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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

OH: Two year suspension for not doing post-conviction after taking fee

Posted on October 20, 2008
A lawyer was suspended in Ohio for two years for taking fees in post-conviction matters and then not doing the work. Columbus Bar Assn. v. Ellis, 2008-Ohio-5278 (Oct. 16, 2008).

Law office mail bomb?

Posted on October 17, 2008
There was a law office explosion in the Atlanta suburb of Dalton today. Maybe it was a bombing. The law firm handles PI and wrongful death cases. See Ch. 46 in Atlanta. Remember when mail bombs were sent?

"Bailout" and some lawyers

Posted on October 17, 2008
When you are thinking about the bailout, rescue, or socialization of mortgage banking, consider this: Lawyers Hope Bailout Bill ‘a Full Employment Act’ for Law Firms.

"Is the Economy Making You Sick?"

Posted on October 15, 2008
Dr. Sherri Bourg Carter, author of § 34:7, "Professional Burnout: An occupation hazard for lawyer," published Is the Economy Making You Sick? Probably More Than You Know, on HealthNewsDigest.com today.

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White collar lawyers sued for fraud for fee overbilling

Posted on October 13, 2008
Lawyers who billed $12M for a white collar case that should have taken $1M failed to get the fraud case against them dismissed, and it apparently will be going to trial. See Judge Allows Suit Claiming a Billing ‘Free for All’ by WilmerHale, on ABAJournal...

CT lawyer convicted of obtaining bribe money for a particular result in a drug case

Posted on October 13, 2008
Lawyer who got a "charitable contribution" from the client to insure a suspended sentence in a drug case, but kept the money for himself, was convicted by a Connecticut jury of tampering and bribery. See ABAJournal.com, reporting on an article in the Hartford Courant.

Pleading full of typos gets fee cut by 75% in � 1983 case

Posted on October 08, 2008
A sloppy pleading seeking attorney's fees after a civil rights jury vereict, full of typos and misquoting federal rules, resulted in a federal judge cutting the attorney's fees award that the pleading sought by about 75%. See Law.com. The pleading included a cut and paste from another document without correction of names...

Giving the finger to a judge is contempt

Posted on October 04, 2008
Lawyer's conviction for giving the finger to a judge was affirmed. State v. Rogers, No. 26969 (Tenn. App. September 29, 2008): In this case, the facts are not essentially in dispute. The defendant reacted angrily to the Court’s proceeding with its recess by throwing his file...

Lawyers losing jobs

Posted on October 03, 2008
ABAJournal.com: Legal Employment Down 15,600 Jobs Since ‘07.

"If you do something good, never

Posted on October 01, 2008
"If you do something good, never do it for free." --Joker (spoken by Heath Ledger), The Dark Knight.

IA: Offer to destroy forged document and have client not cooperate in investigation warrants reprimand

Posted on September 16, 2008
Attorney's offer to destroy a forged document and to make sure his client did not cooperate in a criminal investigation was publicly reprimanded. Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board v. Buchanan, 08–0176 (Iowa September 12, 2008).

Ohio Brady violation: Six month suspension?

Posted on September 14, 2008
Ohio is considering whether to suspend a former prosecutor's license for six months for a Brady violation. See Columbus Dispatch: Justices to rule on evidence sharing / Former assistant prosecutor could lose license over rape-case conduct: A former Logan County assistant prosecutor is fighting to keep her law license after the Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel determined that she withheld evidence from the defense in a rape case...

Client reveals her roll in '99 burial of murder victim, freeing lawyer of the secret

Posted on September 12, 2008
On the ABA's website today is an article from the St. Petersburg Times, Secret of real estate agent's 1999 murder haunted lawyer by Chris Tisch. The article is about a client admitting her role in the disposal of a murder victim's body, and the lawyer having to keep the secret...

CO: Lesser included offense defense counsel's call

Posted on September 09, 2008
The decision whether to request jury instructions on lesser offenses is a tactical decision that rested with defense counsel after consultation with the client. Arko v. People, 183 P.3d 555 (Colo. 2008).

Don't cite Wikipedia

Posted on September 05, 2008
The Eighth Circuit reversed a BIA determination for relying on Wikipedia because the website is not authoritative of anything. Badasa v. Attorney General, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18603 (8th Cir. August 28, 2008). We conclude that the case must be remanded for further proceedings, because the BIA failed adequately to explain its conclusion that Badasa did not establish her identity...

A lawyer involved in a conspiracy

Posted on September 04, 2008
A lawyer involved in a conspiracy to promote a false identity to the court in a traffic case was suspended for 30 days with two years probation in California. The client had represented himself to be his passenger in the car who was a longtime friend...

NJLJ: Feds can review criminal defense lawyer's files with taint team

Posted on September 03, 2008
In yesterday's New Jersey Law Journal: Federal Judge Rules Government Can Scour All of Lawyer's Seized Computer Records: A federal judge has given prosecutors the go-ahead to review computer records seized from the office of a criminal defense lawyer, even if it means looking at files of clients who were not targets of the search...

OH: Conflict in representing co-defendants in preliminary hearings

Posted on September 02, 2008
The Ohio Board of Grievances and Discipline has issued Opinion 2008-04 on August 15, 2008 that public defenders should not represent co-defendants in a preliminary hearing, including another assistant public defender. From the Syllabus: Pursuant to Rule 1...

WaPo: Criminal defense lawyer on Labor Day

Posted on August 31, 2008
Interview with a criminal defense lawyer for Labor Day in today's Washington Post: Mad About You / Having a Job That Ticks Off Everybody Isn't as Bad as You Might Think: It's Labor Day weekend, so we paused to think about work. Then we started thinking about people whose work attracts the suspicion, dismissal or loathing of the general public...

"Judge Won?t Sanction Prosecutor for Making PD Do Unnecessary Work"

Posted on August 30, 2008
A public defender prepared for trial while the prosecutor was intending to drop the charge, without telling her. See ABA's Judge Won’t Sanction Prosecutor for Making PD Do Unnecessary Work. We've all done that, and there isn't much that can be done about it.

DoJ to adopt rule easing penalizing corporations for paying attorneys fees for employees

Posted on August 28, 2008
Today the Department of Justice will ease its rules of penalizing companies for paying the attorneys fees of its employees. See today's NY Times: U.S. to Ease Pressure Tactic Over Legal Help for Employees. NACDL has worked on this, with others, for three years...

NJLJ: "Why Do Lawyers Lie? One Word: Narcissism"

Posted on August 22, 2008
An interesting article by Arthur D. Burger, New Jersey Law Journal: Why Do Lawyers Lie? One Word: Narcissism: Ratner explains that extremely narcissistic people are so "needy for the affirmation of success," that the idea of losing is seen as unbearable...

More recession news for lawyers

Posted on August 21, 2008
Law firm overhead continues to grown while revenue slumps, not just for criminal defense lawyers--all private practitioners. Demand for paid legal services is off. Dan DiPietro, Bumpy--and Slow--Ride for Law Firms Through 2008, on AmLawDaily: Since 2001, the legal industry has been characterized by double-digit profit growth, strong demand, solid productivity, and controlled expense growth...

LA: Kicking back fees to avoid firm's knowledge merits disbarment

Posted on August 19, 2008
Lawyer's claim that he waived a fee to the client [here, a PI case] who was a friend and the client kicked back the fee to the lawyer to avoid it going through the firm's books resulted in a recommendation for disbarment. In re Sharp, La. Atty. Disc. Bd...

ABA: "50 Lawyers Pack Court to Support Solo Whose Office Was Searched"

Posted on August 12, 2008
On ABAJournal.com today about the Collin County Texas law office search: 50 Lawyers Pack Court to Support Solo Whose Office Was Searched. My previous post from July 19th is here. The Texas Lawyer has this article: Controversy Over the Police Search of a Collin County Law Practice

Suspension for talking to another defendant in a murder case without lawyer present under Rule 4.2

Posted on August 11, 2008
An attorney in Illinois was recommended to be suspended for 45 days for a violation of Rule 4.2 for talking to another lawyer's client where both clients were charged with the same murder. In re Norton, Commission No. 07 SH 37 (August 5, 2008). (Hat tip to Legal Profession Blog...

Two AUSAs under investigation for having represented person recorded

Posted on August 11, 2008
Two AUSA's are under state and federal ethics investigation for directing a deputy sheriff to record a represented person, his former boss the Sheriff. See ABA's Two Prosecutors Face Ethics Probes for Secret Recording of Suspect.

"Prosecutors drove costs of Ga. capital case"

Posted on August 10, 2008
The former judge on the Atlanta courthouse shooting case said Friday that the prosecution has driven up the cost of the defense of the case. AP: Judge: Prosecutors drove costs of Ga. capital case. Duh!

MD lawyers testify to dispel claims of witness tampering

Posted on August 09, 2008
In two cases, Maryland lawyers have been ordered to testify to dispel claim by witnesses of tampering. Today's Baltimore Sun: 'Street justice' seeps into court strategy / Accusations link defense lawyers to defendants' culture: In two trials this week, Baltimore defense attorneys took the witness stand to defend themselves against allegations of witness tampering -- evidence, prosecutors say, of some attorneys' willingness to push the boundaries by playing into the city's "street justice" culture...

Federal DP case standby counsel denied withdrawal

Posted on August 08, 2008
Standby defense counsel in a federal death penalty case ordered to stay on after their motion to withdraw denied. See AP: Judge tells Idaho killer's standby counsel to stay: Lawyers serving as standby counsel for a man who murdered a family to kidnap and sexually abuse two children asked to withdraw from the sentencing phase of his federal case on Wednesday, but the judge refused...

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