Defending People

the tao of criminal defense trial lawyering

Congratulations!

Mark Bennett | July 7, 2008

I’d like to congratulate the lawyers who prosecute, and the judges who sentence them, for the “choices” that they’ve made that put them at the top and my clients at the bottom. . . . and, for that matter, anyone else who is smugly self-righteous about his lot in life.
Not all of these will apply [...]

The Mind and Criminal Defense

Mark Bennett | June 19, 2008

The Center for American and International Law is presenting its seminar on The Mind and Criminal Defense again July 17-18, 2008. The program is funded by a grant for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, so you’ll wind up paying $185 (or less if you regularly represent the indigent accused) for 13.25 hours of CLE [...]

Scientific Study of Genes’ Effect on Behavior

Mark Bennett | April 21, 2008

Here’s an excerpt from yesterday’s Washington Post article by Rick Weiss on the use of DNA evidence in court for reasons other than identification:

. . . [W]hat of the murderers, rapists and other violent criminals who fall outside those narrow bounds? Can some, at least, blame their behavior on their genes?
Studies have shown that up [...]