Still More on Nonjudgmental Jurors

Anne Reed over at Deliberations has picked up on my posts about the jurors who can’t judge, and taken the research a lot farther here. Anne points out the potential clash between the Batson cases (which bar the exclusion of jurors because of race and sex, and which can arguably be extended to bar the [...]

More on Nonjudgmental Jurors

I blogged here about the exclusion from jury service of people who hold religious beliefs that prevent them from judging other people. I thought of it as a First Amendment problem and an Equal Protection problem under the U.S. Constitution. I haven’t given much thought to the Federal implications beyond Batson, Powers, and J.E.B., but [...]

Quote of the Day

We, as criminal defense lawyers, are forced to deal with some of the lowest people on earth, people who have no sense of right and wrong, people who will lie in court to get what they want, people who do not care who gets hurt in the process. It is our job - our [...]

Nonjudgmental Jurors

In almost every criminal jury selection I’ve seen, there has been at least one juror who has said that she is unable, because of religious beliefs, to judge other people. Almost universally and without further inquiry, the lawyers have not allowed these people to serve as jurors. That the defense lawyers (who probably want such [...]

The Art

The art at the top of the page is Jean-Léon Gérôme’s 1872 Pollice Verso, which resides at the Phoenix Art Museum. The metaphor will be obvious to anyone who has ever tried a criminal case.
So who’s the defender and who’s the prosecutor? Well, it’s like they say: Some days you’re the retiarius and some days [...]

Indefensible

David Feige’s book, “Indefensible: One Lawyer’s Journey into the Inferno of American Justice” has been on my “to read someday” list for months. I started reading his blog, and then ordered the book from Amazon. I started reading it last night. I may give a more thorough review of it later, but for now I’ll [...]

Get Out of Jail Free

Fellow defenders,
Jon Katz over at Underdog Blog writes about a Georgia juvenile PD being jailed for contempt for arguing “contumaciously” with the judge.
Did you know that when a Texas judge holds you in contempt for something you did in the course of defending someone, you have an absolute right to release on your own recognizance [...]

Prosecutorial Memes.

There are ten or twelve stock arguments that most prosecutors learn to use and then never deviate from. For example:
Smoke and Mirrors.
The “Spaghetti” Defense.
Explain it to Your Spouse / Neighbor.
Send a Message.
Plea for Law Enforcement.
To those of us who make our livings toiling in the criminal courts, these arguments may seem trite. The fact that [...]

In Trial Today

Today I helped one of my former students (he was in one of my classes when I helped teach criminal trial advocacy at University of Houston Law Center) try a misdemeanor case — one of his first. I did my best to just butt out and give him backup and a few pointers; now I [...]

Dealing With the Media and Fighting Like You Mean It.

Fellow criminal defense gladiators and gladiatrices:
On May 11, the Harris County Criminal Lawyers’ Association and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers’ Association are presenting a seminar in Houston on dealing with publicity in and out of court. I’m the course director. Our lead speaker is LCDR Charles Swift. He is joined by Rusty Hardin, Katherine Scardino, [...]

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