Judge or Jury?
Apparently, a recent study has confirmed the findings of an older study: The researchers made three primary findings: Judges tend to convict more than juries in cases of “middle” evidentiary strength. Judges acquit more than juries in cases in which judges regard the evidence favoring the prosecution as weak. Judges convict more than juries in cases in which judges regard the evidence favoring the prosecution as strong. Here’s the conclusion: In sum, criminal defendants are benefited by opting for a bench trial when the evidence is weak, and a jury trial otherwise. It seems to me that the studies confirm what’s probably somewhat obvious to most lawyers who’ve tried any appreciable number of cases to verdict before judges and juries. Juries are unpredictable. I’ve had juries convict clients when I felt the state utterly failed to meet … Read entire article »
Filed under: Trial
The Decreasing Value Of Time
Ours is a world of easy answers. Type whatever you’re wondering into Google and look no further. The solution to your problem should be on the first page. Clicking onto the second is too much work, so the answer can’t be there. The easiest thing is always the right thing. For the tough problems, we have statistics to take moral and ethical judgment out of the equation. Things are bad in this world, and the numbers confirm it. Punish harshly and watch the numbers drop, they tell us. In reality, we’re watching the people who make the numbers feign a reduction to encourage us to quit thinking about whether what we’re doing collectively is right or wrong. Regardless, the numbers are what matter. A … Read entire article »
Filed under: DUI
Discharging Student Loans in Bankruptcy
According to the ABA Journal, Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, has been trying to drum up support for a bill to allow the discharge of private student loan debt in bankruptcy. I wish him luck. I think he’s going to fail, however, seeing how banks seem to run everything. The government happily lets them dip into its resources whenever the negative implications of their own poor decision-making come back to haunt them, and the poor graduates who are struggling with their loans don’t exactly have the kind of money it takes to elect themselves a congress. Regardless, I’m glad Senator Durbin is at least bringing up the topic. I have student loans, and I dutifully pay them each month. I probably wouldn’t take advantage of the … Read entire article »
Filed under: Government Rants, Practice in General
Thanks for the Heads-Up!
Yesterday morning, I was supposed to have an MVD hearing. An issue came up with my client being able to attend, however, so I faxed in a motion to continue. I called the MVD and confirmed they received it. It was somewhat last minute, but they had plenty of time to make a decision. Although they surely could have, the MVD didn’t bother calling me Wednesday to let me know what was going to happen with yesterday’s hearing. Instead, they left me a voice message at my office well before business hours yesterday morning in a voice mailbox for an extension that I’m not even sure how they reached. The message said the motion was denied and the hearing was going to proceed as scheduled. I ended … Read entire article »
Filed under: MVD Hearings
A Well-Oiled Machine
I had one hearing yesterday afternoon, and it was in Pinal County. The Pinal County Superior Court is about an hour from my office, give or take a few minutes, but I find myself there quite a bit. It’s a fascinating place. Yesterday, it was a confusing, frustrating place. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office recently announced that attorneys would no longer be allowed to visit with their in-custody clients in the inmate holding area prior to court. The new policy is for security reasons, apparently, and it means that there’s no way to speak with a client prior to a hearing unless you go see him or her in jail. Seeing a client in jail is no small feat. If you want to do an “in-person” visit … Read entire article »
Filed under: Courts, Prosecutors
Fighting Stupid With Stupid
A lot of my biker friends have a patch on their jackets that says, “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” Apparently, the quote originates from W. C. Fields. In some ways, it’s great advice for a trial lawyer. People tend to be judgmental. They’re also easily confused. Those are usually characteristics that the prosecution can readily use to its advantage. People want to love or hate someone, and if the person on the stand doesn’t make sense to them, hate tends to be the default reaction. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a prosecutor confuse a defense witness, and subsequently the jury, with idiotic questions. More often, the prosecution preys on the ignorance of the jurors writ large and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Trial
Think About The Children Animals (Update – Now With Video!)
It’s a classic love story, really. Man meets woman. Man marries woman. Woman meets other man. Men agree to watch woman have sex with dog they found on craigslist together. Then, things get weird. Dog owner gets cold feet. Sheriff Joe valiantly intervenes, of course. World is safe for the time being, as husband, wife, and lover must surrender their pets while on pretrial services with mandatory ankle bracelets and a curfew. Aside from the obvious, a couple of small things really stand out. First, why didn’t they just go get a dog at the pound? Seriously. There are all kinds of freaks on craigslist. By going to the pound, they’d know exactly what they’re getting. Second, the curfew doesn’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: News, Sex Crimes
Bad Reporting
Someone forwarded me this story recently. They thought I would be interested in the topic because I’m involved in related litigation. I was interested. Unfortunately, what I got from it wasn’t just information about what happened in the case, but also concerns about the abysmal quality of the reporting. “After 6-hour trial, Snowbowl protester still guilty,” the title reads. It’s amazing the words “still guilty” made it through editing. I assume that the author intended to somehow emphasize that, despite what she perceives to be a lengthy trial, the defendant did not prevail. “Snowbowl protester found guilty after 6-hour trial” probably would’ve conveyed that just fine. It also would’ve avoided the frustrating misconceptions that abound from the title she actually chose. Her title suggests the poor guy … Read entire article »
Filed under: Arizona Cases, News
Unimaginable Stupidity
There’s no shortage of government stupidity when it comes to DUI in general. However, there are some aspects where the ridiculousness of it all is really put on show. One of the silly little tests that armed enforcers like to coerce unsuspecting motorists into performing so that other government actors can later forcibly remove blood from the motorists’ bodies is called the “walk and turn” test. I think there’s a little extra government stupidity when it comes to that test. The officer begins administering the test by saying something like this: I want you to put your left foot on the line and then place your right foot in front of it. Don’t move until I tell you. Do you understand? When the suspect assumes the position, the officer continues … Read entire article »
Filed under: DUI
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