Blog Posts

Perhaps the most telling moment in Ken Burns’ new documentary on the Central Park Five case is when a juror explains why he voted guilty.
The kids confessed to the brutal rape of a jogger in Central Park in 1989. Why, he wondered, would innocent kids confess to something they did not...

Update: The Bethany Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to reject Green Haven's proposed zone change last night, with Patricia Winer abstaining. Ms. Winer observed she was unhappy with public comments directed toward her. My, my, Ms. Winer. The kitchen wasn't that hot, was it?
We...

Trial is an imperfect vehicle for finding the truth. We all know that. Juries and judges make mistakes. We permit clients to seek a new trial when a judge commits legal error. Why don’t we permit defendants to ask for a new trial when they believe juries make factual mistakes? In the United...

Before leaping to the conclusion that lawmen in Boston worked a miracle last week by locking the city down as they searched for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, consider the following: It was only after folks were told they could leave their homes that a private citizen spotted a trail of blood that led to the...

I fail to see why the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit went out of its way to tomahawk Attorney John R. Williams. But there it is in cold print: An unsolicited attack on a barrister whose been a role model and inspiration to a couple of generations of lawyers.
In case...

If it takes a village to raise a child, then what kind of society spawns a 19-year-old terrorist? We can explore "foreign" influences on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev all we want, but my hunch is we’d have better luck looking in the mirror if we really want to understand him. What motivated the young man...

It appears as though the manhunt is over. Law enforcement officers report they were looking for two suspects. Two brothers are now either dead or in custody. What next for the man-child suspected not just of placing a bomb or bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and then engaging in...

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“Cowardly. “Evil.” “Beneath contempt.” I heard these words over and over and over again in the days following this week’s bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, an attack which left, at last count, three people dead and more than 100...

I just don’t get it. A man is presumed innocent. He is put on trial. When the state fails to persuade all members of the jury that the man is guilty, the judge declares a mistrial. How come the judge didn’t just dismiss the case? The state failed to meet its burden of proof; it failed...