Dear John, Kennebunk Style

Oh, me. Oh, my. Heads are spinning in Kennebunk, Maine. Townspeople are sniggering about just who is on the list of clients snagged when police arrested Wells resident Alexis Wright and charged her with prostitution, tax evasion and invasion of privacy. It turns out the 29-year-old fitness instructor is believed to have video-recorded some intimate moments. I am betting that there is a run on the services of cardiologists and divorce lawyers in the surrounding area; plenty of Johns are preparing for questions about just what muscles they were exercising at Ms. Wright’s...
October 12, 2012

What Sandusky's Sentence Says About The Rest Of Us

One editorialist at least had the courage to put it bluntly: Jerry Sandusky deserves 400 years in prison. The writer was outraged that the 68-year-old man received a sentence of only 30-60 years in prison after his conviction on 45 counts of child molestation. Sandusky is, so the writer contends, a monster.
I wonder whether another monster isn’t the person calling for a prison sentence impossible to serve. Find me the man or woman who can serve a 400-year sentence, and I will rethink my general skepticism about miracles.
We love prison in this the land of the free. The...
October 11, 2012

Hearsay and a Father's Tale

“That’s just hearsay.”
You hear that remark all the time. It conveys a sense of unreliability. The statement, so dismissed, just doesn’t count. You can’t bet on it.
Yet hearsay is everywhere, and we cannot live without it.
The definition of hearsay sounds convoluted, but it is really quite simple: Hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. What does that mean? Simply put, admitting into evidence in a court proceeding a statement uttered at some other time for some other purpose.
It’s all right...
October 11, 2012

Give Richard LaPointe A New Trial

Richard LaPointe is one very lucky man. It might strike you as odd to say that of a fellow serving what amounts to a life term for the rape and arson-murder of his wife’s 88-year-old grandmother. But, 20 years after a jury found him guilty as charged, he’s won the right to a new trial. That is because a group of concerned citizens never stopped believing in his innocence.
When Bernice Martin was found dead in her apartment in 1987, suspicion quickly turned to LaPointe. He lived nearby. He had visited the victim earlier the day she was murdered. He was seen in the vicinity...
October 9, 2012

The Gift of Immortality

October 4, 2012
The news did not surprise me, neither did it devastate me. It simply left me hollow, spent and empty. You see, Mark Kravitz died since this paper...

Do You Believe In The Presumption Of Innocence?

October 4, 2012
Do you believe in the presumption of innocence? I doubt it. But don’t feel bad. Lawmakers don’t believe in it either. The sad fact is...

The Joy of Circuit Riding

September 28, 2012
Lawyers ought to be required to ride circuit, to travel to different regions of the country and appear in courts and before judges they do not know....

Long Live The 'Living Constitution'

September 26, 2012
Never doubt for a moment that law is at its core politics. If you do doubt it, then read Jeffrey Toobin’s latest book, “The Oath: The...

A Failure of Nerve in East Haven

September 25, 2012
I know a thing or two about suing police officers. Indeed, I paid for a few college educations with the proceeds of money earned in the well of the...

Special Rules for the Family Courts?

September 21, 2012
A funny thing happened in the court the other day. I notified my adversaries I intended to call an expert or two. The other side asked for a hearing...

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Taking Back the Courts
Norm Pattis Taking Back the Courts

The Wizard of Oz was one of my favorites movies as a kid. Little did I know judges were so much like the wizard, hiding behind empty trappings of power. This book tells you things you need to know about what really goes on in court. Read it, weep, and then demand that the courts do better.

In the Trenches
Norm Pattis In the Trenches

Plenty of lawyers write about the law, but few who write try cases. Judge for yourself whether I talk the talk and walk the walk in this collection of occasional essays about life in the law's trenches.

Juries and Justice
Norm Pattis Juries and Justice

How prepared are you to take seriously the notion that 'we the people' are, in fact, sovereign? Discover the secret, and unused, power of jurors. 'Ask why; then nullify.'

Norm Pattis

About Norm

Norm Pattis is a Connecticut based trial lawyer focused on high stakes criminal cases and civil right violations. He is a veteran of more than 150 jury trials, many resulting in acquittals for people charged with serious crimes, multi-million dollar civil rights and discrimination verdicts, and scores of cases favorably settled.

© Norm Pattis is represented by Elite Lawyer Management, managing agents for Exceptional American Lawyers
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