Blog Posts

I wasn't under any illusions about what the sentence would be. My client was convicted of shooting a man in a drive-by shooting, killing him almost instantly. There were other charges pending, charges involving other shootings. The maximum sentence for murder was 60 years. We expected the full...

Would a different defense have spared Aaron Hernandez a life sentence? I suspect his lawyers are wondering, especially after jurors told the media they were shocked to hear the defense say in closing arguments that Hernandez was present at the scene of the murder of Odin Lloyd.
But the...

Richard Lapointe looked dazed, even confused, when he walked out of Superior Court in Hartford last week. It was the first time in 26 years his feet hit civilian pavement. He was supposed to die behind bars.
apointe’s long walk to freedom illustrates the complexity of the criminal...

The Supreme Court's decision to overturn Richard Lapointe's 1992 murder conviction has me rethinking the Stations of the Cross. I'm not referring to Jesus' journey on the day he was crucified. I'm thinking of the more mundane trail of tears the families of those convicted of crimes...

Criminal defense lawyers console themselves about the self-destructive course some clients take by saying such things as: “You can lead a client to the courthouse, but you can’t make him think.” Courthouses are dark places; a courtroom rarely brings out the best in...

Now that the show trial is over, the real trial begins.
Now the United States of America will seek to convince a jury of 12 that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two Boston Marathonbombers, must, in the name of justice, be killed. This next trial, the penalty phase, is the real drama. Will we...

Do black lives matter? Do cops’s lives matter? The answer to both questions is obvious: yes. That’s what makes the arrest of a fifteen year-old-girl in New Haven not long ago such a combustible topic. The sparks still flying after the arrest are proof that we need civilian police...

Looking for a realistic portrayal of the practice of law in a small firm? Then you had better call Saul, as in Saul Goodman, the fictional creation of Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, creators of the new AMC series "Better Call Saul."
A busy law practice keeps me from watching much television,...

I just lost a tough case and, as in any loss, I am bitter about it. My client faces 60 years for the shooting of a rival gang member in Hartford’s North End. We tried the case twice, the first time to a hung jury. On Monday, a jury returned a quick guilty verdict.
The case turned on the...

What if just about everything we think we know about the war on drugs is wrong?
Start, for example, with the oft-repeated proposition that the war began in the 1970s, during the administration of Richard M. Nixon.
Wrong. The war is far older, and originates in Henry Anslinger's Federal...