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Just because a currency is digital doesn’t mean it can’t be taxed. And the Internal Revenue Service is looking for cryptocurrency buyers and sellers come tax time. A federal court in California has ordered one virtual currency exchange, Coinbase, to hand over identifying records for almost 10,000 users who bought, sold, sent, or received more than $20,000 of digital currency through their accounts. And those users will likely need to pay taxes on those transactions....

New Orleans announced plans to relocate 600 inmates from its troubled city jail this week, sending them to prisons far from the city. For those inmates still awaiting trial or appealing their convictions, this means far from their legal counsel, not to mention family and support systems. While the Constitution guarantees criminal defendants the right to an attorney, does that mean your attorney has to be close by? The Trouble With New Orleans The Orleans Justice Center just opened last September, but has faced accusations of mismanagement ever since....

Lindsay Lohan could be headed to jail, as it appears the actress will be charged with lying to police following a car accident earlier this year, reports gossip website TMZ. Lohan was accused of driving her Porsche into the back of an 18-wheel truck in Santa Monica, Calif., in June. However, the 26-year-old actress allegedly lied to police and told them that her assistant was behind the wheel at the time, and not her....

It’s generally a bad idea to make threats on Facebook. But it’s an especially poor choice if your target is President Obama, or any president for that matter. Don’t just take our word for it, ask Christopher Castillo. The 28-year old Florida man was convicted on Tuesday for threatening to kill the President in a Facebook post. He could face several years in prison at sentencing. But what about his free speech rights under the First Amendment?...

A Montana judge has apologized for remarks he made about a 14-year-old rape victim who committed suicide. But he’s not sorry about the 30-day jail sentence he handed down to the convicted rapist, an ex-high school teacher. Yellowstone County Judge G. Todd Baugh sentenced Stacey Dean Rambold, 54, to 15 years in prison, with all but 31 days suspended. He also gave Rambold credit for one day served, so his jail time is down to 30 days....

Georgia defendant Feliz Vega Jr. is using a unique defense during his trial. He claims his criminal actions resulted from his anti-depressant medication, Paxil. So the bank robbery that he allegedly committed? He couldn’t have formed the requisite criminal intent. Vega’s attorney Peter Johnson plans to call expert witnesses to bolster his legal argument. Johnson will essentially argue that his client was mentally incompetent at the time. Vega is accused of robbing a Bank of America in 2010....

A 2007 lawsuit challenging the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program will not be revived, as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the suit’s dismissal on Monday. This legal action began years before the recent NSA leaks concerning Verizon phone records and the PRISM project. But it shows just how difficult it may be to stop NSA surveillance via lawsuits. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has been fighting for nearly seven years to try to have the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program (TSP), which ended in 2007, labeled as unconstitutional....

On Tuesday January 23rd President Bush delivered the 2007 State of the Union Address. The speech discussed both domestic and foreign policy matters. Resources to learn more: Full text of 2007 State of the Union Address (Whitehouse.gov) Special section on the 2007 State of the Union Address (Whitehouse.gov) 2007 State of the Union Policy Initiatives (also in PDF) (Whitehouse.gov) Also, as reference you can read Article II, Section 3 of the U....

Publishers Clearing House did not learn its lesson the first time around, so they will have to learn it all over again, to the tune of $3.5 million. This payment will settle a suit brought by 32 states charging the company violated a 2001 agreement regarding deceptive marketing practices. The several million dollar settlement will cover the cost of the investigation by the states into the company’s alleged unethical marketing practices....

A federal judge came down hard on former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, sentencing him to 14 years in prison on charges of corruption and lying to federal agents. The sentence came after Blagojevich made an emotional plea for leniency. U.S. District Judge James Zagel said he gave Blagojevich credit for accepting responsibility, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Prosecutors were seeking a 15- to 20-year sentence for Blagojevich, 54. The then-governor was arrested in 2008 after being caught on tape attempting to “auction off” the U....

Following a drunken or drugged driving arrest, working with a DUI attorney can be the best way to potentially avoid criminal penalties as well as negative impacts on your driving privileges. When hiring a DUI lawyer, you’ll want to ask some basic questions – for example, whether the attorney has experience with DUI cases. But aside from the basics, there are many other questions you may also want answered. What should you ask?...

Earlier this month, we blogged about a lawsuit against Trinity Industries, which makes highway guardrails. The suit alleged that Trinity failed to report a change in the design of its guardrails to the government. This design change, the government said, led to the death of five people and the injuries of even more. Yesterday, a federal jury in Texas returned its verdict against Trinity: $175 million, which will be tripled under a federal statute to $525 million....

Unlike what “Law and Order” has taught you, when you get booked into jail after an arrest you don’t flash forward to your first hearing seconds later. It’s also unlikely your lawyer is going to come crashing through the doors once you arrive at the jail, even if you are hiring your own defense attorney rather than relying on a public defender. Even if your attorney was there, it wouldn’t make much difference at that point....

The law in every state allows some latitude when it comes to the crime of selling and buying stolen goods. The one factor that can make the most significance is whether buyer or seller knew that the goods were stolen. Although knowledge makes all the difference, however, not knowing generally will not allow a purchaser, nor seller, to keep the proceeds, nor the goods. Depending on the jurisdiction and the value of the goods, certain states can charge the offense as a petty crime....

A Michigan wife allegedly tried to hire a hit man to murder her husband. Why not just get a divorce? Because, as Julia Merfeld told the supposed hit man, killing her husband would be easier. “As terrible as it sounds, it was easier than divorcing him,” Merfeld, 21, of Muskegon, told the purported hit man, who was really an undercover cop. “I didn’t have to worry about the judgment of my family, I didn’t have to worry about breaking his heart....

Despite occurring on April 1st, it was not an April Fool’s joke. Renee Green really was trying to rob a Florida bank on Friday, and sixty-six year-old cancer fighter Helen Dunsford definitely tackled the would-be bank robber, body slamming her to the floor. Why’d she do it? Only God can kill her now. Friday morning, Green entered a local bank, and with her hand inside her purse, ordered everyone to the floor, reports the Sun-Sentinel....

Some headlines speak for themselves. This story happens to be one of them as there is no better way to explain the latest antics of a reality show contestant than this: Rock of Love Finalist Jailed for Attacking Woman With a Pimp Cup. That’s right, we’ve got “Rock of Love” and Pimp Cup in the same phrase. For those of you that may not know some of the items mentioned, here is a break down....

When Gavin Grimm sued the Gloucester County School District, he was seeking an order that allowed him to use the boy’s restroom at his school in accordance with his gender identity. Although he won that order in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals last year, the order was vacated last week following a quick and inconclusive visit to the Supreme Court. Thus Grimm’s case ends without a definitive ruling on transgender bathroom access, and he will be denied access to the boy’s bathroom for the rest of his high school career....

“Teen Mom 2” star Jenelle Evans has announced that she recently got engaged to boyfriend Nathan Griffith. Evans and Griffith have been dating for nearly two years and have a 4-month-old son together, reports E! Online. Both Evans and Griffith also have children from prior relationships, including Evans’ 5-year-old daughter Jace. Details of the couple’s engagement were not disclosed, but the bride-to-be did post pictures of her engagement ring on social media....

Breathalyzer readings are key in many drunken driving cases, but this type of evidence can also potentially be challenged. Whether that challenge will be successful depends on the specific facts and circumstances of your case. But in general, here are five possible ways to “beat” Breathalyzer evidence in court: Jurors can consider the reliability of all evidence presented to them, even when the evidence is a Breathalyzer reading. As one Iowa man proved by blowing a “HI” reading on a Breathalyzer, the device may not always produce accurate readings....