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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

Contempt conviction reversed

Posted on February 25, 2008
Way back in April, 2007, public defender Sherri Jefferson was convicted of contempt and sentenced to 30 days’ imprisonment. That led to her resigning from her position as a public defender and appealing the trial court’s imposition of the sentence...

Sunday Stupidity: Wasting governmental money edition

Posted on February 24, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLQydbDHYtE SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Sunday Stupidity: Wasting governmental money edition", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/24/sunday-stupidity-wasting-governmental-money-edition/" } );

Is videotaping interrogations a better solution?

Posted on February 24, 2008
In my post discussing the demise of Miranda, I approvingly quoted the author’s mention of videotaping confessions as a possible solution. Scott writes today and warns us not to get too invested in videotaped confessions and why they may not be the answer...

Blawgers Baseball 2008

Posted on February 24, 2008
The 2008 season of the Blawgers Baseball Fantasy Baseball League is about to start. BRING IT ON! Details at the Blawgers Baseball Blog.I am going to win this year. Book it. SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Blawgers Baseball 2008", url: "http://apublicdefender...

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W(h)ither Miranda?

Posted on February 23, 2008
A new paper asks the very question: Has Miranda become ineffective? Not because it’s not needed anymore, but because police departments are finding ways to get around it while achieving the same results. The conclusion is pretty bleak: So how well do Miranda?s safeguards fare overall? I believe that we have a Miranda rule that is [...

Racial breakdown of crime and conviction rates in CT

Posted on February 22, 2008
The OLR has been doing some terrific work that I have been neglecting. One example is this report dated January 18, ‘08, titled essentially the same as the title of this post. Another is this report on the cost of incarceration broken down by correctional facility and the cost of a career criminal (answer: Northern [...

Pollitt neighbors want tax break

Posted on February 21, 2008
Remember David Pollitt? (Previous posts here, here, here and here.) After trying to block his move into their neighborhood, and failing, residents are now trying to get their money back. Literally. They’ve asked the town to reduce the property tax assessment of their homes by as much as 17%...

The tortoise and the hare: CT?s jury selection in focus again

Posted on February 21, 2008
Last year, some organization somewhere surveyed judges and lawyers from all states and determined that CT’s jury selection process took the longest: on average 10 hours for a criminal trial and 16 for civil. It then determined that S. Carolina had the fastest process: 30 minutes on average for criminal trials...

Danforth issued; states free to retroactively remedy violations

Posted on February 20, 2008
SCOTUS issued its much-awaited (by me, atleast) decision in Danforth v. Minnesota [pdf] today, ruling 7-2 that Teague’s retroactivity prohibition applied to Federal courts on federal habeas corpus review. State courts are hence free to apply decisions articulating violations to cases on direct and/or collateral review...

Youngest lifer back in jail: (why) are(n?t) you surprised?

Posted on February 20, 2008
Lionel Tate, sentenced to life without parole at age 14 is back in prison after pleading guilty to holding up a pizza delivery man. Tate was sentenced to life for an incident that occurred when he was 12, in which a 6 year old girl was killed. Tate alleged that she died as a result [...

The heat must be getting to them Georgians

Posted on February 20, 2008
I mean…wtf? It’s not like they’ve got a criminal justice system meltdown on their hands or anything… SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "The heat must be getting to them Georgians", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/20/the-heat-must-be-getting-to-them-georgians/" } );

Monday Morning Jumpstart: President?s Day Edition

Posted on February 18, 2008
It has been rather busy here in Gideonland, but early this week I may finally be caught up with work and ready to resume my blogging duties. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been paying attention, though. These are stories that I read and I think are worth sharing...

Population explosion: Will we ever get beyond the quick-fix?

Posted on February 18, 2008
The Danbury News-Times (and apparently the Conn Post too) has this fantastic piece about the state of Connecticut’s prisons (you know, it’s really strange to be reading these stories about CT, when just six months ago, I used to read similar pieces with frequency about other states...

Sunday Stupidity: Customer Service edition

Posted on February 17, 2008
Sorry for the lack of posts here; things have been busy. Back to regular programming tomorrow. Until then, enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ryas9OANw-E SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Sunday Stupidity: Customer Service edition", url: "http://apublicdefender...

Swallowing the bitter pill

Posted on February 14, 2008
Why is it so much more difficult for the State to accept that it lost? SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Swallowing the bitter pill", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/14/swallowing-the-bitter-pill/" } );

Silly wabbit, trials are for lawyers!

Posted on February 14, 2008
I’ll spare you the “a person who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer” line, but someone probably should have told Daniel Riles that. After vowing to take on the legal community by himself (whatever that means), he proceeded to represent himself at trial...

Why kids lie (and they certainly do)

Posted on February 13, 2008
This fantastic piece in New York Magazine explores studies analyzing the lies that children tell, the reasons behind them and the frequency with which they are offered. The results are interesting, but the reasons behind the lies are fascinating. It starts very young...

Degrees of kinship and same-sex incest? ARO 2/11/08

Posted on February 12, 2008
The title of this post is flippant, but the case it refers to is rather interesting. In State v. John F.M., the Supreme Court reversed the Appellate Court’s reversal of a conviction. John F. M. was convicted of sexual assault in the third degree under the sex with a kindred person subsection...

Monday Morning Jumpstart: Evening edition

Posted on February 11, 2008
Once again, the cold weather has sapped me of any desire to post early in the morning. So, for the second week in a row, I give you the evening edition of Monday morning jumpstart. Thanks for bearing with me. Starting at the very beginning, which is a very good place to start, Appellate Law and [...

Reader survey - who are you?

Posted on February 10, 2008
As this blog has grown, I have asked you to indulge me at times by answering silly questions in polls. Here’s another one; albeit a little more important. The answers to this question might shape the direction this blog takes in the coming months and will definitely help inform me about what I should and [...

Just so you know

Posted on February 10, 2008
The next comment will be the 2,000th legitimate comment on this blog. Thanks for making it fun for all of us! The winner gets nothing. Update: Thought you might like to know that this software has caught 20,242 spam comments. Imagine! Legitimate comments are 9% of the total comments I get...

Sunday stupidity: WTF edition

Posted on February 10, 2008
What will they think of next? Scott, please don’t ask me what “WTF” stands for. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6huKJt5Id0Y SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Sunday stupidity: WTF edition", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/10/sunday-stupidity-wtf-edition/" } );

Ordering a pizza in 2020

Posted on February 10, 2008
That’s the year 2020. I don’t know if it will become like this, but it’s fun to watch. SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Ordering a pizza in 2020", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/10/ordering-a-pizza-in-2020/" } );

Jury tampering in the digital age

Posted on February 08, 2008
Gone are the days of goons showing up at your door or horse heads in your bed. This is the digital age, baby! Web 2.0! So, it should come as no surprise that jury tampering has also moved into the digital age. Meet Chandra Bozelko, who didn’t just ask a friend to go talk to a [...

A fallen comrade

Posted on February 08, 2008
Via Bardd Before the Bar comes the very sad news that one of our own - Gregory H. Clark - was shot and killed outside his home, in what seems to be a “hit”. Attorney Gregory H. Clark, 61, was killed when he was gunned down while clearing his driveway on the northeast side of�� town [...

The runaway governor: truly scary justice ?reforms?

Posted on February 07, 2008
I’m sorry, I have to say it. She’s freakin’ scary now. I think she’s lost it and I can almost picture her sitting in a darkened room, illuminated by frequent lightning, hair standing up, rubbing her hands together, eyes pointing in separate directions, cackling, laughing maniacally as she imagines these proposals...

And we?re back

Posted on February 07, 2008
Well, I don’t know what happened here yesterday. Something about the server and some maintenance or something. Gobbledygook. Anyway, we’re back and running. Thanks for sticking with us. SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "And we’re back", url: "http://apublicdefender...

Our finest

Posted on February 05, 2008
at their finest. Excuse me while I go throw up. Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1yUsYIk2EM Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ6Lsqmf9yM SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Our finest", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/02/05/our-finest/" } );

The forever persecuted

Posted on February 05, 2008
A few days ago, I noticed a story in the Boston Globe about residents in a New Hampshire town who rejoiced after successfully getting a sex offender to leave their community. It was of particular interest to me because that sex offender was from Connecticut and the story said he would be returning here...

Crack House Due Process

Posted on February 04, 2008
Don’t say you weren’t on notice… My personal favorite is rule #9, which is blank. How appropriate. Update: Fill in the blank contest! Come up with the funniest rule #9 and you get a present! Read the crack house rules here. “Mad props” to The Saucy Vixen...

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