Criminal Law

Sotomayor sees inexcusable lawyering as a "strategic choice"

Posted on January 20, 2010
I've been saying since the start that Sotomayor is going to be a terrible disappointment, and that we've squandered the chance to bring on a powerful voice for the disenfranchised.So right here, in the wake of a Coakley loss, is the proof of concept:The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence of a mentally impaired Alabama man who killed his former lover despite the fact that his lawyer, ( who lacked criminal law experience) failed to tell jurors that he had an IQ of less than 70 and had been classified as mentally retarded...

Gotta Love This...

Posted on January 03, 2010

Let's do the numbers...

Posted on December 30, 2009
Ever since the show was cancelled, I keep getting asked about our numbers. And thanks to the good folks over at The Futon Critic, I can provide them. Now one thing about numbers?there are lots of ways to slice them including important things like the demographics, the number of people who watch live vs...

This from Simple Justice

Posted on December 29, 2009
Hat tip to Simple Justice who had this nice post on the recent decision in People v. Radcliffe More on this soon...

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Episodes 13, 14 and 15...

Posted on December 29, 2009
For those of you wanting to know how RTB turns out, you can find the last three episodes onlinehere.

Britain to Tax Banker Bonuses

Posted on December 09, 2009
I love the way they're doing this. We won't of course, but we should--a windfall profits tax is perfectly appropriate here. At least as long as we're not going to just chuck the whole system and adopt an APT tax which is what we should do.

The Final Episodes of RTB...

Posted on December 09, 2009
It's official. Not only is Raising the Bar dead, but it appears it will receive a cruel dark shove into oblivion...This from The Futon Critic.com..."TNT will say goodbye to "Raising the Bar" with a three-episode marathon on Thursday, December 24 beginning at 8:00/7:00c...

Thinking about time...

Posted on December 01, 2009
In the wake of yesterday's news that RTB had been cancelled, I found myself thinking a lot about the whole arc of my life, (leaving The Bronx Defenders, writing Indefensible, going back and forth to Hollywood etc) and more specifically about time and doing time...

TNT Cancels Mark-Paul Gosselaar's Raising the Bar - E! Online

Posted on November 30, 2009
Bummer

The gutsiest move by a politician in a long time

Posted on November 23, 2009
Gov. Ted Strickland grants clemency to 78 people and why? Rehabilitation! And not just your drug guys doing 100 years for possession either, he actually released people convicted of murder, and other serious crimes. Bravo Governor. I'm sending you a donation today, and I urge other readers to do the same or to at least write and express your approval:You can do that HERE

Justice à Manhattan

Posted on November 20, 2009
I love the french Here's the awesome plot summary of one of my RTB episodes:Jerry et Richard se battent pour des clients victimes de verdicts injustes. Richard doit affronter le juge Kessler, qui est davantage préoccupé par un rencard surprise que par le procès...

Court officer steals documents from the defense file on videotape!

Posted on November 20, 2009
Now he has to apologize or go to jail.Judge Donahoe held Deputy Adam Stoddard in contempt for the Oct. 19 incident in which he could be seen on a courtroom security video sneaking up behind attorney Joanne Cuccia in the middle of a hearing and taking a document from her file...

Alexander Cockburn quotes me...

Posted on November 20, 2009
how cool is this?!"They will offer these and scores of other persuasive arguments, and it is impossible to imagine they will prevail. As David Feige, a public defender in the Bronx, presaged in a smart piece on the Slate site, these efforts by the defense team will fail and produce bad law...

Another little Slate piece...

Posted on November 19, 2009
The real price of trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. - By David Feige - Slate Magazine

Old Video From the TCA's

Posted on November 18, 2009
TNT's Raising the Barby tvguideMakes me nostalgic.

Fernando Bermudez Declared Innocent of Murder

Posted on November 16, 2009
It's about time.Congratulations to former colleague Michael Risinger and his wife who represented Fernando and were instrumental in his exoneration.

Someone knows how to spell schadenfreude

Posted on November 13, 2009
OOPS!: A man blamed a low-flying pelican and a dropped cell phone for his veering his million-dollar sports car off a road and into a salt marsh near Galveston. The accident happened about 3 p.m. Wednesday on the frontage road of Interstate 45 northbound in La Marque, about 35 miles southeast of Houston...

Facebook update saves teen from jail

Posted on November 13, 2009
Hat tip to Joel...

Memories...

Posted on November 12, 2009
Makes me nostalgic...

Republicans and Democrats like us...

Posted on October 06, 2009
Ok, dear readers, I'd love your analysis of this one:Want to grab a Republican and not in the usual TV places? Try "Wipeout" on ABC. A Democrat? How about TNT's "Saving Grace"?In July, TiVo used Power||WatchTM ratings service -- one that surveys its DVR users -- to examine party affiliations concerning TV programming...

Weird NYT goof...

Posted on September 27, 2009
This looks to me like an e-mail from the writer to the assignment editor.

Just once and for all, can we get this straight?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Ok, I'm sick and tired of hearing about how you can't release pedophiles and rapists because they all re-offend.Let's once and for all understand what our ownBureau of Justice Statistics says:THESE ARE THE MOST RECENT LONG-TERM STUDY NUMBERS:Of the 272,111 persons released from prisons in 15 States in 1994, an estimated 67...

A must read...

Posted on September 05, 2009
Just read this piece. It's called The Rubber Room and it's about education in NYC

Unhappy Ashcroft...

Posted on September 04, 2009
A federal appeals court has ruled that former Attorney General John Ashcroft may be held liable for people who were wrongfully detained as material witnesses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.In a harshly worded ruling handed down Friday, a three-judge panel of the 9th U...

Love the LA Times....

Posted on August 28, 2009
Compare this from today with this from just a year ago...

Teddy Kennedy: May he rest in peace

Posted on August 26, 2009
A real loss.: "He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly...

It's only taken eight years...

Posted on August 24, 2009
But finally there's a little more progress on double blind sequential line-ups. Turns out, Dallas has adopted what they term a pioneering new photo lineup approach, and only 8 years after I filed the first motion on this in People v. Franco.Better late than never...

A little preview of my episode...

Posted on August 17, 2009

The whole gang...

Posted on August 17, 2009

6 months in jail for yawning -

Posted on August 12, 2009
THanks to O for this one:JOLIET, Ill. ? Drowsy spectators in one suburban Chicago courtroom might want to stifle their yawns from now on. Clifton Williams, 33, of Richton Park, is facing six months in jail for making what court documents call a yawn-like sound in Will County Judge Daniel Rozak's court last month...

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