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The closing scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho:
What makes that scene particularly creepy for me is the last fraction of a second of the shot of Norman Bates's face. Just before dissolving to the shot of the car being pulled out of the lake, Hitchcock superimposed an image of a skull over Norman's face. I don't know if I would have seen it, or known what I was seeing, if I weren't looking for it; I might just have been generally creeped-out.
Here is a blog post (from New Mexico appellate Prosecutor Joel Jacobsen's Judging Crimes blog) that had the same effect on me. (Thanks to Kirk Chavez's Issues and Holdings blog for recommending Judging Crimes, which is very well-written). Joel talks about the public perception of lawyers, and argues that "the public perception that lawyers do these kinds of things is nonetheless perfectly accurate. The problem isn't that the public doesn't know what lawyers do, but that it knows all-too-well what some lawyers do."
New Blog Worth Reading
New Mexico prosecutor Kirk Chavez has started blogging about New Mexico law at Issues and Holdings.
Welcome Prosecutors!
So far today I've had 116 visitors from this post on the Texas District and County Attorneys' Association forum, where the administrator, Shannon Edmonds, posted a link to my Motion to Change the Facts.
A couple of visitors to that forum commented - not on the motion (well, there were secondary and grudging admissions that that was actually funny), but on my philosophy (I give a damn), on my appearance (okay, Brumley, you're right - that photo [which I took myself] has to go), and, anonymously, on my parentage (I am not making this up).
[Edit: A free "Notice to Agents" coffee mug to the commenter offering the best punchline - snarky or otherwise - for this post.]
Technorati Tags: prosecutors
An Unused Resource for Veterans with TBI
Houston's TIRR (The Institution for Rehabilitation and Research) is the fourth-highest rated rehabilitation hospital in the U.S. (No VA hospital even made the top 25.) So why is it that TIRR's Project Victory, designed to help veterans with traumatic brain injuries "reintegrate into family, school, work and community life" with "a three-year, $3 million budget, plus equipment, space, and perhaps most importantly, three decades of institutional experience in treating brain injuries" has no patients?
Well, the Houston Chronicle reports that the Houston VA hospital, which was supposed to funnel patients to Project Victory, has started its own "community reentry program".
It sounds like a bit of a turf war over veterans recovering from TBI. On the one hand:
Dr. Helene Henson, in charge of rehabilitation services at the Houston VA hospital, said the staff was not reacting to any sort of criticism and had not reneged on its agreement with Memorial Hermann/TIRR.Part of delivering good patient care, Henson said, was adding the day treatment program for veterans with mild brain injuries.Henson said the VA promised to refer vets with moderate to severe brain injuries to Memorial Hermann/TIRR, and that the hospital staff simply doesn't have any patients with those levels of impairment."They're not coming to us," Henson said. "We're seeing a very different type of impairment than we originally thought we'd be managing."
Defining Reasonable Doubt
From 1991 (Geesa) to 2000 (Paulson), criminal juries in Texas were given this definition of "beyond a reasonable doubt:
It is not required that the prosecution prove guilt beyond all possible doubt; it is required that the prosecution's proof excludes all "reasonable doubt" concerning the defendant's guilt.A "reasonable doubt" is a doubt based on reason and common sense after a careful and impartial consideration of all the evidence in the case. It is the kind of doubt that would make a reasonable person hesitate to act in the most important of his own affairs.Proof beyond a reasonable doubt, therefore, must be proof of such a convincing character that you would be willing to rely and act upon it without hesitation in the most important of your own affairs.
This is the same definition that federal criminal juries are given in the Fifth Circuit. It's got its good points for the defense - "without hesitation" - and for the government - "based on reason and common sense."
What Else Cops Know
I showed here that the cops know not to talk to the cops when they - or their buddies - are being investigated. In his new Frisco DWI Lawyer & Attorney blog and weblog, Hunter Biederman points out that the cops also know not to take field sobriety tests when they're stopped for DWI.
More Advice to the Young Criminal Defense Trial Lawyer — Part 4. Politics and the Bar
"How important is it to be involved in local politics or the local bar?"
Politics? Unimportant. Do it if that's what interests you.
The local bar, generally? It probably depends. Here in Houston, with 14,000+ lawyers, it's unimportant. I have never belonged to the Houston Bar Association, and probably never will. But I'm not a joiner. If you're a joiner, you might benefit from making those contacts.
It is, however, important to be involved in the local criminal defense bar. It'll be a source of ideas, of intelligence, of fellowship, and of cover. If you are in a small enough place that there is no organized criminal defense bar, you probably want to join the local bar association. If you are fortunate to live somewhere that has an organized criminal defense bar, join it.
I belong to two of the local (Harris County and Fort Bend County) criminal lawyers' association, the Collin County Criminal Lawyers' Association, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers' Association, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. All of them have listservs, active and helpful in varying degrees.
More Advice to the Young Criminal Defense Lawyer — Part 3. Volunteer, Low Bono, and Pro Bono
The third of Adam Levin's questions that young criminal-defense lawyers might have:"Do you perform volunteer, pro bono, or low bono work? Why or why not?"
While defending people in the criminal courts, even for pay, is for the public good (so that we don't need as many karma offsets as others). As a criminal-defense lawyer helping people, you will be doing a tremendous amount of ad hoc pro bono work. It's part of the nature of the business - people will call you needing legal advice short of formal representation. Beyond that, criminal-defense lawyers should do volunteer, pro bono, or low bono work, as the spirit moves them.For more formal representation, I have found "low-bono" to be a better idea than pro-bono because people are much more satisfied with the representation they get when they are paying something for it. Almost everyone can afford to pay something; if you can give the client more satisfaction by charging her what she can afford (even if it's an amount inconsequential to you), you're doing her a disservice by representing her for free.
More Legal First Aid
I've edited the Legal First Aid - DWI edition sheet a little bit, and added two more:
Legal First Aid - Search Warrant Edition ("The police are at the door with a search warrant. What do I do?"); and
Legal First Aid - Arrest Edition ("I'm being arrested. What do I do?").
As always, I welcome your comments. After all, the people reading this information may wind up being your clients as well as mine.
Technorati Tags: arrest, DWI, Legal First Aid, search warrant
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