Criminal Law

A Scene From Jury Selection

Posted on October 06, 2008
Different places do jury selection differently.The old place had the jury come into and out of the room. Come in so we can talk to you, send you out so we can talk about you. Come back in so we can talk to you again. Send you back out so we can decide who we want and who we don't...

Blonde Mamma Mia

Posted on October 01, 2008
Don't laugh, because I'm not joking. I couldn't even make this up.After months and months of my mother telling me how good the movie Mamma Mia was, and how I really need to see it, and how she wants to get the soundtrack... It was finally revealed that my blonde mother thinks that the songs in Mamma Mia are NEW and that they were written for the movie...

You Can Just Disregard This...

Posted on September 29, 2008
Sometimes, I reach a point where I have posted anything to the blog in a few weeks, and then I start to get this weird writer's block, like, what could possibly be interesting enough, important enough, to return to blogging after such an absence?And then I need to just post some dumb "throw away" post like this, just to get things going again...

Raising The Bar

Posted on September 12, 2008
Unfortunately, I don't really have time right now to right a whole little review, but I don't want you to think it went unnoticed that the second episode of Raising the Bar was a pretty big improvement over the first episode (pilot). I shall keep watching.

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Job Hunting Tips

Posted on September 11, 2008
I am loving the bad on campus interview ("OCI") stories over at Above The Law. Especially "Comment 83," but be warned, it's a little off-color. Anyway, I've got one story. It's not really an interview story, but it is a good "don't" story for law school students interested in finding a job...

A Public Defender Once Again

Posted on September 10, 2008
A recap of my first few days as a public defender.I had to wait around a half-day while someone found the person who was supposed to know where my office was going to be. I met my supervisor. I finally found an office, although I've been told it's only temporary...

First Reactions to "Raising the Bar"

Posted on September 03, 2008
I liked Indefensible. A lot. So, I'm willing to give Raising the Bar another episode or two.I'd really like to see more of a serious, intelligent Law & Order from a public defender's point of view. If I cared about everyone-is-sleeping-with-everyone, I'd watch soap operas...

Introspection

Posted on September 01, 2008
Is it time to start the introspection already? I guess so. Here goes.I've been unhappy in private practice. For the most part, my remedy has been to "put on a happy face." I try to resist acting outwardly depressed, to the extent that I can control it...

Can't Judge A Magazine By Its Title

Posted on August 26, 2008
This has nothing to do with either looking back at my current career or looking forward to being a public defender (again). It's just something funny.Over at Above the Law , there is a post about an upcoming legal magazine for women. They're looking for the perfect name and are accepting votes...

Looking Back, Looking Forward

Posted on August 25, 2008
Two weeks from now, I will once again have my dream job. Public defender.I've got a lot going on in the next two weeks, including a possible jury trial, but I also have a few posts in my head I want to write, a kind of self-debriefing as I move on.Thanks for going along on this ride with me.

OMG!

Posted on August 21, 2008
My former BFF, who you previously read about here and here, and who is now on facebook...Has updated her photo to be a wedding photo! And she added one of my friends as her friend, and wrote on our mutual friend's wall about where she's living and what her new husband does...

More Questions Than Answers

Posted on August 18, 2008
Please allow me to kick the horse that may already be dead and follow up on one comment to More On Defending The Guilty...Gidge, a (former?) prosecutor, comments:I'd rather have the hypothetical "how could I get out of..." questions than someone make assumptions why I'm in my job...

But, Everyone Likes Cake, Don't They?

Posted on August 16, 2008
Stop me if I told you this one before. It happened a while ago, but I don't think I ever wrote about it.It was the first round of voir dire (jury selection). The courtroom is packed with almost one hundred perspective jurors, filling the audience. We start by addressing the first twelve as a panel...

Facebook Weirdness

Posted on August 13, 2008
So, I joined facebook a few months ago. It was all well and good until...In the past few days, I've run into a few things on facebook that just make me feel... weird. There's no other word for it. First, someone I didn't know at all added me as a friend...

More on Defending The Guilty

Posted on August 07, 2008
Anonymous Law Student follows up on my post on how to answer the oft-asked question, "How can you represent someone when you know he's guilty?" complete with a funny video!One of the interesting things that comes out of ALS's post is:It seems to me that there was a consensus that asking a person, "how can you defend someone you *know* is guilty" at a social gathering is somewhat crass...

Apollo Justice? It's an Injustice!

Posted on August 05, 2008
Here's a first. My first video game review.I found myself playing this video game, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. I just figured it out while "researching" for this blog post, but apparently it's a sequel to the more popular Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney...

Cold Brewed Coffee

Posted on August 02, 2008
I guess I can get away with one more food-related post before everyone takes me off their criminal lawyer blogrolls...Today, after reading all of the publicity, I tried cold-brewed coffee. I made it myself, and it is delicious.I happened to have a french press already, so I used that...

Hummus Talk

Posted on July 31, 2008
Somewhat random, but I wanted to mention...One thing you didn't know about me is that I love hummus. I'm a little bit of a hummus fanatic. I've been eating hummus nearly daily for about 8 years. I like to try different kinds of hummus, I like to make different kinds of hummus, I just really like hummus...

Wool Over Your Eyes

Posted on July 28, 2008
If I ruled the world, I wouldn't let kids be prosecutors right out of law school. Or, without having some kind of prior job or career or life experience. It's not that I'm that much older than 24 (really, I'm not!), it just disturbs me to hear these 24-year-old kids, who are still living off daddy's trust funds, judge someone, as if they've ever walked a mile in any shoes...

Defendants on the Web

Posted on July 20, 2008
This is an interesting read: The Associated Press: Web networking photos come back to bite defendants.The issue of myspace or facebook pages, etc., comes up more often in private practice than it does as a public defender. Matter of fact, literally just this morning I got an email invite on my work address to be a facebook "friend" from one of my clients...

It's Not Perfect, But It's The Best I've Got

Posted on July 04, 2008
Let's say you were a doctor. And you had a patient. And he had AIDS. And it was totally his own fault. You know that he contracted from unprotected sex or sharing needles. Would you still treat him? But, how could you help fight AIDS when he totally did it to himself?What about a patient who has emphysema or lung cancer but smoked his entire life? How could you help him fight the emphysema or lung cancer when you know he totally did it to himself? Does he really deserve a doctor and medicine when he did it to himself? What about a kid who comes into the emergency room? He was doing stunts with his motorcycle and pretty much nearly killed himself - now he needs emergency surgery in your E...

Chartiable Contributions

Posted on June 30, 2008
Some cases are clearly slam dunk winners for my clients. When those cases come along, a decision needs to be made - you can either go to the prosecutor and say, "Here's why your case is a loser..." and hope they see it your way and dismiss it, or you can sit back and wait for the trial, and win it...

Sudoku-Playing Jurors

Posted on June 10, 2008
Do I mind when jurors don't pay attention to the trial? I guess if they miss some of the evidence against my client, it might be ok. But in general, I feel like they're about to make a serious decision, they should give it their full attention. In Sydney, Sudoku-playing jurors make judge stop drug trial...

Glamour Contests

Posted on June 04, 2008
I bookmarked this Glamour Contests Website where you can enter all of the contests from Glamour magazine. When I'm on the phone with a client who is repeating himself over and over, I enter to win a trip to Jamaica. Or sandals. Or sunglasses. But I think the trip to Jamaica would be the sweetest justice...

Hypo-Vic, The Conclusion

Posted on May 21, 2008
I feel like I can't really move on to any other real topics until I wrap-up the "Vic the hypocrite" issue.I think it is really interesting that the comments really run the gamut. But, overall, I think Arvin hit the nail on the head:Like your post on vegetarianism, doesn't it depend on WHY Vic wants the prosecution to go easy on his clients when he's the defense attorney?For example, say he believes in the yin and yang theory...

For All My Public Defender Friends

Posted on May 16, 2008
Nine Ways To Prevent Job Burnout from Forbes.com. Apparently it has much more to do with diet and exercise than I ever knew. Somewhat interesting.

Can the Defense Ever Be Pro-Prosecution?

Posted on April 23, 2008
I had dinner with a bunch of criminal defense attorneys the other night. Some in private practice, some public defenders. The subject arose of another criminal defense attorney, who wasn't present, who had recently been a crime victim. We'll call him "Vic," because that seems like a good law school hypothetical crime victim name...

Let The Record Reflect...

Posted on April 12, 2008
Just when you think YOU'VE had a bad day in court, you get to read the transcript of a really bad day in court. Court reporter to razor-wielding defendant: "I will beat the shit out of you." - By Bonnie Goldstein - Slate MagazineLet this be a reminder to all of our clients - everything you say and do in the courtroom becomes part of the record...

Doomed to Repeat It

Posted on April 09, 2008
So... remember last year, when tax day was approaching, and I couldn't find my W-2s? Do you think maybe I learned something from that?Yes, I learned that I should have left them on the coffee table, where I throw the mail every day. Because then, at least, this comment I left on my own blog would be like a little breadcrumb, leading me in the right direction...

Conflict Avoidance Behavior

Posted on March 23, 2008
One of the many perks of representing wealthier clients is that they can afford expert evaluations. They can go to doctors of all different specialties, who can diagnose their conditions and write glowing letters to the court. In particular, they can go to psychiatrists and psychologists who can write about their condition (most often, depression) and how that led to their behavior...

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