In the below video, players wearing white pass a ball a number of times. Are you good enough to count each pass?
h/t: Ray Ward
Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
I can be paranoid when it comes to my clients. Some (but certainly not most) criminal defendants have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory via boneheaded moves (e.g, committing new offenses while on bond, failing drug tests, displaying obnoxious courtroom behavior, etc.). Part of my job as a criminal-defense lawyer is to protect clients from themselves. One thing I look out for is social-networking accounts (Facebook and MySpace in particular). Clients can hurt their cases by the information they place on social-networking sites. This is because police and prosecutors may be watching the clients’ online activities. But, despite the heartburn that Facebook and MySpace can give me, good is possible from these sites. Scott Ealy shares a story about how Facebook saved a client of his from an arrest warrant.
Yes — if a judge determines that you make too much money or that your assets are too great, the judge will deny your request for a public defender. A man of sufficient means has a right to hire his own lawyer, however, a judge will not appoint a public defender to represent him. A government-provided lawyer is only guaranteed for the indigent (poor).
Related Posts:
I practice law in a college town. Each school year, there are students who discover that their actions have consequences. For example, some find out that drug use leads to drug arrests; others discover that excessive alcohol consumption and driving don’t mix. College students are not invincible and they are certainly not invisible to police and prosecutors. Criminal consequences have teeth — especially when received at a young age. It is difficult to get a job when a person is on felony probation. What will a prospective employer think of an applicant the employer watches blow into a device before the applicant starts his car? Of course, there are some consequences unique to college students: university sanctions. These sanctions can include things like academic probation and even expulsion from the school.
Each school year, the school of hard knocks opens its doors for business; wise students will learn from past graduates of this school.
There are times, usually in the domestic-battery context, when a victim does not want the government to prosecute a defendant. The victim can ask the government to not prosecute the defendant, however, the government is not required to honor the victim’s request. The decision whether to press charges belongs solely to the prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor can either ignore or honor a victim’s wishes. Charges are dismissed by prosecutors and not victims.
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day. – Abraham Lincoln
Do you want to be a criminal-defense lawyer? If so, you better be ready for tears.
Recently, while sitting in the back of a courtroom waiting for my client’s case to be called, I noticed a woman sobbing in front of me. A man stood in shackles before the judge; she looked on through watery eyes. The man, likely her child, found himself in the grasp of our justice system.
I have been in private practice for nearly a year and a half now. During that time, many tears have been shed in my office. They have been shed by women — wives, mothers, and the criminally accused. They have been shed by men — tough men, weak men, fathers, and sons. And they tell me that they are putting their trust in me. They are counting on me. Their liberty, or the liberty of loved ones, is in my hands. That responsibility hits me hard. Like Lincoln, I often find myself on my knees.
Close your eyes. Imagine that you just went in a gas station and used an ATM. When you get back to your vehicle, a black Cadillac Escalade pulls up. Strange men with guns approach you. What do you do? You react, period. You might surrender. You might fight. You might take flight.
Via Greenfield, we learn about police in Georgia executing (Greenfield’s word) a pastor who found himself in the middle of our drug war. Tragically, overzealous undercover police officers shot and killed the preacher after the preacher tried to flee what he likely perceived to be thugs coming after him.
The officers were part of a drug task force from Stephens, Habersham and Rabun counties in Georgia. It may be time for these counties to shut down their drug task force. If this is how we fight the war on drugs, it is time to abandon the war.
Click here to view video surveillance of the incident.
Houston criminal defense lawyer Mark Bennett has started a series on jury selection on his Defending People weblog. Mark is sharing good stuff; anyone who fancies himself or herself to be a trial lawyer should take the time to read Mark’s series on jury selection. The following is a list of Mark’s posts to date:
Gerry Spence is a famous and successful trial lawyer. Many criminal-defense lawyers, myself included, admire his courtroom skills and accomplishments. It is precisely because he is a success that his blog post yesterday on his own rejection is so powerful:
I never was elected to any student body office. I was rejected by the Wyoming Bar because initially I failed the bar exam – the first honor student to do so. I was rejected by the people of Riverton for a judgeship and by the University of Wyoming as a law professor. The voters of Wyoming rejected me when I ran for the United States Congress. Publishers have rejected some of my books, which made me a better writer.
Was Gerry Spence’s legal career a failure? Absolutely not — few lawyers will achieve the level of success that he has achieved. We should never be too hard on ourselves for our failures and rejections … they are great gifts.
According to the statistics for this blog, a person found this site by asking the following question: “how fun is a criminal law practice?”
I am going to begin my discussion of this topic by addressing three background issues.
First, I am going to respond to a slightly different question: How fun is the practice of criminal law? A lawyer may love practicing criminal law but hate the business side of running a law practice. This post ignores the business side of the law and only focuses on the law side.
Second, I can’t answer this question for all lawyers or other lawyers; I can only answer it for myself. Some lawyers may hate the practice of criminal law and others may love it.
Third, I am going to define a “fun practice” as one that a lawyer is passionate about and one that maintains a lawyer’s attention during the work day. This may not be your idea of a fun practice, however, this is the definition I am going to work with.
Given these parameters, the practice of criminal law is fun for me. I am passionate about fighting for my clients and guiding them through a scary process. (When I was a prosecutor, I enjoyed fighting for “justice” as I saw it and seeking a fair system.) The practice of criminal law also (usually) keeps my attention throughout the day. More often than not, the story behind an arrest is interesting and I don’t find myself bored and wanting to think about something else.
