Confession is good for the soul, we like to say. Police prey upon this instinct, and, when alone with men and women suspected of crimes, police officers rely upon it. “Get if off your chest,” they say. “It will do you good.” They sit and play at priest, social worker and concerned friend.
Then they turn around and use your words to try to kill you.
No matter how good confession may be for the soul, it wreaks havoc on your bodily prospects. Never forget for a moment that police officers don’t care a whit for your soul. What they want is your body...
September 22, 2011
Good cross-examiners know that what is unsaid is sometimes more important than the testimony. A question can frame all that follows. Listen to the tone of voice of the questioner. Look, if you can, at his eyes. There are no innocent questions in an effective cross-examination. All is bent to the purpose of making a point.
Today, one of the best cross-examiners in New England will face one of the most sympathetic witnesses imaginable: When Jeremiah Donovan rises from his seat to confront Dr. William Petit, Jr., the sole survivor of the home invasion that left his wife and two daughters...
September 20, 2011
Second verse, same as the first: That will be the theme of the State’s methodical and workman-like presentation in the case of State v. Komisarjevsky. The prosecution has no doubt tweaked a question or two to avoid the sort of juror restiveness that caused one juror to quit in disgust over courtroom tedium in the case against Steven Hayes. But nothing succeeds like success. State’s Attorney Mike Dearington is raring to go in round two. He’ll rest, and perhaps retire, when Komisarjevsky joins Hayes on death row.
But this trial will not be a mere replay of...
September 17, 2011
The good folks at Barnes and Noble in North Haven, Connecticut, are sponsoring a book signing for my new book Taking Back the Courts. I will be there next Thursday, September 22, 2011, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. I write here because there is a rumor afoot that the signing is tonight.
Here is the address: North Haven Crossing, 470 Universal Drive, North Haven.
September 15, 2011
September 13, 2011
A pre-dawn telephone call usually means one thing: federal agents have just come storm-trooping through someone’s home, making an arrest before...
September 12, 2011
We’ve survived the tenth anniversary of 9/11. The media reports no shocking new acts of terror. We’ve waved flags, declared both the...
September 9, 2011
If you don’t think race and class matter in policing, consider the case of Denise Nappier in Hartford, Connecticut. She was stopped and...
September 8, 2011
Call me distracted, but when a note appeared on my computer screen from the editor of this newspaper reminding me that the 9/11 anniversary...
September 7, 2011
Evidence is set to begin on September 19 in the trial of Joshua Komisarjevsky, the second of the two men accused of engaging in the brutal home...
September 6, 2011
You wouldn’t lock up a person and punish them for being ill, would you? The very notion is obscene, an insult to our natural sense of justice...