Blog Posts

The so-called Proud Boys trial has finally started. A jury of twelve and three alternatives heard a half day of evidence last week. This week, the Government will present as many as a dozen more witnesses. In the weeks to come, a jury will hear evidence about the extent to which, if at all, the...

On the ninth day of jury selection in the case of United States of America v. Joseph Biggs, et al, otherwise known as the Proud Boys insurrection case, my law license was suspended for six months by the same Connecticut judge who presided over the judicial train wreck involving Alex Jones and Sandy...

I’ve been reading press reports of the Derek Chauvin case in Minneapolis with a gnawing sense that something isn’t quite right. I can’t tell whether Chauvin’s defense seem are understated geniuses or, perhaps, not up to the task. As for the prosecution, it took...

Trial lawyers know the significance of motions in limine; often, trials are won or lost based on the rulings judges make before a jury even hears opening statements. Two such motions in the Derek Chauvin are pivotal.
What is a motion in limine? (Pronounced...

The utter cynicism of the $27 million settlement of the George Floyd case is breathtaking. At the very least, there ought to be a public hearing to determine whether the criminal charges against Derek Chauvin should be dismissed.
Yes, Mr. Floyd died in police custody....

I submitted the following testimony to the Connecticut General Assembly in opposition to the so-called "Prosecutorial Accountability" act. The legislation is a solution to a problem that does not exist.
My name is Norman Pattis. I have represented people accused of...

Am I guilty of professional misconduct worthy of forfeiture of my law license if I publicly question whether we really need Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Day? Or if I post a photograph of a Budweiser beer bottle surrounded by Coors beer cans wearing hoods above the caption “Ku...

Suppose you were suddenly accused of sexual assault. Your accuser claims that one night, a dozen or more years ago, you crossed a line. You’re arrested, and now publicly accused of rape. In an instant, your reputation is destroyed.
Assume for the moment you...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court appeared to ask a lot of the right questions in arguments this week on Bill Cosby’s appeal of his criminal conviction for sexual assault. What worries me are the answers the court is likely to give.
It took two trials for the...

The thing that most terrifies me about the Covid-19 pandemic is not the prospect of death or physical illness. No one gets out of here alive: I’m old enough to understand that less as the abstract application of a syllogism – all men are mortal, Socrates is a man, therefore...