713-224-1747
Recent Blog Posts
Chapter 3, The Tao of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering
It's Monday; time for another verse from the Tao Te Ching.
If you overesteem great men,people become powerless.If you overvalue possessions,people begin to steal.
Who is "you"? Obviously, a person who overvalues possessions might steal, but I think the "you" who is the subject of the verse is us. If we overvalue possessions, some of us begin to steal.
If we overesteem great men, people become powerless. We give up power to people when we overesteem them. For a topical example of giving up power by overesteeming people, see Scott Greenfield's post on the Jack Bauer Scenario:
People in power, even a little bit of power, tend to confuse authority with being right. The burden of responsibility plays a peculiar game with their mind, forcing them not only to make decisions, but to believe that their decisions are better than anyone else's. Some make snap decisions and other belabor the decisions, but when a decision is ultimately made, it becomes the immutably right decision. We see this on every level of government. And we see that when the decision is wrong, the consequences can be disastrous.
The Next Step in Preparing to Cross-Examine the Doctor
After you have decided on the narrow field on which you will cross-examine the State's doctor, what next?
Go to pubmed.com, where you can search a database of medical journal articles. Pick out the keywords from the premises that you want to investigate, and search for these keywords in every combination you can think of. Try variations: sex assault reveals 977 results and sexual assault reveals 2016; hymenal reveals 142 and hymen reveals 615. In the course of searching, other possible terms might appear. For example, a search for hymen sexual assault turns up references to colposcopy. Add that term to your list of search terms.
For each search, you'll get a list of articles, with the authors' names clickable links. Click on the link for each title that looks promising, and you'll see the abstract of the article. If the abstract makes you want to read more, print out the abstract and add it to your stack.
Go Downtier
At Lawyer for Profit today Michael Sherman posts, riffing on this post by Susan Cartier Liebel at Build a Solo Practice, LLC, about law schools' failure to teach students how to hang a shingle.
Susan quotes Ryan Alexander, a Harvard law grad who started his own practice:
I hope HLS will eventually offer a seminar in running your own practice to open up students' eyes to the possibility. HLS students are too risk averse for their own good – there is a lot of demand for services that you can provide for people. Many students go to BigLaw against their conscience or interests and hate lawyering, because they are not true to themselves. There is another path. It is exciting, liberating and uniquely fulfilling to have your own practice. You can prepare for it and be ready.
New York Popularity Contest?
Nicole Black, in her Sui Generis blog is polling blog readers on the best New York Blawg and Blawger.
The results so far are here. 51 people think the Reproductive Rights Prof Blog is the best; 36 think the Feminist Law Professors blog is the best.
I would describe Reproductive Rights Prof Blog as a news-clipping blog, light on original content - not what I'm looking for in a bl... zzzzzz. (Sorry, dozed off for a minute there.)
Feminist Law Professors, on the other hand, is excellent, combining clippings from diverse and surprising sources with original content and opinion. It's very much not what I had come to expect from law professors, and I've added it to my reader.
Preparing to Cross-Examine the Doctor
I mentioned here my contention that the only way to cross-examine an expert witness about his conclusions is to know at least as much, if not more about the narrow subject of his testimony that hurts you than he does. It's my position that, while I will probably never know as much about pediatrics than the State's expert, I can know more about hymenal notching than him or her. (I use pediatrics and hymenal notching as an example because pediatrician testimony is often used by the State in cases involving false allegations of child sexual abuse. Courts will, for reasons that escape me, allow these experts to testify that the medical evidence is "not inconsistent with" the allegations.)
Where do we begin our own scientific or other technical education? With a narrowing of the inquiry. The process of deciding what premises we will challenge can be shortcut considerably if we can talk with the State's expert beforehand and he will discuss his findings with us. If the case is adequately funded, we may have an expert of our own to consult with; she might be able to divine the State's expert's assumptions.
Know When to Shut Up
Unlike my New York alter ego, Scott Greenfield, I don't mind the calls from people who want advice. Often I have the correct answers to their questions and can provide them some assistance, which is a) a fair return for the gifts I have been given; and b) why I am a lawyer.
Usually, though, the caller has some question that couldn't possibly be answered by a lawyer without considerable research and investigation. Usually, the question is so far outside my field of expertise that I couldn't even hazard a guess. (Berzerkistani welfare fraud? Nope. Child abuse in Grand Fenwick? Afraid not (call Gideon). A criminal appeal to Slabovia's high court? Not for me.)
It's generally immediately apparent to me when the caller has a question outside of my area. It's often not so apparent to the caller. The folks who would call a Houston criminal-defense lawyer about a Brobdingnagian social security disability case aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree in the first place, some of them are clearly touched by mental illness, and by the time they get to me they seem to have a spiel that they've repeated to every other one of the wrong lawyers they've talked to; if they just get a chance to tell someone the whole story, they seem to think, he'll be so touched that I'll take the case.
Moderated Comments?
To my colleagues who moderate the comments on their blawgs:
What are you afraid of?
Dealing With the State's Expert: One Last Question
If you get a chance to talk to the State's expert witness before trial (if you're allowed to, try; the best experts often see themselves as neutral, and will explain their conclusions to you), your last question should be: "What book should I read to learn about this topic myself." Get the book; it'll be a learned treatise that you can mine for cross-examination material.
In a Houston murder trial once, for example, after the prosecutor asked the medical examiner whether the knife wound could have been irregular because my client twisted the knife, and the doctor assented to that proposition, I had him read this portion of DiMaio and DiMaio's Forensic Pathology (if you try - or aspire to try - murder cases, you need a good library of forensic pathology texts) to the jury in its entirety:
The most common reason for a large, irregular knife wound is movement of the victim as the weapon is withdrawn. Prosecutors, however, like to contend that this is due to the perpetrator twisting the knife in the body after stabbing the individual.
Sharon Keller Cont'd
The Houston Chronicle has not been kind to Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Sharon Keller in recent days. After yesterday's editorial calling for her ouster the Chronicle published an article today entitled "Views divided on judge in dispute over executed man". Well, yes. Sort of. The Chronicle dug up exactly one person willing to say something halfway-nice about Judge Keller: former presiding judge Mike McCormick, who said that Keller has worked hard to preserve the idea that once convicted, the burden is on the defendant to prove they got a bad trial or that they are innocent.
The Chronicle notes that Judge Keller ran for the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1994 on promises to be "a prosecution-oriented judge". Some might think that's a good thing. It's not. A judge is supposed to be a referee, calling balls and strikes according to the rules, uninfluenced by an orientation toward one side or the other.
More on Sharon “Killer” Keller Complaint
Death penalty enthusiasts are chortling about Judge Sharon Keller's action in closing the courthouse doors to Mr. Richard. A common theme among their responses is "blame the lawyers." One [anonymous] sample, in comments to my first post on the subject:
Why didn't the lawyers who needed to file do so BEFORE the court closed????? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. She closed on time, so you're filing a lawsuit against her?HELLO???? Is anyone out there?????Apparently not. Get real. You're supposedly fighting for a man's life and are running 20 minutes late? What a JOKE!!!!!!!!
Here's Houston criminal-defense lawyer Troy McKinney's (an HCCLA past president and, more importantly, my attorney) reply to the argument that Keller was just following the rules, from comments on today's Houston Chronicle editorial calling for Keller's ouster:
Contact Us if You're
Ready for a Better Future
Schedule a consultation today by filling out the form below or calling our office at 713-224-1747. We look forward to representing you.
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
I have read and understand the Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.
From our office in Houston, we represent clients throughout Harris County and across the state of Texas. We assist with criminal cases in Conroe, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Bellaire, Friendswood, Highland Village, West University Place, Cypress, Willis, Austin, Dallas, For Worth, Arlington, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, Tyler, Plano, Spring, New Caney, Porter, Humble, Atascocita, Aldine, Cloverleaf, Pasadena, South Houston, Pearland, Fresno, Missouri City, Sugar Land, Pecan Grove, Richmond, and Katy.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
917 Franklin Street, Fourth Floor, Houston, TX 77002
713-224-1747
