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Public Defense

A Public Defender

Criminal law news from Connecticut and around the country.
By Gideon

Post Frequency: 10.1/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 12:17:35

Same sex couples can get married tomorrow

Posted on November 11, 2008
A fairly in-depth report on the historic day:

Tried together, but separately

Posted on November 11, 2008
Someone needs to explain to me how this works. Three co-defendants in a cop-killing trial in NYC are tried together, but each has their own jury. Short, thin and fat are being tried in front of green, blue and yellow. And this is considered efficient?

Prosecutorial hubris: Ethics, shmethics

Posted on November 11, 2008
Prosecutors are special. They have their own little section [pdf - Rule 3.8] in the rules of professional conduct. For the most part, they’re people like you and me, trying to do their job, abiding by their special duties and responsibilities. Then you come across prosecutors like Ben Field of Santa Clara County, so intent on [...

The problem with parole (hearings)

Posted on November 11, 2008
Have you ever been to a parole hearing? Or watched one? I happened to catch the CT Board of Pardons and Paroles conducting hearings at Carl Robinson on CT-N last week (they’re now broadcasting these hearings). Watching them unfold was very interesting and instructive...

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Monday Morning Jumpstart: Veteran?s Day edition

Posted on November 10, 2008
A day early, but never too much so to salute the veterans who have served this country over the years. This one’s for you: Speaking of serving your country, public defenders in seven states are refusing cases due to high caseloads and low funds...

It?s not only about the client

Posted on November 10, 2008
I received a letter in the mail a few days ago. It was from a client. Nothing remarkable about it - 3 pages, handwritten, barely legible. The pages were of different sizes and came from different notebooks. I tossed it onto my desk; I was in the middle of something else...

Not for nothing

Posted on November 09, 2008
I love my job.

If ?welcome to?? state signs were honest

Posted on November 09, 2008
You’d see stuff like this.

Maybe the people have spoken on three-strikes

Posted on November 09, 2008
Last July, the triple homicides in Cheshire sparked a state-wide debate on three strikes laws, with several� bills being proposed and politicians taking sides. A true three strikes bill was ultimately defeated, but backers of the constitutional convention wanted to use that avenue to pass another one...

How young is old enough?

Posted on November 09, 2008
Far too many young children are spending time in our correctional facilities. Most states have laws for dealing with juveniles, placing them in a separate category. Every single one of those statutes has an exception for serious crimes, I bet, where children are treated as adults...

California proposition 8: Amendment or Revision?

Posted on November 07, 2008
Here’s an excellent in-depth post on that question at Volokh.

Babysitting while white

Posted on November 06, 2008
If you do nothing else today, make sure you read Scott Henson’s (of Grits for Breakfast fame) post about getting harassed by Austin police.

CT Supreme Court briefs online

Posted on November 06, 2008
A project that has been in the works for some time seems to have finally take off. CT Supreme Court briefs for pending and historical cases are now availabe online. This seems to be a work in progress, but check it out. No, you won’t find any of my briefs there yet...

So what?s the equal protection clause for, anyway?

Posted on November 06, 2008
The Equal Protection clause generally provides that “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. It is based on this clause in their respective state constitutions that the supreme courts of Connecticut, Massachussetts and California struck down bans on gay-marriage...

Constitutional convention vote update

Posted on November 04, 2008
Word on the street is that the call for a ConCon has been defeated. Final numbers, however, won’t be available until later on. These are just projections from the AP. Either way….

Liveblogging Raising the Bar: Season Finale

Posted on November 03, 2008
Well, it’s finally here: the season finale of Raising the Bar. We started liveblogging with Episode 3 [all the liveblogs can be found in the 'tv shows' category] and now it’s time to wrap it up. Join us for what is sure to be a humdinger. I have it on good authority that someone is [...

Monday Morning Jumpstart - Halloween edition

Posted on November 03, 2008
photo credit: freakgirl It’s Jumpstart time! There have been a bunch of stories over the past week I’ve wanted to write about, but haven’t had the time, so here they are, plus the usual suspects: NPR did a three part series on Angola and the convictions of Woodfox and Wallace...

Will SCOTUS engage in profanity?

Posted on November 03, 2008
Tomorrow SCOTUS will hear argument in Fox v. FCC, “the F word case”. This has nothing to do with criminal law and everything to do with stupidity on part of the FCC. It stems from three uses of fuck and shit. One was by Bono, who said his award was “really, really, fucking brilliant”, another [...

SCOTUS will decide limits, if any, of prosecutorial immunity

Posted on November 03, 2008
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument Wednesday in Van de Kamp v. Goldstein, a case I blogged about previously. [Given that tomorrow is election day, I foresee that most of my time will be spent in front of the TV, watching election returns.] In Van de Kamp, SCOTUS will decide whether the chief prosecutor for [...

Election Day, 2008

Posted on November 03, 2008
Do your civic duty: vote! Doesn’t matter who you vote for, just vote. Also, vote NO on question one (if you want).

So what happens after a Constitutional Convention?

Posted on November 01, 2008
Given the important question that will appear on our ballots here on November 4th, I’ve had a few questions swirling in my head for the past few weeks. Here are some of them: Who pays for a Constitutional convention? How much does it cost? How long does one last? How do issues get debated at a ConCon? Do we still [...

OMG

Posted on November 01, 2008
I just p*ssed my pants Oh Jack Bauer, how I’ve missed you.

Because they?re better than you

Posted on November 01, 2008
One of the underlying themes of the tough-on-crime movement is that there are two classes of people: “us” and “them”. “We” are good people who would never commit crimes and if “we” do, we are deserving of sympathy and understanding and it is because “we” have a substance abuse problem...

Stopping for school buses, or: yet another needless post

Posted on November 01, 2008
To stop or not to stop? On my way to work yesterday, I observed a curious (and at the time a very frustrating) event. The road was a four lane city road (maybe if I call it an avenue it paints a clearer picture). There was a 2-3 foot long grassy median separating the two opposing [...

Pro se per se

Posted on October 31, 2008
I’m a little late on writing about this story (via several sources), but it sure is a doozy. You know how it’s common knowlege that most appeals aren’t successful? Well, if you were a pro-se petitioner in Louisiana for the last 13 years, you knew that you wouldn’t win...

I have no reason to go on?

Posted on October 30, 2008
This is a sad, sad day. I shed a tear.

Gideon endorses: The election meme

Posted on October 29, 2008
So this post at Windypundit didn’t start out as a meme (although I guess you can argue it did, since he answered the questions posed to Reason editors), but I’ve decided in my infinite wisdom to make it one. This is not a political blog, but I’m allowed one political post every 45 years...

The AQA thread

Posted on October 27, 2008
Once in a while I feel magnanimous. Like tonight. So I will answer all questions asked (thus, AQA). This is an AQA thread. Let’s start off with some recent queries that brought people to this blog: is it ethical for a public defender to refuse to represent a person believed to be guilty? The short answer is [...

Tweaks

Posted on October 27, 2008
FYI - I’ve tweaked a thing or two here on the blog. Some tweaks you won’t notice, one you will. Given the propensity of people to say stupid things on the internet using the cloak of anonymity (myself included), it is always a good idea to keep reminding everyone to take personal responsibility...

Liveblogging Raising the Bar: Episode Penultimate

Posted on October 27, 2008
Second to last episode of our favorite criminal justice show is on at 10pm! Be sure to check in

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