From Holiday v. Stephens, 557 U.S. ___ (2015): Statement of JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, respecting the application for stay of execution and denial of certiorari. A federal statute entitles defendants sentenced to death to court-appointed counsel during “all available post-conviction process.” 18 U. S. C. §3599(e). This statute requires counsel to “represent the defendant in … proceedings for executive or other clemency as may be available to the defendant.”

I do not like lawyers making censorious threats. I do not like lawyers failing to understand the ethical rules. I especially do not like lawyers making censorious threats based on their failure to understand the ethical rules. So when I saw that Wes Volberding (Baylor, clerkship) and Seth Kretzer's (UT Law Review, clerkship) in their letter to Gretchen Sween, who was trying to help Raphael Holiday get

I sent Fidelity a copy of Matthew's email proposing that I act as a front man, using my name to allow him to get referrals from their Preferred Attorney list. ((I probably wouldn't have bothered if Matthew hadn't reminded me that he was there by incompetently threatening to sue me.)) I received a prompt emailed reply from their (a?) Director of Wealth Planning Product Management in Merrimack,

I have heard—and I believe it—that the worst thing about being under a death sentence is knowing that that date is coming, facing a date certain, watching the explicit number of days you have left become smaller and smaller and smaller until. It's unnatural. So death penalty lawyers fight for every minute of time, for every chance they might find something that might get their clients another

There must be something in the water in Williamson County, Texas. After defeating John Bradley (that asshole), Jana Duty, who had never prosecuted an adult felony case, became District Attorney. For her first adult felony jury trial, Duty chose a "delayed strangulation" case that even Bradley had recognized to be a dog. She bought found a witness who would testify that strangulation could cause death up to

From Matthew's November 13, 2015 demand letter: Under Texas law Chapter 18A Section 1.1, it is unlawful to engage in defamation of another's character and reputation. The elements for defamation are as follows: 1. The defendant published a statement of fact 2. The statement referred to the plaintiff 3. The statement was defamatory 4. The statement was false 5. With regard to the truth of the statement,

I'm just going to leave this here for right now. I have plenty to say about it, but I've got a couple of other thinks in the hopper. https://blog.bennettandbennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Chappell-to-Bennett.pdf As requested, I directed Matthew's letter to my lawyer. Here is Marc Randazza's response on my behalf. He's much nicer than I would have been: https://blog.bennettandbennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/2015.11.18-MJR-ltr-to-M-Chappell-re-Demand-Letter.pdf  

Here is one of the indictments arising from the Waco Twin Peaks killings: https://blog.bennettandbennett.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Waco-twin-peaks-indictment-1.pdf This indictment charges three offenses: Murder ("Code: 19.02"), Aggravated Assault ("22.02"), and two counts Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity ("71.02"). Murder and Aggravated Assault are lesser-included offenses of the two EOCA counts. "Committing the offense as a member of a criminal street gang" makes an agg assault a first-degree felony, and makes a murder a fifteen-to-life

I sent Matthew a link to my last post. He quickly responded: And now you've committed a handful of torts, including libel by taking my words out of context and tortious interference with business. Enjoy the lawsuit I'm in the process of filing against you, psycho, arrogant, inferiority complex-ridden moron. Matthew Attorney At Law What Matthew doesn't realize (because obviously he's not a guy who does his

Sometimes when I've written about ethical issues and use specific examples, people whine at me that I should be nicer; that instead of publicizing other lawyers' misdeeds I should contact them and counsel them. The theoretical problem with being nicer is that I might make more of a difference by writing here than by counseling. If I send an email to a lawyer who has strayed, I