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Criminal Law

Law Of Criminal Defense

News, information, ethics opinions and analysis relating to criminal defense, legal ethics and professional responsibility.
By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Post Frequency: 11.2/day

Last Entry: March 25, 2011 at 18:32:28

MSP lawyer accused of stealing from firm

Posted on April 29, 2009
A Minneapolis-St. Paul criminal defense lawyer was accused of stealing $124k from his own law firm.

WI: Lawyer's use of deceit to get information to aid client was not a violation of rules

Posted on April 29, 2009
Through the ABA, I got a document to be or that was published in 25 Law. Man. Prof. Conduct 115 where the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in an unsigned opinion not on its website, held that a lawyer did not violate Rule 4.1 by using deceit to get access to evidence where the police and prosecutors do it all the time, there was no alternative means to get the information, and nobody but the prosecutor seemed to think that there was anything wrong with it, especially the other lawyers in the jurisdiction...

NYC NPR on qualify of public defense

Posted on April 28, 2009
WNYC (NPR): Ailsa Chang, You Have the Right to an Attorney, But What About the Quality?

Richard J. ?Dick? Carstensen of Montana has died

Posted on April 26, 2009
Richard J. ‘Dick’ Carstensen, a Montana criminal defense lawyer and former federal magistrate died at 80. A lifelong opponent of the death penalty, Dick was proud of being one of a group of appellate attorneys who secured permanent reversals of two Montana death sentences...

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US Commonwealth ethics rules added

Posted on April 25, 2009
The ethics rules to the U.S. Commonwealths have been added to the right margin: • Puerto Rico (English only) • Virgin Islands • Guam • Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands Why you might ask? Because my ethics book is used there, and I've gotten calls from lawyers there, not just Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands...

Criminal defense lawyer accused of structuring cash deposits

Posted on April 24, 2009
A Raleigh NC criminal defense lawyer has been indicted for structuring cash deposits into deposits of less than $10,000, totaling more than $350,000 over two years, but seven counts.

www.InternetSleuth.net

Posted on April 24, 2009
Internet Sleuth, a defense oriented investigation site, has been placed on the right margin. Check it out, and use it.

William Moffitt has died; NACDL Past President

Posted on April 24, 2009
Bill Moffitt, NACDL's 41st President, died today. NACDL's press release: Past President William B. Moffitt (1949–2009) Washington, DC (April 24, 2009) – Past President William B. (Bill) Moffitt passed away this morning. He was 60 years old...

Nashville lawyer suspended for offering to take stolen property for a fee

Posted on April 23, 2009
A Nashville criminal defense lawyer, arrested in the courthouse in March for a possession indictment, was subjected to an interim suspension for allegedly offering to accept stolen property as a fee.

OH8: No IAC where defendant pled guilty before motion to suppress

Posted on April 21, 2009
Defendant who pled guilty before motion to suppress could have been filed cannot claim IAC against defense counsel. State v. Bishop, 2009 Ohio 1797, 2009 Ohio App. LEXIS 1519 (8th Dist. April 16, 2009).*

Chicago criminal defense lawyer convicted of smuggling drugs into jail

Posted on April 20, 2009
Back on January 17th was this post: Criminal defense lawyer charged with smuggling marijuana into courthouse holding cells for cash. That lawyer has not even gone to trial. Another was convicted last week: Chicago Lawyer Convicted of Bringing Contraband into Jail: The drugs were being delivered with the help of a girlfriend of a jail inmate who put the drugs in tinfoil and hid them in large stacks of legal documents, prosecutors said...

Tax lawyer convicted of client's tax evaion gets 2 level enhancement

Posted on April 19, 2009
A tax lawyer received a two level enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 3B1.3 for use of special skill or abuse of trust in a tax evasion case where the lawyer criminally evaded taxes for his tax client. United States v. Jewell, No. 4:07CR00103 JLH (E.D.Ark...

Kieffer convicted

Posted on April 16, 2009
Minnesota Man Convicted Of Impersonating Lawyer from AP and Duluth man convicted of impersonating lawyer.

OR: Defendant was advised of risk of deportation, so no IAC

Posted on April 15, 2009
An illegal alien could not show ineffective assistance because his lawyer did tell him that deportation was a risk of conviction, and he should expect it. Guzman v. State, A132817 (Ore. App. April 8, 2009) (per curiam)*: Taken as a whole, the advice given petitioner alerted him that he could be deported and did not mislead him as to the probability of that outcome...

Kieffer trial begins in Bismarck

Posted on April 15, 2009
The trial of Howard Kieffer began in Bismarck yesterday. See Jury Chosen In Trial Of Alleged Phony Lawyer: Howard O. Kieffer never attended law school, a federal prosecutor says. But three attorneys testified Tuesday that they thought Kieffer was a lawyer because of his expertise in federal court matters and because they saw him at attorney training seminars.

Missing Philly lawyer arrested in VA

Posted on April 14, 2009
More on Philly's peripatetic defendant criminal defense lawyer who was a no show in court for his own case: He was arrested outside a hotel in Arlington, Virginia after denying he was the person in the wanted flier with his picture. My previous post is here...

Cook Co. PD seeks to strike DP allegation for lack of funds

Posted on April 13, 2009
On Yahoo! news: Cook County PD asks judge to strike DP because it can't afford to defend the case: Public defender pleads broke in death penalty case because former Governor Rod Blagojevich, as in United States v. ..., vetoed the appropriation. The insensitivity of Chicago politics and the politics of death...

"[O]ften competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime"

Posted on April 12, 2009
Remember Justice Jackson's reference to the "often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime", Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14 (1948)? See Shortfalls Unraveled Stevens's Conviction in today's Washington Post: Former department attorneys, for example, cited chronic problems that have plagued the unit: competition and confusion with partner prosecutors in U...

S.D.Fla.: $601k Hyde Amendment sanction against government

Posted on April 10, 2009
Back in March, I had this post about the government listening to lawyer telephone calls trying to trap the lawyer, to no avail. Yesterday, a federal judge in Miami issued a Hyde Amendment order sanctioning the government $601,000 in the case. See Feds Ordered to Pay More Than $600K in Legal Fees for Misconduct in Fla...

AR: Failure to deliver file on withdrawal justified discipline

Posted on April 10, 2009
Arkansas decides a discipline appeal for violation of Rule 1.16 for not delivering the file to the client on withdrawal where the lawyer relied on "office policy." While there are two possible outcomes, entire file or the file without work product, the client got neither, so the disciplinary was affirmed...

NY caps PD caseloads in NYC

Posted on April 06, 2009
New York State's budget has capped caseloads for public defenders, but only in NYC. See Sunday's NYTimes.

Defendant lawyer a no show in his own case

Posted on April 02, 2009
A criminal defense lawyer on house arrest in his own case in Philadelphia was a no show in his own case: Lawyer facing drug counts again is a no-show in court.

Husband of Baton Rouge murdered lawyer held

Posted on March 28, 2009
On February 20th is this post: Baton Rouge criminal defense lawyer murdered. CNN.com reports today that her husband was arrested as a suspect. Lawyer stabbed 38 times; husband held. The defense lawyer says the police have the wrong man, and the husband was fully cooperative.

Withdrawal for non-payment of fees--instruction from a civil case

Posted on March 26, 2009
On withdraw in a civil case for nonpayment of fees see Brandon v. Blech, 08-5355 (6th Cir. March 24, 2009). While it is not binding in criminal cases, it is instructive that Model Rule 1.16 should control be the starting point for analysis.

The emptiness of legal scholarhship?

Posted on March 26, 2009
On emptiness of legal scholarship today is this interesting article by Pierre Schlag, Spam Jurisprudence, Air Law, and the Rank Anxiety of Nothing Happening (A Report on the State of the Art), 97 Georgetown L.J. 803 (2009).

ABAJournal.com on Howard Kieffer

Posted on March 25, 2009
The strange case of Howard Kieffer made the April ABA Journal, online today: Catch Me If You Can, by Stephanie Ward. Prior Kieffer posts in 2008 here are: Non-lawyer holding self out as lawyer? and Denver Post: "Faux lawyer confesses he's a sham".

Britney Spears pays $26k for defense of driving without a license case

Posted on March 24, 2009
What does a Florida driving without a license trial cost for defense counsel? In Britney Spears' case, $26,000.

AR: Appellate counsel determines the issues, not the client

Posted on March 24, 2009
In an Arkansas death case on post-conviction, the inmate sought to force his attorneys off the case because they did not meet with him and would not argue the issues he thought important. That is not his right. Lee v. State, CR08-160 (Ark. March 19, 2009): We noted in our decision on appellant’s previous pro se motion that, at this stage in the proceedings, the issues raised in appellant’s pro se pleadings are merely an attempt to substitute appellant’s own judgment for that of his attorneys and compete with appointed counsel to be heard...

IL: Trial judge cannot bar a public defender from court

Posted on March 20, 2009
A trial judge has no authority to order an assistant public defender out of his courtroom. In this case, the judge has some personal disagreements with the APD and refused to recognize her as an advocate in his courtroom. Burnette v. Terrell, 106678 (Ill...

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