John Edington received a phone call from his wife telling him that a neighbor had molested their two-year old daughter. Edington then climbed through the neighbor's bedroom window and stabbed him to death.
Oh, yeah- Edington is also a lawyer.
31 August 2006
French Cop Killer a Saint?
According to this blog, Jacques Fesch, a 27-years-old playboy, who was beheaded in 1954 in France for the murder of a police officer following a bungled robbery, is being considered for Catholic sainthood. Apparently, "many Catholics in France now believe that the killer died a saint. Thirty years after his execution, the archbishop of Paris, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, signed a decree that may one day see him beatified."
He admitted to shooting a police officer in an attempt to flee a robbery. After his conviction and death sentence, he underwent a profound conversion. Not profound enough, however, to convince him of the justice of his sentence, which he believed to be excessive since he did not premeditate the murder.
He admitted to shooting a police officer in an attempt to flee a robbery. After his conviction and death sentence, he underwent a profound conversion. Not profound enough, however, to convince him of the justice of his sentence, which he believed to be excessive since he did not premeditate the murder.
30 August 2006
Police release photo of car linked to girl's murder investigation
Police say they are following several strong leads in the slaying of 21-year-old Emily "Kate" Robertson. One of which is security camera footage of the vehicle she was seen leaving work in.
Follow the story and see the pics HERE.
Follow the story and see the pics HERE.
Violent Crime on the Rise Across Country
As Richmond (Virginia) and surrounding areas struggle with recent high-profile crimes, a Summer crime wave hits Washington, Seattle, Indianapolis, other U.S. cities.
Click HERE to Look up crime statistics for your community.
Click HERE to Look up crime statistics for your community.
29 August 2006
Detroit Prostitute Murderer
A teachers strike, a winning baseball team and now a Prostitute murderer – busy days in Detroit.
Fugitive Polygamist Leader Caught
Warren Steed Jeffs, the fugitive leader of a polygamist Mormon sect and one of the FBI's 10 most wanted, was arrested in a traffic stop outside Las Vegas, the Nevada Highway Patrol said on Tuesday.
Big Surprise...
Prosecutors Drop Case in Ramsey Slaying. "This case is not closed," said District Attorney Mary Lacy, who planned to further explain her decision at a news conference Tuesday.
Uh huh... sure.
Read the Boulder District Attorney's motion to quash the arrest warrant and other court documents here.
Fugitive nabbed on way to work
Rape suspect wanted in N.C. is arrested at his Richmond home. A fugitive wanted in North Carolina since 1994 on charges of rape, kidnapping and armed robbery was captured yesterday at his South Richmond home.
23 August 2006
Down For 2 Weeks
As I close things down for my office and get moved to Wise, I don't think I'll have time to blog here for a while. I plan to come back on 10 September 2006.
Until then, if ya'll are lucky, maybe some of the other folks who have posting priviliges here will take up some of the slack (hint hint).
Until then, if ya'll are lucky, maybe some of the other folks who have posting priviliges here will take up some of the slack (hint hint).
22 August 2006
Another Georgia Inmate Gets a Guard's Firearm
Despite being in chains, he gets the gun, shoots the guard, takes the van - and then is shot by the other guards.
21 August 2006
Not Guilty 'Cuz She Didn't Do It
She swears she deposited it, but the money's gone. The bank says its cameras show that no one deposited a bank bag. She's tried and convicted.
A year later they find the bag - right where she said she'd deposited it.
A year later they find the bag - right where she said she'd deposited it.
Chief Puts Kibosh on Police Parody
Tacoma police chief has no sense of humor (or at least realizes that his bosses won't).
18 August 2006
VINE Expanded
Virginia is going to extend VINE to jails. I understand the politics behind this but I've got to wonder how difficult this will be. Serious defendants whom victims would want to keep track of often have charges in multiple counties and are moved between them in a manner which seems almost random at times. Notifying the victim with each move might mean they'd be getting a message every couple days.
On the other hand, if attorneys could use this it would be a wonderful way to know when the jails transfer your client half way across the Commonwealth two days before trial.
On the other hand, if attorneys could use this it would be a wonderful way to know when the jails transfer your client half way across the Commonwealth two days before trial.
17 August 2006
The Last "Week in a Life of a Criminal Defense Attorney"
Enjoy.
Note: Names changed all around and facts changed in juvenile cases. The general procedural happenings have been left the same.
Note: Names changed all around and facts changed in juvenile cases. The general procedural happenings have been left the same.
A Week in the Life: Monday
I get to the Shire County courthouse at 9:15 because I have a duty day in circuit court. I'm supposed to sit and take any court appointments the court has during pretrials on this date, but I arrive a little early because I intend to find someone to take the duty day (I won't be around to actually do the cases).
As soon as I walk in the door a prosecutor standing out in the general district court (GDC) hall hails me: "Mr. Lammers, this is the place you're supposed to be." Huh? I know I was supposed to have a case today in GDC but it had a prelim for a felony and I wouldn't be able to follow thru. I'd been handing those cases off and thought I'd handed this one off. I quickly look thru my brief case and realize this is a case I tried to hand off twice but couldn't find a taker.
I quickly grab a friend from out in the hall and get him to take my duty in the circuit court. Then I sit down to talk with the prosecutor about the case. Client is charged with speeding 78 in 65 mph zone, driving without a motorcycle license, driving on a suspended license, and felony eluding. The officer says that he was only able to pace my client accurately at 78 but that as my client accelerated away from him. Client accelerated away officer got up to 140 mph before he backed off for safety reasons. Client continued to accelerate. Then he ran out of gas. Yep, you read that right, Client only got caught because he hadn't filled up his tank recently. Of course, then Client tells Officer that he got up to 170 mph. And it turns out he has about 5 other warrants for not coming to court on traffic matters (the reason I couldn't hand his case off is that I couldn't find someone who could cover all 4 of his court dates).
Needless to say, the prosecutor isn't interested in reducing the felony eluding to a misdemeanor. He'll drop the two citations and reccomend ten days for the driving suspended, but of course, we all know that the hens will come to roost a couple months down the line in circuit court. So, I go back and talk to Client for a couple minutes and when I come back out the case is called and everything goes as planned. I snag the same guy I gave the duty day to and get him to take over the felony charge.
I walk over and talk to a prosecutor who will be opposition for my client's show causes on the Tuesday morning docket and ask her to put them at the end of the docket because there was a calendar screw-up and I am scheduled to be in two courts at the same time. She's fine with it, even agreeing to move the cases to after lunch if I run extremely late because I already have a case after lunch.
Then I start the great defense attorney round-the-world trip. From Shire I drive a hour down to Morton II Prison to visit my client who was accused of having drugs in Vangrove Prison in Vangrove County. He chose a jury - they found him guilty and gave him the entire ten years. We have a sentencing hearing the next day to try to convince the judge to suspend some of that time and I got his presentence report at the end of the last week. I drive down to the middle of nowhere and wait 40 minutes for them to find him and usher me into a visitation room in the prison. We go over everything and 45 minutes later I'm back on the road. I had hoped to drive the 2+ hours to get to Entropy Regional Jail but it's gonna be real tight. I doubt I'm going to make it before things get shut down for head count - shift change - supper. I call another attorney who goes to that jail a lot and he volunteers to get a phone conference set up for me; he calls back 5 minutes later and tells me it's set up for 7 p.m.
With that settled, I have time to do something else. About half way back I stop at the City of Carlton's courthouse and go talk to the prosecutor about cases we have in Juvenile & Domestic Court on Thursday. Basically, we agree that most of the cases are going to have to be continued and have another attorney assigned because I am leaving at the end of the month and will not be able to follow up (these cases can go on forever). There's only one case which we think can be dealt with on Thursday and that's a mother who left her 8 and 9 year old kids at home to go play bingo for a couple hours. We agree that 6 months of parenting classes would be the appropriate remedy.
With that I drive back to my office. I eat some supper and cheat a little, calling Entropy Regional Jail at 6:45. They have no clue what I'm talking about. The supervisor tells me that if I'll call back in 15 minutes he'll be happy to go hunt down the two clients I need to talk to. I call back and the man was good to his word. The first conversation goes loooooonnngg because Client is going to trial the next morning and isn't the brightest bulb in the box so concepts we have gone over previously have to be gone over and over until I think she gets them (I hope). The next goes fairly quickly. Client is being sentenced tomorrow on a driving as a habitual offender and has a copy of his presentence report and guidelines. We don't have much to discuss but I always like to touch base before a sentencing hearing. The phone conference ends at about 7:45.
I jump into my car and head out to Lost Hope Juvenile Detention Center. I get there at about 8:15 and ask to see my client.
The 18 year old kid is to be sentenced the next day for felony assaulting staff at a juvenile facility and misdemeanor sexual assault. It was a case wherein, a nurse claimed he and a co-defendant forced open a door, hitting her on her side, dislocating her jaw, and grabbing her in all sorts of sexual areas before she and the other nurse could shut the door again. The nurse's story was full of holes such as there being no way she could be standing where she says she was and get hit in the jaw and absolutely no way these two ladies shoved the door closed against these two large muscular kids. Worse yet, the guard on the scene testifed that she was there the entire time and the kids never, ever entered the room the nurse was in. With the guard's testimony I figured there was no way to find this kid guilty beyond all reasonable doubt; prior experience hsa shown, time and again, that anything a guard tells this judge is golden - EXCEPT, apparently, when the guard testifies for the ward. The judge blew right past the guard's unimpeached testimony and found the kid guilty.
But it gets worse. Co-defendant's counsel, upon learning the result of my client's trial, went with a jury trial. There's a whole lot of back-story to it (much of which I don't know entirely) but suffice it to say on the day the jury trial is supposed to commence things are FUBAR due to paperwork errors, the staff at Lost Hope Juvenile not being cooperative (with the elected prosecutor, no less), and late delivery of the ward to the courthouse. The judge refuses a motion to continue and dismisses the case, laying blame at the feet of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Remember that a dismissal in Virginia is a dismissal with prejudice. Of course, I'm the one who gets to explain to my client that his co-defendant's dismissal had nothing to do with the facts of the case but was a punishment the judge imposed for procedural problems and it isn't going to do him any good. Let me tell you, this was a long, painful conversation.
Finally, some time after 9 p.m. I leave Lost Hope and, finished with the day, head back to my apartment.
As soon as I walk in the door a prosecutor standing out in the general district court (GDC) hall hails me: "Mr. Lammers, this is the place you're supposed to be." Huh? I know I was supposed to have a case today in GDC but it had a prelim for a felony and I wouldn't be able to follow thru. I'd been handing those cases off and thought I'd handed this one off. I quickly look thru my brief case and realize this is a case I tried to hand off twice but couldn't find a taker.
I quickly grab a friend from out in the hall and get him to take my duty in the circuit court. Then I sit down to talk with the prosecutor about the case. Client is charged with speeding 78 in 65 mph zone, driving without a motorcycle license, driving on a suspended license, and felony eluding. The officer says that he was only able to pace my client accurately at 78 but that as my client accelerated away from him. Client accelerated away officer got up to 140 mph before he backed off for safety reasons. Client continued to accelerate. Then he ran out of gas. Yep, you read that right, Client only got caught because he hadn't filled up his tank recently. Of course, then Client tells Officer that he got up to 170 mph. And it turns out he has about 5 other warrants for not coming to court on traffic matters (the reason I couldn't hand his case off is that I couldn't find someone who could cover all 4 of his court dates).
Needless to say, the prosecutor isn't interested in reducing the felony eluding to a misdemeanor. He'll drop the two citations and reccomend ten days for the driving suspended, but of course, we all know that the hens will come to roost a couple months down the line in circuit court. So, I go back and talk to Client for a couple minutes and when I come back out the case is called and everything goes as planned. I snag the same guy I gave the duty day to and get him to take over the felony charge.
I walk over and talk to a prosecutor who will be opposition for my client's show causes on the Tuesday morning docket and ask her to put them at the end of the docket because there was a calendar screw-up and I am scheduled to be in two courts at the same time. She's fine with it, even agreeing to move the cases to after lunch if I run extremely late because I already have a case after lunch.
Then I start the great defense attorney round-the-world trip. From Shire I drive a hour down to Morton II Prison to visit my client who was accused of having drugs in Vangrove Prison in Vangrove County. He chose a jury - they found him guilty and gave him the entire ten years. We have a sentencing hearing the next day to try to convince the judge to suspend some of that time and I got his presentence report at the end of the last week. I drive down to the middle of nowhere and wait 40 minutes for them to find him and usher me into a visitation room in the prison. We go over everything and 45 minutes later I'm back on the road. I had hoped to drive the 2+ hours to get to Entropy Regional Jail but it's gonna be real tight. I doubt I'm going to make it before things get shut down for head count - shift change - supper. I call another attorney who goes to that jail a lot and he volunteers to get a phone conference set up for me; he calls back 5 minutes later and tells me it's set up for 7 p.m.
With that settled, I have time to do something else. About half way back I stop at the City of Carlton's courthouse and go talk to the prosecutor about cases we have in Juvenile & Domestic Court on Thursday. Basically, we agree that most of the cases are going to have to be continued and have another attorney assigned because I am leaving at the end of the month and will not be able to follow up (these cases can go on forever). There's only one case which we think can be dealt with on Thursday and that's a mother who left her 8 and 9 year old kids at home to go play bingo for a couple hours. We agree that 6 months of parenting classes would be the appropriate remedy.
With that I drive back to my office. I eat some supper and cheat a little, calling Entropy Regional Jail at 6:45. They have no clue what I'm talking about. The supervisor tells me that if I'll call back in 15 minutes he'll be happy to go hunt down the two clients I need to talk to. I call back and the man was good to his word. The first conversation goes loooooonnngg because Client is going to trial the next morning and isn't the brightest bulb in the box so concepts we have gone over previously have to be gone over and over until I think she gets them (I hope). The next goes fairly quickly. Client is being sentenced tomorrow on a driving as a habitual offender and has a copy of his presentence report and guidelines. We don't have much to discuss but I always like to touch base before a sentencing hearing. The phone conference ends at about 7:45.
I jump into my car and head out to Lost Hope Juvenile Detention Center. I get there at about 8:15 and ask to see my client.
The 18 year old kid is to be sentenced the next day for felony assaulting staff at a juvenile facility and misdemeanor sexual assault. It was a case wherein, a nurse claimed he and a co-defendant forced open a door, hitting her on her side, dislocating her jaw, and grabbing her in all sorts of sexual areas before she and the other nurse could shut the door again. The nurse's story was full of holes such as there being no way she could be standing where she says she was and get hit in the jaw and absolutely no way these two ladies shoved the door closed against these two large muscular kids. Worse yet, the guard on the scene testifed that she was there the entire time and the kids never, ever entered the room the nurse was in. With the guard's testimony I figured there was no way to find this kid guilty beyond all reasonable doubt; prior experience hsa shown, time and again, that anything a guard tells this judge is golden - EXCEPT, apparently, when the guard testifies for the ward. The judge blew right past the guard's unimpeached testimony and found the kid guilty.
But it gets worse. Co-defendant's counsel, upon learning the result of my client's trial, went with a jury trial. There's a whole lot of back-story to it (much of which I don't know entirely) but suffice it to say on the day the jury trial is supposed to commence things are FUBAR due to paperwork errors, the staff at Lost Hope Juvenile not being cooperative (with the elected prosecutor, no less), and late delivery of the ward to the courthouse. The judge refuses a motion to continue and dismisses the case, laying blame at the feet of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Remember that a dismissal in Virginia is a dismissal with prejudice. Of course, I'm the one who gets to explain to my client that his co-defendant's dismissal had nothing to do with the facts of the case but was a punishment the judge imposed for procedural problems and it isn't going to do him any good. Let me tell you, this was a long, painful conversation.
Finally, some time after 9 p.m. I leave Lost Hope and, finished with the day, head back to my apartment.
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