Criminal Law
Arbitrary and Capricious 
"To live outside the law you must be honest:" Criminal defense and lawyer foibles from a public defender out West.
Post Frequency: 2.5/day Last Entry: August 01, 2009 at 03:59:00 Recent Entries: 538
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Hiatus
Posted on August 01, 2009The blog is five years old now. It's had a few good years, and a few years of gentle steady decline. It's given me a place to post about representation, depression, transitions, and a few odd obsessions (and post about the kid and dogs and cats). It's made me new friends and brought me into contact with some quite remarkable lawyers, investigators, law professors and others (if I skipped a link, look for yourself in the blogroll)...
"From Time Out to Hard Time"
Posted on July 29, 2009From the New York Times:12 and in PrisonThe editorial was prompted by the release of ?From Time Out to Hard Time: Young Children in the Adult Criminal Justice System? by Michele Deitch of the LBJ School at the University of Texas (homeland of Grits for Breakfast)...
UT: cost cutters 1, indigent defense 0
Posted on July 29, 2009From the Ogden Standard-Examiner:No more Weber attorney group for indigentAfter four decades defending the indigent, the Weber County Public Defenders Association will be dismantled. The Weber County Commission is moving in another direction by the end of the year in providing legal services to defendants who can?t afford an attorney...
WA: the war at home
Posted on July 27, 2009From the Olympian:A second chance for vets - New Program: County Veterans Court helps those in trouble with PTSDThurston County Veterans Court offers a second chance to current and retired service members who commit crimes while struggling with war-related psychological wounds, notably PTSD and traumatic brain injuries...
"Trial it is then"
Posted on July 20, 2009Brother PD Scoplaw speaks a weary truth:Denial, Perspective, Jail House LawyeringI'm not talking about innocence or guilt - I'm talking about the pratical realities of what's going to happen in a court of law...
CA: don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge
Posted on July 20, 2009From the Ventura County Star:Public Defender's Office close to edge - Any death penalty cases will trigger need for more help, says Dammeyer I just liked the message in the headline, I guess.
Hope for community corrections
Posted on July 16, 2009In this month's Washington Monthly:Jail Break - How smarter parole and probation can cut the nation?s incarceration rateIf we want to end the era of mass incarceration and replace it with a regime of less punishment and less crime, drug testing is only one of the ways to apply the central lesson of HOPE ("Hawaii?s Opportunity Probation with Enforcement"): that clearly communicated threats of swift, certain punishment really can change behavior, even when the punishment is modest...
CA: East Bay "resident elocutionist" retires
Posted on July 11, 2009From the Contra Costa Times:Contra Costa public defender retires after 35-year career speaking for indigent defendantsIn his 10 years as Contra Costa County's top public defender, David Coleman ruffled the feathers of more than a few prosecutors, yet they say they'll miss him...
ID: felony murder rule results in remand
Posted on July 11, 2009From the Times-News:High court overturns conviction in '05 shotgun slaying - Gambrel drug charges could complicate Pina retrialThe conviction of Juan Carlos Fuentes Pina, one of two men convicted for the slaying of Jesse Naranjo, was vacated on appeal by the Idaho Supreme Court on Wednesday...
ID: a life of conflicts, a murderous rage
Posted on July 11, 2009From the Times-News:Kolestani gets 18 years to life - Transgender refugee admitted killing partner last yearA tearful Iranian refugee was sentenced on Friday in Twin Falls 5th District Court to 18 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a long-time partner in the face almost a year ago...
Kid-centered, client-centered
Posted on July 07, 2009Here's a link to the National Juvenile Defender Center's new publication, Role of Juvenile Defense Counsel in Delinquency Court (pdf file), in case you ever find yourself in the role of juvenile defense counsel in delinquency court.
Methland = USA
Posted on July 06, 2009Oelwein, Iowa, described in Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding, gets the Manhattan condescension treatment via New York Times book review:The madness stalking tiny, defenseless Oelwein may eventually come for all of us...
40-some years in 20-some songs
Posted on July 03, 2009Artifacts excavated in response to this meme from Bliss:Down In The Boondocks - Billy Joe Royal: the earliest pop song I can remember. Loved the word "boondocks" - had no idea what it meant.Mr. Tambourine Man - Bob Dylan / The Byrds (tie): with an older brother and four older sisters, songs like this, "Puff The Magic Dragon," and "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" were my nursery rhymes...
"Experienced lawyers lead the way"
Posted on July 01, 2009From Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, an interview with Jean Berman, executive director of the International Senior Lawyers Project:We've done a number of projects involving assisting criminal defense lawyers for the poor. In Eastern Europe we sent lawyers to Bulgaria, Lithuania, Mongolia and Ukraine to help set up the first public defender offices there...
If my clients were crime fighters
Posted on July 01, 2009From cartoonist K. Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant, " Mystery Solving Teens."
WA: new chief PD in Port Orchard
Posted on June 30, 2009From the Kitsap Sun:Kitsap Hires New Top Public DefenderKitsap County has hired a Wenatchee attorney to head its division of public defense... Clarke W. Tibbits, 41, currently a partner in a private practice, has worked as a criminal defense attorney in district and superior courts, as well as for private and indigent clients...
ID: Monday's judgment day for Canyon Co indigent defense
Posted on June 28, 2009From Nampa / Caldwell's Idaho Press-Tribune:Commissioners will pick Canyon public defenderCanyon County commissioners will deliberate for the purpose of appointing a public defender Monday morning. They will choose from Virginia Bond, Mark Mimura, Scott Fouser and Chad Gulstrom...
VA & ID: volunteering for DP a "fatal attraction"
Posted on June 25, 2009From the Charlottesville Daily Progress, June 21:Death request raises ethical, legal questionsSomewhere in the Charlottesville Office of the Commonwealth?s Attorney sits a plea agreement that could lead to the execution of a city man accused of killing an 11-year-old boy...
WA: client in court makes a run for it - what would you do?
Posted on June 19, 2009From the Spokesman-Review:Municipal court brawl leads to arrestA brawl that began when a man tried fleeing a courtroom this morning ended with the man, a deputy and three attorneys falling onto a bench of bystanders, according to the Spokane County Sheriff?s Office...
ID: north side teens in attempted murder trouble
Posted on June 18, 2009From the Twin Falls Times-News:Shoshone murder plot: Two boys remain jailed for safetyTwo Shoshone boys arrested last week in an alleged plot to kill a businessman and a police officer will stay in jail... after lawyers and family pleaded for their release...
AZ: "these people annoy me"
Posted on June 17, 2009The Sloth Bear has been a p. d. for just a little while, but has developed some distinct likes and dislikes in clients:Categorizing InfuriantsIf you ever find yourself speaking with a public defender, try not to be any of these people...
WA: in Grant County, we can work it out
Posted on June 16, 2009And now your Channeled Scablands update, from the Columbia Basin Herald:ACLU approves public defendersEPHRATA ? Grant County received approval for their public defense department from a monitor overseeing the county efforts to improve their legal services after the 2005 settlement agreement with the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU)...
All this, and a baby moose!
Posted on June 15, 2009It's public defender intern season. Here's a report from Alaska, from Justin of Baylor Law School:Aside from the legal community, Alaska is a great place to intern because of the numerous opportunities for outdoor activity here... It?s not unusual to see a moose or two on your way to work, and sometimes they even come right up to the office.
Eternal rest, Willie
Posted on June 12, 2009A client of mine suicided Tuesday night. Willie was a gifted, funny teenager, a natural leader and an artful dodger. Other kids liked him, probation officers liked him. I loved going to bat for him after the times when he'd screw up, and he'd light up like July 4 when things broke our way in court...
HI: "you can't subject the Constitution to budget cuts"
Posted on June 08, 2009When it comes to cuts, things are no different in the islands; from the Maui News:Furloughs leave defendants in a bind - Public defender office closures affecting courtroom schedulesThe Office of the Public Defender, which includes a dozen attorneys on Maui, will be shut down three Fridays each month to comply with state worker furloughs required by Gov...
Thanks, ACLU! Thanks, AP!
Posted on June 04, 2009Feeling the love in the Washington Post:Nationwide, public defender offices are in crisis"If you can't afford an attorney, and you fall into the criminal justice system, you are really, really screwed," said Demetrius Thomas of the New York American Civil Liberties Union...
AB: ?them kids should be strung up by their necks?
Posted on June 03, 2009From the Toronto Globe and Mail:?Completely random? killing shocks Alberta - Within hours of escaping youth home, 14-year-olds charged in double-homicideThe two teens had been missing from Bosco Homes, a rural treatment centre for troubled youth east of Edmonton, for less than 15 minutes before the RCMP were called in to track down the runaways...
ID: Kolestani - "I murdered Ehsan"
Posted on June 02, 2009From the Times-News:Refugee from Iran admits to murder(Nastaran /) Majid Kolestani fought to wear women's clothes during a murder trial, but in the end, won't dress for it at all. The 42-year-old transgender Iranian refugee who identifies as a woman pleaded guilty on Monday in Twin Falls 5th District Court to first-degree murder in a plea agreement that will likely send Kolestani to prison for 18 years to life...
"The fact that I went to Goodwin Procter doesn't mean I'm not passionate about doing this type of work"
Posted on June 02, 2009..but it's a pretty good hint. From Law.com:Are Public Interest Lawyers Getting Crowded Out by Deferred Associates? - One recent law grad looking for public interest work notes, 'We don't come with a $70,000-plus salary with benefits intact. Psychologically, it's hard to deal with that reality...
ID: "Idaho can make up any law they want when it comes to the alleged attack on a 5 year-old"
Posted on May 31, 2009From the Idaho Press-Tribune:Jury trial set for boy accused of assaulting 5-year-old girl in NampaJudge Thomas Ryan... set an August jury trial date for a 15-year-old Nampa boy accused of sexually assaulting and beating a 5-year-old girl... (Trevor) Reizenstein will be tried as an adult...
Atticus Finch, meet Harvey Birdman
Posted on May 29, 2009John Moe at Monkey Disaster explains in, "A Conversation with Charlie (age 8) About Literature."
ID: "he's a child, and I know that I am not the only one out here that's heart is breaking for him"
Posted on May 29, 2009Chuck Peterson at Idaho Criminal Defense Blog is following the case of Zachary Neagle, a Canyon County 14-year-old accused of killing his father: Community Support Grows For 14 Year-Old Kid Charged With Murder - Now He Needs A Good Experienced LawyerSupport Grows For 14 Year Old Kid Charged With MurderChannel 7 Interview With Zachary Neagle's Mom - Says She Had No Idea of Sexual AbuseBujak Blinked - Said The "M" Word - "Manslaughter"
CA: Yolo's cool old hippie retires
Posted on May 21, 2009From the Sacramento Bee:Yolo County loses best-known employee among exodus of early retireesBarry Melton knows his days as a young rock icon, when he took the stage at Woodstock with a tousle of blond curls, are long past... But at 61, Melton ? the Yolo County public defender who became famous as "The Fish" in the Vietnam-era band Country Joe and the Fish ? leaves at the top of his game as a lawyer...
ID: Lake Overturn, 83651
Posted on May 19, 2009Could this be the Great Southern Idaho Novel? Here is "Lake Overturn," by Nampa native Vestal McIntyre: To her surprise, the judge was not an old man with white hair. He was a Mexican, and only perhaps in his early forties. He did, though, wear the kind of reading glasses she expected judges to wear, low on his nose...
CA: visiting clients in LA's towers
Posted on May 18, 2009From Days and Nights with the Unbored, here's p.d. El Cholestero on jail visiting:...I've spent more time in jail facilities than most religious people have spent inside of church. I've heard such stories of sadness, anger, desperation, stupidity, recklessness and pure evil...
WA: in juvy, "poems with power and pain"
Posted on May 16, 2009From the Stranger:Increasing the Vocabulation, Reducing the Distress - A Poetry Program at JuvieThe audience has been quiet until now ? they know they'll be sent back to their narrow cells if they aren't polite ? but a young man reads a poem that inspires the audience to laugh and cheer and mutter "amen...
ID: does wardrobe malfunction averted = justice malfunction avoided?
Posted on May 14, 2009From The MountainGoat Report:Wardrobe Ruling In 'Exotic Case'Gender identity won't be on trial this June in Twin Falls County but it is difficult for many to believe otherwise. If you haven't been following the story of Nastaran, or legally Majid, Kolestani, a transgender Iranian refugee accused in the shooting death of the man with whom she shared an apartment in Twin Falls, get caught up here...
ID: wondering if the fix is in for Canyon Co PD
Posted on May 09, 2009From the Idaho Press-Tribune:Committee selected to find new public defender for countyThird District Administrative Judge Juneal Kerrick has appointed a committee of three local attorneys to consider candidates who want to be appointed the next public defender for Canyon County...
WA: diversion, you know, for kids
Posted on May 08, 2009From the Tacoma News Tribune:Juveniles: Out of trouble, into better lifeGetting into trouble turned out to be a blessing for Kristen Larkin. A prank two years ago landed the Parkland teen in a diversion program run by the Pierce County Juvenile Court...
Russian emoti-con
Posted on May 07, 2009From the Moscow Times:Honey, I Killed a Cop. I'm Sorry :((W)e may never know the degree of sorrow felt by a young Novosibirsk woman over the traffic cop she struck and killed with her car while driving drunk... (T)he text message - complete with emoticon - she sent her boyfriend after killing the officer: "Honey, I killed a cop...
Testifrying
Posted on May 03, 2009From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:Sometimes, defendants do the darndest thingsTimothy Lee Williams' lawyer, Frank C. Walker II, stood next to him, powerless. He had advised Mr. Williams not to testify, but his client didn't listen."All I really wanted to do was express myself," the defendant began, launching into an incoherent diatribe about his life and the circumstances surrounding a Hill District homicide...
ID: Canyon Co low-bid defense? No
Posted on April 30, 2009From Dennis at SCOIDBlog:Canyon County & State of Idaho Sued Over Public Defender ServicesThe Canyon County Public Defenders have sued the State and Canyon County. Wiebe and Fouser, P.A. currently holds the public defender contract, but recently the county invoked a 90-day termination provision and then sought bids...
WA: Grant County gets it in gear
Posted on April 24, 2009From the Wenatchee World:Public defense pilot project posts dramatic results in Grant CountyTwo years ago, 93 juveniles arrested for crimes in Grant County pleaded guilty at their first court appearance before an attorney was even assigned to them. Last year, only one child did...
ID: another proud to be from Idaho moment
Posted on April 22, 2009From the Idaho State Journal:Inmate duct tapedThe first hint that Nicklas Frasure's hearing was going to be unusual came at the outset when the man attempted to fire his court-appointed counsel. It eventually culminated with the man's mouth bound with duct tape in an attempt to quell his frequent and irrational outbursts...
Babes in Apprendi-land
Posted on April 21, 2009Recommended by a listserv I'm on:Rethinking the Constitutional Criminal Procedure of Juvenile Transfer Hearings: Apprendi, Adult Punishment and Adult Process by Jenny E. Carroll, University of Cincinnati College of LawThis article makes valuable new contributions to the burgeoning scholarly discourse on Apprendi v...
Reclaiming futures, one blog at a time
Posted on April 17, 2009By request ( and by professional and personal interest ):Reclaiming Futures Launches Blog Dedicated to Substance Abuse and Teens in the Juvenile Justice SystemReclaiming Futures Every Day is a professionally-staffed blog that aims to keep people informed of the latest happenings in juvenile justice and substance abuse treatment...
DA: "someone must stand with the accused against the might of the state"
Posted on April 16, 2009NPR turns its attention to us:Report Calls Out Flaws In Public Defender SystemAnd the block quote they run with on the web page is from a prosecutor??We're not there just to convict. Our job is to find justice. And I need a person standing with the defendant to help me do that...
MN: p.d. attacked by client doing better
Posted on April 14, 2009From the Minneapolis - St. Paul Star-Tribune:Public defender attacked by client is out of hospital The client "was about ready to sit in his chair in the courtroom when he suddenly lunged at his own attorney," a Hennepin County sheriff's office spokeswoman said Monday...
WA: cut indigent defense now, pay later
Posted on April 14, 2009Local paper recommends county shut the barn door; horses already given pink slips. From the Olympian:Cuts to public defenders could prove costlyThurston County commissioners need to be cautious when cutting attorneys from the county Office of Assigned Counsel ? the lawyers who represent indigent clients...
UT: feds try therapeutic court
Posted on April 13, 2009From the Salt Lake Tribune:Federal court program helps mentally ill convictsRakeem Ali Shabazz bounced in and out of prison as he struggled to meet his parole conditions while dealing with schizophrenia. Now 48 and free again, the former gang member is determined to walk the straight and narrow...
ID: bad week for Idaho juvies
Posted on April 13, 2009Idaho can be hell on kids and teenagers, particularly on those caught up in the system. Two crim law blogs report: - Idaho Criminal Defense Law: A Tale of Two Teens And Life In Prison - Murder of ParentJudge Michael McLaughlin sentenced Derek Lewis to life in prison with twenty years "fixed...
ID: "while a person's clean and sober we should be helping them with options"
Posted on April 12, 2009From the Times-News:Program progression - Twin Falls County Jail tries treatment to ease crowdingA rare look at the Twin Falls County Jail and a new drug program that will be available for those serving time for drug crimes...
Chicago after dark
Posted on April 09, 2009From timesonline.co.uk:Bob Dylan on Barack Obama, Ulysses Grant and American Civil War ghosts - Listen to an exclusive track from Bob Dylan's new album, and read his views on US politics and history, exclusively on Times OnlineBill Flanagan: In that song Chicago After Dark were you thinking about the new President?Bob Dylan: Not really...
Context is everything
Posted on April 09, 2009There are a number of ways to read this UPI headline:Public defender chosen for porno teacherOf course I picked the wrong one. My apologies to the former colleague I thought had been chosen to teach this.
Greetings from Chicago
Posted on April 05, 2009Law butcher for the world, city of Andrea Lyon's shoulders, my family and I are enjoying your company.
Facebook face
Posted on April 03, 2009This post from the blog "My day is better than yours" put me in mind of that great p.d. investigator and social network authority, Sancho Villa:... and do you have a Facebook?When our office takes a new case, we send our investigator out to the client to...
CA: pretty fly for a p.d.
Posted on April 03, 2009The public defender summer internships are starting to shape up. Here's Kendra with the Santa Clara County report:My moot-court partner in crime, Lauren, is also working... with another awesome PD who is - wait for it - a BELLY DANCER!!! attorney by day, sassy dancer at night...
"'Bummer, dude' doesn't really cover it, does it?"
Posted on April 03, 2009One of my colleagues made quite an impression on Fallout Kid:The cat that runs the show for Juvenile Law is a nice enough guy... He talked about how he is a Washington State Juvenile Public Defender. He handles a huge f*cking caseload: 100 cases, sometimes 80...
WA: chop chop
Posted on April 03, 2009We made KIRO TV tonight, and not for a good reason:Huge Impact Possible With Cuts To Thurston County CourtsFour public defenders who handle a total of more than a 1,000 cases a year are on the chopping block - the result will be a caseload increase for the remaining public defenders with potentially serious consequences...
IL: Ed Burnette's swan song
Posted on April 01, 2009From Chicago Breaking News Center:Public defender wins last case over StrogerDuring his last day in office today, Cook County Public Defender Edwin Burnette was savoring a legal victory over County Board President Todd Stroger. The victory came in the form of a unanimous ruling from the First District Illinois Appellate Court...
ID: "I was just coming from midnight mass, officer"
Posted on April 01, 2009In the hub city of the Magic Valley, good news for would-be midnight ramblers, from the Twin Falls Times-News:Idaho appellate Court: Wendell curfew no goodThe Idaho Court of Appeals said Tuesday that curfew rules in the town of Wendell violate the constitutional rights of kids...
Hey, we could use some stimulus over here!
Posted on March 29, 2009From the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, all you could want to know about Thursday's Congressional hearing concerning indigent defense:Hearing on the Representation of Indigent Defendants in Criminal Cases: A Constitutional Crisis in Michigan and Other States?In a historic move, the U...
PA: evil judge, juvy do-over
Posted on March 29, 2009From the New York Times:Clean Slates for Youths Sentenced FraudulentlyThe Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Thursday ordered the slate cleaned for hundreds of youths who had been sentenced by a corrupt judge.The young people had been sent to privately run detention centers from 2003 to 2008 as part of a judicial kickback scheme that shocked Pennsylvania and the nation...
WA: high school killing - intentional or delusional?
Posted on March 27, 2009From the TNT: Foss High shooter?s fate now up to juryA jury Thursday began deliberating the first-degree murder case against Douglas S. Chanthabouly, who?s accused of shooting a fellow student to death at Tacoma?s Foss High School two years ago...
The great recession hits home
Posted on March 27, 2009Earlier this week all our support staff were reduced to 3/4 time, at 3/4 the pay. Today lay-offs were announced, effective May 31st, for four dedicated young lawyers in my office. The rest of us will do one week's leave without pay and apply what were our COLA's to our health insurance premiums...
Best headline of the recession
Posted on March 27, 2009From SF Weekly:Nation's Public Defenders, Including San Francisco's, to Meet, Discuss Who's Getting Screwed Over the Worst
ID: Bull Connor's ghost sighted south of Boise
Posted on March 25, 2009From the AP:Mean dogs stand guard at Idaho prisonNobody has broken out of the Idaho State Correctional Institution in more than 20 years. Prison officials like to think a hard-bitten corps of sentries with names like Cookie, Bongo and Chi Chi has had something to do with that...
ID: "If I hadn?t have got here, I?d have been dead"
Posted on March 25, 2009The Idaho State Journal is continuing its "City on the Hill" series on the Pocatello Women?s Correctional Center, with the most recent installments covering medical and mental health care in prison:Treating InmatesEvery woman in Idaho placed under the care of the Department of Correction is screened at PWCC, even if they are headed for other facilities...
WA: the whole world's a panopticon
Posted on March 24, 2009I for one welcome our watchful WSP overlords; here's an upbeat report from KING-5 on our bright future of total surveillance everywhere, all the time:Graffiti vandals spotted by WSP patrol planeGraffiti taggers usually wear dark clothing and commit their crime in the shadows at night...
Proverbs 12:6
Posted on March 22, 2009With thanks to Life, Love & Laughter, from a March 2009 comment to a March 2006 post on a similar theme.
ID: Judge Burdick, how could you?
Posted on March 20, 2009From Tara Rowe of The Political Game:Still don't think Zeb Bell's voice is an influence outside of his direct broadcast range in the Magic Valley? Zeb's guest this morning, a regular guest Senator Denton Darrington (R-Declo) brought on a guest of his own: Justice Roger S...
The view from the jury box
Posted on March 19, 2009How it looks to Crista in California:They are public defenders and their dress, their hair, their speech all says "not paid enough..."
CA: kind-hearted principal in a black robe
Posted on March 19, 2009From Monterey County Weekly:Tough Love in Juvenile Court - Judge Jonathan Price works to rehabilitate Monterey County?s youthAn ashamed-looking teenager shuffles into Judge Jonathan Price?s courtroom wearing bright orange sandals. The 16-year-old boy settles into a wooden chair next to his cheerless mom, as well as his attorney...
WA: turning away from the flat rate in Pasco
Posted on March 18, 2009From the Tri-City Herald:Franklin County urged to restructure public defender contracts Franklin County should restructure its public defense contracts to reduce its vulnerability to lawsuits, county commissioners were warned Monday. "A county actually can be sued for the indigent defense services they provide, whether they be insufficient, of low quality or whatnot," said Eric Hsu, public defense coordinator for Benton and Franklin counties...
Gideon v. Wainwright, age 46
Posted on March 18, 2009Awfully nice of Dennis at SCOIDBlog to remember Gideon on his big day:Today is the anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright. A sincere SCOIDBlog thank you to all the public defenders and appointed counsel...
CA: p.d. can fight city hall
Posted on March 17, 2009Longtime blog readers know that I think San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi is pretty damn cool. Still, it's always worth considering contrary views, like this one from Ken Garcia at the Examiner:Public defender?s grandstanding masks office issuesPoliticians grandstanding in public will almost certainly attract headlines...
ID: the cost of justice in Lewiston
Posted on March 15, 2009From the AP,via the P-I:Murder trials boost N. Idaho county's expensesTwo murder trials in northern Idaho's Nez Perce County have caused the county to dip into special funds but the county hasn't gone over budget, an officials says...
WA: almost midnight for condemned murderer
Posted on March 12, 2009Here in progressive Washington, it looks like we're proceeding to an execution. From the Seattle Times: WA judge denies bid for execution stay A Thurston County judge denied a stay of execution Wednesday for Cal Coburn Brown, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection early Friday for the 1991 rape and murder of a 22-year-old Seattle-area woman...
Walter Mondale ?s p.d.s
Posted on March 11, 2009For indigent defense, the former Vice-President wants to know, where's the beef? From the Washington Post:A Key Legal Right at RiskIt is crucial that the states rededicate themselves to providing competent defense counsel to all people facing criminal charges who cannot afford to pay...
SCOTUS: no speedy violation in Brillon
Posted on March 10, 2009The Supreme Court has decided Vermont v. Brillon. Pro: Bobby G. Frederick at South Carolina Criminal Defense Blog. Contra: Jon Katz at Underdog Blog.
The scourge of lawyer advertising
Posted on March 09, 2009Because if you've been injured, somebody somewhere owes you money:Unscrupulous? Perhaps.
AS: tweaking, fa'a Samoa
Posted on March 09, 2009Take one of this blog's long-time preoccupations, add one of its odd enthusiasms, and what do you get? Methamphetamine news from American Samoa. From Radio New Zealand:Public Defender warns of growing drug problem in American SamoaThe American Samoa Public Defender, Ruth Risch, has urged the territory to pay attention to the growing drug problem...
MN: "this job is stressful because, if you care, you can't help but be emotional"
Posted on March 01, 2009My fellow Idahoans
Posted on February 25, 2009Please check out my very smart friend Dennis Benjamin's SCOIDBlog, "keeping an eye on the doings of the Supreme Court of Idaho and the lower state courts from a criminal defense point of view with news, commentary, gossip and rumor, satire, poetry and more...
CA: another good pd gone too soon
Posted on February 25, 2009From the Sacramento Bee:Obituary: Public defender fought for life on death row, at homeJay Colangelo, a top California public defender who fought for death row inmates while battling for his own life against a rare type of cancer, died Saturday at age 55...
TX: big heart broken in Wichita Falls
Posted on February 23, 2009A number of tributes to long-time Wichita County public defender John Curry, who died last week aged 47: From the Times Record News - City mourning loss of CurryFrom KFDK (with video) - John Curry Obituary and Memorial Service Planned for Former Public Defender(those who know me personally will know how this big man's death touches me personally)
PA: judge - "I just don?t believe I have to spoon-feed people"
Posted on February 22, 2009From the Scranton Times-Tribune:Nearly half of Luzerne cases lacked representationFor years, Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. denied juvenile defendants their rights, imprisoned them over the recommendations of probation officers and took millions in kickbacks from the co-owner of two juvenile detention centers that earned nearly $30 million with his help...
"You look like you work in a Hassidic meth lab"
Posted on February 22, 2009It's been ages since the blog's had a methamphetamine post; who knew there'd be inspiration (and a potential catch phrase) on the Oscars.Update (illustration via chatters.matters):
Coming soon: one stop shopping
Posted on February 20, 2009Check this out: Sancho at Tales of a Public Defender Investigator is setting up a public defender wiki. Still in beta, but what a cool concept. Thanks, subcommandante.
Our ranks, increased by one
Posted on February 20, 2009Humongous headline over at Not For The Monosyllabic:I'm a real life public defender!!!!!I GOT THE JOB!!We accept you, one of us, one of us!
MN: "it should be about justice and not about the cost"
Posted on February 19, 2009The beleagured underpaid watchdog of justice trope again, this time from MinnPost.com:A stark contrast in courts: Upstairs, the pricey lawyer-filled Coleman-Franken trial; downstairs, an overworked public defenderMichael Kunkel's work was done. For the moment...
Dollars depart, justice unravels
Posted on February 18, 2009From Stateline.org:Court cuts trigger blunt warningsThe budget emergency facing state governments has produced an uncommon alliance of advocates ? from business leaders to public defenders and chief judges ? who, in blunt terms, are urging state lawmakers not to slash funding for the courts...
Happy birthday Wallace Stegner
Posted on February 18, 2009The American writer Wallace Stegner was born one hundred years ago today."There was a time up there in Idaho when everything was wrong... Did you come down out of that into some restful 30° angle and live happily ever after?" - Angle of Repose (1971)(Parenthetically, today's also our 14th wedding anniversary)
PA: juvenile injustice, judicial avarice
Posted on February 13, 2009The juvenile reformers and public defenders have been talking about this, and now it's made the New York Times:Judges Plead Guilty in Payoffs for Jailing Youths(O)n Thursday... (J)udge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa...
WA: inside the local immigration lock-up
Posted on February 13, 2009From the Seattle P-I:Young immigrant among thousands of federal detainees in TacomaVitaliy Budimir recounted his crimes in a hesitant voice that barely revealed his Russian origins. Charges of cocaine possession and delivery bought him a year and a day of incarceration...
UT: 60.4% chance of pissing off the DP jury pool
Posted on February 12, 2009The story's less inflammatory than the headline, but still, an interesting way to start picking a "jury for life," from the Ogden Standard-Examiner:Homicide defense motion excludes LDS jury membersThe defense has filed a motion seeking to keep off Riqo Perea's jury any members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who adhere to the church's past teachings of blood atonement...
WA: cut advocacy for kids now, pay later
Posted on February 10, 2009From the Tacoma News Tribune:Cut TeamChild and you put kids, budgets at riskWhen legislators consider cutting $500,000 a year for TeamChild, they should ask themselves one question: Do they want the kids it now serves to grow up to be inmates or taxpayers?
ID: 8 year old? aspie? arrest her!
Posted on February 08, 2009Brimming with pride to see the home state make the national news on ABC. Here's one Idaho town's take-no-prisoners response to autism spectrum disorders - oh, wait a minute, strike that:Parents Consider Legal Action After Autistic Girl, 8, Arrested at School - Evelyn Towry Was Cuffed, Led Away by Police After Scuffle Over School PartyThe mother of an 8-year-old autistic girl who was arrested after a scuffle with her teachers said it was horrifying to watch her daughter be led away in handcuffs from her northern Idaho elementary school...
SC: "Sleezie Boy" is representing himself
Posted on February 06, 2009From the Charleston Post and Courier:Sensational drama unfolding in courtroomSome tips for defending yourself against a troublesome murder rap: ...Never, ever, begin a sentence "(Let's) say I shot someone five times..."
WA: Seattle 1919 - we shall be all
Posted on February 06, 2009Today makes the ninetieth anniversary of the start of the Seattle General Strike. If you happen to be in Seattle tomorrow (and you don't have a nine-year-old who would rather feed the seagulls at Ivar's), you could celebrate (or commiserate) with the Seattle Labor Chorus and others, from 1PM to 5PM at the Seattle Labor Temple, 2800 1st Ave...
Cute animal pictures: the highest and best use of the blawgosphere
Posted on February 04, 2009As if to validate the point of the previously - linked post, here is an adorable goat in a holding cell (a Toggenburg, I believe):Via West Seattle Blog by way of Slog.
I am an aggregator
Posted on February 04, 2009Nothing to see here, move along.P.S.: AmbImb introduced me to a term I should have known: tumblelog. Takes all kinds to make a blawgosphere.
MN: " 'How can you defend those people?' We are 'those people.' "
Posted on February 03, 2009From In The Fray:A day in the life of a public defender - Advocating for the indigent in rural MinnesotaJudge Richard Posner... once wrote, ?[a] bare-bones system for the defense of indigent criminal defendants may be optimal.? How pleased he would have been watching me practice on that day...
WA: monitoring the Grant County settlement agreement
Posted on February 03, 2009From the Wenatchee World:Grant County warned about public defendersGrant County?s public defenders made significant progress last year, but could suffer serious setbacks due to recent changes, according to an attorney who tracks how well the county serves indigents charged with a crime...
"Reporters feed me and let me nap on their coats"
Posted on February 02, 2009Equal time, from Bob the Cat in Olympia: A cat's eye view of the statehouse ( Bob's blog via Ridenbaugh Press )Bonus link: People Got A Lotta Nerve - Neko Case
MX: "they can come for me at my office at any time"
Posted on February 01, 2009Light a candle for the colleagues in Ciudad Juarez. From the Washington Post:Defense Attorneys In Lawless Juarez Besieged on All Sides - 'This Is Nothing Like Before. I Don't Even Take Narco Cases. Not Anymore.'The Mexican criminal defense attorney Salvador Urbina...
Your MVP: Matilda the beagle
Posted on February 01, 2009A satisfying Puppy Bowl V today: the dog I picked won Most Valuable Player (though I also liked the Catahoula Cur - sounds like what they'd call opposing counsel in Louisiana).
WA: Grant County - style p.d. work will cost you more than your bar license
Posted on January 30, 2009Big news from the Spokesman-Review:$3 million verdict for wrongly accused manA federal jury in Spokane has awarded more than $3 million to Felipe G. Vargas who spent more than seven months in the Grant County jail, falsely accused of child molestation...
Me and that train
Posted on January 29, 2009From the public defender at Preaching to the Choir:I want off this trainBy the time a case gets to me, the train wreck has already happened...This part of the job is like a scene in Housekeeping, watching the train slide off the railroad bridge into the lake...
CA: pay $500,000 to save $50,000?
Posted on January 29, 2009From The Examiner in San Francisco:Public defender to pass casesPublic Defender Jeff Adachi said Wednesday his office no longer has the resources to defend several homicide cases already assigned to his office, and he would no longer accept new homicide and certain felony trials...
CA: well, this is gross
Posted on January 26, 2009From Channel 10, KGTV:Man Attacks His Lawyer In Court With FecesA mistrial was declared Monday when a home-invasion robbery suspect smeared human feces on his attorney's face then threw more at the jury. Weusi McGowan, 37, was upset because San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser refused to remove Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeffrey Martin from the case...
Rah-rah vs. nah-ah
Posted on January 24, 2009How to best describe us criminal defense types?"Turbo" from South Carolina says we're cause lawyers."Cynic" in Arizona says we're broken lawyers.Here's one vote for acknowledging our own brokenness. I'm closer to Arizona, geographically and otherwise.
ID: city on the hill
Posted on January 23, 2009The Idaho State Journal is running a series on the Women?s Correctional Center:City on the HillPocatello has a City on the Hill that is part of our community but is a mystery to most of us. It is the Idaho's women's prison that overlooks the city and is largely a world onto itself...
NC: she was the kind of p.d. I wish I'd known
Posted on January 23, 2009From the Winston-Salem Journal: Amy Byrd fought for the indigent but lost her life to cancer If you knew Amy Byrd, you are either a lawyer, you know one or you have been seated on the wrong end of the defendant's bench in the Forsyth County Hall of Justice...
WA: going in-house in Grant County
Posted on January 22, 2009Great news from the channeled scablands, from the Columbia Basin Herald:Grant County creates public defender's department - Defense attorneys to be employees Grant County is changing public defense into a county department. Grant County commissioners hired Rafael Gonzales to lead the Grant County Department of Public Defense...
Eulogies
Posted on January 20, 2009This post by Drucie, the former public defender in Temecula who blogs at Thanksgiving Feast, put me in mind of my own clients who've died.
WA: has the BBB heard of this?
Posted on January 19, 2009Eastside colleagues (Bellevue and Spokane): Rich Eden of RC Eden Carpet Cleaning will do p.d.'s offices; however...So this weekend I cleaned the Public Defenders office... Even pictures can't do this office justice...So the thing I guess to do is take pictures of the p...
Friday cat blogging
Posted on January 16, 2009Just because it's been a while since they've visited the blog.
John Mortimer, 1923 - 2009
Posted on January 16, 2009From the Guardian:Tributes pour in as writer, wit and barrister John Mortimer dies at 85 ? Rumpole creator praised for dedication to fair trialsThe worlds of law and literature yesterday mourned their joint hero, Sir John Mortimer, creator of the immortal Rumpole of the Bailey, the crumpled champion of the common man...
All hail glorious people's blog of eastside Olympia!
Posted on January 16, 2009I just met the heroic Stakhanovite behind Oly Ost: Rolandovich looks much different in real life.
Skelly Wright and the endowed chair
Posted on January 14, 2009Happy Skelly Wright's Birthday. Judge Wright would have been 98 today. The night school grad probably would be pleased to find a professorship named after himself in the most elite law school in the land.
CA: I'd hang it on my wall
Posted on January 14, 2009From SFGate.com:We'd prefer a calendar from the fire departmentA lot of, um, unusual press releases and publications cross our desks every day, but this is a first: a 2009 calendar featuring lawyers and clients with the public defender's office.I want one, but it's not available on the p...
LA: "fortunately there were plenty of public defenders around"
Posted on January 14, 2009A report from Kevin and Stacy on the state of justice and hospitality in Louisiana:(T)hings went pretty good (those little sandwiches they had were GREAT!) until Kevin asked the Chief Justice if her daughter still had that tattoo on her thigh...
WA: medieval ordeal in Ephrata
Posted on January 14, 2009Professor Turley pays a visit to my favorite old-timey Washington county:Grant County in Washington has settled an exceptionally disturbing case involving false allegations of child abuse, allegedly ineffective representation by a public defender (later disbarred), and the holding of an innocent man for seven months after allegations were disproved...
WA: we live in a political world
Posted on January 13, 2009The lege is back in town. From the Spokesman-Review's Eye on Olympia:(B)y tradition, Washington?s top lawmakers choose theme songs for the upcoming session... Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown read from a Bob Dylan song.?Broken hands on broken plows, broken treaties, broken vows,? she read...
WA: "I don?t see a lot of accountability for case mismanagement"
Posted on January 13, 2009They pull stuff like this all the time, but how often do they get spanked for it? From the Spokesman-Review:?Careless handling? draws ire of judge - Prosecutor?s office fined for late change to chargesThe Spokane County prosecutor?s office was sanctioned Monday and fined $8,000 by a judge angry over mishandling of a critical detail surrounding a home-invasion case that could send several men to prison for the rest of their lives...
ID: Canyon jail due for a cleaning
Posted on January 12, 2009The ACLU is suing Canyon County over jail conditions, from the Idaho Press Tribune:ACLU files suit against Canyon County jailOfficials expected jail lawsuitCounty plans response to lawsuitSee Caldwell Guardian for more.
1 out of 311,549
Posted on January 12, 2009Today I considered myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth... Dear Skelly, Congratulations! You have been nominated as a Best Lawyer in South Sound by LegalForce Media Publications. Click here (http://www.legalforce.com/ and some other letters and numbers) to complete your nomination process...
Don't need to convince me
Posted on January 09, 2009Latest response to the "How can you defend those people?" perennial, from Austin Defender:How Do You Do It?... I don?t know whether my client is guilty. I know what he says, what the police say, and what the evidence shows. I may have an opinion, or a guess, or even a pretty good idea...
FL: orderly transition
Posted on January 09, 2009Odd news out of Sarasota: newly-elected public defender takes office, no employees are summarily axed, no police throw a party for the p.d. or search the p.d. premises. From WWSB:Larry Eger sworn in as Public DefenderFor the first time in more than three decades, someone other than Elliot Metcalfe holds the position of 12th Judicial Circuit Public Defender...
FL: "gimme that meat ax!"
Posted on January 07, 2009Damage assessment from the Pensacola News Journal:Public defender cleans house Layoffs began this morning at the Public Defender?s Office in Pensacola. Thirteen employees, including two attorneys, were laid off by noon... Assistant Public Defender John Nugent was set to pick a jury...
FL: cops and p.d. sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g
Posted on January 07, 2009Lest we forget Matt Shirk, another Floridian just elected p.d., John Wesley Hall at Law of Criminal Defense reminds us:Jax Public Defender has "induction party" thrown by FOPWhen the elected Public Defender getting sworn in has a party thrown for him by the Fraternal Order of Police, something is seriously wrong with the Public Defender's Office...
MO: it is what it is
Posted on January 05, 2009Early entry for headline of the year, from Missourinet:System for people who can't afford to hire lawyers can't afford to hire lawyers
FL: Shirk disease spreads to Lower Alabama
Posted on January 04, 2009More tomfoolery from Florida, land of elected chief public defenders, from the P'cola News Journal:Owens shaking up office - Incoming public defender sniffing out staff threatsPublic Defender-elect James Owens says "credible threats" have been made to his safety, and he will have police dogs search the public defender's Pensacola office when he takes office Tuesday...
OH: ensuring effective assistance trumps hurrying the docket
Posted on January 03, 2009Good news from John Wesley Hall, Jr.'s Law of Criminal Defense:OH11: Brian Jones contempt case reversedWhere the public defender was appointed the day before trial and requested a continuance to prepare, it was an abuse of discretion to deny a continuance and hold defense counsel in contempt for not proceeding to trial where he would have been ineffective per se...
WA: now or later, pay the piper
Posted on January 02, 2009Local criminal defense lawyer Alex lays out the cost of cost-cutting:Law and Order in Thurston CountyIn short: cutting public defense could lead to more expensive litigation for the county...
Elements of style
Posted on December 31, 2008Today I was in detention spending a pleasant hour with a client barely into the teen years, a child really, facing a scary felony accusation. This young person was far enough into the system to use a phrase like being on the outs, yet still innocent enough to use the word "hecka" in place of "hella," because hell's a swear word...
People aren't saints; no, people just are
Posted on December 29, 2008For a few minutes, put aside your criminal defense lawyer's feelings about domestic violence, and read this moving Dagblog post in memory of Melissa Batten. She was a public defender at one time.
A present for my client's mom
Posted on December 26, 2008It's Boxing Day, a good day for returned gifts and charitable acts. I'm in the courthouse parking lot after detention hearings, tapping away on my cellphone. I couldn't get every kid released today. After court, one of my client's mothers sat me down and we talked...
FL: life after Shirk
Posted on December 24, 2008From JaxDailyRecord.com:The next phase for WhiteAfter 34 years in one office, it?s not an easy question to answer. Public Defender Bill White has had the ?What are you going to do next?? question following him around since Matt Shirk was elected as the next Public Defender for the Fourth Judicial Circuit in November...
KS: new p.d., with much to have to overcome
Posted on December 23, 2008Interesting character study from the Wichita Eagle:br /br /a href="http://www.kansas.com/690/story/638833.html"span style="font-weight:bold;"Single mother perseveres to earn law degree/span/a - grit and effort anchor her lifebr /span style="font-style:italic;"br /Latina Alston is not yet 30...
OR: buttswatting and the karmic wheel
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Eyes of a child
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Altitude sickness
Posted on December 16, 2008I just went from the westside a href="http://briannicholson.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-am-leaving-olympia-washington-in.html"Grocery Outlet/a direct to a href="http://www.bayviewthriftway.com/"Bayview Thriftway/a, and I swear it made me dizzy.
WA: "fighting inmates isn't in my contract"
Posted on December 15, 2008Colleague Lord Erskine wonders:What's a normal job like?(H)e noticed me edging away from the guy as... other security staff moved up behind him. Of course I was; I don't need to be added to the long list of defense lawyers who've been punched out by their clients...
WA: pummelage
Posted on December 13, 2008The latest in the cavalcade of violence against criminal defense lawyers; up in Snohomish County, this colleague never saw it coming:See also the Everett Herald, Everett man charged in assault on Lynnwood lawyer - Everett man allegedly punched his former attorney
"The 5 little interns of the county?s PD..."
Posted on December 13, 2008A bit of doggerel from Jaime the P.D. Intern at Red Red Whine:I'm more than a little punchy and can barely keep my eyes open. So, in this totally delirious state, I give you The Public Defender's Tale based upon my time at the PD?s office. Yeah, kind of like the Canterbury Tales, but Chaucer I'm not...
ID: D.I.Y., 83702
Posted on December 13, 2008A time-travelling broadcast sent from my home town in the era of Mutant Pop, courtesy of YouTube and Save vs. Death:Punk in Boise, Idaho (1985)A "trip into Boise's cosmic counterculture" unfortunately entitled "Pretty in Punk"... (T)hese kids must have been brave as hell...
UT: what role did AG play over DP counsel pay?
Posted on December 12, 2008From the Salt Lake Tribune's Vault blog:A Little Sunshine For Death Row?The State Records Committee meets today to settle a tug-of-war over government documents that might reveal whether the Attorney General's Office influenced the pay of public defenders working on death-row appeals...
Calling all commentators
Posted on December 09, 2008Marketplace, that relentlessly perky radio show with a business slant from American Public Media, wants to know "how the current financial crisis is affecting the work of legal professionals." Have your say at http://tinyurl.com/mktplclegal (that is to say, here)...
UT & VT: "for great justice!"
Posted on December 05, 2008Vermont v. Brillon news, from Provo's answer to Pravda:Speedy Trial Law may Bring Greater JusticeAnxious to fulfill its duty to protect the people of Utah, the Attorney General's Office is asking the Supreme Court to fix a speedy trial rule that could allow criminals to avoid prosecution...
"No offense..."
Posted on December 03, 2008By David J. Barend, from Exhibit A Boston:What It?s Like Defending ?The Guilty?: Thoughts From a Criminal Defense Attorney?I just don?t see how you can represent these people. I mean, what if someone killed one of your relatives? How would you feel about that???That depends...
Live from the courtroom
Posted on December 03, 2008A moment ago:Judicial person ( to juvenile's parent): "Your behavior is not appropriate."Juvenile's parent ( to judicial person): "Neither is yours!"And the parent left the courtroom, not even in handcuffs.
A public defender dog story
Posted on December 02, 2008What happens when your pup doesn't know the code to your parents' house alarm, from Preaching to the Choir:3 cops greeted us on our driveway. (I'm such a PD, my first instinct on seeing the cops was to tell them they couldn't come in to the house!) They insisted they wanted to go in first and clear the house, but I insisted all they would find was a 16 pound cocker spaniel...
WA: "it's going to be more expensive in the long run"
Posted on December 02, 2008From the Olympian:County workers fight for jobs - Speakers say cuts will be detrimentalSix speakers told Thurston County commissioners Monday that proposed job cuts to balance next year's budget carry serious ramifications. The commissioners are considering a proposal to lay off more than 7 percent of the county workforce ? nearly 90 full-time-equivalent employees ? because of rising costs and lagging revenue...
A budget-balancing proposal
Posted on December 01, 2008From your friends at Kansas Defenders:If the state doesn't want to pay for indigent defense, it needs to prosecute fewer people (or at least fewer poor people)...
Purissima Olympia
Posted on December 01, 2008We three went downtown today to admire the singing Christmas tree. This is the only holiday concert I've attended where the carols contained the word "Beelzebub" (the kids started the show with a medley of Queen tunes. Seriously.)
WA: new RPC 1.8 (m) - the air up there, state bar version
Posted on November 26, 2008Yodelling Llama and I went to the same CLE, and both were a bit chagrined to learn that most contracts for conflict defender services in this state are now considered unethical:Now, I suspect this result of RPC 1.8(m) is an unintended consequence of poor drafting, and no one should really be too worried about losing his license just by getting paid to provide indigent defense services...
WA: "Re-elect Justice Sanders" campaign begins
Posted on November 25, 2008The story unfolds, from Adam Wilson of the Olympian:Justice Sanders says he didn't heckle A.G. during speechAlthough the rumor that Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders heckled U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey just before he collapsed is making its rounds on the blogosphere, Sanders says that's bunk...
FL: perils of politicians as public defenders
Posted on November 24, 2008Out of Jax, Fla, political follies and fallout at the courthouse, and fun lawyer quotes too, courtesy of Channel 12 and Channel 4: Public Defenders Featured In Oscar-Winning Documentary Fired"I believe Mr. Shirk and his cronies, if they work to their maximum potential and use all of their talents, may achieve mediocrity," McGuiness told First Coast News...
Life in the therapeutic state
Posted on November 21, 2008Heard today in juvenile drug court..."We're here to support you, even if that means we have to lock you up."... as my long conversion from drug court agnostic to drug court atheist continues.Bonus link goes to Drug Court Justice: Experiences in a Juvenile Drug Court, by Kevin Whiteacre, Ph...
WA: manicure, pedicure, judicure
Posted on November 19, 2008I'm still bummed out about work seven different ways, but today the Public Defender Crisis? was good for a bitter little laugh. From Nicole Brodeur in the Seattle Times:Short-order justice is served Among the trims in King County Executive Ron Sims' proposed 2009 budget is a reduction in the number of public defenders ? those who fight in court for those who can'tIf Sims' cuts go through, each half-time lawyer will be responsible for 725 of the expedited felonies...
Volunteers
Posted on November 19, 2008From the AP:Ethics dilemma for lawyers when inmates seek deathJohn Delaney faced the toughest moment of his legal career - his condemned client wanted to drop his appeals and die by injection, an act Delaney opposed and had been trained to try to prevent...
Planning your next CLE?
Posted on November 17, 2008Consider holding it in your state capitol building:It's where I spent Friday, courtesy of the Washington Defender Association and OPD. Funky acoustics, uplifting surroundings.
Hit points
Posted on November 17, 2008Like me, the dark public defender of the Sith has been down. But then he got some good news:I've been promoted to a level 3 attorney. Someone asked me what this means and I explained that a level 3 attorney has +1 damage against a level 2 attorney in direct battle, and has immunity from a level 1 attorney...
"The picture is not pretty, and it's about to get uglier"
Posted on November 17, 2008From Legal Ethics Forum:The Growing Public Defender CrisisSee the comments, too. I propose a new model rule: it shall be presumptively unethical for any member of academia to call any lawyer "public pretender."Via The Faculty Lounge.
Gideon strumpet
Posted on November 17, 2008Scott at Simple Justice sticks up for the Rodney Dangerfields of the bar:The Vast Mystery of Public DefendersThere is no mystery surrounding public defenders. The only mystery is how lawyers outside the practice of criminal law have managed not to notice these problems for decades, and how PDs have made Herculean efforts to fill the void we've left for them...
Nation's in recession and what do we get?
Posted on November 15, 2008Gideon's calling for a different sort of bailout.The Great Fringed One weighs in at Gerry Spence's blog.
Juvy blues
Posted on November 14, 2008Light linking and posting this week. At the moment I'm extraordinarily bummed out about juvenile justice, and not just because Apache County, Arizona is prosecuting an 8-year-old for premeditated murder. This week I'm feeling like a collaborator, not in the pop psychology team-building sense, but in the Vichy French sense...
Why juvy advocacy matters
Posted on November 11, 2008Scop gets it:I'm in the Juvenile Division, where the stakes are pretty high; high in the sense that trial outcomes will often do much to shape the future of the children I represent... A 12 year old swings his soda bottle at some bigger kid who is bullying them and it's a felony charge forever...
Veterans Day
Posted on November 11, 2008Veterans's / Armistice / Remembrance Day regards to all, particularly to the people of Fort Lewis.This year's holiday is memorable for my little family, as it's the first year that my wife has worked on-base there. "They also serve..."
MN: "my student loans are 40 percent of my monthly income"
Posted on November 09, 2008From Minnesota Public Radio:Public defenders moonlight to pay off school debtThe Minnesota Public Defender's office will ask the Legislature for about $20 million for the next biennium. Earlier this year, the office had to lay off attorneys... The office wants to hire back attorneys and try to raise salaries...
Leaving the assembly line
Posted on November 08, 2008From the New York Times:Citing Rising Workload, Public Lawyers Reject Cases?Right now a lot of public defenders are starting to stand up and say, ?No more: We can?t ethically handle this many cases...'?
NV: office space
Posted on November 07, 2008From the LV Sun, by Tom Gorman, photo by Leila Navidi:Long arm of the law wouldn?t fit in his office - Public defender thrives on job that?s part tough loveThe small, windowless office where public defender Ben Saxe works isn?t much bigger than a jail cell...
ID & TX: things looking up for 300+ Idaho prisoners
Posted on November 07, 2008From the Houston Chronicle:Idaho ends contract with GEO-run Texas prisonThe Idaho Department of Correction has terminated its contract with private prison company The GEO Group and will move the roughly 305 Idaho inmates currently housed at a GEO-run facility in Texas to a private prison in Oklahoma...
WA: budgeting for justice east of Wenatchee
Posted on November 04, 2008From the Wenatchee World:Douglas County mulling switch to nonprofit public defenseIn the midst of a statewide overhaul of indigent criminal defense, Douglas County and at least two other counties in Washington are looking at switching to nonprofit public defender offices next year...
WA: Seattle p.d.s protest
Posted on October 31, 2008It's in the P-I:Public defense lawyers protest cuts - County budget plan will hurt poor, they sayAs the King County Council considers deep budget reductions, public defenders are protesting a proposed funding cut that they say would gut legal representation for poor defendants, particularly first-time drug offenders...
More prison doggies
Posted on October 30, 2008From tonight's CBS news:Nine Colorado prisons have enacted a program which allows inmates to train dogs... (T)hese canines have helped in the rehabilitation of the prisoners...
Hvala lepa, kraljica Sara!
Posted on October 29, 2008One thing I'll say for Sarah Palin: she's introduced a whole new generation to Tito the Builder:Good old Tito. Governor Palin on the other hand is reminding me a bit of Ceca:(inspired by Charles Mudede at Slog)(Bonus link goes to Cafe Turco and the stray dogs of Belgrade - like the stray cats of Sarajevo, I miss those mutts...
Bridge to somewhere
Posted on October 29, 2008From the International Bridges to Justice blog:Faces of IBJ: ISLP Volunteer Leslie RosenbergThis September, I took a leave from my job as an assistant state public defender in the Office of the Minnesota State Public Defender to volunteer with IBJ in China...
CA: "he's a very talented attorney"
Posted on October 27, 2008From the Redding Record-Searchlight: Ex-public defender pleads guilty - Charges to be dropped after 2 years if man fulfills conditions A former Shasta County public defender who was fired earlier this month pleaded guilty Friday to public drunkenness and obstructing a police officer in connection with a well-publicized disturbance at a Redding nightclub in April...
New blog: Incorrigible Dicta
Posted on October 27, 2008Via Mostly Plants, welcome Incorrigible Dicta, with "Platitudes and Diatribes from the Best Defense Money Can?t Buy."It's a new blog to me at least. With three posts in its first month, it's calling out for more members of the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services? Public Defender Division to become contributors...
"We few, we happy few"
Posted on October 24, 2008A cool mental image of the job we do, from this tribute to Ross Alderman and the Public Defender?s Office, in the Nashville City Paper:(W)e do give out one real award that we call the Order of St. Crispin. This award is presented to someone who, like the English at Agincourt, has fought difficult and battles but is too often overlooked for the work they have done...
This is what we call The Muppet Show
Posted on October 22, 2008From Song of the Soul:For those of you who wonder how a muppety, giggly girl like myself can be an attorney, check out this video... Things to note: - me shushing my client like a school teacher - my muppet-like facial expressions - my bond argument being cut off...
Best friends
Posted on October 22, 2008After that last post about an inanimate object, these two wanted me to remember who my real friends are:(from a Sunday drive to the new Centralia dog park)
Say hello to my little friend!
Posted on October 22, 2008I'm not what you'd call an early adapter - I only got my first cellphone in 2005. But as for my second cellphone, now that's something I've coveted (or conveted). Here it is:T-Mobile G1 Google Android web-surfing MP3 anti-boredom-waiting-around-the-courthouse device, welcome.
Cipher in the snow
Posted on October 22, 2008Sarah Palin and I graduated from the University of Idaho on the same day in 1987. According to this nifty article from the LA Times... Sarah Palin's college years left no lasting impression - In the five years of her collegiate career, spanning four universities in three states, Palin left behind few traces...
Don't know where he gets it from
Posted on October 22, 2008First attempt at posting from a mobile phone using Google Android:I've come out of court, and I'm listening to a mom berate her son for not doing anger management classes. "F*ck you, you're a bad son," she explains. As he's walking away, she adds, "Assh*le...
Welcome Olyblog readers!
Posted on October 20, 2008Hi, neighbors! I've never felt so conveted!If you're curious, I like this judicial candidate (he's the one on the right): I've watched Sam at work and in court since I moved to Thurston County. I know that he will be a thoughtful and respectful judge.
ID: say amen, somebody
Posted on October 19, 2008From the Bonner County Daily Bee:Public defender an outspoken advocate for 'sacred rights'Izzy Robertson... has served as the county's public defender for about a year, continuing in a field of law that she has practiced since 1997. "This is my calling ? and I say that in a very spiritual manner," she said...
WA: ?drug court saved my life?
Posted on October 17, 2008From the New York Times:Courts Give Addicts a Chance to Straighten OutIt was not your usual courtroom scene. For one thing, the judge choked up as he described one woman?s struggle with opiate addiction after her arrest for forging prescriptions...Now she was graduating ? along with 23 other addicts who entered drug court instead of prison...
New haircut boy
Posted on October 13, 2008Today in a Puget Sound courtroom - Prosecutor: "Nice haircut"Me: "Yeah, I'm going back to Idaho"Prosecutor: "Then you should've got a mullet"
CA: an old joke
Posted on October 12, 2008From the Bakersfield Californian:Felony trials down, hung juries up?When a DA gets a dog, he can take it to the pound,? the saying goes. ?When a public defender gets a dog, he can only smile and say, ?Nice doggie, nice doggie.??
UT: "it seems like every murder we have is capital"
Posted on October 12, 2008From the Desperate News:Death on the line - Utah County is feeling the pinch as capital murder cases demand increasing amounts of money and time(P)rosecutors have charged three Utah County men... with aggravated murder. Each could face the death penalty...
"Take a look at the lawman beating up the wrong guy"
Posted on October 10, 2008Just finished watching the US debut of "Life on Mars", and pleasantly, it didn't suck. And I remembered most of the soundtrack from the first time around. 1973 - what a time to be impressionable. Check it out, Thursdays at 9 on ABC.
Every day, every day, every day, every day they throw the book
Posted on October 09, 2008Sith Esquire explains: Why I'm here everydayI've told people more times then not when they ask the dumbest question in the world "how do you defend people you know are guilty?" that it takes a particular kind of person to do this job, and I always thought that was b...
CA: cut therapeutic courts now, pay later
Posted on October 08, 2008From the Sacramento Bee:Mental Health Court makes strides, but funds drying upSacramento County's Mental Health Court is diverting mentally ill, habitual, nonviolent offenders away from a cycle that spins them through jail and back on the street... Mental health court is saving millions in criminal justice costs, as it has in Santa Clara County, supporters say...
CA: the man in the white hat
Posted on October 06, 2008From the Bakersfield Californian: Retirement not an adjournment for ?top gun? attorney His boss calls him the ?Top Gun? attorney at the Kern County Public Defender?s office... Veteran trial attorney Michael Lukehart gave his last closing argument as a Kern County deputy public defender Monday...
WA: clean your lint filter!
Posted on October 06, 2008Why I met with my clients outside today, from the Olympian:Fire closes family, juvenile courts for dayThurston County family and juvenile courts are closed after a dryer fire filled the building with smoke this morning...
ID: nothing pretextual to see here, move along
Posted on October 05, 2008From the Times-News:Man arrested for littering in Twin FallsTwin Falls police arrested a homeless man for littering after he allegedly shucked the plastic wrapper from a pack of cigarettes to the ground...And they all moved away from him there on the Group W bench...
WA: President Josiah Bartlet vs. physician - assisted suicide
Posted on October 05, 2008Here in the other Washington, the Coalition Against Assisted Suicide has released this ad with Martin Sheen opposing I-1000 (pdf file), you know, "death with dignity."
FL: Scop goes to juvy
Posted on October 03, 2008Scoplaw may feel like he's being sent down to the minors, but really, I think it's going to be a good move:(T)his really should be an egoless job, or, more properly, your ego should be made to serve good ends. You fight for your clients on so many different levels, trying to redeem something for them; even if the legal case is hopeless, the people who are accused never are...
ID: whoredom in Moscow
Posted on October 02, 2008My l-school alma mater has named a leadership award after Sarah Palin.
CA: police encounter etiquette for kids
Posted on October 01, 2008From the San Jose Mercury News:New guide offers advice to teens on criminal behavior, copsHoping it will find a place along with "Animal Farm" and "Julius Caesar" in high school kids' backpacks, the San Jose Independent Police Auditor is coming out with an updated edition of the "Students' Guide to Police Practices...
MO: p.d. system "on verge of collapse"
Posted on September 30, 2008It's the swaths that'll kill ya, from the Springfield News-Leader:Public defenders to reject some cases - Overwhelmed attorneys will turn away swath of clientsOn Wednesday, public defenders in Springfield and elsewhere in the state will begin to refuse cases...
ID: defenses down in the hinterlands
Posted on September 29, 2008Idaho news from the Olympian: Rural lawyer shortage crimps NC Idaho countiesRural north central Idaho communities facing a shortage of lawyers to work as public defenders... have been forced to hire legal counsel from as far as 100 miles away...Idaho County Commissioner Randy Doman...
Guantánamo prosecutor quits over Brady violations
Posted on September 26, 2008From the Washington Post:Guantanamo Prosecutor Quits, Says Evidence Was WithheldA military prosecutor involved in war crimes cases here has quit his position, citing ethical concerns about his office's failure to turn over exculpatory material to attorneys for an Afghan detainee...
NY: 5 boroughs, one p.d. blog
Posted on September 25, 2008An addition to the blogroll, from some real "Raising the Bar" p.d.'s:Five Borough Defense - New York City Public DefendersHow can you tell they're real NYC p.d's? Exhibit A (which does not include my wimpy Idaho-person asterisks):Another client coming to court every few weeks for a year because some *ssh*le called the cops...
ID: "the adult correctional system has nothing to offer for children..."
Posted on September 24, 2008From the Idaho Press-Tribune: Arraignment for youth suspect postponedA 3rd District Court judge delay(ed) the arraignment of 14-year-old Trevor Reizenstein as an adult...The teen is accused of holding a 5-year-old girl against her will, molesting and attempting to murder her in January 2007...
WA & ID: writing about jury duty
Posted on September 22, 2008Seattle writer Kelley Eskridge blogs about voir dire (part one) (part two), then gets fan mail from a criminal defense lawyer. Good stuff.See also Idaho blogger Rob's jury duty perspective.
ID & TX: "Idaho should step up to the plate and bring their prisoners home"
Posted on September 22, 2008Probing article on the Idaho archipelago, from Andrea Jackson of the Twin Falls Times-News - Families feel loss as out-of-state prison population grows- and the same article picked up by the Houston Chronicle:Idaho's out-of-state prison population growsPam Drashner visited her husband every weekend in prison, until she was turned away one day because he wasn't there...
NV: MD or PD, "you help people that need help"
Posted on September 21, 2008From the Nevada Appeal:From medicine to law, new State Public Defender is just trying to helpFor 17 years, Diane Crow has worked for the State Public Defender's Office in Carson City handling everything from trespassing to capital murder cases. On Thursday, Gov...
"'Peace Corps 1962: turned village over to Communists' ... Who's gonna hire me?"
Posted on September 21, 2008The Cougars actually won this weekend. To mark the occasion, here's John Candy singing the Wazzu fight song, from "Volunteers."I was living on the Palouse at the time the movie came out, and a few of my law school classmates labeled me, "Tom Tuttle from Tacoma...
ID: spill soda, go to the big house!
Posted on September 20, 2008Huzzah, my home town made Harper's:Unexpected Consequences from a Mug of SodaThe latest episode showing the Justice Department?s more than curious notions of justice can be found this week in the pages of the Idaho Statesman. Natalie Walters is now facing prosecution that could put her in prison for six months...
Bearing witness
Posted on September 19, 2008Something remarkable and sad from The Urban Monk:Why I Watch People DieI cannot escape the fact that not far away a man is being taken into a room, strapped down and killed. And he may deserve it or he may not, but he is there not for the lives he took, but because he was the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time...
"Magical animals walk among us"
Posted on September 19, 2008From Dominic Holden at Slog: Tracking Down Those Unicorns Last week White House appointee John Walters claimed on C-SPAN that finding people in jail for ?first-time nonviolent possession of marijuana... is like finding a unicorn... because it doesn?t exist...
"Circumstances have conspired," but in a good way
Posted on September 18, 2008Ms. Injustice Anywhere, I'm glad that you're back to blogging. (and thanks for the birthday greeting, too)
ID: tear down the lighthouse
Posted on September 18, 2008From the Boise Weekly:Ambivalent death - Capital punishment's most heinous casesWhat does it take to become the poster child for the death penalty?
Cannabis counsel pro and con
Posted on September 16, 2008The gentle herb giveth: (I)t's ok if you can?t afford private counsel. The often abused Public Defenders are among the very best lawyers anywhere. Their standards are high; their training is excellent. The sometimes higher paid members of the ?private bar? often call on them for advice...
WA: "sweatshop defense" and bad breaks in ole Vantucky
Posted on September 16, 2008A long disjointed post from Washblog on three strikes, two-bit justice and one messed-up life:A 3-Strikes Story: Abusive Foster Care, Deadly Streets, Broken Public Defense. WE CAN DO BETTER! If nothing else disproves the 3-Strikes assumption that people convicted of three crimes are irredeemable, it is this response, seen in Schawn (Cruze)'s case - and also with other Washington's 3-Strikers - of rising above hopelessness, accepting responsibility, and striving to realize his own potential under devastating circumstances...
RIP David Foster Wallace
Posted on September 14, 2008There will be droughts and days inundatedunveilings free from saturationdepartures raised with no masquerading.There will be teachers that die by their own handpundits that push headlong for atonementfriends and followers devoted to living.There will be watchers that plot from in confinesand those committed to society's circlesunwary cogs with no cadence or virtue...
ID: snitch deal? - make sure your client can get it done
Posted on September 14, 2008Boise criminal defense lawyer Chuck Peterson has bad news for the would-be snitch: Dancing With The Devil - Appeals Court Says No Dance, No Deal In an interesting Idaho Court of Appeals decision, the writing is on the wall for anyone cutting a cooperation deal that requires the Defendant to assist a drug task force by ?identifying, apprehending, and convicting those people involved in the use, distribution, and manufacture of controlled substances...
OK: liquored-up lawyer loquacious in lock-up
Posted on September 13, 2008From The Oklahoman / NewsOK: Attorneys accused in eatery hubbub Accused by police of being drunk, driving the wrong way in a fast-food drive-through lane, impersonating law enforcement and spitting on a police officer, an attorney was arrested Friday in Warr Acres...
GA: "the inequity drives me"
Posted on September 12, 2008From the Dalton Daily Citizen:Public defenders passionate about workPublic defender Betsey Flack said she doesn?t mind the workload and what some in the legal profession may consider the position?s low pay. To Flack, protecting people?s legal rights is critical...
Homeless court
Posted on September 11, 2008From In These Times: Homeless Court Advantage (D)owntown San Diego... is where the country?s first homeless court began. No witness stand. No bench for the judge. Just a bare ground with some folding chairs. Started by San Diego County public defender Steve Binder in 1989, the court offers the homeless population access to the legal system...
Posting this week will be sporadic
Posted on September 09, 2008For my birthday, my family got me Spore.
"What are my options under juvenile law?"
Posted on September 09, 2008I feel bad for the kid, but still, it's been too long since I've linked to a public pretender post:Right now my stepson is on home detention and awaiting arraignment on the 18th at which time we will have to settle for a public defender as we cannot afford a lawyer...
Weekend worriors
Posted on September 08, 2008Public defender Amb Imb wishes he didn't have to go into the office on weekends, while public defender Ken lays out one danger associated with the practice: going to the restroom and locking yourself out of your office, which happens to contain your wallet, car keys, cell phone, brief case, and badge (parental advisory: Ken says f*ck more than once)...
ID: "start winning your case at the preliminary hearing"
Posted on September 06, 2008Back in the home state, they're hanging on to one of those "quaint" checks in the system of checks and balances (one that Idaho has and Washington State doesn't, by the way), from Idaho Criminal Defense Blog:Preliminary Hearings Safe In IdahoI just returned from a meeting of the Idaho Criminal Rules Committee during which we considered a question posed by a Magistrate Judge: Why do we waste valuable court time with preliminary hearings? Couldn't we just eliminate them and reduce the court's work? Sure - and maybe we should just get rid of those nagging, time consuming jury trials!
ID: tears of a clown
Posted on September 05, 2008From the Spokesman-Review:Mistrial declared after tearful opening argumentA prosecutor?s emotional and tearful opening argument in a domestic violence case prompted a Kootenai County judge to declare a mistrial Wednesday. First District Judge Fred Gibler initially assumed Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank?s voice was cracking because the prosecutor was ?possibly forgetting some witnesses? names...
Support criminal defense in Cambodia
Posted on September 05, 2008This looks like a good cause, from GlobalGiving.com:End indefinite detention for 80 regular CambodiansIf you were suspected of a crime, would you be treated fairly? In Cambodia... the likely answer is no. This project gives 80 long-term detainees a trained defense lawyer and their day in court...
"Juuuust right"
Posted on September 04, 2008You might enjoy fellow juvy defender Erskine's take on the story of Goldilocks and the three sets of handcuffs.
ID: "suprise, suprise"
Posted on September 03, 2008Spell-check's broken on the KMVT website:A suprise in court todayA man who faces 1st degree murder charges in the death of an 18-year old Twin Falls resident was back in court... John McElhiney's court appearance was short and took a surprising turn....
Juicebox for the Holy Ghost
Posted on September 03, 2008So I've scavenged my wife's Sirius radio from our trade-in, and popped it in the pick-up, and tonight I'm driving around with the boy listening to the Kids Stuff channel, when this whimsical bit o' Seattle sound comes on: here's Mark Lanegan with "Sneakers...
Crazy 'bout a Mercury
Posted on August 31, 2008This week the beloved VW wagon broke down for the last time. Today we traded it in (with a few tears from the boy) for this fine machine:It's a 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid. Union - made in the USA for the lunch-buckets, reduced fuel consumption and tailpipe emissions for the tree-huggers, it's the perfect ride for a couple of forty-something northwest Democrats.
Mercury Blues - David Lindley
Posted on August 31, 2008If I had money tell you what I'd doI'd go downtown and buy a Mercury or twoI'm crazy 'bout a Mercury, I'm crazy 'bout a MercuryI'm gonna buy me a Mercury and cruise it up and down the road
On having been poor
Posted on August 28, 2008Insight and empathy drawn from personal experience and pain, from Woman of the Law:PurgingIt's taken me almost five years, but I am finally parting with my fat clothes... I still have the anxiety, that if I throw them out I have no safety blanket, I'll have nothing to wear, no way to get new clothing, and I'm just throwing money away...
Feige rising
Posted on August 27, 2008From the ABA Journal:The Defense RestsDavid Feige has come a long way from his days as a New York City public defender. But the Hollywood wunderkind seems to have a hard time leaving it all behind. All you need to do is ask, and he?ll tell you that the criminal defense system is broken and members of his former profession are never portrayed accurately...
LBJ 100
Posted on August 27, 2008Happy 100th birthday, Lyndon Baines Johnson.(I'm probably the only lawyer in my office whose house has a framed portrait of the man, right next to the one of JFK, both inherited from my Great Society Democrat father-in-law. RIP, LBJ.)
ID: jury to Duncan - time to die
Posted on August 27, 2008Last time I'll post about this, from Reuters:Idaho jury sentences serial child killer to deathA federal jury in Idaho sentenced Joseph Duncan on Wednesday to death for shooting to death a 9-year-old boy in front of his younger sister after kidnapping and sexually abusing the boy...
We accept Blondie, one of us!
Posted on August 26, 2008Great news from Blonde Justice:Two weeks from now, I will once again have my dream job. Public defender.Welcome back, Blonde One.
NY: "tattooed bikers, a dog's best friends"
Posted on August 26, 2008Uplifting tales of tattooed Americans helping animals in need, from the New York Times:Heaven?s AngelsClad in leather, inked to the hilt in skulls and dragons, with images of bloodied barbed wire looped about their necks, they shared something else ? a peculiar tenderness for animals, and the intensity needed to act on the animals? behalf when people abuse them...
53 minutes left for Friday cat blogging
Posted on August 23, 2008Someone noticed that these two hadn't made an appearance in the blog lately. Here they are.
Speaking of t-shirts...
Posted on August 23, 2008Good news from Legal Profession Blog:Informal Attire Not UnethicalThe alleged misconduct? First, the lawyer visited a police station to interview two officers wearing a t-shirt with "Let the f***ing begin" across the front. His intent was to "communicate to the police officers his general feeling that his client was at a disadvantage in the judicial system by virtue of the police misconduct...
Through the looking-glass
Posted on August 23, 2008Took my 9-year-old to Sand in the City today, but not before taking a wrong turn through Hempfest first.When it comes to 9-year-olds (and others), Rick Steves has a point: "It shouldn?t be traumatizing for a person who is inclined to agree with the decriminalization movement to walk through Hempfest...
WA: sueño rebelde
Posted on August 21, 2008Today an accused teenager stood before the court commissioner, wearing a t-shirt similar to this one:Some days I get such a rise out of living here in Lotus Land.Bonus link: commodify your dissent at The Che Store!
WA: Detroit's gift to Yakima
Posted on August 19, 2008There's a new prosecutor blog, from a transplant to Central Washington, and aren't we all the richer for it? Some gems: There is one public defender in particular who is learning that the Motor City Madman is not a push over and that I am not as green as some of my other homies...
Public defenders don't do lunch
Posted on August 19, 2008From the Wisconsin State Journal:Madison native holds court on TNTYou might call Madison native David Feige an accidental tourist in show business. Feige, 42, whose new TV series, "Raising the Bar," premieres Sept. 1 on TNT, had been working as a public defender in New York City for several years before he ...
W signed it!
Posted on August 16, 2008From Law.com:Loan-Forgiveness Program Becomes Law - Legal aid attorneys, state and local prosecutors and public defenders benefitPresident Bush on Friday signed into law legislation expanding a student loan forgiveness program for students who become legal aid lawyers, state or local prosecutors and public defenders...
ID: re-entry
Posted on August 16, 2008A good series of articles about the challenges of being on the outs, by Melissa Davlin of the Twin Falls Times-News: A new deal: Part one - Preparing for parole: Is this chance different for convicted meth dealer?At 48, Daniel David Arnold didn't have a lot to his name...
Listen up, lawmakers
Posted on August 15, 2008It's in the New York Times... The Case for Juvenile CourtsTransferring juvenile offenders many of whom are accused of nonviolent crimes into the adult system is not making anyone safer....so it must be true.
"I believe detention's in the future"
Posted on August 14, 2008As a juvenile criminal defense lawyer, I can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy about Lil Derrick's 4th birthday party: Poor Derrick. See you in a few years, mijo.Found at Cake Wrecks.
Don't fear the p .d. investigator
Posted on August 14, 2008Sancho the public defender investigator fields this e-mail question from a juror:I was recently a juror on a trial in *** County. The case is over, and we found the defendant guilty - it was a horrible, violent case. Ever since the verdict, my fellow jurors and I have been contacted by the investigator who works for the defendant...
AK: Matthew 25 too costly these days
Posted on August 13, 2008Hey, one of my old roommates made the news - the Anchorage Daily News:Kodiak faith-based shelter shuts down - LIVING ROOM: Falloff in donations dooms refuge for the needyA Kodiak shelter that has served those in hard times for nearly a decade is closing...
MT: right to counsel, nickel and dimed
Posted on August 12, 2008From the Missoulian:Sheriff, public defenders at odds over free callsAfter allowing toll-free telephone calls between Missoula County jail inmates and their public defenders for more than two years, Sheriff Mike McMeekin says lost revenue has forced the arrangement to cease...
"It's lawyers, but, you know... they really care"
Posted on August 11, 2008Courtesy of "Mad Men," a show I didn't know about, possibly because when it went off the air, I was 4: "The Defenders":The Defenders was American television's seminal legal drama, and perhaps the most socially-conscious series the medium has ever seen...
TN: ?had you wanted God to send you a boss, He would have sent you Ross?
Posted on August 10, 2008From Tennessean.com: Metro's public defender dead after accident The Davidson County public defender who created a ?progressive? legal representation system, mentored scores of attorneys and was a dedicated family man died Saturday. Ross Alderman, 56, was hit by a car in Williamson County while riding a motorcycle, an activity he enjoyed for years...
ID: hellbent defendant, carwreck ahead
Posted on August 08, 2008At this point, I just want to turn away for a while from the unfolding Joseph Duncan death penalty pro se debacle. If you're interested, Betsy Z. Russell of the Spokesman-Review's Eye on Boise blog has your best running coverage.
ID: "pushing for justice for 12 years"
Posted on August 07, 2008From the Idaho Statesman:Convicted killer, mom of victim seek justice - Chris Tapp says he didn't rape and kill Angie Dodge in 1996; Carol Dodge just wants to know who else was involvedPushing for answers in the 1996 rape and murder of 18-year-old Angie Raye Dodge are two people serving life sentences: the man who confessed to involvement in the crime and the victim's mother...
ID: in for a half-penny, in for a pound
Posted on August 07, 2008From KBCI:Lawyers, judge clash in Duncan's murder sentencingJury selection hardly resumed in Joseph Duncan's murder sentencing when his former defense team asked to be released. It ignited a fiery exchange that ended the day at 11:00 a.m.Federal defender Judy Clarke said, ?We're not gunslingers or mouthpieces, we're counselors...
WA: "sometimes 130 to 240 cases in a 2 hour period"
Posted on August 07, 2008From KIMA:Public Defenders Office Deals With BacklogDan Fessler runs the Yakima County Department of Assigned Counsel. They're better known as the Public Defenders. Attorneys there handle all defendants who can't afford a lawyer; both adults and juveniles...
ID: a spate of Duncan orders today before penalty phase
Posted on August 06, 2008From the Spokesman's Eye on Boise:* Judge orders closed courtroom, media to appealA federal judge has ordered that the courtroom be closed when the sole surviving victim of killer Joseph Duncan testifies ? even though the child apparently will be testifying from another room by closed-circuit television...
ID: "standby counsel" means standby counsel, except when it doesn't
Posted on August 05, 2008From the Spokesman-Review's Eye on Boise:Judge: Standby counsel must do voir direU.S. District Judge Edward Lodge has ruled that Joseph Duncan?s standby counsel must conduct voir dire... for him if he requests them to do so. Duncan?s attorneys, who are now standby counsel because he?s elected to act as his own attorney, had objected that by taking on that role, they?d violate his right to self-representation...
ID: you don't need a weatherman
Posted on August 03, 2008From the Spokesman-Review:Duncan's new role seen as liabilityWhen Joseph Duncan takes over as his own attorney in his upcoming death penalty sentencing hearings, it'll change the nature of the proceedings, experts say ? and make the confessed multiple murderer much more likely to get the death penalty...
ID: Alisha Murphy murder verdict questioned
Posted on August 01, 2008From the Twin Falls Times-News:Murphy's attempt to overturn murder conviction moves on - Scientist says consulting several experts could have changed outcome of trialAlisha Ann Murphy always said she didn't kill her husband... and has tried to overturn her own conviction for years...
"Buzz 3 times when you?ve reached a verdict"
Posted on August 01, 2008From Irrationalblog:What I learned on a jury# Public defenders are scary, cold-hearted women.# The district attorney looks like this kid Ed that I know...
WA: the wrong sort of love from the bench
Posted on August 01, 2008From Eye on Olympia:When a "Law and Order" script collides with "The Office"...The state Commission on Judicial Conduct today decided to censure -- or officially call on the carpet for a in-person reprimand -- former Federal Way Municipal Court Judge Collen Hartl...
"Don't know what kind of jury these lawyers wanted, but it wouldn't be a cinematic one"
Posted on July 31, 2008In "this real-life adaptation of Twelve Angry Men," Muffin MacGuffin lists a factor that might keep a person from getting cast as one of the jurors: both my parents are public defenders...
CA: feist
Posted on July 30, 2008From the Vacaville Reporter:Feisty public defender leavingSince he came to Solano County more than two years ago, Chief Deputy Public Defender Michael Ogul has infuriated prosecutors, nettled judges and been a passionate advocate for his clients. On Friday, the 52-year-old defense attorney sat in his Fairfield office amid stacks of bulging boxes in preparation for another move, this time to the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office in San Jose...
ID: Duncan pro se, Judy Clarke standby counsel in DP penalty phase
Posted on July 29, 2008From the Idaho Statesman:Judge: Joseph Duncan to represent himself - His defense team will take over if Duncan cannot adequately defend himself at his death penalty hearing, Lodge saysA man who kidnapped two Idaho children and murdered one of them in 2005 is allowed to represent himself at his death penalty hearing, a federal judge decided Monday...
MT: "a uniformity of quality from Ekalaka to Eureka"
Posted on July 27, 2008From the Great Falls Tribune:State's public defender overhaul earns KudosTwo years after Montana overhauled its system for defending the poor in court ? partly in response to an ACLU lawsuit ? state officials and ACLU leaders say they've seen a major improvement...
WA: justice 64 years delayed
Posted on July 27, 2008Overdue exoneration, and a vignette of a younger Leon Jaworski as an unethical prosecutor, from KING 5 News:Army apologizes to WWII Fort Lawton soldiersSixty-four years after black soldiers were wrongly court-martialed at Seattle's Fort Lawton, the U...
"A very pleasant picture of a man who committed a very serious crime"
Posted on July 27, 2008From Bryon Houlgrave's photojournalism blog:Jailhouse portraitsDo you remember your best school picture pose? Today I shot the pretrial hearing of a man charged with sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl...Click the link, then scroll down for the photo.
WA: "there's your epitaph"
Posted on July 25, 2008From the Olympian: ?Cowboy? Mike gets 48 years for rape, murder Calling him a "truly dangerous" man, a Thurston County judge sentenced "Cowboy" Mike Braae on Thursday to nearly 48 years in prison for the 2001 rape and murder of a Lacey woman. Superior Court Judge Richard Strophy...
ID: Indiana v. Edwards, meet Joseph Duncan
Posted on July 24, 2008From the Spokesman-Review:Decision could affect Duncan caseA June U.S. Supreme Court decision limiting the right of mentally ill defendants to represent themselves in court could affect the case of Joseph Duncan... Though he has prominent capital defense lawyers assigned to represent him, Duncan told U...
UT: "I hope it works out for you, Mr. Ragsdale"
Posted on July 24, 2008In honor of Pioneer Day, here's some Utah p.d. news from the Salt Lake Tribune:Ragsdale case gets more time - Defense team given two months to prepare while prosecution ponders option of death penaltyProsecutors were given two more months to decide whether they will pursue the death penalty against David Ragsdale, who is accused of shooting his wife to death outside her Lehi church building in January...
SD: "Letting"?
Posted on July 24, 2008From South Dakota Watch and Epp Law Report:Letting Lawyers See Inmates: Another State v. Minnehaha Co. Issue?I?m sitting in the waiting area of the Jameson Annex at the SD State Prison, cooling my heels, waiting to see a client. Another attorney is also there, talking to people in white shirts ? officers ? at the prison...
Toyota pious
Posted on July 23, 2008On display today in the Family and Juvenile Court parking lot: a bumper sticker proclaiming "I DON'T SHOP AT WALMART" on the back of a shiny Prius (it's a popular accessory for this town's Volvo's and BMW's too).That's bound to enlighten the families of my clients, who own the primer-gray beaters in the rest of the parking lot, and who don't know how they're going to pay the bill for detention and groceries and gas this month.
Archaeologists of human souls
Posted on July 22, 2008From the Lehigh Valley Morning Call:New specialists delve deep to keep convicts off death row - Mitigating circumstances: Experts in showing why killers should live are now crucial in capital casesMitigation experts, who can be social workers, educators, psychologists or anthropologists, are becoming crucial as state appellate courts and the U...
Ex-YU: he's finished
Posted on July 22, 2008Even a public defender can celebrate the arrest of a war criminal; I'm foregoing the usual "alleged," having visited the scene of some of his crimes. See you in The Hague, pendejo. Finding Karad?i? and East Ethnia are good English-language blog sources for Karad?i?-iana.
Dogs at work
Posted on July 21, 2008Okay, so in all the excitement of the McChord air show, I went and took dog pictures, of this fine schutzhund in particular. This military working dog reminded me of some fine working pups I once met who are a little closer to my workplace.They're the true Courthouse Dogs, and now they have their own Northwest - based website, dedicated to "support(ing) the use of well - trained assistance dogs that provide emotional support to all involved in the criminal justice system...
The fabulous thunderbirds
Posted on July 21, 2008Joe and I went to the local airbase today to take in the USAF Thunderbirds and a few other planes.
Law student angst
Posted on July 19, 2008From Ask Metafilter:How can I use my law degree and still like my life?I came to law school because I wanted to be a public interest lawyer - I like helping people. I have one year left before I graduate... I have spent the last two years learning about indigent defense and working at the public defender's office...
ID: LWOP x 2 for Mark Lankford
Posted on July 19, 2008From the AP wire:Lankford gets life for murder convictionsA man who killed two people in northern Idaho in 1983 has been sentenced to life in prison. Second District Judge John H. Bradbury sentenced Mark Lankford on Thursday to two consecutive life sentences without possibility of parole...
WA: Cheech & Chong now constitutionally protected in Washington State
Posted on July 18, 2008From the Olympian:Court: Can't arrest all in car based on drug smellThe scent of marijuana wafting from a car isn't enough reason for police to arrest everyone inside, but officers can still follow their noses to search a vehicle, Washington's Supreme Court ruled Thursday...
Corner constitutionalists
Posted on July 18, 2008From the Washington Monthly:Too Weird for The Wire - How black Baltimore drug dealers are using white supremacist legal theories to confound the Feds(N)early twenty defendants... had begun adopting what lawyers in the federal courthouse came to call ?the flesh-and-blood defense...
ID: ?operating in the blind?
Posted on July 18, 2008From the Idaho Statesman:Joseph Duncan's attorneys say he is not mentally competent to stand trialU.S. District Judge Edward Lodge said Thursday he will have to schedule a hearing to determine whether confessed killer Joseph Duncan is mentally competent enough to continue with his oft-delayed death penalty sentencing hearing...
Lakefair... you know, for kids!
Posted on July 17, 2008The boy and I just got back from Lakefair, Capitol Lake's yearly salute to algae and milfoil. The first day of each Lakefair is dedicated to the children of Thurston County, and to the men and women of the county juvenile probation department. For the P...
ID: fight the DP, kayak, hike, and ski
Posted on July 16, 2008PD veterans and capital punishment combatants! Looking to keep fighting the good fight, but in a more outdoorsy setting? The Idaho State Appellate Public Defender is hiring:The successful applicant will be representing indigent defendants in state capital post-conviction and appellate proceedings...
ND: grand opening
Posted on July 14, 2008From the Bismarck Tribune:Public defender office opens in BismarckFor now, the lobby of North Dakota's newest public defender office is empty - chairs unoccupied, end tables not yet cluttered by magazines. But that likely will change this week when the office's attorneys start getting assignments to represent indigent defendants in 12 counties...
ID: new crim def blog from home
Posted on July 14, 2008Introducing a new LexBlogger, Idaho Criminal Defense Blog, written by Boise lawyer Chuck Peterson. Most recent post:(W)hat kind of fool would leave a sitting judge on a jury. As it turned out - the kind of fool who trusts the man, and does not fear the robe...
Oh thank heaven
Posted on July 11, 2008This is one of my favorite dates on the liturgical calendar:7-11, Free Slurpee Day. Still a few hours left to get yourself to the nearest 7-11 and partake.
"Maybe we're all masochists"
Posted on July 10, 2008Many of us have felt like this, from Eat, Drink & Be Married:Right now, I'm dealing with an extremely difficult client... But the issue isn't just this one client. It's much more about what this client represents. There's a culture of abuse that most public defenders come to accept...
And you wouldn't want to live there
Posted on July 09, 2008More photographic proof of our public defender pariah status - we're even scaring off drop-in visitors!Bonus link goes to Simple Justice and Scott Greenfield's (improvement on my) post on a similar theme, This Year's Loser Job.
WA & ID: p.d. motörhead
Posted on July 09, 2008Why not take a spin with this fast-moving member of the Spokane County P.D.'s Office? From Paralegal Gateway's Weblog: Paralegal by Day - Motor Head by NightBy day, he's a paralegal with the Spokane County Public Defender's office. By night, his idea of fun is going fast and turning left...
AZ: let my people stay
Posted on July 08, 2008From the Arizona Daily Star:Attorney exodus irks public service officialsTwo years ago, Pima County's top prosecutor and top public defenders persuaded the Board of Supervisors to increase their attorneys' salaries by 16 percent to stop a mass exodus...
ID: pocket full of kryptonite
Posted on July 08, 2008From the Times-News:More appeals pending in Johnson caseThe Idaho State Appellate Public Defender's Office is considering whether to challenge the Idaho Supreme Court's opinion last week that rejected Sarah Johnson's appeal of her 2005 murder convictions for killing her parents...
It's not just a job, it's an adventure
Posted on July 07, 2008Once, my kind were as numerous as the mighty bison and the migratory hippie, and we roamed the courtrooms of this land armed with our "liberalism" and our concern for the "underprivileged." Now the younglings are explaining to me this new path that we trod...
DC: murderer of pd intern guilty
Posted on July 07, 2008From WLJA:D.C. Man Convicted of Killing Public Defender InternThe U.S. Attorney's Office says a Washington man has been convicted of killing an intern with the Public Defender Service last year... Twenty-one-year-old Donnell Harris was found guilty Monday of second-degree murder while armed in connection with the death of Michael Richardson...
"Restoring a bit of America?s lost luster"
Posted on July 05, 2008Audio from Public Radio International's The World:Defending a Guantanamo detaineeAnchor Marco Werman speaks with Air Force attorney Major David Frakt. Frakt is defending a Guantanamo detainee named Mohammed Jawad who's accused of the attempted murder of two US soldiers in Afghanistan in 2002...
CA: the dude abides
Posted on July 04, 2008My blogfather Public Defender Dude is calling for submissions:If you want to slip me any gossip from your Courthouses (in California only, preferably Southern Cal), I'm happy to listen to it. Maybe it will even make it into the blog if it's explosive enough...
Getting back on the horse again and again
Posted on July 04, 2008A practicum with Iowa Champion:Dealing with disappointment 101One of the hardest things to learn as a defense attorney (or a prosecutor for that matter) is how to deal with a bad outcome in a case. It is not taught in any classroom at law school...
Empathy, patience, and a game of chess
Posted on July 03, 2008Interesting perspective from a still - relatively - junior colleague, from Newsweek:Equal Before The Law - As A Public Defender, I Must Often Challenge Prejudices, Including My Own, For My ClientsWhen I first started my job, I thought like a social worker...
WA: yes, it seems spendy; no, you can't see it
Posted on July 03, 2008From the Yakima Herald-Republic:Ruling keeps attorney billing records sealedRuling on a lawsuit filed by the Yakima Herald-Republic, a judge refused to unseal attorney billing records from a possible death penalty case that has cost Yakima County taxpayers just over $2 million...
MN: I heard the news today, oh boy
Posted on July 01, 2008From Minnesota Public Radio:A day in the life of a Minnesota public defenderThe wheels of justice may move slowly, but some of the cogs, like public defender Lisa Kloster, are spinning at a dizzying pace...She ain't no cog. Listen to the MP3 / podcast here.
1-800-SUICIDE
Posted on June 30, 2008A client of mine killed himself this past Thursday night. I found out today. For anyone else out there, here is a link to Hopeline.
WA & ID: murderer Braae says he's "just not the type that gives up easily"
Posted on June 29, 2008From the Olympian:Questions linger over fate of missing womenWhen "Cowboy" Mike Braae was arrested after jumping off a 40-foot bridge into an Idaho river during a police chase..., it marked the end of what investigators say was a trail of rapes, slayings and domestic violence...
ID: little miss can be wrong
Posted on June 28, 2008From the Idaho Mountain Express: Supreme Court upholds Johnson convictions The Idaho Supreme Court has upheld Sarah Johnson's convictions of killing her parents in 2003... Now 21, Johnson was 16 at the time... From the Times-News: Justices reject Sarah Johnson appeals - Court says 2005 murder conviction was legal The Idaho Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the conviction of Sarah Johnson for murdering her parents five years ago in their Bellevue home...
(What passes for) a compliment
Posted on June 26, 2008Today from a client's parent:"You're good for court-appointed."
Must-see P.D. TV
Posted on June 25, 2008A preview of Feige's big TV series, Raising the Bar:I say: All about public defenders fighting the good fight against the system while everyone else gets annoyed by their whiny do-gooder attitudes and cheap haircuts. Embarrassingly enjoyable...
ID: "wrangle" over Duncan's competency continues
Posted on June 25, 2008From the Spokesman-Review's Eye on Boise:More delay in Duncan proceedingsIt?s now been two months since convicted multiple murderer Joseph Duncan?s death sentence hearings were put on hold to determine Duncan?s mental competence, after he sought to jettison his legal defense team and instead act as his own attorney in the proceedings...
WA: for juvy sex offenders, never-ending punishment
Posted on June 24, 2008Always sucks, having to lay this out to a client and client's parent, from the P-I:Juvenile sex offenders marked for life - Records of childhood transgressions, never sealed, limit options for adultsSince 1997, more than 3,500 children in the state -- some as young as 10, though on average about 14 -- have been charged and convicted as felony sex offenders, a mark that remains on their records forever...
CO: heartbreaking loss
Posted on June 24, 2008From the Daily Camera: Public defender Cary Lacklen remembered as 'ferocious advocate' - Lawyer spent more than 30 years in public defender's officeDefense attorneys and prosecutors in Boulder and across the state have been left reeling by the death last weekend of Cary Lacklen...
KS: for juvies, "adult penalties, adult due process"
Posted on June 23, 2008From the Kansas City Star: Juveniles entitled to jury trials, Kansas court saysIn a decision affecting every juvenile criminal case in Kansas, the state Supreme Court has guaranteed juvenile defendants the right to a trial before a jury. The court ruled Friday that young defendants should be afforded the protections of a jury because the distinctions between juvenile and adult justice have eroded over the past 20 years as lawmakers cracked down on juvenile crime...
WA: 2 murders, $2 million
Posted on June 23, 2008From the Yakima Herald-Republic:YH-R files public records lawsuit against Yakima CountyThe Yakima Herald-Republic on Friday sued Yakima County for records of how more than $2 million was spent by attorneys acting as public defenders for two men charged with a pair of 2005 murders...
UT: old but good
Posted on June 20, 2008From the Salt Lake Tribune:Legal Defenders chief Hill to retireThe longtime leader of the Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association, John Hill, announced his retirement Tuesday after more than three decades of criminal defense. "Well... I'm old," he explained with a chuckle, noting that he likely will split his retirement between homes in St...
Deer hunting with Beezus
Posted on June 20, 2008In a persnickety post a while back, I linked to an article on class by Joe Bageant, a wise man from Winchester, Virginia, who lived for a time in North Idaho (Plummer and Moscow). Today Statcounter told me that I may have had a distinguished visitor:I hope that it was him...
Kid wisdom: "I know what lawyers do now"
Posted on June 18, 2008At Nachiket's Corner, Nachiket Deshpande's daughter Tanu has great insight for one so young:There is a very big tall tree, on top of that there is a jail. There is a police monkey who takes lawyers up the tree and puts them in the jail. The lawyers can't climb down the tree so they can never get out!
MI: "Michigan is muting Gideon's trumpet"
Posted on June 18, 2008From the State Bar of Michigan: Evaluation of Trial-Level Indigent Defense Systems in Michigan - A Race to the Bottom - Speed & Savings Over Due Process - A Constitutional Crisis The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) finds that the state of Michigan fails to provide competent representation to those who cannot afford counsel in its criminal courts...
The omen
Posted on June 18, 2008Spent the morning learning new case management software instead of where I should have been, representing my clients in court. This new system should be helpful, but more helpful for whom I'm not sure. Compare the way the vendor speaks to public defenders:(T)o most people, the public defender is better known as the defender of the underprivileged...
Bluejacket-style defense lawyering vs. Gitmo
Posted on June 18, 2008Profile in courage from the New York Times:An Unlikely Antagonist in the Detainees? CornerWhen he speaks publicly, Lt. Cmdr. William C. Kuebler, a military lawyer for a Guantánamo detainee, is careful to say his remarks do not reflect the views of the Pentagon...
I can has fair trial?
Posted on June 16, 2008From two photo sites: one I haven't heard of before - Pundit Kitchen... ...and one that everyone's heard of.
The air up there - turbulence ahead
Posted on June 14, 2008"(A)fter a week of working at the federal public defender's office," Duoly Noted reports onThe Emotional Toll of Being a Public DefenderHere with a reply is Jeremy Irons: "You have no idea..."
Back to school days
Posted on June 13, 2008In juvy court today, the court commissioner (a one-time school teacher) quizzed my detention-bound client:Q: "What's your plan for academic success?"A: "Stop dicking around?"
UT: caseload outpaces pop. growth in Provo
Posted on June 12, 2008Workload increasing at public defender's officeAs Utah County has grown, so has the number of people who rely on its public defenders. But despite recent staff increases, the public defender's office says it may need more attorneys soon... (T)he number of felony cases filed by the county attorney's office, and hence the number of cases assigned to public defenders, saw an annual increase of 9...
OR: white-out
Posted on June 11, 2008On the way back from Twin, and stuck for the night in Oregon. On account of snow. In June.I wish I was on the highway back to Olympia.
But I was nowhere near Cleveland!
Posted on June 11, 2008Now and then, P.D. sightings turn up in unexpected blog places. From the Cleveland Sandwich Board:...a man in a short-sleeve shirt and tie who looked haggard. I imagined his life as a tired, spent public defender who made his living defending petty criminals and getting beaten up by the prosecutors...
And may perpetual light shine upon her
Posted on June 09, 2008In Twin Falls for the funeral of my mother-in-law, Mary Walker. Posts resume in a few days.
"P.D. intern, there's an attorney who'd like to speak to you"
Posted on June 08, 2008Petition for Review ended up having a good day at work:Public Defender Intern - 1, Private Counsel with a coke problem - 0Today was insane. I had to push people out of the way to get in and out of the courtroom. While I'm talking with other clients License Boy and his parents somehow start talking to a private attorney...
ID: Boisean off the Guantánamo express
Posted on June 08, 2008There's a special place in heaven reserved for David Nevin. From the Idaho Statesman:Boise lawyer critical of 'show trial' at Gitmo - David Nevin says Bush officials are rushing the proceedings for the 9/11 suspects and want a conviction at any costBoise lawyer David Nevin said Friday that a military court's decision to let the alleged mastermind of the Sept...
ID: prosecuting scoundrel cops a plea and keeps his job
Posted on June 08, 2008Elected prosecuting attorney Criss James started the week with seven felony counts of misusing public money against himself. He ended it with one misdemeanor conviction, plus, he gets to finish out his term. More on Eastern Idaho justice, with video, from these fine news sources: KIDK: Caribou County Prosecuting Attorney Pleads Guilty KIFI: Caribou County Prosecutor Sentenced After Taking Plea Deal KPVI: Criss James Talks About Plea Deal
MN: chopping block
Posted on June 06, 2008So it begins. From Minnesota Lawyer Blog:Public defenders cut 53 more jobsThe State Board of Public Defense voted on June 5 to cut the public defender work force by 15 percent across the state to meet its $3.8 million budget deficit... The board?s action means the loss of 69 full time equivalent public defenders at the District Court level, out of a total of 441 positions, and three appellate lawyers...
FL: pinchy in P'cola
Posted on June 06, 2008The Florida p.d. crisis has spread to Lower Alabama, from the Pensacola News-Journal:Public defenders feeling the pinchThe Public Defender?s Office in Pensacola may begin turning away hundreds of poor clients who qualify for its services saying the office is understaffed, underfunded and overwhelmed with cases...
FL: "this can get much bigger, very quickly"
Posted on June 04, 2008Some blogs are tracking Miami's gathering caseload clouds... From the Miami Herald:Attorneys for Dade's poor vow to spurn most felony cases - Underfunded and overwhelmed with cases, the Miami-Dade Public Defender's office plans to refuse certain cases...
Suiting up for the first day of work
Posted on June 04, 2008Congratulations to Emily, who has a new public defender job:i start on monday. i have no idea what i'm going to wear.Any wardrobe suggestions for new p.d.'s? You know, clothes to go with pink hair, dreadlocks or tattoos.
ID: IF seeks new p.d.
Posted on June 04, 2008In Idaho Falls, Neal Randall's out; we'll know on Friday who's in, from KPVI:Bonneville County Searching for New Chief Public DefenderWhat might you look for in a new chief p.d.?"Somebody with good administrative qualities, somebody with the right temperament, you know, because you are dealing with public; you have to have somebody that can deal with people in a crisis situation, be sensitive to that and somebody that can provide adequate attorney services, you know, a good attorney...
CT: superior p.d.'s
Posted on June 02, 2008Gideon's right: this is a great story. From TheDay.com:A Century Of Courtroom Experience Defending Poor Clients - New London's veteran public defenders have just about seen and dealt with it allChoice excerpt:?If you have issues with your self-worth or self-confidence, you're going to find it very difficult to prosper in a field of work where you're going to be continually misunderstood,? says (Peter E...
MN: the layoffs are coming
Posted on June 01, 2008From In-Forum News: Clay lawyer cuts comingConfronted with a potential $4.7 million deficit, the Minnesota Board of Public Defense will turn to layoffs to help balance its budget. As a result, dozens of public defenders will lose their jobs, or leave voluntarily by opting for incentive packages...
KY: short-change DPA now, pay later
Posted on May 30, 2008Seems to be a lot of legislative false economizing going on nationwide. From Kentucky.com: Chief public defender takes case to judges - asks state to pay for private lawyers for defendants The state's chief public defender is asking judges to order the state...
WA: Grant County - the saga continues
Posted on May 30, 2008The Ephrata / Soap Lake / Moses Lake p.d. crisis has gone away, but the lawsuit that fixed it hasn't. From the Columbia Basin Herald:ACLU mulls appeal in Grant County public defender settlement - Judge ruled in Grant County's favorA Seattle attorney representing the ACLU said it hasn't been decided if a recent ruling made in Grant County's favor will be appealed...
AK: "most of the people I contact aren't big readers"
Posted on May 29, 2008One cool public defender investigator, from Oregonlive.com: Alaska's mystery manJohn Straley works as an investigator for the Alaska public defender's office, interviewing witnesses, gathering and analyzing evidence, finding experts. It's challenging work that introduces him to people who have no idea that he's written seven novels and is Alaska's state writer laureate...
Deputy public defender monkey
Posted on May 28, 2008A travelling sock monkey on Minnesota's p. d. crisis:Monkey and I both agreed that the state needed to add more public defenders. Monkey also felt that there should be an attorneys lounge with bananas...
CA: juvenile justice "a mix of hope, heartbreak"
Posted on May 27, 2008A series on teenagers in the system, from the Long Beach Press-Telegram:Kids and Crime: Inside Juvenile JusticeToday in Long Beach, an estimated 13 children will be arrested or ticketed for breaking the law. That's about 93 a week, 399 a month and an astonishing 4,858 a year...
WA: acting weird - now constitutionally protected in Washington State
Posted on May 23, 2008See what a little motion to suppress can do. From the Olympian:WA court: Police pat-downs can't be based on odd behaviorIn another nod to the Washington Constitution's broad privacy protections, the state Supreme Court has thrown out the drug conviction of a man who was searched by police solely because of his weird behavior...
WA: Cowboy down
Posted on May 23, 2008From the Olympian:Braae convicted of murder, rape"Cowboy" Mike Braae was convicted of first degree murder and rape this morning in the 2001 death of Lori Jones...
MN: penny wise, pound foolish
Posted on May 22, 2008From Minnesota Lawyer Blog: Public defenders face losing 61 more lawyers The public defenders in Minnesota have been hit hard by the Legislature which cut their budget by $1.5 million dollars for FY 2009. It looks as if a serious number of attorneys will lose their jobs...
Sweet home Idaho
Posted on May 21, 2008Today when I found the website of Federal Defender Services of Idaho and watched the pretty pictures scrolling by, I swear I got a little homesick...
WA: Cowboy Mike says his peace
Posted on May 21, 2008From the Olympian:"Cowboy" Mike Braae testifies that he didn't kill woman"Cowboy" Mike Braae took the stand in his murder trial Tuesday and testified that he did not kill Lori Jones after meeting her for drinks at Bailey's Motor Inn on July 6, 2001.....
WA: master of arcana
Posted on May 21, 2008From Erskine of The Long View:a public defender's secretHere's the dirty little secret: As a public defender, I often find myself coaching the private attorneys behind the scenes on how to do the actual work...
IL: "they reconciled their differences"
Posted on May 20, 2008The p.d. news today concerns Cook County chief public defender Edwin Burnette. From the Cook County Public Defender Blog: Rumors of his Demise Greatly ExaggeratedThe hearing on the proposed resolution to remove Ed Burnette has been cancelled...From the Chicago Tribune's Clout Street:Stroger drops effort to fire public defenderCook County Board President Todd Stroger is dropping his effort to fire Public Defender Edwin Burnette, the public defender and a spokesman for Stroger confirmed Monday...
"Neither Officer Friendly nor Officer Hardass"
Posted on May 19, 2008From Police Link: Not just kid stuff: Handling juveniles on patrol(Y)our interaction with juvenile subjects will have repercussions for future officers who deal with these youths. This is all the more so for juveniles because their ideas, conceptions and opinions of police may still be forming, and how you handle an encounter may have a powerful effect in influencing their lifelong perception of the law and its representatives...
One hop
Posted on May 19, 2008There's a rabbit warren in the bushes next to juvenile detention. Tonight one of the younger bunnies was there for debriefing after I'd stepped out from talking with two clients. Each is about to go away for a long time, a likely ten months for the one, more than two years for the other...
CA: Sacto Sisyphus
Posted on May 16, 2008From the Sacamento News and Review:Guilty till proven innocent - Head Sacramento County public defender says the justice system is broken. Get used to it.His mother went berserk, lashing out at the person who seemed most responsible for the outcome, her son?s public defender, who retaliated with her own outburst of anger...
NM: enough with the physical attacks on p.d.'s, now
Posted on May 16, 2008From KOAT, Albuquerque:Public Defenders Assaulted At MDCTwo members of the public defender's office are recovering at home Thursday night after being assaulted by a Metro Detention Center inmate, jailers said...From KOB (with broadcast video):Inmate attacks women at metro detention centerTwo women from the public defenders office survived a brutal beating Thursday morning at the Bernalillo County Metro Detention Center...
CA: faint praise
Posted on May 16, 2008A tribute of sorts to a public defender friend, from Pirate Hooker (not safe for work):And they say our tax dollars go to good use...As most of you know, RHBS works at the public defender's office. I love her because she doesn't hide the fact that she hates her job...
ID: Duncan DP pro se delay
Posted on May 15, 2008From the Spokesman-Review's Eye on Boise:Further delay in Duncan caseU.S. District Judge Edward Lodge announced today that even after receiving an evaluation of confessed killer Joseph Duncan?s mental competency, he?s not ready to rule on whether Duncan can act as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings until there?s further review...
"The hardest step - the rest is cake"
Posted on May 14, 2008A post that really reached me, from Doubtslinger:As a public defender, you quickly learn to celebrate even the smallest of things. Today was just such a celebration. Today I retired my longest running client...I'm lucky: I retire my clients when they turn 18...
A fistful of Faretta
Posted on May 13, 2008From Minnesota Law Blog: Public defender heroism in St. Louis CountyIt turns out we had a hero in our midst and most of us didn?t realize it. It is a little reminder... of the good work done by public defenders every day. In St. Louis County, public defender Mark Groettum was attacked by his client, who wrapped his arm around Groettum?s neck and punched him repeatedly in the face...
ID: rapid response
Posted on May 12, 2008From the Hagadone News Network: May 9: Attorneys want out of PL murder case - Attorneys representing accused murderer Keith Brown are seeking permission to withdraw from the case May 10: Judge: Attorneys must stay on murder case - A district judge is declining to allow defense attorneys representing accused killer Keith Allen Brown to withdraw from the case
ID: supreme Sarah Johnson smackdown
Posted on May 10, 2008Heckling during oral argument, in front of the state Supremes, perhaps from the state Supremes, reported by Cassidy Friedman by the Times-News:Supreme Court weighs Johnson caseIdaho Supreme Court justices will have to decide whom to blame for Sarah Johnson's botched defense: the judge or her attorney...
WA: Cowboy Mike's trial underway
Posted on May 10, 2008From the Olympian: Daughter recalls discovery of mother dead, under bed... and it gets worse from there.
Friday prison dog blogging
Posted on May 09, 2008From author Patricia Kelly:Prison Dogs: Hope Behind Bars
WA: the activist's passive voice - "rocks were thrown"
Posted on May 09, 2008(photo: Tony Overman/The Olympian)Two updates on a participant in our latest local civil disturbance, from Eabha the Kiwi: Danny (Vegas) Willson has been in Jail in Olympia Washington since May 1st and Needs Bail $$As some of you already know Daniel Wilson (AKA Danny Vegas)...
National Public Defender Radio
Posted on May 09, 2008Recent interviews on NPR:Public Defenders Have Their SayPublic defenders protect the constitutional rights of poor defendants charged with crimes. But they're overworked and under-respected. Farai Chideya speaks with Rick Jones ? deputy director of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) ? and Brian Wait, Senior Public Defender in the Orange County Public Defender's Office...
TX: bless you, Temple Mims
Posted on May 08, 2008Debate in the Tyler Morning Telegraph:Wingnut wishes physical harm on family of criminal defense lawyer.Criminal defense lawyer's 14-year-old daughter responds.Winner: 14-year-old.
ID: drug court gadfly
Posted on May 08, 2008Long profile of a flinty Drug Court client, from the Boise Weekly:Head Banger - Paul Rogers' fight against Idaho law, and how it almost workedPaul Rogers never planned to move to Idaho. He never planned to spend five years bouncing in and out of jail and prison...
WA & ID: Cowboy up
Posted on May 06, 2008From the Olympian:Murder, rape trial starts today - Suspect in 2001 attack, 'Cowboy Mike' Braae, in Idaho prison for other offenses"Cowboy Mike" Braae's first-degree murder and rape trial (began) in Thurston County Superior Court today, almost seven years after Lori Jones, 44, was found strangled to death under her bed in Lacey on July 8, 2001...
CO: ?I haven?t had a client yet that I thought was unredeemable?
Posted on May 05, 2008From the Speakout section of the Rocky Mountain News: Equal justice in Logan County and much more - The story of a public defender Public Defender Mike Boyce?s demeanor is sure, his smile disarming. His deep intrepid voice is only slightly contradicted by his visibly shaking hands, ?there is something wrong when you don?t get nervous, a lot of it is caring about your client,? he continues ?if you?re not nervous, if you?re completely at ease, there is something wrong...
Mawashi 'ed up
Posted on May 01, 2008I can only avert my eyes in awe of the awesome awfulness of a local colleague's Craigslist ad: FREE CONSULTATION - I handle anything from Simple Misdemeanors to Murder.INCREDIBLE PRICES CAN BE OBTAINED FROM A PREMIER CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY.Why incredible prices? I had personal issues last year that required me to downscale my practice...
CA: 3 p.d.s walk out of a bar...
Posted on April 30, 2008From the Record-Searchlight:Three public defenders arrested outside clubThree Shasta County deputy public defenders were arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of starting a drunken ruckus with police officers at a Redding bar...Lots of speculation in the comments...
The Vanilla Ice of public defenders?
Posted on April 30, 2008Okay, I'm fairly sure that this new blogger is writing fiction:The Public Pretender(besides stealing the blog name from someone who claimed it before he did)(let me rescind that: the old blog is named "Public Pretender," where the new blog is named "The Public Pretender...
FL: mensch, p.d., "one good hippie"
Posted on April 29, 2008From SFLTV:Help Me Howard is One Good HippieHoward Finkelstein, better known to most as the Howard in ?Help Me Howard?, WSVN?s hugely popular newscast segment, is getting some well deserved praise. The South Florida Times has a very nice story about him and his many efforts to assure that everyone has access to a public defender, but especially the poor and homeless who can?t afford high-powered lawyers...
ID: Duncan DP defense team DUI
Posted on April 28, 2008From KTVB:Attorney for Duncan charged with DUI, possessing potThe attorney for convicted killer Joseph Duncan is in some legal trouble of his own...From the P-I:Federal defender representing Duncan arrested
Square peg? Come work with us!
Posted on April 26, 2008Look Like a Lawyer suggests:If you have pink hair, dreadlocks or tattoos and want to be a lawyer, then working for a Public Defender?s office might be the job for you...
Deal or no deal
Posted on April 25, 2008From Iowa Champion:Where's my deal?(I)f you haven't heard a defendant or someone from their family complain about a plea offer in one of your cases, you can count the days you've practiced law on your fingers... There are certain things about plea bargaining that everyone charged with a crime (or their family) should know:1) There is no constitutional right to a plea offer...
Building a viable p.d. community in China
Posted on April 24, 2008Here's an update from the International Bridges to Justice blog -Criminal law classes, terracotta warriors, and visions of the future in China- on the IBJ China defender program.
ID: sounds like Duncan's a volunteer
Posted on April 23, 2008In several recent posts on the Spokesman-Review's "Eye on Boise" blog, reporter Betsy Russell has foreshadowed where admitted murderer Joseph Duncan is heading with his request to represent himself in his federal death penalty phase:A glimpse into Duncan's 'ideology'(D)efense attorneys made a passing reference to ?his decision to decline to put on any mitigating evidence...
WA: no juvenile left behind
Posted on April 22, 2008Not here we don't - I don't! From the Olympian:Don?t send kids to court alone(A) just-released report (pdf file) on the status of public defense in the state shows there are still major gaps in legal support for the poor. Most troubling is the finding that 17 counties never or only sometimes make public defense attorneys available to children and teenagers during their first appearance in juvenile court...
OR: "our clients (are) better off having come to us"
Posted on April 22, 2008From the Oregonian:Oregon public defender changed the system - Thirty-seven years ago, James Hennings started a movement in the interest of justice James Hennings thought he'd stay two years when he agreed to start one of the nation's first nonprofit law firms for people who were accused of crimes but couldn't afford an attorney...
ID: "not a fence-mender, not a pacifier, not a negotiator. He?s a warrior!"
Posted on April 21, 2008From the Idaho Statesman:9/11 trial will test Boise attorneys - Defense team members David Nevin and Scott McKay will be ?making sure the government plays by the rules? in the case of Khalid Sheikh MohammedAs Idaho?s most famous defense lawyer, David Nevin is no stranger to unpopular causes...
"Public Defender work is not for everyone"
Posted on April 20, 2008Two new posts by colleagues tonight, both deserving of wider notice:* Donzell, with 10 Reasons It Doesn?t Pay to be a Public Defender* Sancho on Defending Ourselves
Gideon's trumpet
Posted on April 20, 2008Rock star! Notoriety for our esteemed blogging colleague, from the Stamford Advocate:Call him 'Gideon:' - Public defender's blog causes stirWho is "Gideon?" That's a question mystifying criminal attorneys in Connecticut as the anonymous public defender's blog about legal issues gains readers in Connecticut and nationwide...
ID: pro se penalty phase for Duncan?
Posted on April 18, 2008From the AP:Killer of Idaho family wants to defend self in penalty phaseFrom the Spokesman-Review:Duncan wants to act as own lawyer - Court continues to vet prospective jurorsJoseph Duncan wants to act as his own attorney in his death penalty hearings, his lawyers told the court Wednesday...
ID: "I was hoping for something a bit more fun. and made of whiskey"
Posted on April 18, 2008Congratulations to Sarah for passing the Idaho bar, and thanks for this observation:I am knee deep in my first official trial on appeal, and the trial lawyer (for the defendant) decides that it would be a good plan to call his client (now our client) a "maniac" during opening statements...
ID: Duncan DP - penalty phase delayed
Posted on April 18, 2008From the Idaho Statesman:Joseph Duncan says attorneys can't ethically represent himA federal judge wants to have confessed killer Joseph Duncan III undergo a mental evaluation before deciding whether he can represent himself in his death penalty sentencing hearing...
KY: top public defender calling it quits
Posted on April 17, 2008From Kentucky.com:Public advocate Lewis to retirePublic advocate Ernie Lewis plans to retire Sept. 1, leaving behind a department that he says ?will be significantly under funded? because of recent budget cuts. The Department of Public Advocacy announced Lewis? retirement on Wednesday...
"Juvenile justice and American media"
Posted on April 16, 2008Fun fact from Burel Barer at In Cold Blog:Juvenile crime in America has dropped approximately 40% since 1994, yet two-thirds of Americans believe that juvenile crime is rising...
ID: federal penalty phase for Groene murderer
Posted on April 15, 2008From the AP, via the Seattle Times:Duncan death-penalty hearing nearsHis guilt is beyond question, his crimes beyond comprehension. The issue for the jury will be whether Joseph Edward Duncan III deserves to die...Some 350 jury candidates are expected to show up at a convention center in downtown Boise...
WA: catching up with indigent defense
Posted on April 14, 2008Back in Gray Sky Country now. On Friday we were at Doheny Beach (home of Surfer Joe), while in Olympia the Office of Public Defense was releasing its big report on the state of Washington State public defense (pdf here).From the Olympian:Gaps found in legal defenseA new report shows state funding is helping some counties make sure poorer people accused of crimes get fairly defended in court, but there still are glaring gaps in the legal system...
Saludos de la frontera
Posted on April 11, 2008Spent part of the day hoping the boy might learn gently what Benito Juárez taught,Respect for the rights of others is peace.(that, and introducing him to the homeland of paletas and licuados)
CA: San Diego serenade
Posted on April 07, 2008Heading to the land of surf and sand in the morning. This headline from the San Diego Union-Tribune:A change of custody - Young criminals, no longer wards of the state, soon will be remanded to their home counties for incarcerationUnder a new California law, hundreds of young criminals who once were the state's responsibility will now be locked up or supervised in their home counties ? and San Diego is among the many counties not yet prepared for the transition...
ID: this is the song that never ends
Posted on April 05, 2008From the Times-News:Discovery Channel revisits Johnson murder caseDiscovery Channel crews have launched a week of filming for the storied Sarah Johnson murder case. The uncommon trial of a girl charged with shooting her parents already has been highlighted in an unending stream of national media coverage...
In defense of the defenders
Posted on April 04, 2008From The Defense Perspective:Race Is Not The ProblemThe main problem, of course, lies with the lawyer's work ethic... not the race of the accused. When lawyers simply want to turn the case for their paltry fee the system suffers. As long as defense lawyers continue to use financial disincentives...
OR: one toke over the line, sweet p.d.
Posted on April 03, 2008From the Medford Mail Tribune, if only for the headline alone:Pot-possessing public defender back to work after suspension - Justin Rosas pleaded guilty to a possession charge in Kentucky and was given a suspended sentenceA Jackson County public defender is back at work after pleading guilty to marijuana possession in a Kentucky courthouse...
AZ: chief p.d. killed by reckless driver
Posted on April 02, 2008Horrible news from the Tucson Citizen:Robert Hooker, county public defender, killed in car crashPima County Public Defender Robert Hooker died Tuesday evening after being hit head-on by a pickup truck involved in a race on a West Side road, a Tucson police spokesman said...
ID: "second-class justice"
Posted on April 01, 2008From the Times-News editorial board:The quality of justice isn't the same across IdahoIf you're charged with a crime and can't afford a lawyer, the county will pay one to defend you. Trouble is, Twin Falls County public defenders handle nine times more cases than their counterparts in Blaine County - who also earn more money...
NV: "sexually exploited youth court"
Posted on March 31, 2008From the Las Vegas Review-Journal: Teen prostitutes have friend - Judge working to find ways to keep girls out of detention, off streets Judge William Voy's first defendant of the day is a baby-faced girl who has just turned 13. She also just violated probation on prostitution charges...
Sweet Mary
Posted on March 28, 2008Today the kids from Juvenile Drug Court took a field trip to Adult Drug Court.To mark the occasion, please enjoy (if that's the right word) this Lawrence Welk Show version of "One Toke Over the Line."
Be all that you can be
Posted on March 27, 2008From the Foreign Policy Association job board:Defense Advisor - AfghanistanNCSC International, the International Programs Division of the National Center for State Courts, is seeking a Defense Advisor for an existing justice sector reform activity in Afghanistan...
ID: ?cells alone are not the answer?
Posted on March 27, 2008Well, good for the Idaho state senate (something I've never imagined myself saying), from New West:Idaho Senate Overrides Gov?s Veto of Drug Treatment FundingAn impressive vote of 30- 5... provided the supermajority needed for the Idaho Senate to override a gubernatorial veto of a bill providing funding for drug rehabilitation...
ID: second chance for teen-age murderer?
Posted on March 27, 2008From the Times-News:Supreme Court to hear Johnson appeal - Bellevue convict claims '05 trial denied rightsDespite her attorney taking a vacation when he was supposed to appeal her two-count murder conviction, and despite not knowing which crime she was convicted of in the murder of her parents, Sarah Johnson - who faces two fixed life sentences - still has hope...
CA: TO p.d.'s happy retirement
Posted on March 25, 2008From the Ventura County Star: Public defender steps down - "He's one of the most passionate people I know when it comes to indigent defense. It's in his blood. It's who he is." Public Defender Kenneth Clayman is a towering figure as he walks down the halls of the courthouse in Ventura ? shoulders pinned back slightly, a ramrod-straight gait, long arms barely swinging...
"A big proponent of the right of self-representation"
Posted on March 25, 2008On the eve of Supreme Court argument in Indiana v. Edwards, Professor Erica Hashimoto drops by Concurring Opinions to validate public defender client perceptions that - yes, we're abysmal, and - yes, we're in cahoots with the government.Comments are open...
ID: human costs of caseload cost-cutting
Posted on March 23, 2008From the Twin Falls Times-News:'Lowest rung on the ladder'Michelle Mellinthin was no angel. Charged with grand theft, meth possession and forging a bank card, her public defender in Canyon County didn't waste time finding out if she was actually guilty of all those charges, the Idaho Supreme Court later determined...
ID: Idaho prison dogs
Posted on March 21, 2008From the Idaho Statesman: Photo Gallery: A Look into The Inmate Dog Alliance Project of Idaho(A)t the Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise... the Inmate Dog Alliance Project of Idaho... has been training dogs from the Idaho Humane Society for two years...
WA: no jury of your peers, kid
Posted on March 20, 2008From the P-I:Juveniles charged with violent crime have no right to jury trialA juvenile charged with a violent crime has no state constitutional right to a jury trial, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. (Azel) Chavez was convicted in juvenile court of several counts, including attempted first-degree murder, first-degree robbery while armed with a firearm, and second-degree assault while armed with a firearm...
"Occupational defiant disorder"
Posted on March 19, 2008All's well here. If any else, the recent folderol at my courthouse has taught me a new diagnosis to describe those of us who do juvenile criminal defense.
Homebody
Posted on March 17, 2008Let me just say, I'm glad to be home tonight on my laptop in my own comfy chair, wearing my own comfy clothes and not someone else's size 4XL orange coveralls. There are those who relish walking the edge of contempt of court, but I'm a simpler home-loving sort...
More love for Feige
Posted on March 14, 2008From Newsday:Seton Hall law prof teams with 'NYPD Blue' producer on TNT seriesAfter pouring his heart and soul into a 2006 book about his experiences as a public defender in the Bronx, David Feige knew exactly who he wanted to shepherd the project to the small screen...
WA: "difficult to see how a suspicionless drug testing program is necessary"
Posted on March 14, 2008Our local supreme court has taken the piss out of the surveillance society just a bit. From the Seattle Times:WA high court says random school drug testing unconstitutionalThe state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that random drug testing of student athletes is unconstitutional, finding that each has "a genuine and fundamental privacy interest in controlling his or her own bodily functions...
Competencies
Posted on March 14, 2008I stumbled on these Resources for New Legal Aid Attorneys. Wish they'd been available back when I was a new legal aid attorney. Of course, I wish they'd had the internet back then, too.I thought this one was pretty good reading for those of us on the indigent side, civil or criminal: Representing the Whole ClientWhen we understand the nuances of clients? experiences and the lenses through which they see the world, we are in a better position to serve them and achieve the best outcomes on their behalf...
The Wire has a proud ex - p.d. for a fan
Posted on March 13, 2008In summing up "The Wire," Postlapsarian recalls a previous line of work:I mean one of the reasons why I chose to be a public defender was to get immersed in a gritty world that I wouldn?t normally be a part of ? and I wanted that to be conveyed realistically...
Reclamation project
Posted on March 12, 2008Mac at PSU has asked me to spread the word:Special March 20 Web Conferencefor All Reclaiming Futures ApplicantsReclaiming Futures® changed the way juvenile courts in 10 pilot sites help teens with drug and alcohol problems. A new national dissemination program supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is spreading the Reclaiming Futures approach to up to six new communities this year through a learning collaborative that shares resources, improves data collection and utilization and promotes new standards of practice...
WA: maritime law
Posted on March 11, 2008One way that practicing here is different from the high desert, in court yesterday:"The respondent will be released to house arrest aboard his grandfather's boat..."
CA: grief and shock over San Jose colleague's suicide
Posted on March 10, 2008From the Orange County Register:Prominent O.C. lawyer found dead - Gary Proctor, who handled dozens of high-profile cases, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at his San Jose homeDefense attorney Gary Proctor..., 63, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the backyard of his San Jose home on Sunday...
ID: a Mazda-load of hot Holsteins
Posted on March 09, 2008One of the cool things about working at the Twin Falls County Public Defenders Office - it may be 2008, but you still get to represent cattle rustlers:"The way that it happens is you drive your little Mazda into the dairy, in the back where the cameras don't pick it up...
"The Wire": Götterdämmerung
Posted on March 09, 2008Farewell to "The Wire," this time for real, and welcome to our new criminal defense colleague, Cedric Daniels.
WA: Valentine's Night at TESC - what a riot!
Posted on March 08, 2008You may have seen or heard something about the recent unpleasantness (pictures here) at our local liberal arts college. In-court coverage from the Olympian:Five accused of destroying sheriff's patrol car plead not guiltyFive people arrested Wednesday morning in connection with the destruction of a sheriff's patrol car during a Feb...
Honi soit qui mal y pense
Posted on March 06, 2008This is good - John Scalzi, "Shaming the Poor": Shaming the children of poor people for daring to receive a free lunch is tantamount to saying to them, well, if you had been smart, you wouldn?t have been born to poor people in the first place. And, you know...
The Colorado Method: coming to a CLE or TV near you
Posted on March 05, 2008How did a rebel public defender from Boulder, Colorado, throw a monkey wrench into America?s "death machine"? Slip into a juror?s seat as David Wymore and other nationally recognized criminal defense attorneys bring their fight against the death penalty to the front line: the courtroom...
VA: "it always struck me how much he cared"
Posted on March 04, 2008From the Virginian-Pilot: Man who established Portsmouth's public defender's office dies at 55 John H. "Jay" Underwood III, the city's public defender for 22 years, died Sunday after an 18-month battle with cancer. Underwood, 55, left private practice in 1986 to establish the Portsmouth Public Defender's office, and friends and family say it was a job he never stopped loving...
ID: pay prosecutor $, get out of trouble, okay?
Posted on March 02, 2008It's great to see that Idaho has a contender in the prosecutor pay-to-play scam sweepstakes. From KIFI:E. Idaho prosecutor faces charges concerning public moneyCaribou County Prosecutor Criss James is accused of dismissing citations in exchange for about $3,800 in cash that authorities say he deposited into his personal bank account...
GA: Gideon survives the Georgia legislature
Posted on March 01, 2008From Atlanta, Sara reports on the toll that the legislative fight for quality indigent defense in Georgia is taking on her: Grizzly Bears and Ring Mistresses This is what the legislative session does to me... We passed huge legislation to reform the public defender system in 2003, one of if not the most significant victory in my life...
WA: "unfair obstruction arrest - part of the black experience in Seattle"
Posted on February 29, 2008From the P-I:Blacks are arrested on 'contempt of cop' charge at higher rateWhen Seattle police arrest someone for "obstructing a public officer," chances are nearly dead even they're arresting an African-American -- in a city that's predominantly white...
Probation officer humor - "I am Witham"
Posted on February 28, 2008I see I'm not the only one who's been told this, from Felony Stupid:These are not my pants!!Ah, but how many of you can say you've used this defense in trial without losing? (I put it that way because the jury hung - not a 'not guilty,' but at least not a 'guilty...
Dog - more than just a partner
Posted on February 28, 2008I'm always up for a dog story. From the Olympian: Sheriff's office debuts its dogs - Savings, benefactors help feed and care for two K-9 teams The Thurston County Sheriff's Office formally commissioned its new K-9 unit ? two German shepherd dogs, Enok and Rex...
WA: "when you push them out, who are you pushing them to?"
Posted on February 26, 2008From the P-I:For teen felons, hardest job is finding honest work - Crimes from the past hurt youths trying to build a new futureFinding jobs for teens with a felony on their record is increasingly difficult, but court officials say it might be the only thing to save them from spiraling further into crime...
Art is my weapon, court - appointed lawyers are my targets
Posted on February 26, 2008Remember, "HELL has no furry" like a public defender hater with a camera phone: NOBODY Goes To Court To Support AVONEBig screed. Lots of surreptitious in-court photos. Poor Avone.
"I'm so thin and frail / Don't care, want another rail"
Posted on February 26, 2008Audio and book "exceprt" from Fresh Air and NPR:Memoirs of Meth Addiction from a Father and a SonDrug addiction doesn't just affect the addict, it changes the whole family. Journalist David Sheff and his son Nic join Fresh Air to talk about Nic's addiction to methamphetamine...
Dogs run free, but not at DOC
Posted on February 24, 2008Took Annie to the off-leash dog park in Lakewood today, then took the long way home. We drove through Steilacoom in time to watch the prison ferry arrive from McNeill Island, our own Puget Sound Alcatraz. I've always thought of the boats as an interesting form of prisoner transport; this was the first time I've stuck around to see who disembarked...
ID: ???????? / tragedy
Posted on February 21, 2008A sad task ahead for my honorable former co-counsel Marilyn Paul, from the Twin Falls Times-News:Parents of child who died from burns charged with manslaughterA court interpreter and public defender shuffled between Inna Gorbenko, 28, and her Russian-speaking boyfriend, Stepan Kutran, 31, as both were charged Wednesday with one count of involuntary manslaughter and one misdemeanor count of injury to child...
Welcome, libertarians!
Posted on February 21, 2008Being linked to by Cato at Liberty, the official blog of the Cato Institute, is a blast.Being noticed by Timothy Lynch, the director of Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, is an honor.
WA: for runaway kids, "detention should not be used as a substitute for services, treatment and care"
Posted on February 20, 2008From the Yakima Herald - Republic:* Jailing runaways - judge says state services are lacking Maria Ochoa was a 15-year-old chronic runaway in foster care when Robert Inouye, Yakima County's juvenile court commissioner, took the unusual step of sentencing her to jail for a total of three months(, a)lthough running away is not a crime...
VA: rubber chickens, rats and bricks
Posted on February 19, 2008In this profile of Central Virginia capital defender - to - be David Baugh, could somebody in the comments please explain to me what this is supposed to mean:?You can be a rat and a public defender and God?s going to give you a good seat up front near the floor show with Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King...
FL: when it comes to caseload, "'manageable' is, apparently, a relative term"
Posted on February 19, 2008"Why Would Anyone Want to Be a Public Defender? Perhaps it's for the low pay, long hours and questionable clients..." From Orlando Weekly:The Defense Never RestsWelcome to the public defender?s office of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, serving Orange and Osceola County...
WA:
Posted on February 18, 2008From the Seattle Times:State crime-lab chief to resignThe embattled director of the State Patrol crime labs has resigned, accepting responsibility for allegations of sloppy work and fraud that jeopardized more than 100 DUI breath-test results in the past year...
IN: Indy p.d., underage allegations
Posted on February 18, 2008From The Dreamin' Demon:Ryan Snyder Is Allegedly BustedRyan Snyder, 29, is an up-and-comer with the Marion County Public Defender?s Office. He?s also allegedly an up-and-comer with underage girls. Since Ryan is a defense attorney, I?ll be using the word ?allegedly? a lot more than normal in this article...
No hugs please, we're public defenders
Posted on February 18, 2008From Rural Michigan Public Defender:No hugs, please!I am pretty sure that most public defenders do not get hugged. I do. There are three public defenders in my county and the other two are men. They don't get hugged. The huggers are sneaky about it, too...
ID: keeping DP defendants on pins and needles
Posted on February 18, 2008Prosecutors not seeking the death penalty in borderline cases rather than risking having to withdraw a request later? Even Republican legislators are questioning why that would be a bad thing. From the Idaho Statesman:Idaho prosecutors want to extend death penalty decision deadlineIdaho prosecutors want lawmakers to give them an extra 60 days to decide whether to seek the death penalty in capital cases, a move opposed by one of the state's top public defenders...
Happy Valentine's Day
Posted on February 15, 2008(since it's been a while since one of my fur family has been featured in the blog)
"If the bullet comes, I take the hit"
Posted on February 15, 2008More of the good stuff from Simple Justice, one of the undeniable advantages of going into private practice:Like Your ClientsDan Hull at What About Clients? is absolutely right. Lawyers should only represent clients they actually like. Now this isn't always an option, as public defenders and assigned counsel aren't given an option as to whom they represent...
Another Rodney Dangerfield
Posted on February 15, 2008From Nelly's Crazy Talk:I could tell he had a bad day at work... I guess one of his clients said to him, "I bet you are super excited to pass the bar so you don't have to be a public defender!" Poor Dave... no respect!
ID: Mark Lankford, guilty again
Posted on February 14, 2008The local sites don't seem to have posted this AP item yet; it's fairly significant, from the Houston Chronicle:Former Idaho Death Row Inmate Convicted in Retrial of Murdering Texas CoupleA jury has convicted former death row inmate Mark Lankford of killing a Texas couple in 1983 in north Idaho...
Lawyer and the chocolate factory
Posted on February 13, 2008A sweet suggestion for Blonde Justice and others, from the Kansas City Star:Passing the bar: Former criminal defense lawyer turns artisan chocolate maker
Støt Danmark!
Posted on February 13, 2008We're doing our part to support Denmark - for Joe's spring break, we're going to LegoLand! LegoLand California, but still...
CA: in dependency court, "the 'submit culture' ultimately poses a threat to the health and safety of children"
Posted on February 11, 2008It's always a good day when the hard-working public defenders in dependency and child protection get some appreciation. This is not one of those days. From the San Jose Mercury News' Broken Families, Broken Courts series:- Broken Families, Broken Courts Day 1: How rushed justice fails our kids- Broken families, broken courts Day 2: A timid advocate for parents' rights- Overworked defenders: Sacramento attorneys struggle to keep up- Lawyer reconsiders how clients are defended- Deputy public defender stepped in for foster momHeck of a job, ASFA.
"Why would I lie?"
Posted on February 10, 2008Think it's just you who's feeling under-trusted? Check out the latest post by Woman of the Law:on being a public defender: apparently we're all liars.It's strange how much judges and prosecutors really believe that we lie, lie, lie all the time...It's not just in trial or motion practice...
WA: more ripples from DUI tox lab snafu
Posted on February 10, 2008From the Olympian:County to scrap DUI evidence - Toxicology laboratory?s drunken-driving breath tests considered questionableThe Thurston County Prosecutor's Office has decided not to use breath-test evidence that was called into question by problems at the state toxicology laboratory, affecting an unspecified number of local drunken-driving cases...
WA: no drunk - driving checkpoints
Posted on February 10, 2008From the Seattle Times:DUI-roadblock bill dies in Olympia(T)he plan encountered strong, bipartisan resistance in the Legislature. Critics said the Washington constitution's privacy protections, which are stronger than those in federal law, prohibit police searches without a greater degree of suspicion...
WA: your friendly neighborhood caucus
Posted on February 09, 2008Just came back from our local exercise in partial democracy. Our mayor went for Obama. Our city council person went for Clinton. Our precinct went Obama 70 (seven delegates), Clinton 36 (three delegates). Our household went Obama 1, Clinton 1.Bonus Link goes to Kaukasus Blog.
ID: brother's testimony problematic in Mark Lankford re-trial
Posted on February 09, 2008From the AP wire, via the Times-News:Lankford's brother sticks to original testimony in ID killingsBryan Lankford testified that it was his brother, Mark, who beat a Texas couple to death in an Idaho campground, and that numerous other versions he told in the 25 years since then were to protect himself from prison violence...
KY: p.d. on attacker - "I don't feel any ill will toward him"
Posted on February 07, 2008I know you saw the video of the in-court sucker punch on the public defender, but did you read this? From Kentucky.com:Assaulted attorney says he holds no grudge - no charges filed against defendant who slugged him(Doug) Crickmer returned to work Tuesday and went to the jail to make sure Hafer was being treated properly...
WA: only 10 cases after only one p.d.-judge "intimate encounter"
Posted on February 07, 2008From the ABA Journal:Banned Lawyer Gets Reprieve re Alleged Affair With JudgeThe ban has been lifted against a Washington state lawyer ordered not to appear on behalf of indigent defendants at his local courthouse, after a judge reportedly blabbed about their alleged affair...
NV: public defender mugshots
Posted on February 07, 2008From KVBC in Las Vegas:Two public defenders arrestedNews 3 has learned two public defenders were arrested over the weekend...Damn shame, but not bad-looking mugshots, considering. I hope they'll be able to keep their careers on track; the female p.d. was admitted in Nevada in 2004, the male p...
Miracle of forgiveness
Posted on February 07, 2008Unflappable public defender Doug Cricker on TV:He'd be willing to represent his attacker again, however, "I definitely think there's a conflict of interest there now."More at Beliefnet.
ID: Lankford murder re-trial opens
Posted on February 06, 2008From the P-I:New trial begins for Idaho man after two decades on death rowThe evidence against former death row inmate Mark Henry Lankford is overwhelming, and he will be convicted again, Idaho County Prosecutor Kirk MacGregor predicted in an opening statement Monday in Lankford's retrial...
ID: murder re-trial - Lankford brothers "were making me feel uneasy"
Posted on February 06, 2008From the AP, via the Times-News:Witnesses testify that Lankfords scared themA family of picnickers at a northern Idaho campground were so disturbed by a conversation with two men that they packed up and left, the murder trial of former Idaho death row inmate Mark Lankford was told...
ID: the "you've done this so many times before" basis for a knowing, voluntary and intelligent plea
Posted on February 04, 2008I would be crestfallen to hear a judge say these words to a client of mine, even if they were true. From the Twin Falls Times-News:Murder defendants McElhiney, Heredia appear in court(C)oming before Judge Stoker on Thursday, Fredy Heredia-Juarez lost his bid to undo a guilty plea he says he didn't mean to make...
Overheard in open court today
Posted on February 04, 2008"Um, do you people have some sort of form I use for that?"- paid lawyer who took a client from me (shortly after using the adult court term for the juvenile court disposition he was seeking)"She just blows every thing up and gets all dramastic."- young person reporting on parent-child relationship
Inane public defender question
Posted on February 04, 2008A previously uncharted depth of inanity is plumbed in this hypothetical from Yahoo! Answers:The question is, what would happen if I was tried for murdered and I was truly innocent, but I had to get a public defender because I can't afford a lawyer to defend me, would I most likely be found innocent, guilty, or get a plea bargain...
WA: "a culture of cutting corners" at state crime lab
Posted on January 31, 2008From the Seattle P-I:Court throws out DUI breath tests - Other judges not bound to ruling condemning labBreath tests can't be used against many King County drunken-driving suspects until the State Patrol's toxicology lab can show that it has fixed ethical problems, scientific errors and carelessness that have called its work into question...
WA: pitting public defender agencies against each other
Posted on January 31, 2008An article pretty much siding with one Seattle p.d. office over another, from the Seattle Weekly:Is This Really the Best Defense? - Nickels' critics wonder if defendants have suffered since the mayor put public-defense contracts out to bid"I think [the city] took a competent system and trashed it," says Seattle University law professor John Strait...
MySpace narc gets bit in butt
Posted on January 30, 2008From a public defender:Three degrees of YOU?RE A PREDATOR!If you don?t have a MySpace or Facebook account, you?re nobody. Especially teens. Everyone has them and then some. So when middle school resource officer John Nohejl in Florida decided to set up a MySpace account so he could communicate with students in ways they do (with the blessing of the school), it seemed like a brilliant idea...
ID: Mark Lankford suits up for 2nd trial, 23 years after 1st
Posted on January 30, 2008From the Idaho Statesman:N. Idaho jury selected for Lankford trialJurors have been selected for the new trial of a man previously convicted and sentenced to death in the slaying of a couple vacationing in northern Idaho in 1983. Second District Judge John Bradbury told the jurors on Monday that Mark H...
ID: Jeff Co crosses its fingers
Posted on January 29, 2008From New West:Please Don?t Kill Anybody Here, an Idaho County AsksIf you?re thinking about killing someone, Jefferson County sure hopes you?re not planning to do it there.The eastern Idaho county, the largest city in which is Rigby, is the only county in the state of Idaho that does not participate in the Capital Crimes Defense Fund...
Endorsement: "the juvenile justice system rarely destroys families"
Posted on January 29, 2008One lawyer's take on juvenile arraignments, from court-appointed contractor Penny at Penny Quilts:The Cowboy Boot Experiment Update and Juvenile DelinquentsSome of the kids at that point inform you that they are NOT going to stay in detention. It is amazing how many children honestly have no idea that what they want and what they get are frequently two different things...
FL: homenaje al matador
Posted on January 28, 2008Fine eulogy for Louis O. Frost, one of the old bullfighters of public defense, from the Fernandina Beach News Leader:Ministering society's castawaysThe man we called Lou, or sometimes LOF, died last week at age 76 after a long fight with stomach cancer...
Gordon B. Hinckley, 1910-2008
Posted on January 28, 2008Condolences to my LDS readers and colleagues, and to all the members of the Church.
OH: mourned defender / missing DNA evidence
Posted on January 27, 2008From the Columbus Dispatch:* DAVID H. BODIKER 1934-2008 - Public defender was 'fierce advocate' for Death Row inmatesDavid H. Bodiker, an outspoken and relentless defender of the poor in Ohio's criminal court system, died Friday night after undergoing emergency heart surgery...
CA: "I really believe in the work"
Posted on January 27, 2008From the North (San Diego) County Times:Ready to Rumble for justiceSome would-be lawyers aspire to fame or fortune when they leave law school. Wil Rumble says he had something different in mind. The 46-year-old attorney and North County resident has focused his career on representing defendants who cannot afford private attorneys...
Skelly Wright and Ruby Bridges
Posted on January 26, 2008My son's been learning some good lessons this week. At the moment, he and I are watching a movie that he brought home from school about one of his new heroes, Ruby Bridges.I was pleased to Google her story and find the connection to one of my old heroes: On November 14, 1960, a 6-year-old Bridges, escorted by four gun-toting US federal marshals, walked past a screaming mob of angry white people to do the unthinkable in New Orleans at the time: Go to school with white children...
ID: "a dangerous experiment with the wrong kind of lab"
Posted on January 25, 2008Where's the best place to locate a new "secure psychiatric treatment facility" for civilly committed, mentally ill Idahoans? Behind the concertina wire of the state pen, of course. From the Boise Weekly:Do Iron Bars a Mental Hospital Make? - Idaho is ready to lock up more mentally unstable people...
ID: Jack Van V for victory
Posted on January 25, 2008I liked him as opposing counsel out at the Barrister courthouse; I loved him as the gutsiest civil libertarian in town. My colleague Jack Van Valkenburgh is taking a break from his labors after 18 years of nurturing civil liberties in the arid soil of my home state...
KY: department of online advocacy
Posted on January 23, 2008The Department of Public Advocacy, Kentucky's statewide public defender agency, is making imaginative use of the Web.You can find DPA lawyers discussing their jobs on YouTube.You can check out DPA podcasts.You can even find DPA when you do a Facebook search for "Department of Public Advocacy...
A day off at Northwest Trek
Posted on January 22, 2008Getting to be a Martin Luther King Jr. day tradition:Bonus link greetings of the day go to The Mountain Goat Report, In The Moment, and Feminist Mormon Housewife.
Oh happy day
Posted on January 21, 2008It's past midnight on the east coast, and officially MLK Day. Blawg Review #143 is up at Public Defender Stuff, this year brought to you by Gideon.
WA: de facto public defender - commitment for the underdog
Posted on January 20, 2008From the Columbian:Firm DefenseVancouver lawyer Jeff Barrar says he does criminal defense because he's "an Irish kid from Boston who doesn't trust the cops." His smile suggests he's kidding. It's hard to tell. What's clear is Barrar, the owner of Vancouver Defenders, seems as savvy about free-market capitalism as he is about the rights of the criminally accused...
GA: public defender, traditional conservative values
Posted on January 20, 2008From the Macon Telegraph:Houston County attorney realizes his passion in public defenseNick White is passionate about defending people who cannot afford legal representation. But pursuing a career as a public defender isn't what he thought he'd be doing when he first entered law school...
ID: a voice crying in the desert
Posted on January 19, 2008I found the online site for Rep. Nicole LeFavour (D-Boise), blogging from the floor of the Idaho legislature. This week she and some colleagues took a tour of the prison - industrial complex south of town and took some cellphone pictures (looks like IMSI - "Max," I think)...
P.D. bacchanal
Posted on January 19, 2008This post reminded me...(A) bunch of public defenders in Las Vegas? I'm guessing (a) the parties will be good; and (b) there may be booty to be had.It's getting to be time to sign up for the 8th Annual Public Defender Retreat:A yearly gathering of public and private criminal defense attorneys, investigators, staff, law students, spouses, or anyone with a Public Defender Attitude...
WA: reverse the charges
Posted on January 19, 2008From the Olympian:AT&T fined more than $300,000 for overcharging on prison callsAT&T has been fined more than $300,000 for overcharging families of prison inmates for collect phone calls from two Eastern Washington state prisons, the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission announced Thursday...
ID: Methamphetamine memories...
Posted on January 17, 2008What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget, at least until it's splashed across the website of our old home's newspaper. From the Twin Falls Times-News:Meth lab busted - Equipment to make drug found in downtown trailerDale "Red" Patterson...
"She's baaaack..."
Posted on January 17, 2008From A Year in the Life:Counting Down to Maternity LeaveDisclaimer: I really do love my job (most of the time).That being said, it has its challenging moments... Now, one of the things about my office (and likely many PD offices) is that once I get assigned to handle a client's case, that person is mine forever -- until I'm burnt out and quit, or I just die...
FL: " your quintessential moral, ethical, caring person"
Posted on January 17, 2008From Jacksonville.com:36 years as a public defender - He held that post in Duval, Clay and Nassau countiesLouis O'Melville Frost, who served as the public defender for Duval, Nassau and Clay counties for 36 years and was considered the dean of Florida public defenders, died in his sleep Tuesday night...
You know the angels wanna wear my red shoes
Posted on January 17, 2008"You want someone who'd gone over your hopes, your desires..." Um, we are talking about hiring someone for LEGAL services, right?
But since their wings have got rusted
Posted on January 17, 2008Okay, so the badmouthing the p.d.s approach is a popular marketing technique, but at least I liked this line: "Our job is to find a hole in your case, and if we find a hole, we're driving a truck through it!" (Coincidentally, I found a hole just by watching this ad)
I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused
Posted on January 17, 2008Private criminal defense lawyer explains why you want to hire him rather than go with "merely" a public defender. As the comment says, "He only has one example of getting a client off? That's about 100 less than the average PD...I'll go with the public defender...
WA: "things not to say in front of a judge"
Posted on January 16, 2008Introducing Speezy, blogging as a Washington State misdemeanor prosecutor:Now... you know things are bad when a judge looks at you like you are on fire. You know things are REALLY bad when the judge is looking at you like you are on fire and your defense lawyer is making motions like he wants to strangle you...
Public defenders: we actually care
Posted on January 16, 2008Barely breathing blog Not a Legal Pun surfaces long enough to launch a salvo:Dear Difficult ClientI can take being the punching bag for everyone else in the biz. Judges. Bailiffs. Interpreters. Privates. And oh the clerks. But what really sucks, what's just too much to take, is that you sh*tbags in jail can have the nerve to tell me I'm not a real lawyer...
NV: federal p. d. for Obama
Posted on January 15, 2008The Nevada caucuses are on Saturday. If you're a Nevadan, Vito De La Cruz - Community Leader would like you to vote for Barack Obama. I noticed that the first version of the endorsement read, "Vito De La Cruz- Public Defender, Community Leader." The current version from the Obama campaign has scrubbed the "Public Defender" part of the caption...
One way to build character
Posted on January 14, 2008I have been sitting on the link to this Utah Bar Journal article by Ted Weckel for weeks now, coming back to it now and then, hoping to draft my response in a coherent way. I think I've failed in the attempt because my response to it changes from week to week, and I find myself of two minds (or more) as to what he's recommending...
ID: rogue's gallery, best in show
Posted on January 13, 2008From KPVI:Robert Underwood Sentenced for Beatings in Bonneville CountyNot wanting to make too much light out of the serious news, but this makes it onto the blog primarily because of the last mugshot. Shine on you crazy diamond, Mr. Martinez; hope you'll enjoy the next few decades in Max.
Keeping kosher in Tacoma
Posted on January 12, 2008Bar mitzvah congratulations today to Nikolai P., son of my cool colleague out at Juvy.This Temple Beth El goyishe moment courtesy of my 8-year-old: in the buffet line at the reception, Joe points to the Nova lox and says, "I'd like some of that please;" I ask the boy, "are you sure, honey, that's fish" and Joe replies, "Fish? I thought it was ham...
ID: challenging the grand jury in Twin
Posted on January 12, 2008From the Times-News:Defender challenges McElhiney indictment - Paul: Grand jury procedure didn't protect clientTwin Falls County Public Defender Marilyn Paul wants a judge to toss out a grand jury's indictment of her client in a first-degree murder case, according to court records...
"I sold him out"
Posted on January 11, 2008After saving a client eight years in the pen plus a felony conviction, Donzell has a reasonably righteous rant:Where does this sorry bastard get off to complain? I saved his sorry ass from prison...Been there - you too?
WA: Your Honor, you can love the p.d., you just can't loooooooove the p.d.
Posted on January 09, 2008From the Olympian:Federal Way judge admits relationship with lawyer, resignsA Federal Way Municipal Court judge has resigned after hosting a holiday party at which she claimed to be having an affair with a public defender who routinely appeared in her court...
WA: "how the fourth amendment gets gradually whittled away"
Posted on January 08, 2008Latest South Sound pronouncement:Gregoire announces proposal to take drunk drivers off the roadGov. Gregoire today announced she will introduce legislation authorizing law enforcement in Washington state to conduct sobriety checkpoints to fight against drunk driving...
ID: Mad Max and Idaho to Supremes - never mind
Posted on January 08, 2008From the AP:SCOTUS Nixes Fight Over Plea DealThe Supreme Court dismissed a case Monday in which a defendant says his lawyers gave him bad advice by telling him to reject a plea deal that would have spared him a death sentence. The justices said in November that they would decide whether Maxwell Hoffman is entitled to the plea deal anyway...
"Character... is what you are in the dark!"
Posted on January 07, 2008Today the judicial person was lecturing the kids on character and how you behave when your probation officer's not looking, and I couldn't help thinking of this rousing speech from Buckaroo Banzai.
Sunday night priorities
Posted on January 07, 2008Reasons why I took the John Edwards button off the blog:- didn't want to split the crucial A & C readers' anti-Hillary voting bloc;- "Obama Loves the Wire; I Now Love Obama."Excellent return of "The Wire" tonight, with an extra something for us criminal defense types: they turned Herc, one of the biggest mooks on the force, into an investigator for the Barksdales' old lawyer...
FL: former PD's reckoning
Posted on January 05, 2008Sad to see, from the Pensacola News Journal:Former public defender Davis sentencedFormer Assistant Public Defender Ronald Davis pleaded no contest on Friday to charges of DUI, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possession of drug paraphernalia...
ID: congratulations, Your Timship!
Posted on January 04, 2008A smart pick from the governor's office:Otter Names Hansen to 4th District BenchGovernor C.L. ?Butch? Otter today appointed Ada County Magistrate Timothy Hansen to fill the 4th District judgeship... Hansen, 56, is a Pocatello native who received his bachelor?s degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from the University of Idaho...
Substantial compliance
Posted on January 04, 2008In court today, a judicial person questioned a young person:Q: "Are you passing all your classes?"A: "Every single one except for two."
ID: "inconvenience and cost do not trump the constitutional right to an impartial jury"
Posted on January 04, 2008From the Idaho County Free Press:Publicity prompts Lankford trial moveConcern that press coverage has tainted the limited local jury pool was the motivating factor in last month's decision to hold the Mark Lankford murder trial in northern Idaho... District Judge John Bradbury cited several factors in this case that could affect the ability to seat an impartial jury from Idaho County...
WA: access to justice for accused kids
Posted on January 04, 2008Guest editorial by Bob Boruchowitz, in the P-I:Lawyers for juveniles not automatic(C)oncerns apply to juvenile cases in which most people assume that lawyers already are appointed. The reality is that in some counties, many children facing criminal charges or truancy contempt of court proceedings have no lawyers...
Let the bake-off begin!
Posted on January 03, 2008Now that the counting's beginning, for all their vote - suppressing exclusionary tendencies, caucuses have it all over other more democratic means of choosing a nominee in one crucial area: cookies.At the end of all this, if it's Edwards, I'll very happily vote for Edwards...
"I can't believe I've got a case before the Supreme Court and I'm not even 30 years old"
Posted on January 02, 2008I know you've all seen this about David Barron, front-runner for 2008 Criminal Defense Lawyer of the Year:Public Defender Builds Injection CaseI just wanted to mention that this mentor of his..."It's an uphill battle," said Ernie Lewis, head of the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy...
WA: DUI killer - "When it came time to stand up like a man ... he chose to run"
Posted on January 02, 2008From the AP: Drunken Driver Who Fled US Gets 14 YearsA man who fled to Ireland to avoid prosecution for killing three college students in a 2001 drunken-driving wreck was sentenced Wednesday to the maximum 14 years and three months in prison."You were grossly irresponsible," Whitman County Superior Court Judge David Frazier told Frederick Russell...
Lawyers appreciate... procrastination!
Posted on December 31, 2007Shelley of The Menagerie and Gideon at a public defender tapped me with the ?Lawyers Appreciate?? meme stick a week ago. My thoughtful response was due no later than December 31st. In lieu of a thoughtful response, and with 4 hours in my time zone to go, here I go...
2 things I need 2 watch 4 the rest of my life: my weight and my classism
Posted on December 30, 2007A reminder (as if anyone needed one) that we in the profession always need to keep on top of our class biases and prejudices: Spungen at bobvis patiently explains to us why American working-class speech, or as Spungen labels it, Prole Twang, is so shameful and grating that even your own indigent clients can't bear to hear it...
ID & TX: remind me again - why do we send our Idaho inmates to Texas?
Posted on December 29, 2007From the Houston Chronicle:55 Idaho inmates sidetracked during move from Texas prisonFifty-five Idaho inmates who were moved out of a troubled Texas prison on Thursday have been forced by a contract delay to make a temporary stop before going to their final destination...
"Getting a headache"
Posted on December 29, 2007It felt wrong somehow to let the old year pass without linking to one more public defender client rant. From Technomadic Packratt:I've decided it might be a good idea to step back and look at what the cases I intend to file will be based on. So far, here's what I have: (any legal experts or hobbyists are more than welcomed to comment and/or give me some constructive criticism!)...
WA: first re-entry, then PhD
Posted on December 28, 2007From the Olympian:Cedar Creek inmate ready for releaseOf 400 inmates at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, Craig Ulrich is the only one applying to be part of a doctorate program in biochemistry when he gets out in May. "We probably don't have a lot of people leaving here to get a PhD," said Tom Matthews, retired Cedar Creek business manager...
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