Criminal Law

Why juvy advocacy matters

Posted on November 11, 2008
Scop 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, 2008
Veterans'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, 2008
From 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, 2008
From 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...'?

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NV: office space

Posted on November 07, 2008
From 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, 2008
From 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...

A change is gonna come

Posted on November 04, 2008
Have a happy Election Day.

WA: budgeting for justice east of Wenatchee

Posted on November 04, 2008
From 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...

Glory

Posted on November 04, 2008
The 44th President of the United States

WA: Seattle p.d.s protest

Posted on October 31, 2008
It'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, 2008
From 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, 2008
One 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, 2008
From 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, 2008
From 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, 2008
Via 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, 2008
A 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, 2008
From 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, 2008
After 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, 2008
I'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, 2008
Sarah 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, 2008
First 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, 2008
Hi, 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, 2008
From 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...

Above Lawyer's Canyon

Posted on October 19, 2008

Back from Lawyer Creek

Posted on October 19, 2008
The story of the original Lawyer is here.

WA: ?drug court saved my life?

Posted on October 17, 2008
From 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, 2008
Today 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, 2008
From 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, 2008
From 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, 2008
Just 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.

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