Simple Justice
A New York Criminal Defense Blog
That's right. We bad. Kinda.
J. Greenfield, Designer (c) 2008
Feed List
Simple Justice
When Splinters Hurt
In a post that will surprise many, Kevin O'Keefe rips legal marketing for its
disgraceful lack of dignity. This follows an "incident" yesterday where an interview conduct by his son, Colin, of someone from ConsultWeb at Avvocating 2012 was spammed across twitter. Kevin was pissed, so he let loose in a colorful post:
<< MORE >>Lately I think of Kodachrome most “When I ...
A Weed Grows in Brooklyn
Every once in a while, a person has a chance to make a difference in the larger world. Sometimes, the chance comes at personal expense, but the
person's will to make a difference transcends self-interest. Most people choose to cover themselves rather than risk it. Only the truly brave take the chance.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Gustin Reichbach is a very brave man.
In a New York Times op-ed, Gus Reichbach has ...
Punditry Gone Awry
On the day SDNY Judge Shira Sheindlin certified a class action on behalf of the hundreds of thousand of people, mostly black and Hispanic, who were stopped and frisked because a cop felt like it, Fishtown's Leo Mulvihill pointed me toward an NPR radio broadcast of Richard Cohen on the
subject.
... << MORE >>
... << MORE >>
Judge Katherine Forrest Enjoins Indefinite Detention
Today is Judge Katherine Bolan Forrest's seven month anniversary
on the bench of the Southern District of New York, having been appointed by President Obama to fill Jed Rakoff's seat, and it's an anniversary worth celebrating. Not because seven months is
such a big deal, but because her decision in Hedges v. Obama shows
that the President did at least one thing right when he appointed her to the ...
<< MORE >>
Welcome to the Other Side
Tempe criminal defense lawyer Matt Brown wrote of his
frustration.
The criminal justice system is broken. Many judges are little more than prosecutors in robes.
The courts fuss and fume when you need an extra week or two to make a decision. They push you into whatever plea comes your way.
Matt goes on to vent on the ironies and wrinklies of the broken system, how ...
<< MORE >>Cash is the Crime
Radley Balko posts about a car stop in Monterey, Tennessee,
where a brave police officer, Larry Bates, caught a heinous criminal. The person driving the car, George Reby, was no criminal. He wasn't arrested.
Reby was stopped for speeding, though it's unclear whether he was given a ticket. It may have slipped the officer's mind as he struggled with the vicious criminal, wrestled the criminal until, exhausted and spent, the criminal was subdued. The name of ... << MORE >>
Reby was stopped for speeding, though it's unclear whether he was given a ticket. It may have slipped the officer's mind as he struggled with the vicious criminal, wrestled the criminal until, exhausted and spent, the criminal was subdued. The name of ... << MORE >>
Without Pics, It Never Happened
It's an internet meme, the Rules of the Internet. It's a funny joke to most, though
in a peculiar way it has always carried a kernel of truth. But as Max Kennerly found out after trial, the joke is on us.
Last Friday, after 15 hours of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict in favor of our client on all six questions — relating to the ...<< MORE >>
An Epidemic of Furtive Movement
It would be a New York joke if it
didn't mean that 684,000 people were stopped on the streets of New York and frisked last year. In 2003, cops stopped and frisked 160,851 people and recovered 604 guns.This proved that stop and
frisked worked, even if it meant the sacrifice of the right to be left alone of more than 150,000 people.
Last year, they recovered 780 guns, proportionately negligible, which again ... << MORE >>
Last year, they recovered 780 guns, proportionately negligible, which again ... << MORE >>
Cincinnati Police Chief Says Tasers Can Kill
James Craig, of "I'm a Phoenix fame," heads up the 1000 member Cincinnati police department. While that number of officers is slightly more
than the number needed to change a New York light bulb, it's still a big city police department, which makes James Craig's announcement matter, as he's the first top cop to admit the
obvious: Tasers sometimes kill people.
From Cincinnati.com:
From Cincinnati.com:
<< MORE >>In light of a ...
Tactical Dismissal, or How To Make A Federal Judge Cry
One of the tactics frequently urged by aggressive lawyers is to push judges to start living up to their oaths by granting motions, whether for
suppression, controversion or even simple discovery. You know, the stuff that really shouldn't be an issue at all except for the fact that the Government will not negotiate with
terrorists give the defense half a chance at preparing.
On the island of Saipan in the northern Marianas, ... << MORE >>
On the island of Saipan in the northern Marianas, ... << MORE >>
Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Lawyers
The market is speaking. It may be wrong and foolish, but that never stopped the market from speaking before, and it won't this time either. And you
can't argue with the market because it only speaks. It doesn't listen. At The Legal
Whiteboard, Bill Henderson is trying to tell us what it's saying.
This story is fresh off the newswire: "Law firms are no more the preferred ...<< MORE >>
Failing Law Schools: What If Tamanaha Is Right?
According to the review in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the advance copy of
Washington lawprof Brian Tamanaha's new book, Failing Law Schools, was "circulated to a handful of prominent legal scholars." And I got one too. It's devastating.
While it thoroughly covers the obvious, from bloated salaries for underworked "scholars" whose glorious research and writing is subsidized by students who take on massive debt for the honor, ... << MORE >>
While it thoroughly covers the obvious, from bloated salaries for underworked "scholars" whose glorious research and writing is subsidized by students who take on massive debt for the honor, ... << MORE >>
Saving the Drug War: Prosecutorial Oblige
When Eastern District of New York Judge John Gleeson used his sentencing memo in U.S. v. Dossie to send a message to the Attorney General to stop being such a mindless tool, his purpose was to castigate the Department of Justice and
its co-conspirators in abusing the power it was given just because they could.
Former prosecutor turned Gibson ... << MORE >>
Former prosecutor turned Gibson ... << MORE >>
When Deplorable Meets Harsh: The Michael Pena Sentence
The crime committed by former New York Police Officer Michael Pena was, as Justice Richard Carruthers called it at
sentence, "deplorable."
<< MORE >>Handing down a sentence that virtually assures 28-year-old Michael Pena will spend the rest of his life behind bars, state Supreme Court Justice Richard Carruthers said the former officer "showed by his deplorable conduct that he was not one of New York's Finest," invoking the department's ...
Us and Them in Pictures
Once again, Carlos Miller proves that a picture is worth a thousand words,
and that our need for images of the reality on the streets of police encounters cannot be understated. Two cops are on trial for their beating to death a homeless man, Kelly Thomas, the subject
of an earlier post.
Carlos now provides the video of Thomas' killing. While I could embed it here, ... << MORE >>
Carlos now provides the video of Thomas' killing. While I could embed it here, ... << MORE >>
And Now, For A Commercial Break
Given the amount of time I spend thinking about legal marketing and its impact on the legal profession, I couldn't help but watch in
amazement/amusement the debate between Lexblog honcho Kevin O'Keefe and Tom Watson, Senior
Vice President at Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Company.
Watson wrote about a cautionary post about the perils of social media. << MORE >>
Watson wrote about a cautionary post about the perils of social media. << MORE >>
But For Video: Bronx Edition
The only place in New York City that gives Bed-Sty a run for its money on the Police Department's stop and frisk initiative is The Bronx. You know the
place, Yankee Stadium. The Grand Concourse. Blacks and Hispanics. Drugs.
And like any good police initiative that just happens to focus on people whose skin color is a shade or two darker than white folks, we can rest easy knowing that New York's Finest are there to protect and serve, ... << MORE >>
And like any good police initiative that just happens to focus on people whose skin color is a shade or two darker than white folks, we can rest easy knowing that New York's Finest are there to protect and serve, ... << MORE >>
But Warren Boroson Said So
When someone wants to learn how to do something today, all they need to do is Google it. That's true of reglazing a broken window, unclogging a pipe
or performing an impromptu appendectomy. It's overwhelmingly true of hiring a lawyer, and there are, at this moment,
more than 75,000,000 results to a search of this question.
For the most part, the results exist for the purpose of steering the ... << MORE >>
For the most part, the results exist for the purpose of steering the ... << MORE >>
Not Everyone Looks Good in A Hijab
Via Jonathan
Turley, counsel for a Gitmo defendant has raised a very curious issue, and engaged in what may be a dangerous tactic, by wearing a hijab before the military tribunal and requesting an order
requiring other women do so as well.
Cheryl Bormann, counsel for defendant Walid bin Attash, has created a stir over wearing a hijab to ...<< MORE >>
Sorry Doesn't Cut It
There's nothing like some media attention to get cops off their stools at Dunkin' Donuts, so when the "dapper groper" case caught the attention of the
press, someone had to be arrested. That someone was Karl Vanderwoude, whose picture was smeared across the screen and tabloids.
As that bastion of journalistic integrity, the New York Post put it:
<< MORE >>
As that bastion of journalistic integrity, the New York Post put it:
<< MORE >>
The Future of Law School: The Tamanaha Fix
[Note: This isn't going to be a funny or salacious post. The first half is pretty boring, and I beg you to get through it. The subject is important, maybe even critical, to our profession. At least I think so. I don't ask much of readers, but do me the courtesy of reading through to the end.]
The rumblings have been going on for a while, that Brian Tamanaha has a book ... << MORE >>
A Grave Breach of Trust
Few criminal defense lawyers give a hoot about the demise of the once-glorious white shoe law firm, Dewey Ballantine (whose name was changed in 2007
to Dewey LeBoeuf to make it sound more international). Biglaw's problems aren't ours, right?
Putting aside the schadenfreude of another Biglaw collapse, coupled with the salaciousness of watching wankers scramble for a new corner office in a down market, there was a paragraph in this New York Times op-ed by James ... << MORE >>
Putting aside the schadenfreude of another Biglaw collapse, coupled with the salaciousness of watching wankers scramble for a new corner office in a down market, there was a paragraph in this New York Times op-ed by James ... << MORE >>
Thomas Cooley Law Goes On The Offensive
In the years of writing about law schools and legal education, I've only mentioned Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, a few times. It's not that I like or dislike the
school, as I really don't know much about it beyond what I read.
Cooley's claim is that it produces practice-ready lawyers rather than scholars. I take no issue with that purpose, though I have no ...
My Talk At Avvocating
My pals at Avvo must be feeling really silly right about now. Their big internet marketing conference, Avvocating, just concluded, and they're probably wondering how to explain my absence as the keynote speaker. Talk about a screw up. If you see
some red-faced guy cowering in the corner, that's Mark Britton, Avvo's CEO, trying to come up with an excuse for this huge mistake.
I've been dutifully checking the mailbox for ... << MORE >>
I've been dutifully checking the mailbox for ... << MORE >>
New York to Publius: You're Done, Bully-Boy
East Patchogue's voice in the New York State Legislature, Dean Murray (if that's his real name), saw his chance and took it. Cyberbullying, the bane
of the internet, is the hottest ticket around for politicos, and New York's legislators are nothing if not happy to jump on the bandwagon.
From Murray's press release at the New York Exchange:
From Murray's press release at the New York Exchange:
(Long Island, NY) Assemblyman Dean Murray (R,C-East Patchogue) held a ...<< MORE >>
The Message of 500 Clients
Whenever an awkward comment is left behind at SJ, I try to take a look at who wrote it and why. This comment was particularly odd, so I checked out the website included in the link to see
what the writer could possibly be thinking when he decided that linking his name to a peculiar comment was a good idea.
The "about" link at his website caught my eye, where ... << MORE >>
The "about" link at his website caught my eye, where ... << MORE >>
Good Times, Free Times
The bill came in again yesterday, just as it has monthly for decades. The New York Times, the paper of record in New York and a couple of other parts
of the world. I've been getting home delivery for longer than many readers have been alive.
It's hard to say why yesterday was different than any other day the bill arrived, but I called the New York Times home delivery people and told them that I had enough. ... << MORE >>
It's hard to say why yesterday was different than any other day the bill arrived, but I called the New York Times home delivery people and told them that I had enough. ... << MORE >>
An Insensitive Defense
Via Eugene Volokh, the Wilmington News-Journal reports that the alleged victim of a hate crime is
double upset.
<< MORE >>Wilmington criminal-defense lawyer Eugene Maurer, who is representing DiDonato, accused Baum of using the incident to seek attention.
“We feel this may have been an opportunity that was seized upon by the young man whereby he could politicize this situation, to draw attention to it,” ...
Lawprofs: Use or Be Used
In the never-ending search for academic legitimacy, Jack Chin takes his best shot at arguing the importance of
scholarly influence in criminal law.
For me, these cases brought to mind Chief Justice Roberts' famous mockery of the contribution of scholars to actual law: “Pick up a copy of any law review that you see, and the first article is likely to be, you know, the influence of ...<< MORE >>
Pro Bono: Just Another Burden
No, poor people can't take their '59 Rambler to the garage and get a free oil and lube as part of the auto mechanic's pro bono duty. No,
saddled with debt and less hope for a job than winning the lottery, aspiring lawyers don't deserve an unanticipated additional burden that no lawyer who is earning a living has to endure. No, they
aren't suddenly competent to represent a rodent, no less a person, because they've managed not to ...
<< MORE >>
Thank You, Mr. Mueller
This just in the ol' email box.
From: FBI@FBI.GOV<< MORE >>
Reply-to: federalbureauinvestigation_fbi@washington.usa.com
Sent: 5/2/2012 5:40:18 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time
Subj: OFFICIAL LETTER FROM FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI.
OFFICIAL LETTER FROM FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION FBI
ROBERT MUELLER III EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FBI FEDERAL BUREAU OF
INVESTIGATION FBI.WASHINGTON DC.
FBI SEEKING TO WIRETAP INTERNET
Email:federalbureauinvestigation_fbi@washington.usa.com
ATTENTION: BENEFICIARY
...
The Sounds of Silence
To listen to the fans of social media, it's highest and best use is to trumpet your accomplishments so everyone can marvel at how fabulous you are.
Criminal defense lawyers have not only fallen into line with the use of social media as self-promotion, but some have gone so far as to give updates of their daily activities, no concern
whatsoever of what information they're giving up and whose lives they're damaging in the process.
... << MORE >>
... << MORE >>
When The Judge Joins The Team
No. Not our team. Not the team of defense lawyers who try to keep a smile on their face and a positive attitude in the face of impending doom. But
much to the surprise of defendants and the public, judges regularly become a cog in the wheels of prosecution, though it's not necessarily as nefarious as it may sound.
After all, long before any defendant is arrested and any defense lawyer is retained, warrants get signed, ten day reports ... << MORE >>
After all, long before any defendant is arrested and any defense lawyer is retained, warrants get signed, ten day reports ... << MORE >>
But He Swore...
After my lame effort to point out the silliness of thinking that a cop swearing to tell the truth means he won't take the stand and lie, Ed
at Blawg Review sent me a link to George Carlin who, of course, says it better and funnier than I possibly could. Enjoy.
... << MORE >>
... << MORE >>
Meet The Zimmerman Social Media Defense
Much as I thought Mark O'Mara's handling of the bail hearing, providing George Zimmerman an opportunity to apologize publicly for killing Trayvon Martin, was a brilliant move, I'm not nearly as clear on his latest venture.
Now, defense attorneys for George Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer charged in the teen's death, have entered the virtual conversation. In an unusual move, Mark O'Mara has started a blog and accompanying Twitter and Facebook accounts ...<< MORE >>
Convicted on Acquitted Conduct
In a decision that only a legal apologist or circuit judge could love, the 8th Circuit in U.S. v. Vega pulled a breathtaking move and twice screwed the defendant without breaking a sweat. Via Federal Evidence Review, the Court upheld a drug conviction where the
government was allowed to use prior bad act evidence for which the defendant had been acquitted, but denied the defendant ...
<< MORE >>
Take No Chances
Trial is scheduled to begin today for 22 protesters of New York Police Department's notorious "stop and frisk" policy, in which hundreds of thousands
of people are routinely stopped on the streets for spurious reasons, most of which have to do with skin color. Lawyers for the protesters will argue a justification defense. It's not likely to
work.
In an op-ed, Brent Staples writes in the New York Times of the ... << MORE >>
In an op-ed, Brent Staples writes in the New York Times of the ... << MORE >>
Tag, You're It
Every so often, an image appears of police using force against a person who committed a heinous crime, the sort that harms an innocent person very
badly and gets any normal person's blood boiling. At law blogs, we take the detached view, that it's not left to police to administer vicious punishment on the street, no matter how much we can
understand the visceral reaction to the horrific conduct of such a person. We demand that cops ...
<< MORE >>
So You Want To Be A Lawyer?
At his Philly Law Blog, Jordan Rushie recounts how
he went from self-absorbed law student, utterly clueless as to what he'd gotten into and where he would be heading the rest of his life, to lawyer.
Admittedly, I had no idea what lawyers did on a regular basis. I had only met small town lawyers in my neighborhood. Most of them seemed pretty interesting. My view of lawyers was shaped by John Grisham novels, Law ...<< MORE >>
As the Mob Turns
Never before in the history of man has a lawyer letter generated more lust than Ken's. It came as a response to an embarrassingly bad cease and desist letter, barely comprehensible, replete with errors and conceptually bizarre, and stood up for the
right of some folks at Etsy to speak their mind without being subject to a lawyer's threats.
... << MORE >>
... << MORE >>
Academia, Where Speech Goes To Die
At Concurring Opinions, visiting Penn State lawprof Erica Goldberg writes about the unfortunate and intellectually bankrupt intersection between free speech and content on campus.
Almost everyone agrees that university campuses should be bastions of free speech. Fervent disagreement, however, exists just below the surface of that statement. Depending on how values are prioritized, individuals may differ on when speech becomes harassment, when speech becomes punishable conduct, and when speech is too controversial, extreme, or offensive to be permitted in the ...<< MORE >>
So Cops Lie, Eh?
The Toronto
Star has conducted an extensive investigation and discovered a outrage. Cops lie. I know, shocking, right?
<< MORE >>The first time Toronto police Det. Scott Aikman deceived the court, a judge denounced his “misleading” testimony and threw out a cocaine charge against a man.
The second time, Det. Aikman’s story explaining why he and his partner searched a minivan led to the acquittal of four suspects accused of masterminding an international credit-card data-theft ...
Your Life in Slackoisie Hands
At An Associates Mind, Keith Lee discusses a shift in the
expectations of those nice people who get to decide whether a criminal defendants goes home or spends his life in prison. No, it's not about libertarian tendencies, or love of freedom. It's not
about the compulsive need for order and submission to the shield. If only it were that easy.
<< MORE >>“If a generation is going ...
Lawyers: Hate, but Accurately
My old pal Niki Black took time off from singing the praises of clouds to post at Sui Generis about a New York State Bar Association ethics opinion on lawyers being mean to other lawyers. For you sad people who aren't New Yorkers, bear in mind that the NYSBA is a volunteer organization with no power whatsoever over anyone. Unlike other jurisdictions, lawyer licensure and discipline is handled ...
<< MORE >>Half an Argument
When Arizona decided to put an end to people who spoke with accents sullying the manicured lawns of their fine retirement communities, there was an uproar. After all, a law predicated on imposing a mandatory police duty of ascertaining citizenship status
from people who police "reasonably suspect" are illegals is, well, pretty darned outrageous.
Enter the Supreme Court to save us. Oral argument in Arizona v. United States (and case ... << MORE >>
Enter the Supreme Court to save us. Oral argument in Arizona v. United States (and case ... << MORE >>
The Intransigent Judge
A call came in a few days ago from a young lawyer who was feeling kinda lost. His question was simple: How do you do it? The background to
the question was key. He was trying to do his job, to play by the rules, to represent his clients competently or better, and get them something reasonably close to a fair shake. The problem was
the judge wasn't playing along.
He had ...
What's Good For Wal-Mart
It's a fiasco all around. And yet, it's as American as apple pie. When the New York Times broke the story of rampant bribery at
Wal-Mart's Mexican subsidiary, the dreaded Foreign Corrupt Practices Act went from being "reformed" to being the primary weapon in the war against the dreaded Wal-Mart.
The allegations cover all the bases. There were $24 million in bribes paid to locate stores in Mexico, where Wal-Mart is hated ... << MORE >>
The allegations cover all the bases. There were $24 million in bribes paid to locate stores in Mexico, where Wal-Mart is hated ... << MORE >>
Puppy Love (and Statistics Stink)
In anticipation of the Supreme Court's hearing Florida v. Harris, Penn
State visiting assistant lawprof Erica Goldberg has written a pair of interesting posts at Concurring Opinions. I leave the statistical analysis aspects to Goldberg and
anyone else inclined to give it deep thought. As a lawyer, I decline to engage in anything remotely resembling math unless it ...
<< MORE >>
The Riskiest Right
At the Volokh Conspiracy, Eugene Volokh writes about the Michigan
Supreme Court upholding the right to forcibly (but not lethally) resist illegal police conduct. Oh boy.
<< MORE >>The case is People v. Moreno (Mich. Apr. 23, 2012) (5 to 2). A 2004 Michigan Court of Appeals decision had held the contrary, but the Michigan Supreme Court overruled that precedent.
Under the old common law rule, ...
Students "Consent"
Via Radley Balko, the Sacramento Sheriff's Department collected DNA
from middle-schoolers in an effort to identify the
killer of 13-year-old Jessica Funk-Haslam.
Jessica Funk-Haslam was found in the dugout of a baseball field at Rosemont Park on March 5. Investigators say the girl had argued with her mother and left home the night before. She boarded a nearby light-rail train, transferred to a bus and got off near the park. ...<< MORE >>