Habeas corpus is sort of like magna carta: it’s the smattering of Latin that all lawyers know. Recite these words in public, and even non-lawyers know something important is at stake. In essence, a habeas corpus petition asserts that a prisoner is being held illegally. The writ is an important tool in the arsenal of liberty.
But the great writ has been transformed into something approaching silliness. The filing of petitions in state court is now a routine form of post-conviction relief. If a jury convicts, the next move is to attack the performance of the...
November 4, 2010
My wife keeps calling today to inquire whether I have voted. "No," I answer. I don't think I am going to this year. All of the candidates look like a bunch of phonies. I can't figure out what they are talking about most of the time.
"You need to consider the lesser of two evils," she counsels. She urges me to vote in the Senate race, if nowhere else. "Remember, the Senate passes on federal judges."
She is right in a way I hate to admit. I want to sit this election out as a form of protest. But what if you protest and no one listens? I may have but one vote, but surely that is...
November 2, 2010
While most jurors stared dumbstruck at the evidence in the case of State v. Hayes, at least one could not take her eyes off one of the hunks keeping peace in the courtroom. Gosh, you know how it is: A man in uniform just melts some jurors' hearts: Even when the case is about the rape, murder and savagery at the quiet home of a family picked at random for death in Cheshire in the summer of 2007.
So a lust-struck juror did the only thing an attentive juror could do under the circumstances: She tried to get a note to the judicial marshal suggesting they get together for drinks during...
November 1, 2010
I will be on the witness stand today, an unusual role for me. My usual perch in a courtroom is in the well of the court, putting questions to police officers, doctors, witnesses of all kinds. It is easy to rattle just about any witness. The ones you worry about are the practiced, unflappable witnesses who have an answer for everything. They almost never tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Lies are seemless; the truth is often ragged.
Five, or was it six?, years ago, I represented a man who was accused of raping his three young daughters. He denied the claims, and we went to...
November 1, 2010
October 31, 2010
Let me see if I get this: The New Haven Police Department wants the assistance of a public relations firm to improve its image? If this is the best...
October 31, 2010
I used to think we got the law enforcement we deserve. But then I realized that we the people have very little to say in the matter. The truth is, we...
October 30, 2010
Salvatore Vitale cried in court the other day, The New York Times reports. The former hitman for the Bonanno crime family was being sentenced by...
October 29, 2010
Just how badly do federal prosecutors want to prosecute Waterbury State's Attorney John Connelly? Pretty badly; the vision of Connelly in handcuffs...
October 28, 2010
I am sure Superior Court Judge Roland D. Fasano really didn’t mean to begin laying the foundation for post-conviction relief as to Joshua...
October 26, 2010
The Cheshire home invasion case has thus far been a media extravaganza, taxing the resources of a small courthouse in a small state. But for all the...