Since starting with Sumpter & Gonzalez almost two years ago, one of the things I’ve found so surprising is the contempt that defense attorneys have for MADD. I mean, we’re all opposed to drunk driving, right? We just want to see rights preserved and innocence presumed, while MADD wants to make sure that kids are […]
While it’s never come to a criminal case in this country (to the best of my knowledge), jailbreaking your iPhone and copying a DVD for personal use have long been stigmatized as illegal, under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. And typically, when something’s been illegal, it doesn’t become more legal later – especially when powerful […]
While I’ve been out of town this past week, I’ve had the opportunity to do two things I don’t often get to enjoy: Watch daytime television (hence the subject line) and talk to people from rural parts of Texas. I made a new friend, kind of – this 21 year old ex-Marine from East Texas […]
There’s a pretty terrific article in this week’s Economist about the American criminal justice system. It doesn’t say a whole lot that people who follow the problem closely don’t already know well, but I posted it to Facebook about fifteen minutes ago, and it’s already been re-posted by four of my friends, none of whom […]
Working with teenagers is always a great source for learning experiences. This is especially true in the criminal and juvenile justice system where many of them had a few years of successfully hiding risky behavior before being caught for the first time. Nowhere is this more prevalent than college kids who have been busted for smoking […]
Lots of other people are doing good writing and posting interesting things on the criminal law beat, which is fortunate – I’m out of the office this week, and I have more time to read than I do to write. Here’s some of the best of what I’ve found, though, for you to consider: Growing […]
I wrote a few weeks ago about the way defense attorneys are perceived, and how, when talking with friends who haven’t got any firsthand experience with the justice system, the argument has come up that a defense attorney shouldn’t try to “get his guy off”, but get him a light sentence, if he knows that […]
I’ve been meaning to write about no-knock warrants for a while now, but as a non-attorney blogger without firsthand knowledge of them, I’ve got a bit of research (read: Knocking on the attorneys’ office doors to ask them for stories and outrage) to do before I feel qualified. I mean, even in the instances where […]
While on the topic of Supreme Court Justices, I get to tell the best story of our recent law school reunion. Corinne and I met in law school, keep in pretty good touch with many of our friends from law school, and since her family is in California, we find any excuse to find ourselves […]
Here’s something to take with you over the weekend – Houston criminal attorney Mark Bennett has thoughtfully posted a top-ten list of how to deal with people with borderline personality disorder, which can be relevant in this field for all sorts of reasons. I won’t steal the whole list – and every item on it […]