» Entries tagged with "motions"
Loose Ends
A good friend of mine makes his living managing musicians and musical groups. Driving back to reality after a weekend of fishing and grilling out with his friends last summer, the two of us discussed our respective careers at length. He pieces together very different types of work to make ends meet, and it works very well for him. It keeps things interesting, and he can make his own schedule. Things can get hectic, but things can also be very calm. His work life has obvious goal posts. The next booking or the next concert signifies a clear stop to a given task. He can tie up loose ends before beginning a new project. Although I have one very clearly delineated job, to some extent, I … Read entire article »
Filed under: Practice in General
A Brief for Those Who Lack Creativity
Yesterday, Ohio criminal defense lawyer Jeff Gamso put up a blog post that included this paragraph: In Ohio criminal defense circles, I’m known as one of the Anti-Anders-brief Nazis. Under considerable pressure from other members of the bar, I was convinced not to try publicly humiliating the lawyers who file them. Sort of like maintaining good relations with repressive regimes because we can reach them better if we’re nice, I have standing offers out to help lawyers find issues when they’re stuck. Occasionally I’m taken up on the offers. I’ve had some success at convincing people they shouldn’t be filing them. And I speak about this sort of thing a fair amount at CLEs. It’s not enough, but it’s what I can do. If you aren’t … Read entire article »
Filed under: Post-Conviction
Back to Blogging
In case you haven’t noticed, I have not put up a post in weeks. First there were trials. One made it to verdict, one ended in a mistrial, and one got continued over my objection. After the trials came motions. I think I wrote about a dozen big ones in a week or two. Eighty-hour weeks felt like the norm, and the idea of writing anything, even a blog post, seemed an awful lot like work. As soon as the smoke of trials and legal writing cleared, I left on a motorcycle trip. Adrian and I had been planning to ride to Cabo San Lucas and back for quite some time. We’d carefully set up coverage months in advance, notified all our clients, and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Wasting Tax Dollars
I currently represent a client charged with possession of marijuana. By itself, that’s not unusual. What is unusual, however, is that the state claims he had weed in prison. He just finished serving his 18th year, and he’s got a little over 56 years left to go. He’s middle-aged. Why would the state choose to prosecute such a case? What else can they do to him? He’s going to enjoy his field trips to court. If he goes to trial, it’s going to feel good to wear street clothes and take the restraints off, even if it’s just for a little while. What kind of plea is a “lifer” going to want to take? The prosecutor knows all of this because I told him. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Courts, Prosecutors
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