Last week’s search warrant on the Conservative Party headquarters, and the accompanying affidavit, suggests the election scheme for 2005-2006 was close to $1.1 million. It is alleged that the national headquarter transferred money to local candidates who immediately sent the money back as "payment" for campaign advertising.

[Read the full story on The Globe and Mail]

Lawyers have many ethical rules to follow, and one of them in Wisconsin bars them from having sex with “current clients”. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in October that attorney Michael Inglimo did not violate that specific rule since he had sex with his client’s girlfriend during a threesome, and regulation bans only direct sex with the client.

Of particular note is how the judges describe a threesome:

Counts 1 and 2 relate to Attorney Inglimo’s representation of L.K in a criminal case between April 2000 and January 2001. During this representation in October 2000, Attorney Inglimo had sexual relations with L.K.’s girlfriend in L.K.’s presence and with L.K. also engaging in sexual relations with his girlfriend during the sexual encounter. The referee further found, however, that there was no evidence that during the encounter there was any intimate physical contact between Attorney Inglimo and L.K.

[Read the entire decision here]

In an unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial (but refused to acquit) a couple who was accused of killing their baby. Marco Trotta and Anisa Trotta’s trial depended heavily on Dr. Charles Smith who has been disgraced for many errors committed during his job as pathologist. The Ontario government called an inquiry into Dr. Smith works mainly in child autopsy, and several people who have been convicted based on his evidence have been freed.

Marco Trotta already spent 10 years in jail, and was released on bail while his murder conviction was being reviewed by the Supreme Court. The Court ruled that the only way to rectify the situation is to start a new trial.

[Read full story at The Globe and Mail]