Criminal Law

ID: Blaine County crime news update

Posted on February 27, 2009

My fellow Idahoans

Posted on February 25, 2009
Please 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
A 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)

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

PA: judge - "I just don?t believe I have to spoon-feed people"

Posted on February 22, 2009
From 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, 2009
It'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, 2009
Check 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, 2009
Humongous 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
The 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)

Happy Valentines Day

Posted on February 14, 2009
Work-related greetings via 7 Deadly Sinners

PA: juvenile injustice, judicial avarice

Posted on February 13, 2009
The 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
Brimming 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
Today 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, 2009
As 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, 2009
Nothing 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
Equal 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, 2009
Light 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
Big 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
From 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, 2009
From 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...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.