Criminal Defense

For my criminal defense clients, I am here to help them get back to harmony and balance from the imbalanced situation of their prosecution. My clients manage this imbalance in ways, ranging from equanimity, to trying to submerge their concerns, to sleeplessness, to often starting...

A psychological experiment was performed with alcoholics, administering electrical shocks to them each time they drank liquor. At least some of them continued to imbibe despite the shocks. I have heard stories of people so addicted to crack cocaine that they have sold crack to...

I knew a trial judge in my home state of Connecticut starting before he became a judge, and referred to him a few times to a family member as the “hanging judge”, because I was not fond to learn that he apparently was okay with the...

Criminal defense is a wild ride. One day, I am sitting on top of the world with a big court victory, the next day I am appearing before a very difficult judge to say the least, and the next day I am talking to a...

For better or worse, negotiations are an essential part of criminal and civil litigation, running from seeking dismissals of cases, to each party’s giving up part of the loaf. Criminal negotiations usually are not games of chicken, unless the police or prosecutors have done underhanded...

Most of my criminal defense clients manage their daily lives rather well in the face of their pending court cases. Some get consumed by their cases from time to time, and sometimes share that with me. I have thought of criminal defense lawyers being akin...

Jury acquittals are among the most exhilarating part of criminal defense practice. However, a criminal defense lawyer disserves his or her client by not seeing whether the case can settle rather than going to trial. When I say settle, I do not automatically mean seeking a...

With all the uphill battles that so many criminal defendants so often face, they and their lawyers may often feel that everything is about us (the defense) versus them (everyone else). A healthy dose of skepticism is in order in approaching cops, prosecutors, and judges....

Prosecutor: “Jon, you are a private practice lawyer who is willing to waste time.” Translation: “You put time into defending your clients without concern whether doing so will not be financially profitable to you.” One of the more upstanding local prosecutors recently said that to me before court...

All my clients are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. However, that does not mean that all my clients come to me with clean hands. Behind the seemingly picture-perfect lives of plenty of people who seem to have reached many...