Hell froze over one day last year and two men skated to freedom, set free by a judge of the Superior Court, who found that they were convicted in error and were the victims of manifest injustice. Last week, the state’s lawyers appeared before the State Supreme Court and urged the court to send the men back to prison. The state looked like the Devil on ice skates, all movement, fuss and rage, but unable to keep its balance.
Superior Court Judge Stanley Fuger ordered Ronald Taylor and George Gould set free after a habeas corpus hearing. The court concluded that the men were...
February 10, 2011
It is not at all clear why President Barack Obama has abandoned the federal courts, but he has. One of nine judgeships is vacant. There are 17 vacancies on the federal appellate court, and 85 vacant district court seats. The president has not even nominated enough candidates to fill half of these positions. It is shameful neglect from a president who ought to know better than to ignore the courts. The president did graduate Harvard Law School, after all.
But perhaps that is the problem. I've only met a few Harvard Law graduates who condescended to appear in the nation's trial courts,...
February 9, 2011
It is not at all clear why President Barack Obama has abandoned the federal courts, but he has. One of nine judgeships is vacant. There are 17 vacancies on the federal appellate court, and 85 vacant district court seats. The president has not even nominated enough candidates to fill half of these positions. It is shameful neglect from a president who ought to know better than to ignore the courts. The president did graduate Harvard Law School, after all.
But perhaps that is the problem. I've only met a few Harvard Law graduates who condescended to appear in the nation's trial courts,...
February 9, 2011
Among the many things a lawyer learns is where to sit in a courtroom. In Connecticut, there is an unwritten custom that parties with the burden of proof sit closest to the jury. Hence, plaintiffs and the State get the premiere seats at trial, the ones closest to the jury. This custom is supported by no case law or court rule. It’s simply an unchallenged practice.
The one and only time I saw this rule challenged involved a good friend of mine, Jim Nugent. He waltzed right in to a courtroom, sat down next to the jury box, and waited for the fur to fly. It did soon enough. The...
February 8, 2011
February 7, 2011
Scores of folks have sent me emails generated by a group called Citizens for Change, America. They want me to hear their cries for justice, and to...
February 6, 2011
One of the most terrifying cases I ever handled involved the state’s decision to seize a child upon birth and to place it in the care of...
February 5, 2011
"I am confused," a client told me a long, long time ago. "You are telling me I should take the deal, but you are also telling me you are prepared to...
February 2, 2011
My sense of things is that most jurors struggle to do the right thing. They work at the decisions we ask them to make. They try to follow...
February 2, 2011
My sense of things is that most jurors struggle to do the right thing. They work at the decisions we ask them to make. They try to follow...
February 2, 2011
I don't much like government, and pretend to love chaos. Watching news reports from Cairo forces me to admit hypocrisy. The fact is, I want chaos on...