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A Cross-Examination Photo
Sometimes the best you can hope for is for the rope to break.
Ollie the Cabdrivertising Criminal Attorney
There's a criminal attorney in Houston (I'll call him "Ollie") who is a really busy guy. Ollie reportedly has a cab driver who waits outside the jail in the wee hours of the morning when people are released on bond and refers them to Ollie for representation. Ollie charges a nominal fee ($500 or so to start); he will even fill out the clients' retainer checks for them.
How do I know this? Because in the last couple of weeks I've been retained by no fewer than three of Ollie's clients. I'm sure there will be many more; I've thought about carrying a throwdown "motion to substitute counsel in place of Ollie" in my briefcase so that I can just fill in a couple of blanks to replace Ollie on a case.
Is there something wrong with a cab driver referring clients to a lawyer, or a lawyer using a cab driver to do so? I refer you to Section 38.12 of the Texas Penal Code for the Texas law on the subject, and to Underdog Blog's Jon Katz for an opinion on the constitutionality of that law. But legal or not, cabdrivertising is ugly.
Top 100, Depending Where You're Counting From
Two of my favorite blogs, Law of Criminal Defense and Court-O-Rama, have posted that they're listed in the "The Top 100 Criminal Justice Blogs" by "Criminal Justice Degrees Guide."
I'm not going to link to the list because, while I think Law of Criminal Defense and Court-O-Rama are fairly in the top 100, there's something highly suspect about a list of top criminal justice blogs that includes Defending People but neither Simple Justice nor Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center. There's more to this list than meets the eye.
Racehorse Haynes in Trial
Richard "Racehorse" Haynes is, as we say in Texas, one tough sumbitch. He tried 11 jury trials last year (did you? I sure didn't), and he's in trial again now - at age 82.
A reader writes:
I thought that your readers might like to know that opening statements start tomorrow at 9 am in United States v. Nguyen. Mr. Nguyen is accused of being part of a multi state drug and money laundering conspiracy. He is represented by Racehorse Haynes. The government is represented by Joe Magliola. Take care and keep posting.
The trial is in U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon's court in Houston. Richard's client is the last man standing; expect lots of cross-examination of snitches. Richard doesn't rush a cross-examination, so this could take a while.
A Common Fact Pattern
I've represented several young men with these three characteristics:
Bipolar disorder;
High IQ; and
Homosexuality.
The client is usually between 21 and 30 years old. I've been told that bipolar disorder appears in males when they are in their 20s. Often the client had an earlier diagnosis of attention-deficit disorder.
It's typically the young man's mother who calls when he is in trouble, and I guess correctly, based on the tone of mom's voice when she describes her grown son's criminal problem, that I'll be dealing with a person with this complex of traits.
I've helped these men out of all sorts of nonviolent trouble, but drug cases are most common. Is it because they're self-medicating the bipolar disorder? One of this group of clients told me once that marijuana worked much better to keep him on an even keel than anything that Big Pharma had cooked up.
No answers here; just a dispatch from the front.
I Leave the Punchline Writing to You
The Chronicle's Allan Turner sure knows how to write a straight line:
Alarmed by a 4-foot rat snake found in a janitor's closet, wildlife experts Thursday searched the Harris County Criminal Justice Center's fourth floor for signs that more reptiles had infested the headquarters of the district attorney's office.
Survival And Criminal Defense I
I haven't felt much like blogging lately; you may have noticed. I've been practicing law and catching up on my reading. Right now I'm interested in The End Of The World As We Know It. I read James Kunstler's (his blog) World Made By Hand - good apocalyptic fiction (the genre of Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [Pournelle's blog] or even The Stand, which is the only Stephen King book I've read) about preserving civil society after the SHTF (but with a mysterious mystical twist at the end that I don't appreciate.
Kunstler, Niven & Pournelle, and King all have different visions of TEOTWAWKI. Kunstler's vision is probably the most plausible of the three, with a combination of factors - war, disease, scarce oil, and terrorist attacks - bringing the demise of American civilization. A reminder, perhaps, that it's better to be ready than prepared?
Actual Innocence in Collin County
Collin County DA John Roach has, after 18 months in which his office spent 5,000 man-hours and more than $47,000 re-investigating the case, announced that there is no longer a good-faith basis for upholding the conviction of Michael Blair:
Therefore, under my duty to not only uphold the law but to see that justice is done, the State is joining today with the defense team in its request for relief.
(As a longtime member of the Collin County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, I never thought that I would say "good for John Roach.")
I doubt that anything near $47,000 was spent on the culpability investigation by the defense in 1994 when Blair was sent to death row. I also wonder how many other capital cases would benefit from 5,000 man hours being spent on the culpability investigation before the death sentence is handed down.
Lawyering Rule of the Day
Nothing improves a public servant's demeanor as much as the threat of impending unemployment.
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