The lawyer representing three of the men charged with the gang rape and murder of a medical student aboard a moving bus in New Delhi has blamed the victims for the assault, saying he has never heard of a "respected lady" being raped in India. (The Age.) It would seem more outrageous if Sharma's clients weren't being railroaded in a system in which the bar association was

You may have seen this graphic: …which purports to show that for every 998 rapists, there are 100 rapes reported, thirty people tried, ten people jailed, and only two people falsely accused. The numbers, particularly the last one—only two false accusations for every 100 true reports—are very interesting to me. Where did the illustrator get them? According to Sarah Beaulieu, who published it, "Statistics from Justice Department,

Vinod Kumar Anand and Manohar Lal Sharma have stepped up to defend three of the six men accused of gang rape in Delhi. Here is Sharma: (I suspect—I hope—that "I agree that they are facing the allegation of rape, but if it is true or false I am yet to prove it." is a mistranslation.) Here's a little more about these two characters. Sharma, especially, sounds like

Today I got word that I passed the Texas Board of Legal Specialization exam in criminal law, which I took in Austin last year. I am now a board-certified criminal-defense lawyer. What does  mean? Well, my dad videotaped the induction ceremony, and I put it up here so you could get a feel for board certification.

I am reminded, when I hear of lawyers shirking their difficult duties and sticking to the easy work, of the first few lines of Rudyard Kipling's Gunga Din: YOU may talk o' gin an' beer When you're quartered safe out 'ere, An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it; But if it comes to slaughter You will do your work on water,An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots

Obama’s advisers have calculated that the longer they wait, the more distance there is from the Newtown massacre and the greater the risk that the bipartisan political will to tackle gun violence will dissipate. At the White House meeting, Stanek said, “the vice president indicated that there was a very short timeline for him to get back to the president with his recommendations because the American public

"[Judge Belinda] Hill confirmed Tuesday that she will leave the bench in the new year to work as Anderson's first assistant." Houston Chronicle, 11 December 2012. Yet, I have learned, almost four weeks later Judge Hill is still on the bench, still hearing felony cases, still making calls that affect the lives of people being prosecuted by the DA's Office to which she is affianced. Did she not

This morning Lisa Simeone (TSA News) brings us  word of a TSA lawsuit that continues in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California: [Nadine Hays] was arrested, handcuffed, strip-searched, and jailed after the TSA decided she was too uppity.…Prosecutors later charged her with battery. The charge was dismissed. Hays is suing the TSA. But apparently she’s representing herself in court….The latest news is that

A proposal by Arizona legislator Michelle Ugenti to outlaw online impersonation has gotten some press in the last couple of days. Here's Arizona's proposed online-impersonation statute (PDF). It's a near-copy of Texas's online-impersonation statute, passed in 2011. There are some small stylistic differences, but the meat is the same. Here's the gist (with changes from the Texas statute to the Arizona bill redlined): (a)A. A person commits an offense online impersonation

HOUSTON, TX - Criminal-defense lawyer Mark Bennett has recently announced his intention to take on representation of all rich people charged with crimes in the state of Texas, effective immediately. Recognizing that the filthy rich often face an unfair bias in the courtroom, Bennett, a Houston, Texas lawyer, seeks to acquit any and all rich people wrongfully charged with serious crimes. No, not really. It might be