Legal

There's been a lot of discussion in the criminal defense bloggosphere about the role of the criminal defense lawyer. Basically, prosecutors are supposedly charged with seeking justice. The question naturally arises then, are criminal defense lawyers also supposed to seek justice? And if so, what is their duty to their client? As near as I can tell, it started with a comment … [Read more...] about Of Criminal Defense and Flushing Toilets

Economists generally believe that extremism is probably a mistake. That's because every choice involves a trade off. You'll start with the easiest trades first, but as you push to greater extremes, you'll have to trade off more and more things of value. For example, if you set out to own the fastest production car in the world, it will probably turn out to be uncomfortable, … [Read more...] about Gerry Spence and the Economic Of Extremism

The defense has rested in the corruption trial of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich without letting the jury hear his testimony. Other people are discussing what it's fair to assume about Blagojevich's guilt based on his not testifying [be sure to read Scott Greenfield's scathing response in the comments below], but I'm wondering how we're hearing about so many details … [Read more...] about Who’s Talking In the Blago Camp?

There's been round-the-blawgosphere turmoil about Lee v. Lampert, in which the 9th Circuit basically said that the AEDPA's time limits for filing a habeas petition still apply even though pretty much everyone agrees that the defendant is actually innocent. That is, Lee is innocent, but he just didn't submit the paperwork on time. There's plenty of coverage by Gideon, … [Read more...] about What To Do About Innocence?

I haven't been writing as much as I'd like to lately, but fortunately, there's plenty of other good stuff to read. Mirriam Seddiq has a terrific article about what she's learned practicing criminal law in several different jurisdictions. Her description of Baltimore (and the Baltimore police) is priceless. … [Read more...] about A Tale of Two Cities