News Roundup

On Wednesday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent seven hours testifying to the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.  Though his testimony was highly anticipated and widely covered by the media, Mueller largely reiterated the substance of the report he delivered earlier this year – saying that it was clear that Russia did interfere in the election but that there was not sufficient evidence that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired in that effort, and that his office did not reach a conclusion about whether President Trump obstructed justice during the investigation.  Keep reading for more news. Exoneration.  For some attorneys the most nerve-wracking portion of the Mueller hearings came when Ohio Representative Michael Turner suddenly produced a copy of a criminal law textbook he said was used at the University of Virginia.  After recovering from flashbacks about the Socratic method, we learned that Turner was pushing Mueller on whether prosecutors have the capacity or authority to exonerate people suspected of committing a criminal offense.  USA Today covered the exchange here. Finch.  The News Roundup previously noted that after serving four decades behind bars, Charles Ray Finch was released from North Carolina prison earlier this year when a federal judge vacated his 1976 state murder conviction.  That proceeding followed a Fourth Circuit decision granting him a hearing on the merits of an untimely habeas petition because he met an actual innocence standard.  This week, WUNC’s The State of Things aired a [...]