Lost Transcript Gets Convicted Killer New Trial: Christina Boyle of New York Daily News reports Randy Chaviano, a convicted killer in Florida, will get a new trial because a court stenographer lost the transcript from his murder trial. Stenographer Terlesa Cowart ran out of paper during the criminal trial, so there is no hard copy of the proceedings. She erased the stenography machine's memory disc after transferring the court records to her computer, but a computer virus later wiped everything out. When Chaviano appealed his conviction, lawyers began searching for the transcripts and found that only found one key pretrial hearing and the closing arguments existed. The decision is here.

2011 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary: Lyle Denniston, reporting for SCOTUSblog, has this post about Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.'s year-end report released Saturday. Roberts primarily addressed the question, "Where do federal judges look for guidance in resolving ethics issues?" The report is here.