We Don’t Need No Stinking Technicalities

Mark Bennett of Defending People has just published a great post in which he pretty well takes apart a reecent ABA poll that reported an overwhelming majority as believing that lawyers spend too much time trying to get criminals off on technicalities.I highly recommend that you read Mark’s post – and remember, one man’s technicality is another’s liberty. Even Rush Limbaugh thought so when his ox was being gored.

Vick Co-Defendant Pleads Guilty

One of Michael Vick’s co-defendants in the dog fighting fiasco pleaded guilty today and is cooperating with the federales, the Associated Press reports. While it is critical not to pre-judge and assume Vick’s guilt – if the Duke case taught us anything it was about the dangers in rushing to judgment – this is nonetheless very, very bad news for Michale Vick. What are the odds that this guy doesn’t offer up his far more famous

Blog Recommendation

If you are reading this post then you are, presumably, interested in criminal law and issues relating to the criminal justice system. I highly recommend that you check out Houston defense lawyer Mark Bennett’s blog, Defending People: The Art and Science of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering. The blog is first rate, and Mark always has an interesting viewpoint.

Should You Take a Polygraph?

Jamie Spencer, publisher of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer blog, had a very interesting post today in which he addressed the question of whether an accused should agree to take a polygraph examination. Jamie’s bottom line, I think, with which I agree, is: never agree to take a police polygraph without first consulting a defense lawyer and taking a private polygraph administered by a technician hired by your lawyer. Indeed, I would HIGHLY recommend that you follow what in my opinion is the first cardinal rule: do not ever even talk to investigators without having conferred with counsel.

White House Asserts Executive Privilege

In a move that ought to surprise no one, the White House today asserted executive privilege and denied Congressional requests that two former White House aides, former counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor testify before the House and Senate Judicary Committees, respectively, the Associated Press reports. In a letter to the Chairmen of the two commitees, White House Counsel Fred Fielding also indicated that the Bush Administration was refusing to provide a further written explanation for its invocation of the privilege, as requested by the Committee leaders. It appears likely that, unless either side dramatically alters its position, this particular privilege dispute will find its way into court and, in all likelihood, all the way up the ladder to the Supreme Court.

Brocade Backdating Prosecution on Life Support

The federal judge presiding over the stock options backdating related criminal prosecution of former Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes has ordered prosecutors to file a response to the defense team’s motion for acquittal by 8 am tomorrow morning. At a hearing on Friday, the Judge grilled prosecutors relentlessly about what evidence had been presented to support the mens rea element of the securities fraud charges against Reyes, The Recorder reports. The Recorder’s report would suggest that Mr. Reyes has a very strong chance of succeeding on his motion and completely blowing out the government’s case. How significant a blow to the Justice Department’s overall backdating prosecution efforts would remain to be seen, but this would not be a good first step for the prosecutors.

Whither Dealy?

Does anyone have any info about where the case against Tom Delay stands? I seem to recall seeing recently that an appellare court upheld the dismissal of one count in the indictment, but truthfully I wasn’t paying very close attention as I’ve had a lot of other things going on. Anyone?

Back In the Saddle

So I’m back, after a little hiatuts (which I will concede I should have announced beforehand). Take a break for a trial, some vacation and some other personal stuff, and all You Know Where breaks out. Lots of stuff I missed. Scooter got 30 months (which I xpect made Justice for All a Few Happy), and then got his sentence commuted (which I guess And Justice for a Few thinks is an injustice). Paris got sprung, then hauled into court, and packed off back to jail, in her jammies. But now she’s out. Nifong got disbarred, had his keys taken away, and may damned well be held in contempt. Lots of fun stuff that I missed the chance to write about. But there’s always more fun right around the corner.

I kniow also that there is a little backlog of comments. I plan to look at them and get them up over the July 4th holiday (yes, Justice for a Few, that includes yours).

One last comment – Bush should have given Scooter the Full Monty. But that’s the subject of another post.

Study Shows that Children Begin To Deceive At 6 Months of Age

The UK Telegraph ran this interesting story reporting the results of studies conducted by psychologists at the University of Portsmouth. The study shows that children begin to engage in deceitful behavior as early as 6 months of age. Presumably Patrick Fitzgerald will be issuing indictments shortly.