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When Evidence Matters

January 18, 2013 by Rick 3 Comments

One of my favorite blogs — indeed perhaps one of the only two I consider “must-read” blogs — is Gamso for the Defense, even though whenever I read it, it makes me feel a little like a loser driven by a gnat’s brain.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I am a loser driven by a gnat’s brain, and I don’t know more than one other person who knows me — maybe two now, after my recent conversion of Jaguar Bennett — who thinks that of me.

But anyone who reads Jeff Gamso will, no doubt, forgive me for feeling the way I do.

At any rate, a post I have read several times over the last couple of days brings me back to an idea that has troubled me for as long as I’ve been exposed to the criminal justice system — so at least since law school. It’s something I think about pretty much every day of my life, even if only for a few minutes each day; not a day goes by that I don’t think of it.

And that is the question of judicially-created differing standards for prosecutors and defendants in criminal cases, along with the most significant way in which it presents: when evidence matters. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Evidence Tagged With: Bearnhardt Hartig, Cora Hartig, Daniel Wilson, DNA, Evidence, fair trial, fair trials, fairness, right to fair trial, Tyrone Noling, unfair trial, unfairness

The End of the Rule of Law

December 24, 2011 by Rick Leave a Comment

I’m not sure what’s more disturbing about this story: the vague report making it unclear for which crime the man was convicted, the argument of the prosecution and determination of the judge that he should register as a sex offender, or the reaction of the idiots leaving comments — particularly comments attacking the defense attorney.

Frankly, I think it’s actually the combination of the three; they are all symptoms of the breakdown of the rule of law, our grossly dysfunctional society, and demonstrative of the fact that there are many more criminals amongst us than anyone cares to admit. Many of them are sitting judges, practicing prosecutors, or are busy leaving inane or ignorant comments on news websites.

Arbitrariness

December 13, 2011 by Rick Leave a Comment

If there’s one thing that drives me battier than others, it’s the arbitrariness of the so-called criminal “justice” system. I personally think arbitrariness underscores all that is wrong with the current system.

I mean, sure the Fourth Amendment doesn’t really mean anything anymore. Except when it does.

Ditto for the First, Second, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth (though less so, since this is a largely forgotten amendment, along with the Ninth and Tenth) Amendments and the due process clause — both that contained in the body of the Constitution and in the Fourteenth Amendment. They mean nothing.

Unless they do.

“The law” in the United States of America is as much a joke as in any third-world or fourth-rate nation on this planet.

But it’s not just the arbitrary application — or non-application, depending on the situation — of these constitutional principles that makes our system of “justice” anything but a system of justice. It’s how all the laws of our lands are applied.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Rule of Law Tagged With: arbitrariness, fairness, justice, parole, probation, Rule of Law

That Ye Be Not Judged

August 14, 2010 by Rick Leave a Comment

I previously wrote a post titled “Judge Not,” so I couldn’t go with that again. Then it occurred to me that the second part of Matthew 7:1 from the book read by almost as many Christians as non-Christians fits the current post better anyway.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

August 4, 2010 by Rick 3 Comments

Readers of my last post will sense a major dissatisfaction on my part when it comes to blogging about the Law. I have to say that the responses to that post were are encouraging. To the readers who posted those responses: thank you. Were it not for those comments, I suspect I would, after all was said and done, consider everything simply said…and done.

Instead, I’ve spent some time thinking about how to move forward.

Oh, To Be A Prosecutor!

May 16, 2010 by Rick 1 Comment

For obvious reasons, I’m not going to get too detailed in this post. This post is going to give one example from my own experience of why I think judges these days are not doing their jobs; they’ve abdicated the position of neutral arbiter of the law.

F**k Justice

February 23, 2010 by Rick 1 Comment

You’ll have to forgive my choice of title — or not, I don’t really care — the story that inspired this post makes me angrier than just about anything I’ve heard recently. If it makes you feel better, pretend the actual title was “Ex Parte, In Parte.”

“Justice” Thomas — you know, the dude who was appointed to the United States Supreme Court notwithstanding allegations of repeated sexual harassment of a young woman who worked for him when he was a mere judge — says that criticizing judges decision-making is a bad thing.

“Justice” Scalia tells us that we’ve come a long way, baby, to get where we got to today, where the people involved in capturing and convicting “criminals” — with the average American committing three felonies per day, that would be most of us under the new regime — are so professional that we don’t need the exclusionary rule anymore.

And Scott Greenfield, a criminal defense attorney in New York, tells us about a case of a judge who was having an extramarital affair with the prosecutor during a murder trial which resulted in — surprise! — a conviction.

Open Letter to Prosecutors re: Discovery

February 20, 2009 by Rick 8 Comments

Look, we don’t see eye to eye. I get that. You have your view of the world; I have mine. And our jobs require us to be key components in an adversarial system.

And even though it’s sometimes fun, or funny, to joke about it, “adversarial” doesn’t mean we’re enemies.

Institutionalized Group-Think & Justice

December 12, 2008 by Rick 1 Comment

For eight years, off and on, I had a relationship with — lived with — someone. It was a toxic relationship. She not infrequently berated me for what were really insignificant and only actually perceived slights. She was a wonderful woman.

I have a memory from high school of a friend who engaged in what today would be considered an act of felony vandalism. It may have been then, too, but in those days we understood that sometimes kids did destructive things, because, by definition, they’re immature. We didn’t saddle them with felonies because of it. But I digress (as I am unfortunately wont to do). He was a great guy.

These days, I ostensibly make my living as a criminal defense lawyer in Fresno, California. As you might imagine, I rub elbows with a number of deputy district attorneys. Not infrequently, I’m mystified by their attitudes towards people accused of crimes where there is little (or even no) evidence beyond innuendo and supposition to support the charge. These DDAs forge full steam ahead towards a conviction, sometimes stretching the law — in some cases even breaking the law — in order to obtain a conviction. The majority of them are pretty nice people.

When Evidence Matters

The End of the Rule of Law

Arbitrariness

That Ye Be Not Judged

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Oh, To Be A Prosecutor!

F**k Justice

Open Letter to Prosecutors re: Discovery

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