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Criminal Law

Public Defender Dude

The rantings of a Public Defender constantly fighting against society's pervasive Police Industrial Complex.

Post Frequency: 1.7/day

Last Entry: September 28, 2014 at 16:26:00

Bye, bye, Nifong

Posted on June 16, 2007
Astounding as it is, the state bar of North Carolina has disbarred a prosecutor for ethical violations in prosecuting a case. Suffice it to say, getting a prosecutor disbarred for doing their core duties (as opposed to doing something unethical outside their duties, such as committing a crime on their own time) in an unethical manner is an unusual occurrence...

Paris Hilton - Political Prisoner?

Posted on June 08, 2007
Alright, I have no sympathy for Paris Hilton. I think that she has spent a life of absolute debauchery brought upon by her extreme wealth, where nothing has ever been asked of her, only that she have a pulse. By her good looks and her money, she has become, to some, a celebrity...

Ashcroft the hero of the 4th Amendment???

Posted on May 20, 2007
Over at Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall has given voice to some of the murmuring about whether former Attorney General John Ashcroft is a 4th Amendment hero in light of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey's testimony before Congress last week...

What can we make of the Duke Lacrosse Rape case?

Posted on April 17, 2007
I don't have a huge amount of time to blog about this right now, but the case clearly cries out for a comment or two from a public defender perspective. Let me make it perfectly clear. Had these gentlemen been from a poor minority neighborhood, had they played a less genteel sport than lacrosse (like, say, basketball), there is a very good likelihood that these people would've gone on trial a long time ago, or at the very least they would have taken a deal on the case...

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"Prior Bad Acts" and the Phil Spector Trial

Posted on April 05, 2007
It is an axiom of the law of evidence in criminal law, for centuries, that one's character cannot be used against one in a prosecution. The theory is that people should be convicted of crimes based on the evidence of these crimes, and not based on their character...

Gang Prosecutions - Politically Correct Prosecutions going after Low-hanging fruit

Posted on March 31, 2007
I've written about it before, but it's become ever more absurd where I practice law. As noted in this Los Angeles Times article, the Los Angeles DA is filing ever more cases with "gang allegations" against people, no matter what the case, increasing exponentially the amount of time people are getting in prison...

6 Month Hiatus - Over?

Posted on March 25, 2007
I can't believe it's been 6 months since I've last blogged. Things had slowed down for me dramatically, mostly because I've been so busy (it's good to know for all of you taxpayers out there that Public Defender Dude has been earning his keep while eating at the public trough)...

Nancy Grace drives mother of kidnapped infant to kill herself

Posted on September 13, 2006
I've often thought that Nancy Grace is just an evil witch, the worst of the worst that prosecutors have to offer, coupled with that intensive desire of the media to sentionalize any issue that will make them more money and get them more viewers - people and constitutional rights be damned...

LA Times Runs Series on Norwalk Public Defender

Posted on September 05, 2006
The Los Angeles Times is running a 5 part series that is apparently focused entirely on a PD in the Norwalk Branch of the LA County Public Defender's Office. You can read the article here, and from there you can find the other articles in the series. Today's is part 2...

A few thoughts on John Karr

Posted on August 30, 2006
Alright, so we know that this guy was a nut, and that he had nothing to do with killing Jon Benet Ramsey, and clearly that the media circus surrounding his arrest and extradition was among the lower moments in an low profession (at least the tabloid media, which is what most of the media turns into when confronted with something like this - lord knows they don't want to be left behind by the tabloids as happened in the past)...

The President is NOT above the law!!! - NSA program struck down

Posted on August 17, 2006
I want a terrorist to his this country as much as the next guy, which is to say, not at all. I also want our country to have something important to preserve - freedom, lawful institutions, law and order, democracy, silly little things like that. For the past 6 years those concepts have given way to doing away with the evildoers...

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