Blog Posts

It is difficult to know what Steven Hayes wants. Sure, he stood in open court and told the judge that he wants to plead guilty to the charges against him, including the capital felonies. It is black letter law that the decision to plead guilty belongs to the client. But is Mr. Hayes also...

In the small hours of the night, I still root for Daniel Webb. So even though he has now injured several more people in an act of defiant rage, I wish there were a way I could encourage him. But I no longer speak to him. Our paths parted when it became apparent that my liberty might be in jeopardy...

If you leave lawmakers alone and assign them the task of fixing a state's sex offender registry, odds are they will screw it up. So Maine Citizen's for Change decided to leave nothing to chance when the state's Supreme Court gave lawmakers until the end of this month to alter the state's sex...

Robert Wilson was charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud and aiding and abetting another to make false statements on a tax return. When he was arrested, he claimed he was broke. A public defender was appointed, and, after a six-week trial, Wilson was acquitted. Only it turns out that Wilson...

Robert Wilson was charged with conspiring to commit mail fraud and aiding and abetting another to make false statements on a tax return. When he was arrested, he claimed he was broke. A public defender was appointed, and, after a six-week trial, Wilson was acquitted. Only it turns out that Wilson...

Among the many inconsistencies in the law is the manner in which we distinguish death penalty cases from those cases in which the state seeks something less than the life of the defendant. The courts are content to ignore these inconsistencies because, as the Supreme Court put it, "death is...

Did Governor N. Jodi Rell deprive Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsy of fair trials for their roles in the 2007 home invasion in Cheshire?
One of the lawyers for Mr. Hayes thinks so, and he has filed a motion to bar imposition of the death penalty in the case in the likely event his client is...

Prison. Say the word aloud. Prison. There. You have said it. What associations emerge? Is it a place of punishment and anger? Is it a place of quiet redemption? Or is it no place at all? A sort of black hole into which what we fear is thrown and, with less effort than we imagine,...

Worse case scenario? I lose the trial and my client is sentenced to three consecutive life terms, plus sixty years. The stakes could only be higher were the state seeking the twisted pleasure of killing the defendant. With stakes these high, one would think no effort to give the man a spare trial....

I was inclined to greet news that a Nebraska federal judge issued an order enjoining the state from enforcing part of its new sex offender law with good cheer. "Finally," I thought, "a judge with the sense to see through the madness of these new laws." But then I read the decision, and I am now...