Posted on April 04, 2011 in Uncategorized

To those like who want the practical blawgosphere to be the Happysphere, with no unkind words spoken about anyone (unless, as Tannebaum points out, there are no names mentioned, which makes the Happysphere more than a little passive-aggressive), the Joseph Rakofsky story should provide an object lesson.

Joseph Rakofsky's online marketing is a parade of horribles:

1. Yodle site? Check.*1

2. Fraudulent trustworthy grey-haired lawyer pictures (courtesy of Yodle)? Check.

1. Puffed qualifications? Check.

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 Posted on April 01, 2011 in Uncategorized

Last April Fools Day the New York Times got punked by New York blawger Eric Turkewitz, who announced that he was going to become the official White House law blogger.

You'd think they would have learned, non? Nooo. With the help, as I understand it, of a vulnerability in its iPad app, The Gray Lady has again been set up, and has again fallen for it (Center for Class Action Fairness).

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 Posted on March 28, 2011 in Uncategorized

Apropos of TSA, I wrote here that "it's self-evident that one's chances of going to prison for child molestation increase dramatically when one spends every day groping strangers."

In Live-Free-or-Die New Hampshire, the chances that a stranger-groping TSA goon will go to prison have been ratcheted up a tiny bit: the state's legislature has before it a bill that would make it a sex assault, subject to registration,

When the person, acting in his or her role as a security agent of the federal, state, or local government, touches the genitals or breasts of any other person or touches or views with any technological device the genitals or breasts of any other person without probable cause for such touching or viewing."

(H/T Aviation and Aerospace Blawg via Suburban Sheepdog.)

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 Posted on March 25, 2011 in Uncategorized

Colorado District Attorney Carol Chambers, who AmJured in ethics, has done Montgomery County's Brett Ligon (edit: and Harris County's Pat Lykos) one better: she "is offering financial incentives for felony prosecutors who meet their goals for conviction rates at trial."

"It is hard to find performance standards by which to measure trial attorneys," Chambers explains to the Post. "This is the standard I think best meets the need to have a performance standard that attorneys know and can be aware of and that does not in any way encourage any outcome in any specific case."

Granted, it's hard to find performance standards by which to measure trial attorneys. It's much harder to find performance standards by which to measure prosecutors, who (Chambers may recollect from that ethics course she AmJured) have a duty that goes beyond-and often clashes with-trying to increase their conviction rates at trial.

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 Posted on March 19, 2011 in Uncategorized

Here are a few ideas I've had for subjects that our criminal-defense skunkworks could inquire into:

1. Facial emotion recognition as a tool in trial (see Unmasking the Face: A Guide to Recognizing Emotions From Facial Expressions

1. Turning the tables: criminal-interrogation techniques in cross examination (see Criminal Interrogation And Confessions

1. Applying the lessons of aikido to trial (see Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere: An Illustrated Introduction

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 Posted on March 18, 2011 in Uncategorized

My vision for our criminal-defense skunkworks is that each of us will choose a discipline that interests him or her, review the literature, attend classes or seminars, and try applying it in trial, all the while collaborating with the rest of us (who will have chosen different disciplines to investigate).

You know about the Trial Lawyers College, where Gerry Spence teaches psychodrama to lawyers. That's a great example of a helpful discipline being applied to the trial of cases (there, both plaintiffs' cases and criminal-defense cases). But it's not the be-all and end-all. There are lots of other fields of study that could make use better lawyers, or help us communicate better with jurors, or help us tell stories better, or help us cross-examine witnesses better.

A few examples, some of which I've investigated a bit:

1. Improvisational theatre;

2. Interrogation;

3. Martial arts of one sort or another (the philosophy of Aikido, for example);

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 Posted on March 18, 2011 in Uncategorized

I'm looking for a few good criminal-defense lawyers to advance the state of the art in criminal-defense trial lawyering. Together we will seek disciplines that have not hitherto been widely applied to the trial of criminal cases for the defense; investigate and experiment with these disciplines; share among ourselves when and how they are useful and not useful; and document our studies for posterity.

This gig is not for everyone. It will require:

1. Unpaid and publicly unlauded work: participants will be expected to research, experiment with, and document potentially helpful disciplines on their own time; if we get something that works out of the project, we may publish, but otherwise we'll be doing it for love of the game.

2. Patience and lethal generosity: this is a longterm project; you will get more out of the project than you put in, but it will take time.

3. Broad general competence: you have to be good at more than trying cases the way you've always tried cases; you also must be able to understand and assimilate knowledge from broadly diverse fields of study.

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 Posted on March 17, 2011 in Uncategorized

You've seen this already, I'm sure:

[flv:http://ivi3.com/public_html/bennettandbennett/blog/video/school_bully-hi.flv 480 368]

It's video of a 10th-form (as I understand it, the equivalent of 10th grade in the U.S.) kid in Australia being picked on by a vicious little 7th-form bully, while some fan of bullying shoots video.

The little punk gets in several shots at the bigger kid, eliciting no visible reaction until the bigger kid gets fed up and hits him with the biggest, hardest thing he has at hand: the Earth.

The bully's mother wants him to apologize to his intended victim (the article describes the bigger kid as the bully's "victim"; that characterization is incorrect), which is a good start, though the apology should be video-recorded and posted on YouTube by one of his punk friends on the theory that a proper apology is made in the same forum that the apologized-for behavior occurred.

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 Posted on March 12, 2011 in Uncategorized

More from lawyer James D. "11-28-3" Evans, III:

...Let me give you the straight of it: this young girl, 11 years old...she was aloose on the community-I say aloose-she was allowed to be out and about the community in Cleveland Texas from about May until about December, and over the course of that period of time she had the opportunity to interact with somewhere between 28 and 35 men, maybe more, I'm not sure. The gang rape-there was a rape, but it was sort of near the end of the period of time that I gave you. Prior to that she was engaged with various men throughout the community, and -So it sounds like more people should be arrested.There is more people who are, I think, being targeted, and there is more who will be arrested, I believe. It's tragic that this little girl was allowed to be out and about.[Why are we concerned about the 11-year-old girl being out instead of the boys having sex with her?]I think you have various men who are out and about, they are of age, they are older, and of course they are in our society. What I'm concerned about is that the little girl was not cared for, she was not protected and not kept away from these individuals who took advantage of her.What is going to be the defense for your clients for having sex with an 11-year-old girl who, many of them knew-it's a small town-knew her to be in middle school so there was no doubt about her age.Well, absolutely not, there was no doubt about her age. Some of these individuals were young, some were old, and I have not been able to complete my initial investigation, nor have I been able to verify the things that I have been told, and I am going to withhold at this time, I am going to have to withhold any defense or any position that I would take at this time.Have you seen any of the pictures or the videos?I have not seen all of the videos, I have seen one of the videos, and I have heard tapes that recount, you know, the story.Is there any excuse for having sex with an 11-year-old girl?None. Absolutely not.So what's your defense?I can't discuss the defense at this time.Is there one?Under the law, it would be very difficult to come up with a defense.....Even though you're the defense lawyer, you're telling me that you don't know that there's any defense here.That's correct at this time.

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 Posted on March 10, 2011 in Uncategorized

Mr. James D. Evans, III has been licensed as an attorney in Texas and Mississippi for over 16 years. Attorney Evans has the expertise needed to handle even the most complex criminal and civil litigation. He is an experienced trial lawyer in both state and federal trial courts. If you have legal issues or concerns the attorneys at James D. Evans, III and Associates P.C. will work hard to protect your interests. If you or your company becomes involved in complicated civil and criminal litigation, administrative issues, or you are in need of appellate assistance, you can confidently turn to the lawyers at the Houston law firm of James D. Evans, III & Associates P.C. They put their extensive experience, courtroom skills and legal expertise to work for their clients.

The State Bar says he's a solo, but his deceptive description of himself as "& Associates" is not the most offensive portion of James D. Evans, III's webpage touting himself. No, the most offensive portion is his assertion that people involved in complicated criminal litigation can "confidently turn to him" (and the other fictional lawyers at his firm).

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