Legal

Illinois's own Jeremy Richey does some actual journalism and interviews California civil attorney Brian Pedigo about his experience as a juror for a murder trial. He talks about deliberations, and what he thinks each side did wrong or right. By the way, he has one piece of advice for the prosecutor that I'd like to second if I'm ever on a jury again: When handling a firearm, … [Read more...] about Lawyer as Juror in a Murder Trial

The Supreme Court's decision in Kansas v. Ventris is one of the strangest things I've seen from them in a long time. I'm not a lawyer, but as I understand the law, it has been normal procedure for many years that once a defendant invokes his right to a lawyer, the cops have to stop questioning him. From that moment forward---all the way to end of the trial if need … [Read more...] about The Ventris Interview and a Nomination for the Supreme Court

(Alternate title: The Return of Mumbles) I'm taking another shot at videoblogging. This is just a random story about some legal stuff on the web. (This was supposed to go up yesterday morning, but I had technical difficulties.) Here are some of the links mentioned: Gary's review of Dollhouse. Joel's story about his daughter. Million-dollar legal advice. Just Cause Law … [Read more...] about Videoblog: Looking for Lawyers in All the Wrong Places

Blawg Review #199 is up at Mark Bennett's Defending People and Oh My God the very first link is to one of my posts. I hope I didn't write anything stupid in there. … [Read more...] about Blawg Review #199 Is Up

Once again, I offer another crazy idea for reforming the justice system... A few days ago, Shawn Matlock wrote a Top Ten list of causes of Jury Anxiety which Ken Lammers commented on yesterday. I've served on two juries, one civil and one criminal, and both of these lists seemed reasonable, but they tended to miss one of the key causes of anxiety and confusion that I had … [Read more...] about Give Jurors a Guide