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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

California Bar investigating Brady violation

Posted on May 20, 2008
California Bar hearing case alleging prosecutorial misconduct in withholding exculpatory evidence. Prosecutor faces rare disciplinary hearing today, San Jose Mercury News. The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother...

Merely eliciting bad information in witness examination is not IAC

Posted on May 20, 2008
Merely eliciting bad information in witness examination is not ineffective assistance. State v. Hairston, 06CRS055833 (N.C. May 20, 2008).

Kuehne receives criminal defense award

Posted on May 18, 2008
Indicted Miamia lawyer Ben Kuehne received an award from his colleagues Saturday, see NLJ: Ben Kuehne, the prominent Miami defense attorney who is facing federal charges of money laundering in connection with his vetting of legal fees, will receive the highest honor from a Miami criminal defense organization Saturday night...

"Lawyer Quits Firm to Continue Juvenile Client?s Defense"

Posted on May 17, 2008
A lawyer gave up a law firm job to continue to represent a juvenile in a wrongful death action. Pursuing justice/Lawyer quits firm to continue client’s defense, in the New Pittsburgh Courier: Nine times out of 10, the saying goes, when someone says, “it’s not the money, it’s the principle,” it’s really about “the money...

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Hourly billing starting to disappear

Posted on May 15, 2008
The billable hour bites the dust in another area of the country: Birmingham: The billable hour system, which charges clients by the hour for legal services, has been a standard billing method for decades, but has its share of critics that claim it results in exorbitant legal costs and the dragging out of legal procedures...

§ 2:18 The right to counsel

Posted on May 14, 2008
§ 2:18 The right to counsel can be forfeited by serious misconduct. Here, defendant seriously assaulted his public defender in front of the jury. The trial court rejected use of a stun belt as inadequate and had the defendant shackled an in jail clothes since his court clothes had the public defender's blood all over them...

Lawyer purchasing marijuana from client warrants disbarment

Posted on May 14, 2008
Lawyer's purchasing marijuana 10-15 times from a client justifies disbarment. It is a conflict of interest with the client under RPC 1.8(b) and reflects on the attorney's fitness to practice. In re Cowger, 99,955 (Kan. May 9, 2008).

Lawyer cannot abandon appeal because client did not pay

Posted on May 13, 2008
§ 21:17 n. 3 A lawyer who failed to work on a filed immigration appeal because he had not been paid was referred to the Second Circuit's disciplinary panel. Bennett v. Mukasey, 2008 WL 2003777 (2d Cir. May 12, 2008) (Newman, J., in chambers). Pay-as-You-Go Lawyer Referred to 2nd Circuit's Grievance Panel on Law...

Jury selection before a USMJ is a lawyer's tactical decision

Posted on May 13, 2008
§ 9:32 n. 8 Jury selection before a U.S. Magistrate Judge rather than an Art. III District Judge is a tactical decision reserved to counsel. Gonzalez v. United States, 2008 WL 2001954 (May 12, 2008): Giving the attorney control of trial management mattersis a practical necessity...

Acquitted federal prosecutor denied attorneys fees under Hyde Amendment

Posted on May 09, 2008
A former federal prosecutor prosecuted for presenting false evidence and obstruction of justice in a terrorism trial and acquitted is denied attorneys fees because he could not show that the prosecution was in bad faith. Today's Detroit Free Press: Convertino request is denied.

Justice Scalia on criminal defense lawyers?

Posted on May 08, 2008
Justice Scalia on C-SPAN; is he complaining about criminal defense lawyers or female lawyers? I am all and all more impressed by the quality of the lawyers before us than I am discouraged by their lack of competence. Former Chief Justice Burger was a severe critic of the bar...

Lawyer under indictment has duty to disclose to client where prosecutor is the same

Posted on May 07, 2008
New Jersey holds that a lawyer under indictment for stalking had a duty to disclose to a murder defendant client that he was being prosecuted by the same prosecutor's office he was defending the client against because he would likely need something for himself from that prosecutor...

Texas Lawyer on lawyer suicide

Posted on May 06, 2008
Texas Lawyer has an article about the 2005 hospital suicide of a "driven" lawyer: Attorney, Interrupted: Seeking Meaning, Recovery for a Legal Life Lost. His estate sued the hospital he was committed to for giving him a razor he used to take his life...

Criminal justice as part of society's "infrastructure"

Posted on May 05, 2008
In an article about the Neville Brothers' return to New Orleans' Jazzfest after Katrina, the NY Times on Friday referred to criminal justice as a part of the city's "infrastructure" that has not returned to normal. Mr. Davis added that while the city’s hospitality business has returned to its old capabilities for events like Jazzfest, Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl, its infrastructure — from utilities to public schools to criminal justice — has by no means been fully restored...

"Thurgood" on Broadway

Posted on May 04, 2008
I'm in NYC at an NACDL meeting, and, because it is of a limited run, I went to Thurgood this afternoon. Astounding wasn't the the word--tour de force is better. A one man play with Laurence Fishburne. It runs only through July 12th. If you can get to it, go...

Incivility results in order to write article on civility

Posted on May 03, 2008
A lawyer who was not civil to another lawyer was subjected to the creative sanction by a federal court of writing an article on civility for the state bar journal. Legal Profession Blog, with a copy of the order.

Moncier suspended from federal court for at least three years

Posted on May 02, 2008
Herb Moncier of Knoxville, who received a contempt for not stopping talking, as noted here, was suspended from practice in federal court for at least three years, and maybe as much as seven, by the Eastern District of Tennessee. See the Knoxville News Sentinel here: Accusing a prominent Knoxville lawyer of running amok in the face of repeated warnings, the region's top federal judge on Tuesday ordered Herbert S...

Wearing microphone during trial was conflict and breach of confidentiality but defendant waived, so no IAC

Posted on April 29, 2008
Defense counsel's wearing a microphone for television recording during defendant's trial created an actual conflict of interest and potentially violated confidentiality, but it was not ineffective assistance of counsel and defendant consented to the potential conflict...

NY Times: "Lawyers Fear Monitoring in Cases on Terrorism"

Posted on April 28, 2008
In today's NY Times: Lawyers Fear Monitoring in Cases on Terrorism: PORTLAND, Ore. — Thomas Nelson, an Oregon lawyer, has lived in a state of perpetual jet lag for the last two years. Every few weeks, he boards a plane in Portland and flies to the Middle East to meet with a high-profile Saudi client who cannot enter the United States because he faces charges here of financing terrorism...

Gitmo lawyer concerned about fairness of trials

Posted on April 27, 2008
The lead Gitmo lawyer is concerned about fairness of the trials, from PaperChase. Many of the defendants are not going to participate in the trials, as noted here. One obvious concern of the Gitmo detainees naturally would be the zealousness of their military counsel...

D.C. Madam's former criminal defense lawyer suspended by Florida Bar

Posted on April 25, 2008
D.C. Madam's former criminal defense lawyer was suspended by Florida Bar for three years, according to ABAJournal.com for abusive litigation tactics and a huge child support debt.

ABAJournal.com: "Lawyer Surrenders License After Bar Says He Left Innocent Client in Jail"

Posted on April 24, 2008
The ABAJournal.com posted this story this morning: Lawyer Surrenders License After Bar Says He Left Innocent Client in Jail, linking to the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. This was, however, only one of multiple ethical complaints: Count 9 (page 16 of this pdf) where the lawyer had information of actual innocence and sat on it for months while the client remained in jail...

Criminal defense lawyer accused to taking cocaine for fees

Posted on April 23, 2008
An Arkansas criminal defense lawyer (and (now) former part-time public defender) was charged a few days ago with taking cocaine from a client for fees, three times. The client was wired by the police and delivered an "8 ball" where a greater quantity was discussed...

Portland PD retires after 37 years on the job

Posted on April 22, 2008
James Hennings, who signed on to the Portland PD's office for a two year stint to get it started, retired after 37 years on the job, according to the Portland Oregonian. The office grew from two lawyers to 60 with a support staff of 80 handling 17,000 cases last year: He helped found the firm eight years after the landmark U...

Lawyer arrests cop

Posted on April 22, 2008
A young lawyer accused a cop of parking infractions with a citizen's arrest, according to the Portland Mercury. Reading this reminded me of Gomer yelling "Citizen's arrest, citizen's arrest" to Barney Fife. Too young to remember that one, huh?

Hourly billing in extremis: �5.2M to prepare for a five day trial

Posted on April 20, 2008
In what has to be a record, a UK law firm billed a client £5.2M (US$10.4M) over 15 months to prepare for a five day trial, as reported on ABAJournal.com, a situation the trial judge found "shocking." Two associates worked 2300 hours each, the equivalent of full time on one case, and everybody in the firm a combined total of nine man years for the five day trial...

PDs reveal deceased client's confession after 26 years to free another man

Posted on April 19, 2008
After client's death, his two public defenders were able to reveal his confession to a homicide that wrongfully kept another man in prison for 26 years. See today's Chicago Sun-Times and AOL news and an AP post from last week in preparation for yesterday's hearing...

90 days for masturbatory hand gesture to judge

Posted on April 17, 2008
Lawyer who made masturbatory hand gesture during a judge's ruling previously posted here at the time of the contempt, gets 90 days and calls the sentence fair. Austin Statesman-American: Lewd gesture gets lawyer 90 days in jail.

Sixth Amendment does not apply to international extradition

Posted on April 16, 2008
The Sixth Amendment has no application in an international extradition proceeding. [Although here, the court grants a conditional extradition based on the assurances of the requesting country that a new trial will be given on extradition because the fugitive was tried in absentia even in apparent violation of the requesting country's constitution...

Filed your tax return?

Posted on April 15, 2008
Failed to file your tax return? Apparently the IRS likes to make examples by prosecuting lawyers. See ABAJournal.com from late today.

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