Criminal Defense
Mistakes by sleepy police and drug dogs’ schnozes
Police are mere humans, and are thus bound, collectively, to make frequent big mistakes. In their true nature, dogs are here to run at large, and not to be police employees pushed and rewarded to try ferreting out drugs; that alone sets them up to make big mistakes...
Always err on the side of protecting the First Amendment right to free expression
Bill of Rights (from the public domain) Praised be Maryland federal trial judge Roger Titus for recently dismissing a prosecution for engaging in a “course of conduct that caused substantial emotional distress” to the alleged victim, through posting messages on Twitter and other websites. Not...
Needing a more human and compassionate criminal justice system
At least for those with jailable criminal cases against them, a large percentage of them enter the courthouse in fear. Those running and operating the courts try to maintain a sense of normalcy — at least superficially — amidst all this fear, but it remains. Some...
A jury cannot eyeball a trial transcript
A jury cannot eyeball a witness to determine his or her credibility and demeanor by merely being read the complaining witness’s testimony from a prior proceeding. For a criminal defendant, letting such a transcript into evidence can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the defense...
“They’re ready for me. Loaded for bear. I stayed away from them.”
Criminal defense trial battle requires being as fearless and skilled as possible in approaching even the most formidable-seeming opponents. Edward Lee Elmore’s capital murder trial lawyer, unfortunately, exercised avoidance with forensic evidence: Properly applied, the totality-of-the-evidence standard results in only one reasonable conclusion: there is...
Convicted for a felony after a cop sees the car going one mile over the speed limit – KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
For over a decade, my website has prominently featured a Know Your Rights page. Those rights are prominently linked in the blue KNOW YOUR RIGHTS box on the lefthand side of this blog. Repeatedly, people get arrested, and often convicted for not knowing those rights,...
The criminal justice system should be about equal justice for all, and not a perpetuation of an underclass
When I became a public defender lawyer after two years working with a corporate law firm, I went from a high-rent office two blocks from the White House with a fancy desk to a non-descript office that was literally across the freight railroad tracks.I had...
Love Your Jurors – Know Your Jurors
“You do not have the right to quit trying. (The universe wobbles when you do.) You have the right to quit Toxic People. (They’re contagious.) .” Dr. SunWolf (who confirms to me that this ubiquitous quote is indeed hers). In Practical Jury Dynamics, amazing human,...
Sex and consent: A continuum from full consent to no consent
When I interview candidates to work for me, I inform them that a passion for civil liberties heavily drives my choice of cases. That means that I have never rejected a client merely because s/he is accused of a heinous act, even when I strongly believe s/he has...
“Warfare is the way of deception”- Sun Tzu
Criminal defense is battle — and sometimes war — pure and simple. I have no business taking on a client unless I will take off the boxing gloves and focus on victory at every turn, within the bounds of professional conduct rules, without concern about decimating the...