hair-splitting makes no sense." —Ellis was found guilty of weapons possession, yet not murder— "Some went overboard in venting their rage, like Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch, who referred to Ellis as a 'mongrel' after the verdict - an unfortunate display of the same dehumanizing impulse that leads criminals to fire on cops. The challenge for cops, activists, union bosses and the media is to resist the urge to let a single injustice define us." more ›

A jury acquitted a man of aggravated murder in the killing a police officer during a June 2007 traffic stop. The jury also found Robert Ellis not guilty of attempted murder (another cop was wounded) but he was found guilty on three counts of criminal possession of a weapon. more ›

Some funny new details emerged yesterday in the trial of the retired cop infamous for aggressively silencing noisy passengers on the Long Island Railroad. John Clifford stood accused of assaulting a woman whose hand he twice slapped in March 2007 after she tried to intervene in his scolding of cell-phone talker Nicholas Bender. And if Jerry Seinfeld is looking for material for his new TV series, he’s got all the fodder he needs in yesterday's courtroom farce:
• We already knew that in trying to shame Bender into getting off the phone, Clifford called him a “f—king faggot.” But what was so important that Bender had to prattle on despite Clifford’s admonishments? Just his cousin's kidney failure is all.
• Frequent LIRR commuter Donna DeCurtis testified against Clifford yesterday, telling the judge she’s "petrified" of him. In 2006, when DeCurtis brushed off Clifford’s instructions to pipe down, the former private eye said, “I know who you are. I know you have a daughter. I know where you live. I can make your life hell.”
• Clifford knows for certain when other passengers are being too loud because he brings a noise meter with him on the train. He says the MTA is supposed to restrict any noise above 70 decibels, but “when you’re talking across the car it goes to 80 decibels.”
• LIRR conductor David Carliovoch is well familiar with Clifford and testified that he’s “a pain in the ass.”
• In the end, the judge acquitted Clifford of all charges, dismissing most of the testimony against him because all but one of the witnesses had "an ax to grind."
• But before the ruling, the prosecutor said Clifford's behavior is like "a dog marking his territory. He is not a white knight. He is Darth Vader.”