I've noticed a certain uneasiness in the chambers of several judges. They don't like talking about plea bargaining in any public way. Indeed, in one case, the state prepared a draft of a waiver a client was going to sign as a condition of entering a plea. The state included the term "plea bargain" in the document.
"Can't you take that term out?" the judge asked.
The state obliged.
I wonder why we are uneasy about talking about plea bargaining. I suspect it is because the term sets up a discussion of a reality the courts cannot acknowledge: defendants who go to trial in...
June 21, 2014
One of the best scenes in “The Wizard of Oz” is when Toto, Dorothy’s dog, pulls back the curtain on the Great Oz, exposing a terrified man hiding behind his fearful machinery. One lesson: Appearances are deceiving.
I thought of that scene the other day as I read the Connecticut Supreme Court’s decision in a case called State v. Elson.
Mr. Elson isn’t the sort of guy folks rally to support. In 2004, he got liquored up and went on a rampage after a coed at the Western Connecticut State University rebuffed his romantic advances. He assaulted the victim...
June 20, 2014
Jerad and Amanda Miller thought the revolution had begun, so they shot a couple of police officers at a pizzeria and then walked over to a local Walmart to announce it. An armed shopper shot Jerad, so Amanda killed the shopper. When police closed in on the couple, Jerad was shot dead and Amanda killed herself. Did I mention it all happened in Las Vegas?
Bonnie and Clyde join the tea party.
Within hours of the shooting, the press reported that the couple were radicals and racists with "anti-government views." The couple had placed a Gadsden flag, bearing the words "Don't Tread on...
June 12, 2014
I've never understood why some criminal defense lawyers feel the need to make a great public display about how they only represent those whom they believe are truly innocent. There's a self-indulgent, almost moralistic quality to such declarations that render the lawyers untrustworthy. And hence my problem with Sidney Powell's otherwise excellent book, Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice (Brown. 2014). She takes pains to tell us she never sides with sinners.
Powell is a former Justice Department lawyer who has, for the past 20 years, devoted her private...
June 8, 2014
June 4, 2014
I have no idea whether Phil Mickelson, one of the world's premier golfers and three-time winner of the Masters golf tournament, is guilty of insider...
May 29, 2014
Oh, Dannell, what a disappointment you are. The governor's been pumping the judiciary full of geriatric pals, positioning them for $100,000 a year...
May 28, 2014
Twenty or so years ago, I wrote one of the most difficult legal briefs of my career: The task was to compare and contrast the nature of the crimes...
May 25, 2014
Here’s a thought experiment: Pretend for the moment that Elliot Rodger had not gone on a killing spree in California. Put it out of your mind,...
May 24, 2014
Did you catch the news that Eric Holder and the geniuses at Justice persuaded a grand jury to indict five members of the Chinese military? The...
May 22, 2014
Here’s a tip: If you want to avoid jury service, simply tell the judge you have a pre-paid vacation planned. No one will seek to verify if what...