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Prompted by this WSJ article noting that some critics of peremptory challenges in jury selection would like to see peremptories limited to three per side, Walter Olson of Overlawyered (@WalterOlson) and Scott Greenfield of Simple Justice (@ScottGreenfield) have been engaged this morning in a twitter conversation about peremptory challenges (and, not incidentally, clever lawyers). They've been joined by Dennis Elias of JuryVox (@JuryVox) and PopeHat (@PopeHat). Here's

A Sistine Chapel moment:

Here’s an exchange on the comments to Murray’s blog, discussing keeping defendants from learning witnesses’ social security numbers (in the post (about the production of copies of offense reports to the defense) to which the comments belong, Murray does his best to think like a criminal-defense lawyer, bless his little heart, but fails miserably); the topic is what should be done to make sure that containing witnesses’

I recently discovered a Motion to Hold Without Bond and an order thereon in the prosecutor's file in a case I was handling. Discovered, despite the certificate of service claiming that the motion had been hand delivered to me 13 days before. (The parties involved will remain nameless, but only because I like them personally.)The order signed by the judge said that "after hearing and considering the

Last month I got a call from Terry Fifer (or it maybe Terri Fifer or Terry Phifer or Terri Phifer) at R.W. Lynch claiming that she was calling about "a new case -- an injury that I was involved in." Since then she has become more truthful -- "I want to know if you handle personal injury cases", "I will call back" (no doubt), and "regarding personal

Steve Hobart says he’ll never forget the frantic moments after his 19-year-old son was shot. He’ll never forget seeing a bloodied Aaron Hobart die in front of his eyes as he struggled to give him CPR. “We wanted Aaron to get help,” Hobart said with watery eyes Tuesday. “We didn’t want him to die.” Stafford police have said Aaron attacked officer Jesus Estrada after police responded to

From the TDCAA forums, via Grits:Hi, everyone. Some of you know me from my days prosecuting statewide for the AG's Office. I took a new position about year ago with the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel. Among other things, I am responsible for seeking compulsory discipline against any Texas attorney convicted of certain crimes; these include any felony of moral turpitude and all theft, barratry,and embezzlement cases.

It all began on March 19, 2007:I’m a criminal-defense lawyer in Houston, Texas. I represent people accused of all sorts of crimes in state court all over Texas, and in federal court all over the country. In this blog, I plan to talk about anything that relates in any way to the practice of criminal defense law. In my mind, that’s a very broad category, encompassing not

Takuan Soho, The Mysterious Record of Immovable Wisdom, from The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman: Even though you know principle, you must make yourself perfectly free in the use of technique. And even though you may wield the sword that you carry with you well, if you are unclear on the deepest aspects of principle, you will likewise fall short of