Every time I read a story like this, my first thought is "please don't let this have happened in North Carolina.  For once, it didn't.

 

 

 

Bloodmobile driver picks up drunk-driving charge.

Mercury News series slams the criminal courts.  If the judges team up with the prosecution the best defense attorney in the world is little or no help.

Yesterday I saw a relatively new lawyer request that a judge reduce back child support based on the time her client had served in jail or prison.  The motion was based on a statute that reads (in part):

 

(N.C.G.S. 50-13.10).

 

Since this hearing tool place in child support court, it was an island of sound legal argument in a sea of chaos. 

 

The ruling: "Motion denied.  It is not the child's fault he committed a crime and got sent to prison."

The dismissal of serious ethics charges against prosecutors on a technicality (which would never be invoked to the benefit of a typical criminal defendant) shows that the State Bar has no stomach for disciplining prosecutors.

 

It reminds me of a comment I heard once from a former law clerk to an appellate judge.  The judge handed the law clerk a file in a criminal case and said "find a way to make this guy lose."

 

 

Eric Muller notes that the one of the accused's former assistants has been asked to investigate.

Company seeks change in life insurance deal based on HIV-positive patient's longevity.

 

Hint: don't try to make that argument to a jury.

Sen. Joseph Biden had a 1300-word "question" for Judge Alito.

 

via (Is That Legal?)

The city I practice in is urban, not mega-city urban, but it has a city feel.  Occasionally I get a client with a case in a neighoring county. An hour's drive puts me in some very small towns.  I got to court about 10 a.m. and for some reason the prosecutor decided my case was going to be absolutely last.  I gave up on getting ticked off about that years ago.  I just keep telling myself that someone has to have the last case.  Since I had just once case I got to see the whole day of court.

I watched a senior lawyer try a DWI case.  The state's evidence was a store clerk who saw a drunk man enter her store, leave get behind the wheel and pass out and a cop who had earlier seen the man driving and arrested him behind the wheel.  The judge found the defendant guilty and set a high bond when he gave notice of appeal.  The usual and predictable result.  I guess the defendant was dead set against pleading guilty.

I ran into the defense attorney in the local cafe at lunch and we talked about the case.  He was rehashing the case over and over trying to figure out what he could have done differently.  He had more than 40 years of experience right there in that town (which has 3 lawyers).  He must have tried thousands of misdemeanor cases and DWI's over his career and here he was retrying the case in his head.  I figured you get past that at some point, but it hasn't come for him yet.

After lunch I went back, tried my case, lost and pored over it the whole trip home and for most of the rest of the evening.  I guess I have at least 30 more years of that to look forward to.

 

In honor of a Maryland judge reversing an indecent exposure conviction for mooning:

 

 

 

*To the tune of Moon River.

Pregnant 13-year-old is a sex offender for having sex with her 12-year-old boyfriend (he was convicted too).  I'm not sure what the point of a prosecution was.  Part of the sentence was to write a report. 

 

A 3000-word report was part of an Aussie pot grower's sentence.