I doubt there was much celebrating on Connecticut’s death row today, where 11 condemned men sat, some for decades, awaiting execution. Not one of them will ever be free again. The quick release of a relatively painless death by lethal ejection will be denied them. Now, they await the fate common to us all — nature’s unrelenting running of her course.
By a vote of 4-3, the Connecticut Supreme Court declared the death penalty cruel and unusual under the state constitution. The decision is final. There is no higher court that can reverse this judgment. When it comes to...
August 13, 2015
A good friend called the other day. I was unable to take her case due to a conflict. Who would I call if I needed help? she asked.
That is a tough question. The state is awash in lawyers, and a new crop is released on the public every year. Who would I choose?
Of course, the vast majority of individuals charged with crimes have no choice. Courthouse gossip holds that almost 87 percent of those accused of a crime are now represented either by public defenders or by private lawyers working under state contract as special public defenders.
From where I sit, in the trenches,...
August 13, 2015
The numbers are hard to believe, even if the source of them, The Washington Post, is highly credible. As of August 10, 2015, 598 people have been shot and killed by police officers in the United States during 2015 alone. That’s an average of almost 2.7 people killed each and every day.
What’s going on?
The Post deserves credit for collecting the data. The information comes from the reports of other journalists, reporting from Post reporters and public records. (You can find it yourself, updated daily, online at:...
August 11, 2015
There is a school of thought that holds there is no such thing as bad publicity for trial lawyers. Thus all manner of lawyers blog, tweet, and otherwise dive in front of any media that will get their name in print. But how low will a lawyer go to capture the front page of the New York Post?
We just found out today, courtesy of a Staten Island media hound named Richard Luthmann.
The 35-year-old Staten Island lawyer posed for the post, with sword raised in one hand, and a shield on the other. “Knight Court,” the headline screams....
August 9, 2015
August 5, 2015
Law students are taught that there are four factors a judge should consider when a criminal defendant is sentenced: specific deterrence, general...
July 29, 2015
The other day, I shared a podium with state Senator Gary Winfield-Holder and several others at the Courtland-Wilson Library in New Haven. The topic...
July 22, 2015
I’m tempted to think that Harper Lee kept her silence all these years because she knew a deeper truth: Atticus Finch was a racist before he was...
June 25, 2015
Only once have I had to take the witness stand to plead the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, and that was after I felt compelled...
June 23, 2015
I will always be bothered by the case of State v. Gregg Madigosky. The former Southbury resident was convicted in 2006 of the 2003 murder his wife. A...
June 11, 2015
Remind me next time I get a little ticked off about something a judge has done not to send an email to would-be supporters describing how one might...