Robin Topping

Robin Topping 6/2/05 When the accused is only a child

The charge was murder but the face didn't seem to fit the ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/9/05 LEGAL AFFAIRS

It was what the jury didn't hear about Marie La Pinta that ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/30/05 A plea deal some call raw deal

Matthew Maiello walked out of state prison this week after ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/6/04 Snitches: 'agents' or tattlers?

A court hearing today in the Daniel Pelosi murder case will ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/28/04 CRIME & COURTS

Making a last-ditch effort to preserve Kalila Taylor's 1999 ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/6/04 LAW AND ORDER

There was anguish in the eyes of Joseph Brucia, as he sat ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/17/04 LAW AND ORDER: Jurors take field trip into defendant's world

Marilu Fischetti sat awkwardly at her dining room table ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/15/04 Gay couples are missing out on many legal milestones

There are 1,138 practical reasons that same-sex couples may ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/3/04 2 defendants, 2 juries, a lot of debate

They are known as Jury A and Jury B. ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/17/04 When Sex Offender Is Too Close for Comfort

About a month after a new tenant moved into the other half ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/10/04 A Tour of a More User-Friendly Court

Some troubled members of the Congregation Beth Sholom ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/3/04 Attorneys Balance 'Safe' With 'Sorry'

After a conference in December with the judge hearing her ... Read more »

Robin Topping 1/13/04 An Award With An Even Bigger Payoff

When Robert Lee Marion went to Bellevue Hospital in ... Read more »

Robin Topping 1/6/04 Passengers Who Drink Focus of Legal Dispute

A Suffolk highway patrol officer pulls over a driver who is ... Read more »

Robin Topping 12/16/03 Right, Wrong Times For Judge's Opinion

It's not often that a judge comes out and says a jury ... Read more »

Robin Topping 12/9/03 State Judges Clarify Disability Ruling

Last week, the judges on the state's highest court took the ... Read more »

Robin Topping 12/2/03 NY Court to Clarify Cop Defendant Role

Even when off duty, a police officer who observes a crime ... Read more »

Robin Topping 11/18/03 Seized and Searched, But Is It Admissible?

When a police officer stops someone for drunken driving and ... Read more »

Robin Topping 11/11/03 Prosecutor With An Unenviable Task

It's a prosecutor's nightmare. ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/14/03 Debate Over Hiring Appointed Lawyers

A proposed rule change being kicked around by court ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/7/03 New Evidence Only A Step to New Trial

Last week, after years of failed state and federal appeals, ... Read more »

Robin Topping 9/23/03 Who Should Judge Those on the Bench?

He was the last speaker of the conference, the last in a ... Read more »

Robin Topping 9/16/03 Kogut Retrial Has Complex Issues

Resurrecting an old murder case after 17 years and selling ... Read more »

Robin Topping 9/2/03 Allowing a Trust Without a Guardian

Even after a car accident 20 years ago left him without the ... Read more »

Robin Topping 8/19/03 DA Finds Lawyers In Middle of Scam

When Suffolk prosecutors announced last week they had ... Read more »

Robin Topping 7/29/03 Emotions Endure Despite Dismissal

From a defense perspective, Maurice Boil is an innocent man ... Read more »

Robin Topping 7/22/03 Hypnosis Is a Tool In High-Profile Case

The typical image of a hypnotist is of someone with a shiny ... Read more »

Robin Topping 7/8/03 Inside Info the Crux Of Rabbi's Complaint

The cornerstone of any relationship between an attorney and ... Read more »

Robin Topping 7/1/03 Kowtna Reflects On Illness, Recovery

Paul Kowtna sat quietly on the dais, hands folded, awaiting ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/24/03 Judge, Lawyer Clash Over Attorney's Conduct

The medical malpractice trial in Riverhead was winding up ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/17/03 Second Look Finds Freeing Evidence

They found it in the sixth box of evidence they were ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/10/03 Despite Opposition, Retiring Stern Led

Gerald Stern's office in Manhattan is a virtual shrine to ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/27/03 Loud Explosions, Quiet Learning

The 10 men, most dressed in T-shirts and dirt-stained ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/20/03 Authorities Wrestle With Judges' Rights

When the state Court of Appeals makes a decision this ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/6/03 Verdict Complicated But Not Inconsistent

The jurors in Central Islip deliberated for more than two ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/22/03 When Arbitration Needs Arbitration

The legal community can be an amazingly small world. ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/15/03 Nassau Jail Working To Reopen Nursery

In September 1984, a 22-year- old inmate at the Nassau ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/8/03 Medical Care at Jail Still Work in Progress

It's been three years since the federal government swooped ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/1/03 Bias Case Verdict Isn't That Unusual

After two days of deliberations, the jurors reached their ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/25/03 Juvenile Liability Is Not Mere Child's Play

Just before he suffered the injury that changed his life, ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/4/03 Ruling Leaves Judges In Political Quandary

When U.S. District Judge David Hurd issued his decision ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/25/03 Question for Jury: Is It Malice or Libel?

Sometimes, being a juror is like being in a maze. Even ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/18/03 New Hope for Suits Against the Church

The scathing Suffolk grand jury report on the alleged ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/4/03 Complex Legal Twist In Fatal Crash Case

The convergence of five lives on a busy section of Lawson ... Read more »

Robin Topping 1/21/03 Field Sobriety Test Admitted Into Court

There's the One-Leg Stand and the Walk and Turn. ... Read more »

Robin Topping 1/14/03 Guardian System Focuses on Fairness

They are assigned to protect what the law calls the "best ... Read more »

Robin Topping 11/12/02 Appeal in Beating Focuses on Tattoos

During Christopher Slavin's trial for attempted murder for ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/29/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Debating 'Reckless' Vs. 'Indifference'

What's the difference between a "substantial" and "grave" ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/15/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / New Suffolk Court For Family Cases

The young woman sat quietly in the courtroom as her ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/8/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Nassau DA Office Will Miss 'Professor'

When Ronald Schoenberg came to District Court in 1971 as a ... Read more »

Robin Topping 10/1/02 LAW AND ORDER / AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / Judges Get Tips On Handling Disaster

One judge had his home leveled by a hurricane in Florida. ... Read more »

Robin Topping 9/24/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Doing More With Less at DA's Office

For more than a quarter of a century, the Nassau district ... Read more »

Robin Topping 9/17/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Suit: Southampton Crossed Legal Line

Robert Otero was driving his last school bus route of the ... Read more »

Robin Topping 9/10/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Diversity Ads Make Pitch for the Force

The television ads show images of police officers walking a ... Read more »

Robin Topping 8/20/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Putting a Price Tag On Right to Counsel

In a small, airless room packed with law books, plaques and ... Read more »

Robin Topping 8/13/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Gender Bias Found To Persist in Courts

In 1986, a study done by a group dubbed the New York Task ... Read more »

Robin Topping 8/6/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Judicial Candidate / Struggles for Approval

Before lawyers can become judicial candidates on Long ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/25/02 LAW AND ORDER / AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / Setting a Precedent In Drag-Race Death

When Nassau County jurors convicted Kevin Hart of ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/18/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Child-Support Case Painful, Complex

On Feb. 6, Suffolk County deputy sheriffs took Matthew ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/11/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Jury Selection Issue In Decades-Old Case

It has been almost two decades since Vicki Ketsoglou was ... Read more »

Robin Topping 6/4/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / A Legal Test On Breaking Privilege

In the midst of a murder trial, a Nassau County Court judge ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/21/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / Breaking Up Hard On Law Partners

Breaking up a law firm is a bit like breaking up a marriage. ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/14/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Reviewing the Law When Crime Pays

New York City Police Officer Edward Byrne was just 22 when ... Read more »

Robin Topping 5/7/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / RICO Being Used To Fight LI Gangs

When the law was written in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/23/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / As Police Elite Retire, A New Learning Curve

Sometimes the clues are in the murder scene: the trail of ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/16/02 LAW AND ORDER / AROUND THE ISLAND CRIME & COURTS / Lawyers for Poor Still Waiting for Pay Raise

When Gov. George Pataki announced in January 2001 the ... Read more »

Robin Topping 4/2/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Defendant Gets More Than Bargained For

A plea bargain - a deal struck by the defendant, defense ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/26/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Easing Life After Jail For the Mentally Ill

For the mentally ill, the difference between stability and ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/19/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Untangling a Web In Family Court

There may be two sides to most stories, but in Family Court ... Read more »

Robin Topping 3/5/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / Dead Client's Secret Presents a Dilemma

When a client tells an attorney something in confidence, it ... Read more »

Robin Topping 2/5/02 AROUND THE ISLAND / CRIME & COURTS / LAW AND ORDER / New Rules on Using Force Against Inmates

Thomas Pizzuto's death in January 1999, five days after a ... Read more »