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Public Defense

A Public Defender

Criminal law news from Connecticut and around the country.
By Gideon

Post Frequency: 10.1/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 12:17:35

It only takes one

Posted on March 31, 2011
We have a saying, those of us in this field, that “it only takes one”. It’s said with a slight wink and an imperceptible smile, the legal defense equivalent of “anything’s possible”. Said in reference to cases that present near insurmountable challenges to the defense, it implies that all you need is one juror and

Arrest warrant for judge rejected?if it existed in the first place

Posted on March 29, 2011
Updating the humdinger of a story from last Friday, wherein a State Trooper was allegedly seeking an arrest warrant for a judge who failed to sign an arrest warrant, there are two conflicting sets of stories out today. First, we have the Waterbury Republican-American, which reports that the trooper did indeed submit an arrest warrant

Wrong time, wrong battle

Posted on March 28, 2011
There are several “rules” of practice that all criminal defense lawyers would be well served knowing and understanding. One of them is that we must and should engage in battles with the prosecutors and courts for the sake of our general clientele...

Significant CT Supreme Court cases

Posted on March 28, 2011
Justice Old White Dude 1, Justice Old White Dude 2... The Connecticut Judicial Branch, in keeping with its image of being speedy and up-to-date with news and technology, just posted a new link on its website. The link is to the celebrations held in honor of the 100th Anniversary of the Connecticut State Library and

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State police want to arrest judge who refused to sign arrest warrant

Posted on March 25, 2011
Unless the victim was also arrested. You can’t make this shit up. And if it were April 1st today, I might laugh it off as a clever joke. But it’s not and apparently neither is this. Here’s the lowdown, from the two meager paywall inhibited articles that I could find...

Reasonable gibberish

Posted on March 22, 2011
“I am convinced, after [fourteen] years of being a judge and many years of practice before that, that the standard reasonable doubt charge in Connecticut is unsatisfactory. It is satisfactory only in the sense that it is routinely upheld by the appellate courts, which is a considerable advantage, to be sure...

They may take my freedom, but they will never take my cell phone

Posted on March 15, 2011
The title only really works if you imagine it being uttered by Mel “before he went crazy – or maybe he always was” Gibson essaying the role of William Wallace in that stirring monologue near the end that is actually said to have never happened (There’s some trivia for you)...

Deluding yourself is deluding the client

Posted on March 15, 2011
Sometimes I wonder what practicing as a criminal defense lawyer would be like if the State only arrested innocent people; if all my clients were, indeed, not guilty. It would be a burdensome practice, for sure. And exceedingly infuriating. As every criminal defense lawyer will tell you, one inevitably comes to believe in the not-guilt

The Limp Writ Redux

Posted on March 04, 2011
Because the State of Connecticut has nothing else to worry about *cough3billiondollardeficitcough*, it’s time for the legislature to entertain bills on all sorts of nonsensical subjects, including one that’s every “dumb on crime” legislator’s favorite whipping boy: Habeas Corpus reform...

Looney times are here again

Posted on February 13, 2011
It’s February after an election year, which can mean only two things: pitchers and catchers report soon and there’s an influx of bills in a new legislative session that make you go “stfu!”. Don’t ask me what stfu stands for...

Blawg Review #294: MLK, Jr. Day edition

Posted on January 16, 2011
This is certainly an odd week to be hosting the MLK Day edition of Blawg Review and almost all of it has to do with the events in Arizona, late last week. There will be much written tomorrow, juxtaposing the powerful non-violent philosophy employed by Dr...

Prosecutor Connelly resigns

Posted on January 14, 2011
You may or may not have heard, but the State’s Attorney for the Waterbury Judicial District – and the man responsible for sending the most inmates to death row in CT – has just resigned. Justice Richard Palmer, chair of the Criminal Justice Commission, which oversees the State’s Attorneys in CT, issued a statement that

These crumbs are wishing you a happy new year

Posted on December 31, 2010
Life is like a box of choc-oh now I'm sad Unlike last year’s new year’s eve explosion of completely useless posts that no one read and I barely remember writing, this year I’ve decided that there’s no better way to ring in the new year than with a reminder of how wonderful and crazy the

Top 10 things you shouldn?t say to your clients

Posted on December 28, 2010
eh heh, eh heh, yup, uh huh In the end-of-the-year-lists-that-are-poor-substitutes-for-actual-writing spirit, I present to you the first of many Top 10 lists. Today, we learn about things that you really shouldn’t tell your client (it would really help if you pictured this list being introduced by Letterman portrayed by Peter Griffin)...

Sundown comes to East Haven

Posted on December 27, 2010
o East Haven, CT generally has two claims to fame: being a predominantly Italian-American populated town and being in the middle of the collision of tectonic plates during the Paleozoic Era, which led to the formation of Pangaea (yeah, bet you didn’t know that!)...

Death penalty abolition bill filed and waiting

Posted on December 16, 2010
It isn’t even January yet and already state legislators are “pre-filing” bills to be voted upon in the next session of the state legislature. As expected, first among them is a death penalty abolition bill with State Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield as its proponent...

Queensland, Alabama

Posted on December 15, 2010
If you look closely, you can see "South Pacific Ocean". Alabama is no longer part of the US! Yay! Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of geography will quickly realize that Queensland is not in Alabama at all. Queensland is in Australia and Alabama is, well, somewhere down south where we like to pretend doesn’t exist.

The stupid; it hurts the brain

Posted on November 18, 2010
no caption needed There are few topics in the criminal justice arena that get the masses’ blood boiling as much as sexual assault and the “rights” of those accused of these horrible crimes. When it comes to rape, people generally don’t care about the rules or the Constitution or the fact that no matter how

IL committee proposes serious reforms to the death penalty

Posted on November 17, 2010
The Illinois Capital Punishment Reform Study Committee has published its 6th and final report on changes to the death penalty – both in substance and procedure – in Illinois. The Committee, established in 2003 was charged with studying reforms to the death penalty in IL over 5 years...

Wednesday is still link dump day

Posted on November 17, 2010
because it's been just too damn long Too many browser tabs, not enough motivation to turn them into posts. My excess, your bounty. Or something: What has to be the story of the week and case-in-point in re my tirades against the press and its coverage of the #hayes trial: mother of the victim of

Guilt by convenience

Posted on November 17, 2010
[I was going to go with the far more catchy title "If you're innocent and you know it and you really want to show it, plead guilty" sung to the tune of - you know what? Stop that. Don't judge. You try writing funny and interesting blog posts every day...

Clowning around in Georgia

Posted on November 12, 2010
Why is it always Georgia? The latest, via Volokh, from the Georgia Peach State: The record in this case establishes that the prosecutor, in the final moments of her concluding argument on behalf of the State, “clicked” her fingers at� which signal one of the deputies in the courtroom turned out the lights and an

Unethical beyond a reasonable doubt?

Posted on November 11, 2010
Rule 3.8 of the Connecticut Rules of Professional Conduct (and the ABA Model Rules) provides, in relevant part: Rule 3.8 Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor The prosecutor in a criminal case shall: (1) Refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause; This Model Rule has been adopted by

Best lineup ever

Posted on November 11, 2010
And by that I mean worst lineup ever. Is it any wonder that people get wrongfully convicted because of police tactics like this? can you spot the perp? hint: he's the one who's not smiling Yes, that is the defendant in a headlock in a police lineup full of other police officers who are smiling.

On the media

Posted on November 09, 2010
Steven Hayes’ attorneys finally speak to the media, about the hard work of the jury, the arbitrariness of the death penalty – and most scathingly – the inordinate amount of attention given this case by the press. When I grow up… Make sure you watch from the 9:00 mark to the end...

In death, there are no winners

Posted on November 08, 2010
A jury of 12 has announced its verdict: Steven Hayes is to be sentenced to death. To many, this is a just outcome. To others, it is not. I won’t go into it again, because the reality is that I won’t change your mind and you won’t change mine...

Whatever it takes to execute a man

Posted on November 08, 2010
Death penalty trials are long, torturous, gut-wrenching affairs. On one side, there is the loss of lives – often several – and the demand for vengeance, often cloaked in the garb of “justice”. On the other, there is the begging for life, the pleas for humanity, often in the garb of psychological mitigation...

Yes, America, we?re embarrassed too

Posted on November 04, 2010
It's 9pm. Do you know what's in your mystery bag? It is now 8:28pm on Thursday evening, a full 48 hours after polls closed in every single damn State in the country. While the dust has settled everywhere and prognostications for the future of the country have reached their peak and then subsided, we here

Extraordinary misconduct leads to extraordinary relief

Posted on November 02, 2010
Absolutely stunning news today from the state Supreme Court: only one day after hearing oral arguments in State v. Patrick Lenarz, the highest court in Connecticut issued a summary order directing his immediate release from custody. It will issue a decision on his appellate claims later on...

If you didn?t resist, you must have wanted it

Posted on October 28, 2010
The meaning and parameters of consent in sexual assault has evolved over the yeas, from the common law requirement of resistance “to the utmost” to prove lack of consent, to a shift in focus to the individual will of the victim. Consent, as a legal concept, is not limited to sexual assault law...