Blog Posts

I have from time to time been invited to present at continuing education seminars. When the invitations arrive, I almost invariably regard them as a mistake. What I do is not rocket science. If you want to learn what to do when you go to court, then go to court and figure it out. I am typically...

Tommy Ullman has tried an almost perfect case. He's let the State stumble over its own evidentiary foundations. He opened his defense with admissions about what was not to be contested. He decided not to cross-examine the state's key, and very sympathetic witness. In the manner of State v. Hayes,...

Tyler Clementi's death has provoked a predictable storm of controversy about on-line rules, civility and standards. I suppose the discussion is inevitable, but it worries me. Moral panic generally yields bad law. The desire to act in response to great grief and sorrow often produces an...

Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano wants to hold a hearing to determine whether he should initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Jeremiah Donovan. In a one-line order, the judge wrote: “[I]t is alleged Attorney Donovan made extrajudicial statements relating to the matters of State...

Consider the following fact pattern, as a jury did this week: A man shoots a woman through the head during an argument in the kitchen of his own home. As he shoots her, his girlfriend, the mother of his his three children, jumps onto his back. He shoots a third woman in he chest. She runs from the...

I always thought the white collar guys were a more gentlemanly cast of lawyers. They certainly look the part: Expensive suits, fancy shoes, and brief cases that all but announce: "Power, power, power." Most of my legal career has been spent in the tweedy trenches defending more obvious crimes, such...

UPDATE: Sentencing Has Been Postponed Until November 5
Mickey Sherman heads to court today. There is nothing unusual about that. He is one of Connecticut's best known criminal defense lawyers. But when he goes to court today, he will going to face his own sentencing. I'm betting on a jail...

"Only one-third of all Americans can name the three branches of government (two-thirds can name a television judge on American Idol); only one-third of eighth graders can describe the historical purpose of the Declaration of Independence; and three-quarters of our population does not understand the...

When I heard that Jeremiah Donovan stood on the courthouse steps yesterday and held a press conference regarding press reports about his ciient, Joshua Komisarjevsky, I was stunned. There is a gag order in place barring any of the lawyers in the case from speaking publicly. What possessed Jeremiah...

I won't pretend to be neutral about the death penalty. The state ought not to have the power to kill its citizens. Period. It is too awesome and final a power, and it has historically been used too many times for reasons having nothing to do with justice. The death penalty should be abolished in...