Bennett's Chainsaw dictates that it will not be easy, but I love the what really happened? case—the one in which the client is innocent, but his innocence is entirely incompatible with the proof the government thinks it has. In these cases, often a thorough investigation reveals the key to the case, discrediting or clarifying some key piece of evidence so that the government's case crumbles like old

It's always been easy for a lawyer to claim, "I've handled lots of these cases," to try to get hired by a client. Now, thanks to District Clerk Loren Jackson, who has brought the courthouse into the late 20th century, if not the 21st, it's easy for a client, at least in Harris County, to verify the claim. Go here; search for the lawyer by name (blue

In response to my post on how to choose a criminal-defense lawyer, a couple of people asked for a similar guide for the clients who can't afford to hire the kind of lawyer I would hire if I were in trouble. For example, "What I wish you had written is how to select a lawyer who is at the 'price point' you were several years ago."First, some

From Birmingham, Alabama:Court officials say a Birmingham woman who changed her name to Jesus Christ didn't live up to it when she reported for jury duty this week.The woman, previously named Dorothy Lola Killingworth, was sent to Judge Clyde Jones's courtroom for a criminal case Monday.Court officials told The Birmingham News Tuesday that the 59-year-old was excused because she was disruptive and kept asking questions instead of

Jeff Gamso writes about birthers, (political) teabaggers, truthers, Flat-Earthers, alien abductees, and other unshakeable believers in alternate realities (21% of New Jerseyites surveyed weren't sure that Barack Obama is not the Anti-Christ). What set Jeff off is that Arlington, Tennessee Mayor Russell Wiseman is one of these nutjobs.What sets me off is that lots of our potential jurors are these nutjobs (do you think more people in

I've started a new blog, Social Media Tyro ("because the world doesn't need any more self-professed experts"). I won't be writing extra posts, but I'll be putting the social-media related posts (including online advertising and marketing) there instead of here so that I can focus Defending People a little more narrowly.

The rumor that I mentioned on October 30th, that the DA's office was going to stop accepting charges on trace controlled-substance cases, has been verified. Prosecutors were notified today by email that starting January 1st the Harris County DA's Office was going to stop filing possession cases on people in possession of less than .01 grams of a controlled substance. This is terrible news—aside from cutting into

In The Ethics of Pathos, Part I I discussed Walter Olson's ethical question, "Should lawyers trying cases make an appeal to jurors' reptile brains?" While writing that post I came to the conclusion that it's not unethical to use even the darkest of persuasive arts (I'm a student of hypnosis and other trial technologies) to convince a jury.Why not?A jury comes into the courtroom to be persuaded.

Over at Overlawyered Walter Olson asks, "Should lawyers trying cases make an appeal to jurors’ 'reptile brains'?" In writing about Reptile Trials in Lizards Don't Laugh, I hadn't even considered this question. If Walter's were a practical "should" question—"will it sometimes benefit clients for lawyers trying cases to appeal to jurors' reptile brains?"—then the answer would be "yes, absolutely." But that's not the tenor of Walter's question.

If you’re the sort of person who needs anyone other than your dog to think you’re noble, criminal defense is the wrong line of work for you. Still, it’s nice that former criminal-defense lawyer and now prosecutor Ken Lammers thinks that the criminal-defense lawyer who takes the job of defending a “Reviled One,” and does the best he can in defense of is noble. Especially since so