Criminal Defense
When a Jailer Suffers the Justice System’s Injustices / How Prepared Should a Prosecutor Be?
When I started practicing criminal defense, I spoke with a very experienced criminal defense lawyer who told me that he had never prosecuted, but expected he would love it if he had such a job; this was a variation on a theme of some former...
In praise of Ernie Lewis
Every criminal defense lawyer should attend the National Criminal Defense College’s Trial Practice Institute, known in shorthand as Macon for the program’s location. At least when I attended in 1994, competition for each Macon slot was very high among state-level public defender lawyers. The program sough diversity...
Connecting with our clients, with their fears, and ours
Numerous potential criminal clients’ first words to me include: “This is my first time seeking a lawyer. I’m not sure what I am supposed to discuss,” as if there exists some generic script or information checklist suitable for every lawyer and client and every situation....
Is a great trial lawyer only born, or can one be taught?
Can great trial lawyering be taught, or is one only born with it? When I was a college senior considering law school, a relative panned my consideration of possibly being a trial lawyer. This relative, not a lawyer himself, viewed successful trial lawyers as being...
For the ten thousandth time, don’t waive your right to remain silent
Susan Smith apparently would not have been convicted had she not spoken to the police. Mark Castillo smoothed prosecutors’ path towards a murder conviction — unless he successfully argues insanity — by calling the police this past weekend to tell them he had killed his three...
Criminal penalties for not reporting a felony that one has concealed
Every once in awhile, the media reports on federal prosecutions for "misprision of felony". This blog entry seeks to debunk any notion that it is a crime merely to fail to report a crime, as opposed to concealing a felony cognizable by a federal court and...
Justice Alito surprises by strengthening Batson
Bill of Rights (Image from the public domain.) Once a person becomes a Supreme Court justice, no concern should exist about being pleasing enough to senators and the president to get onto a higher court (and getting elevated to a higher court or retained on the existing...
4 of 7 Virginia Supreme Court judges uphold First-Amendment-violative criminal spam law
Computer hard drive. (Image from Pacific Northwest Laboratory’s website). All spammers’ eyes should be on Virginia — where a high percentage of computer crime cases are prosecuted, due to Virginia’s housing such major computer servers as America Online’s —  after its Supreme Court wrongfully upheld the state’s criminal...
Something about Valentine’s Day, courts, and sexual devices
Molly Ivins on the stupidity of Texas’s ban on the sale of sexual devices. She did not live to see the Fifth Circuit’s ban on this ban. Happy Valentine’s day. When we set aside the commercial hype around the holiday, it is a day and...
Why Don’t You Ask Your Client?
In Virginia District Court, mandatory criminal discovery is practically non-existent, and is limited to defendants’ statements to law enforcement that the prosecutor intends to introduce into evidence, the defendant’s criminal record, and Brady/exculpatory evidence (except that the prosecutor ordinarily is the sole person to decide what evidence...