Blog Posts

The so-called Proud Boys trial has finally started. A jury of twelve and three alternatives heard a half day of evidence last week. This week, the Government will present as many as a dozen more witnesses. In the weeks to come, a jury will hear evidence about the extent to which, if at all, the...

What we need is another Kerner Commission, and what we’re being offered is a Watergate Committee. The result will be a committee that convicts the canary for dying in the mineshaft. Come the fall of 2022, and, more importantly, the fall of 2024, the toxins in the mineshaft will be that...

I’ve been reading press reports of the Derek Chauvin case in Minneapolis with a gnawing sense that something isn’t quite right. I can’t tell whether Chauvin’s defense seem are understated geniuses or, perhaps, not up to the task. As for the prosecution, it took...

Trial lawyers know the significance of motions in limine; often, trials are won or lost based on the rulings judges make before a jury even hears opening statements. Two such motions in the Derek Chauvin are pivotal.
What is a motion in limine? (Pronounced...

The Senate trial in the second impeachment of Donald J. Trump is unlike any other trial in American history. It is so unique, I wonder whether it should be a trial at all. There is nothing like it in our jurisprudence.
The former president has been accused by the House of...

Suppose you were suddenly accused of sexual assault. Your accuser claims that one night, a dozen or more years ago, you crossed a line. You’re arrested, and now publicly accused of rape. In an instant, your reputation is destroyed.
Assume for the moment you...

Finally, something that sounds like reliable information about the COVID-19 pandemic and the courts in Connecticut.
A client of mine faces federal narcotics charges. His case was set for trial in early December in Hartford. At a pre-trial conference with a federal judge moments...

I was startled during my annual physical this week when I asked my family physician how much longer he expected the pandemic to require restricted activity. “At least a year,” he said. When I asked him what he thought of my traveling by air in the near term, his answer was...

Cross-examination is the engine of our civil and criminal justice system. When there is a dispute about facts, witnesses are required. Fact-finders, whether they be juries or judges, then make credibility assessments, deciding whom to believe. Yes, mistakes are made – many a...

I’m not sure what the new normal will look like for litigators in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, but several things seem obvious enough.
First, I doubt seriously that any juries will be selected until sometime in 2021.
Why? No one is...