Defending People

the tao of criminal defense trial lawyering

Is Only Kelly Siegler Man Enough to Tell the Truth?

Mark Bennett | June 14, 2008

Given that Americans’ second most common justification for the death penalty’s fairness is its provision of “satisfaction and closure” to the victim’s loved ones, it’s astounding to me that Kelly Siegler (“Prosecutor-for-Hire”, according to her tagline) admits in a blog post that there’s no such thing as closure (H/T AHCL). A successful death penalty prosecutor [...]

Actual Innocence in Collin County

Mark Bennett | May 23, 2008

Collin County DA John Roach has, after 18 months in which his office spent 5,000 man-hours and more than $47,000 re-investigating the case, announced that there is no longer a good-faith basis for upholding the conviction of Michael Blair:

Therefore, under my duty to not only uphold the law but to see that justice is done, [...]

Life for Quintero

Mark Bennett | May 20, 2008

On September 21, 2006 Juan L. Quintero was pulled over by a police officer and arrested for driving without a license. The officer cuffed Quintero’s hands behind his back, searched him, and put him in the back of his patrol car. Then the officer got into the front of his patrol car. Quintero shot the [...]

More on Sharon “Killer” Keller Complaint

Mark Bennett | October 16, 2007

Death penalty enthusiasts are chortling about Judge Sharon Keller’s action in closing the courthouse doors to Mr. Richard. A common theme among their responses is “blame the lawyers.” One [anonymous] sample, in comments to my first post on the subject:
Why didn’t the lawyers who needed to file do so BEFORE the court closed????? That is [...]