Rice's trial is now scheduled to begin today following the decision on March 8 from the MD Court of Appeals. The state's highest court reversed Judge Williams's order disallowing the testimony of Officer Porter. Porter will now be compelled to testify against Rice. Edward Nero and Caesar Goodson's trials have already passed. Each waived a jury and each was acquitted by Judge Williams. Today, hearings will be conducted. Lt. Rice waives a jury today. Opening statements will be Thursday morning.

Blade runner Oscar Pistorius will learn his sentence today for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeve Steenkamp, on Feb. 14, 2013. An appellate court had thrown out the previous conviction for South Africa's version of what we call manslaughter and his 5-year sentence. The high court, instead, found him guilty of murder where he faces at least 15 years in prison. He served one year of the original five years. The judge, however, could find mitigating circumstances to justify a sentence less than 15 years.

Judge Max Wiley is expected to rule on some pretrial evidentiary matters today (or before) in this murder case. Hernandez is accused of murdering 6-year-old Etan Patz on May 25, 1979 in lower Manhattan. Jury selection should begin on Sept. 6 or 7.

Mark Sievers and his attorney will be in court this afternoon. He recently lost parental rights to his grade school daughters. Custody was awarded to the girls' maternal grandmother instead of Sievers's mother. Apparently some issues arose regarding the maternal grandmother, Mary Ann Grove. The judge is expected to speak to the girls today to hear their complaints. The hearing involves the Department of Children and Families. His next appearance regarding the murder case is July 27, 2016.

Herring is charged with four counts of murder in Vermont. She killed a social worker apparently over a child custody matter. She also killed three family members. Today is a status conference in Barre, VT at which the judge may set a trial date.

Former Vanderbilt University student and football player, Corey Batey faces 15 to 25 years in prison for rape and other charges related to a June 2013 assault of an unconscious fellow student. Three others were also charged. The cases were severed for trial.

The defense team for Charles Merritt says that AT&T did not comply with their requests to turn over phone records. In the most recent hearing on July 8, the defense argued that AT&T's reasons for not providing the records were inadequate. The judge has asked a representative of AT&T to appear at today's hearing presumably to answer more questions.

Bradley is charged with murder in a case without a body or a crime scene or a confession. The state wants to use as evidence against him a previous murder he committed (for which he served 23 years) and another murder for which he has NOT been charged. This hearing will address the "prior bad acts" and should end in a decision.

Garrett Miller's trial, on charges related to Freddie Gray's death in April 2015, is scheduled to begin today. He is the fourth officer to be tried since Officer Porter's mistrial last December and the subsequent appeals. Porter fought the State's efforts to compel his testimony against the remaining five officers while charges are still pending against him. He lost in Maryland's highest court and has been forced to testify against the others.

Mark Sievers is charged with capital murder for the death of his wife Teresa in June 2015. He is accused of hiring a childhood friend, Curtis Wayne Wright, to kill her. Wright allegedly hired his friend Jimmy Rodgers to assist. Wright is now cooperating with prosecutors. He pled guilty to second degree murder and is expected to receive a sentence of 25 years to life. Rodgers is also facing capital murder charges. It's unclear, as I write this, the purpose of today's hearing. It may just be a status conference.

The judge is expected to issue a decision today on whether the statements made by Graswald to police on April 29-30, 2015 about the drowning death of her fiance Vincent Viafore in New York's Hudson River can be used by the prosecution at trial. On July 27, 2016, the judge continued Grawald's case to Sept. 1, 2016. That is her next court appearance.

Nick Hillary is charged with second degree murder in the death of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips, the son of Hillary' former girlfriend, in 2011. Hillary denies he killed the boy. There is no forensic evidence tying him to the murder. Hillary's case has received national attention, particularly after the New York Times published a long article about it on March 5, 2016. The trial is continued to Sept. 6, 2016.

Rapper Suge Knight's murder trial is scheduled to begin today. He's charged with killing one man and attempting to kill another with his truck near the movie set of Straight Outta Compton on Jan. 29, 2015 in Los Angeles.