[Let this be a monument to hasty blogging. I based my "good news" on a) another lawyer's published legislative update; and b) an earlier version of HB 351 than the enrolled version. While HB 351 cleaned up the language of the expunction statute, the news is not that good. The intent of the legislature was to restore the law to the way most of us thought it

Defendant makes plea deal including term that, if he pays restitution, "verfiable to the state as to their source," the state will not pursue charges on two other cases. Defendant comes up with the money, and a doctor confirms that he has given the defendant the money, but the prosecutor does not accept the money, and instead pursues the additional charges. I think the lesson here is

RIP Pat Barber (via Tony Vitz). Barber died 29 July 2011. Here's a story about him in his local paper, and here's a 2004 story from the Idaho Observer.(I mentioned Pat before here.)

Past book recommendations from Defending People are consolidated at my aStore on amazon.com; I've added a few other books that I have enjoyed or found useful (or both).

In logic, an argument is valid or it is not. The truth of a conclusion depends on the truth of the premises and the logical validity of the argument, and not on the identity of the arguer. "All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore Socrates is mortal" is true whoever says it. When anonymous folk on the Internet exclaim that their identity is unimportant because

At the Reagan Library Republican presidential debate, the crowd cheered when Rick Perry boasted about the 234 executions during his tenure as governor (Crucify him! Crucify him!). Troy Davis has been executed. And those farther to the left seem to have absolutely no idea what’s going on: How can those people cheer executions? How can anyone support the execution of someone who might well not have killed

When Judge Standley talked frankly with Clear Springs High School kids about drug abuse, the school administration and MADD got their panties in a twist. So did some kids, but their protestations have an Eddie Haskell sound to them. (See also this and this.)I wonder if the adults would have felt any differently knowing that this guy and his customers were in the room.

Bernard Weckmann (“Bernard: WeckMann”) posted this comment to my post on Redemption Theory vs. Reality:Sovereignty is a fact! It does work!!!

In their relentless war on meaningful jury selection, formerly prosecuted through judge-conducted voir dire, the Department of Justice and the Federal Judiciary together have come up with a new weapon:Government Motion to Prevent Defense Googling Jurors I don’t see in ECF that the Judge, Richard D. Bennett of the District of Maryland, has acted on the prosecutors’ motion to keep the defense from googling potential jurors before

Sometimes people call and ask me, using a phrase that I’m not going to mention here because I don’t need any more such calls, whether I take cases for free. Of course I take cases on which I’m not compensated. I think that any lawyer worth his salt helps people who can’t afford him. In the criminal courthouse, the problem of the working poor is a serious