Nov 14th, 2007
Under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), a “sex offense” includes (among other things) any “criminal offense that has an element involving a sexual act or sexual contact with another.” 18 U.S.C. ยง 16911(5)(a). (Question: does “with another” modify “sexual act” or only “sexual contact”?)
A “sex offender” is a person who was convicted [...]
Our jury went home for the night at 5:30. In my closing argument I had suggested that they ask for twelve copies of the charge (I don’t remember who I stole that idea from); their first request after retiring to the jury room was to ask for twelve copies of the charge; their second was [...]
Nov 13th, 2007
The jury is out on our murder case. Final arguments went well — I didn’t see much that the prosecutor argued that Tyrone Moncriffe and I hadn’t already covered. I may have said this before, but it’s good to try a case with someone who I can trust to do a great job without any [...]
Today while cross-examining my client, the prosecutor took two verbal swings at me personally. He suggested that I was responsible for my client’s account of the facts and suggested that I was calling the state’s witnesses liars.
What does that mean?
Nov 9th, 2007
For trial, I have a collapsible wheeled file box (like one of these, but I have a cheap generic one from OfficeMaxDepot). When I’m not in trial mode, the box folds up and stores under the couch in my office. When I am in trial mode, the box expands to about 13.5″W X 12.5″L X [...]
Nov 8th, 2007
“When I heard that you had been hired, I knew this was going to be a really tough case.”
Nov 7th, 2007
When cross-examining an unknown witness, you must observe the Motorcycle Rule. This is the rule that kept me alive through years of riding a motorcycle in Houston traffic (for a while, I had no usable car, and rode everywhere). The Motorcycle Rule, for those not familiar with it, is this:
They are all out [...]
[Edited 11/7/2007 to ensure compliance with TDRPC 3.07. Discretion is the better part of valor.]
When defending a client, my general style is to go riiiggghhhtttt up to the line and lean waaaaaayyyyyyy over. In one white-collar trial once, a long time ago, I asked a question of a witness today that the prosecutor thought crossed [...]
[Edited 11/7/2007 to ensure compliance with TDRPC 3.07. Discretion is the better part of valor.]
Three of the State’s civilian witnesses testified today. They didn’t do us much harm — they actually disproved a chunk of the prosecutor’s opening statement, and proved a good chunk of our opening for us.
One witness testified on direct that she [...]
Nov 6th, 2007
We’re taking a lunch break from my self-defense trial. When I’m in trial (that’s “on trial” for you New Yorkers), I eat low-carb meal replacement bars and drink lots of water. The bars are easy to carry in my trial box, they don’t go bad, they don’t make my blood sugar spike and crash in [...]