Skip to content

Category Archives: criminal defense

It always goes back to Lysander Spooner on the Magna Carta

Over at the Washington Post, Gene Weingarten discussed his temptation towards jury nullification during his recent experience as an alternate juror. It’s an interesting article, and I just want to add a few comments to the discussion on jury nullification.
Actually, let’s start by defining it: jury nullification is when a jury acquits a defendant despite [...]

Jury Duty and Twitter

I never seem to run out of tweets like these:
@bigced: “if I get selected and the person on trial is from Brooklyn, that’s an automatic GUILTY!!!”
@Debyshu: “@LynLeshai hahahaha, you have jury duty? Thats kinda cool. He’s guilty, unless he’s black.”
@MzLeke: “Gettin ready for jury duty. I’m so tired ugh. Somebody is gonna be guilty today!”
@DIVAZSUCHASTARR: [...]

Why Criminal Defense is Still and Always My Favorite Practice Area

Mark Bennett wrote a great summary of the discussion on justice and criminal defense that has been going around the legal blogs lately. Personally, my favorite post this time around was Gamso’s, but they’re all worth checking out. It’s a timely discussion for me, because a dear friend of mine asked me again recently how [...]

Federal Judge Concerned that NYPD Lying is Institutionally Condoned

Via the Daily News:
Weinstein, a 40-year veteran of the bench, was not persuaded by the city’s claim that there is no evidence that police lying is condoned as an official policy.
“Informal inquiry by [myself] and among the judges of this court, as well as knowledge of cases in other federal and state courts … has [...]

Upcoming Criminal and Trans-Related CLE in NY

On December 8th, I’ll probably be catching up on Transgender Issues in the Criminal Justice System.
When: Tuesday, December 8, 2009 – 5:30pm – 7:15pm
Where: N.Y. County Supreme Court, 100 Centre Street, Room 1517
Gender Fairness Committees of New York County Supreme & Criminal Courts, in conjuction with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Law Association of [...]

Benefits for Same-Sex Spouses of Court Employees in the 9th Circuit; Lynne Stewart

Via Leonard Link, I learned that Judges Reinhardt and Kozinski of the 9th Circuit each issued opinions last week protecting their gay employees’ rights to obtain federal employee benefits after Office of Personnel Management’s interference.
As Professor Leonard explains, Reinhardt held that a federal public offender should be compensated for obtaining equivalent health insurance for [...]

Internet Alibi Evidence

The Brooklyn DA’s office recently dropped their charges against a young man because he updated Facebook from Harlem at the time the robbery was allegedly committed in Brooklyn. According to the NY Times, a Dallas attorney was quoted as saying: “This is the first case that I’m aware of in which a Facebook update has [...]