Back in November, Kent Schaffer must have been feeling pretty good. Schaffer, one of Houston's top criminal-defense lawyers, had been appointed by Judge David Hittner to, along with the Public Defender, represent R. Allen Stanford in the juiciest criminal case in town. When Schaffer took the case it was at the CJA's $110-an-hour rate, considerably less than would make spending the same time on his retained cases.

None of my DWI clients have yet accepted the Harris County DA's "DIVERT" program, but I had one client who was considering it, so I acquired a copy of the standard DIVERT agreement. After reading the agreement, she decided to go to trial.Maybe having a copy of the agreement will help someone else trying to make the same decision.Harris County DWI Divert Pretrial Agreement

After I wrote this post and asked her to comment on Defending People because her emails were not welcome, Laura Leighton sent me these two emails:I saw your diatribe regarding myself and you are very wrong. It is "we" who respect our Constitution and demand our Constitution be obeyed. When radical extremists threaten to "push the U.S. into the sea" and "kill the gringos" disrupting a lawful

This weekend news came from Omaha of a lawyer, Terry L. Haddock, acting as a government informant. Haddock went into the jail to talk to Shannon Williams, who allegedly used Haddock's cell phone to run a marijuana trafficking operation. Williams says he thought Haddock was his lawyer; the government says that it was clear to Williams that Haddock was "not his attorney and would not do any

There's apparently a meme going around the Arizona "Patriot" community that I am asking why Arizona voters don't do something about Joe Arpaio. I am not. There's no question why Maricopa County keeps reelecting Warlord Joe: it's because the voters are scared, and fear is a mighty motivator. As Brian Cuban writes, "When we are afraid it becomes all so disturbingly easy for us to dismiss out

From "Kathryn," "ghiabliss@cox.net," the subject was "why the people don't do anything about Sheriff Joe?"We do something about Sheriff Joe!  We re-elect him because he is an honorable man who enforces the laws on the books.  And we will continue to re-elect him because he is the BEST sheriff Arizona has ever had.Mind your own business! I don't respond to anonymous comments or emails—unless I can use

When I met Norm Pattis in Wyoming in '99, I knew: here is another lawyer smarter than me. If you're a criminal-defense lawyer, or if you want to be a criminal-defense lawyer, read Norm's terrific Another Year in the Trenches.Jeff Gamso's is, hands down, the best new criminal law blog of 2009. After you read Norm's piece, read Jeff Gamso's response, His Loyaltie He Kept. Here is

When I was 25, I was a fool. In this I am far from alone—most, if not all, 25-year-olds who went directly from high school to college to law school are fools. Wisdom requires understanding, and understanding (as opposed to knowledge) comes only from experience of a type not provided by formal education.Fortunately for the 25-year-old me, wisdom is not a prerequisite for my then-and-now-chosen job.It's not

Some folks like to "quote" Edmund Burke on evil: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.Aside from the fact that the quote is quite bogus (see the link), it's wrong. In order for evil to triumph, it is not sufficient that good people not act; they must must cooperate. There aren't enough evil people in the world to

Today, in my second podcast, I interviewed Phoenix white-collar defense lawyer Jim Belanger about the goings-on in Maricopa County with County Attorney Andrew Thomas, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and lawyers rallying in front of the courthouse. Interview with Phoenix Lawyer Jim Berlanger