OFF POINT

From In America's Court by Thomas Geoghegan


"But what of the young women who . . . go to work in the big firms? Some never get out. They get addicted. But others do. I somehow believe that a young woman like this has to check into a hotel, shut the door . . . and for a month or so go into withdrawal. That's how she gets off the $165,000 a year.

I saw one back out on the street the other day. Once, she was in a big firm that let her go. But I knew this even before she told me. She had a washed-out-but-I'm-better sort of look. How to put this? Maybe . . . she had lost her "powers." She can't levitate anymore. She's fallen back to earth. Now she's one of us.

You even think, you could marry her now. But after the Ecstacy, the levitating . . . well, you have to wonder what the baby would look like."

Hmmm . . . more on this book later.

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Gideon's Promise points out a case where a Judge has actually stopped the government from manipulating the process so that a defendant does not have the money to defend himself.

"While the government denies it, the likelihood is that in Scrushy's case as in many others, the use of parallel proceedings has been designed to cripple any possible defense in the criminal case but undercutting Scrushy's ability to fund his defense.  This problem though all too common is not often resolved with a judge calling one against the government, but when it occurs it is worthy of mention and praise."

This is a dead on analysis. The government doesn't like it when a defendant has the ability to match it blow for blow. Too much chance of turning out like O.J. or the first couple Gotti cases.

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"I think there's some symbolism in me coming to a conservative college in the South where Robert E. Lee is buried. I did the best I could to give his memory a different flavor by visiting him. Imagine how it's going to play in Harlem."

AL Sharpton visited the General's school. Gotta give him credit. If Lee's Chapel looks like it did when I went to law school there (it does) there are Confederate flags everywhere and Lee's statue lying in repose in the center. I can't think of any other minority leader who would take pictures right smack-dab in the middle of it all.

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A defendant's sentence is suspended. Then the Judge makes a stupid comment. The Judge is moved to civil court. The defendant then gets the sentence re-imposed as active time.

Huh? Don't they have double jeopardy in New Jersey?

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Good Gracious. The British might do away with wigs in the courtroom just because they don't serve any purpose. What's next? No more tea and biscuits? Will they learn to spell "theater" and "jail" correctly? Will they learn that a boot is a type of footgear, flat is is an adjective instead of a noun, and "Q" is just a letter?

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A scam based upon the the new no-call list has been called out by the FTC. Scamming out of laws meant to stop scams. Impressive.

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Republican Senators are trying to get around the judicial filibuster by changing the filibuster rules. But they need 60 votes to do that too. Doubtful.

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Anti-gay prison rape legislation.

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Transcripts v. Reality

Over at The Buck Stops Here, Matt Evans comments that upon reading a federal supreme court transcript he "was struck by how very few instances there are where anyone utters more than two sentences in a row that are structurally and grammatically flawless."

I see a similar thing each and every time I get a trial transcript. I flip to that number one, primo, most excellente, amazingly wonderful closing argument that I remember making and suddenly I am reading the rantings of a drooling idiot who has problems completing a sentence or even a thought. The reality, of course, is that there is an interaction occurring which the transcript cannot portray. There is a shared thought process in the courtroom during an argument. You know Judge Smith and can see he's just about to shred you for the argument you're making or that he's already convinced. You don't know the jurors personally but you've started to make a particular argument and juror number 7 (who you think is sympathetic to your client) rolls her eyes. If you are any good at all you react to these things as quickly as possible. As well, when most people argue something with passion there are incomplete sentences and thoughts but you score points because the jury feels with you.

Prison Health Care

"In spite of the high price, there is evidence that the medical care delivered in Virginia's prisons is inadequate and substandard."

I'm not a health expert but I can say that I have a lot of clients who complain about their mental health medicine being taken away when they get in jail because "they don't need it." I don't give much credence to my clients who talk about addictive pain killers being replaced with Tylenol but when expensive, nonaddictive, mental health medicine is denied I have to admit I get suspicious.

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Anti-death penalty activists are still fighting to get DNA tested in order to prove someone was killed who was not guilty.

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Can't really defend the spammers although they seem to have some pity for them in Roanoke. I don't like the criminalization of things which I think are a better fit under civil penalties especially when even the providers aren't sure it will accomplish anything. I suspect that spam will start coming from outside the borders much like the gambling does.

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The Ashland police force, already strectched, is going to get hit HARD when the new Wal Mart opens.

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How to avoid and deal with Identity Fraud.

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El-Amin has 19 more charges filed against him. They are going to make sure he's buried before trial.

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Another Judge for the Democrats to filibuster. How many before they crack?

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"The Virginia Supreme Court is known throughout the nation as a rubber-stamp court," Mello said. "It's no accident that ... Virginia (has) had so many executions."

But Virginia did remand this case for a technicality.

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"The process worked and these redneck holdouts can carry all the signs and boo all they want to. It's a good day for me, my daughter and some lost sanity in Georgia."

A new flag has risen in Georgia.

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OFF POINT
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I have been looking thru the list of websites whence come the most forwards to CrimLaw. The top ten are:

(1) The Jurist
               Somebody over there just loves my blawg. This is by far the largest number of forwards.
{2} Blogger
               I'm guessing these are random hits from the front page when I post new messages.
-3- Legal Ramblings
               I highly reccomend this page.
[4] Palmetto Journal
               This page found me before I found it. Worthwhile read of various topics.
(5) Ernie the Attorney
               Ernie has the best laid out outline of blawg pages I've seen.
{6} Sua Sponte
               One of the first pages I started reading.
-7- Blawg
               I'm number 14!! I'm number 14!! Heck, I'm even ahead of Volohk (which shows how valid these rankings are).
[8] How Appealing
               This is one I look at every day.
(9) Lex Communis
                The most respected blog in all of north-central Fresno County. Very good.
{10} Legalguy
               Not sure how people got sent to me from there. I'm not on the guy's blog list.
-11- khuffash
               Why are people linking to me from a farsi blog?

My top ten list goes to 11 because that means my music is louder than everybody elses . . . er, I mean my list is better than all the others. After all, does InstaPundit have 11 in its top ten lists?

As an aside, I'm not sure how accurate bSTATS actually is. It tells me that several people have been forwarded to CrimLaw from this Washington Post article about personal injury "runners" in D.C. but I cannot see how. As well, it doesn't tell me who has bookmarked the page and is just accessing it that way; those show up on the daily list as just empty slots.

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Beating your wife's cat to death gets you a felony conviction, 6 months in jail, and a $2,500 fine. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

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"[T]he highest judicial commission in Egypt approved a suggestion proposed by the ruling party aiming at canceling the state security courts law."

Not sure what this means exactly but it sounds like a good thing.

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Attacking a Defendant by requiring the defense attorney to turn over his billing records even though they have nothing to do with the charges.

This may be legal but it's shameful. It is an obvious ploy meant to deny the Defendant his choice of counsel or at least drive a wedge between him and his attorney. And possibly a way to attack disfavored attorneys (or ones who are just too succesful).

I'm curious as to whether any prosecutor has an ethics complaint filed against him for this sort of thing.

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Been wondering what the next Ninth Circuit decision to be overturned will be?

Well, this decision stating that individuals do not have a right to bear arms is a good candidate.

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"Be warned: Law, once a shield of the innocent, is now a weapon in the hands of government."

Good to know I'm not the only person whom labels himself a "conservative" and is concerned about the dissappearing rights of citizens.

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Judge Allows Government to Get Away With It

As you will recall, I predicted that the Malvo confession would make it into court. Guess what? It did. The judge disallowed a minor section (before they reread him his rights) but allowed everything after that.

The crux of the decision is that the the government can play all sorts of procedural games in order to deny you access to the attorneys you currently have and remove them. Isn't it amazing how technicalities always save the government but never work that way for Defendants?

It is becoming embarrassing how the Virginia courts are starting to require that poor, uneducated clients who are legally inexperienced use exactly the correct arcane formulation of phrases in order to obtain an attorney during questioning. Does anyone actually believe that "Do I get to talk to my attorneys? . . . Because the lawyers told me don't talk until they get here." is not a statement which a reasonable police officer would recognize as an attempt to invoke his right to counsel? If they didn't then why not read him the Miranda rights at that moment instead of talking to him for a hour and giving him some sandwiches so they could soften him up.

Of course, the Court's assertion that officers can approach you as often as they want to after you have invoked your right to remain silent (as long as they tell you your Miranda rights) is just amazing. It may be true legally but expecting someone (much less a minor) to understand that he has to keep invoking the same right over and over again every week, day, hour, or quarter-hour is anchored firmly in fantasyland.

"There is no evidence that Fairfax police or prosecutors colluded with federal authorities to spirit Malvo away to Virginia without the knowledge of his Maryland attorneys with the hopes or intention of interrogating him when he was without counsel or the right to counsel."

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!
CAN THE JUDGE ACTUALLY THINK THAT WE BELIEVE THIS?

I am almost speechless; I want to rant so bad. Instead, I'll just refer you to my previous posting.

How Appealing has access to the decision here.

You know, if I thought they were going to have a really hard time convicting for murder I would probably be more sympathetic. But they're going to get their conviction with or without the confession. It seems like they are bending and breaking the constitution just because they can.

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Police officers BEWARE. Those bachelorettes just might think you're part of the fun.

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Now here's a judicial decision I can live with. I wonder if I can get a Virginia judge to rule I can have a beer during breaks between court cases.

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It looks like Texas is starting to fulfill the Ninth Circuit's role but from the right. You know, if your courts are so ultra-right that the Rhenquist Court is issuing per curiam decisions against them you need to take a serious look at yourself. I didn't think this Court could agree on anything enough to issue a per curiam.

As an extra point, the third portion of the article points out that in the Illinois case just accepted by the federal supreme court the checkpoint actually took place three weeks after the crime. Again, I say this is a loser for the State of Illinois.

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I think it is well-settled precedent that police cannot set up checkpoints to randomly check for criminal activity. But now the State of Illinois wants to be allowed to set up checkpoints to randomly investigate and/or announce a single criminal activity.

This doesn't appear to be police shutting down roads immediately after a bank robbery or such so that the criminals cannot escape the area: "officers were passing out leaflets seeking information about a fatal hit-and-run."

I predict that a checkpoint to randomly hand out leaflets probably won't stand up to constitutional analysis; as the Illinois Supreme Court said "police [can]not stop drivers at random every time they need[] tips about a crime."

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"Kelley Ferguson, vacationing with her family aboard the Legend of the Seas, was accused of planting the threatening notes so the trip would be cut short and she could get home to her boyfriend."

When she was caught and bail was being discussed her mother said she wouldn't post bond because:

"She's going to run . . . and we're going to be left with a $25,000 debt. She promises not to do it again - but yeah, right."

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