Blog Posts

I have a dream. One day lawyers will come to court as bitter foes and leave as friends bound together by sweet reason. Discord shall be replaced by harmony, and the gentle tones of civility will flow. Where there was sorrow, there shall be joy; where there was anger, there shall be peace; and we...

This week's trial is a nightmare, and I've had trouble sleeping for days.
A couple of years ago, two parents confronted their teenage daughter with the contents of text messages on her cell phone. A peer was writing to the girl in tones too salacious to be repeated even here. He wanted her, in...

This week's trial is a nightmare, and I've had trouble sleeping for days.
A couple of years ago, two parents confronted their teenage daughter with the contents of text messages on her cell phone. A peer was writing to the girl in tones too salacious to be repeated even here. He wanted her, in...

Derrick Todd Dunn can't catch a break, and the good people of Georgia will make sure he never does.
Dunn was convicted of statutory rape in 1996. In other words, he had sexual contact with a person deemed unable to give consent. This can mean any number of things. Did he make love to the girl...

Derrick Todd Dunn can't catch a break, and the good people of Georgia will make sure he never does.
Dunn was convicted of statutory rape in 1996. In other words, he had sexual contact with a person deemed unable to give consent. This can mean any number of things. Did he make love to the girl...

This story found its way to my inbox during the past few days. It is another example of a young man's promise destrpyed by a criminal justice system gripped by hysteria.
John's Story: A Marine No More
"An act of kindness, naiveté, and poor judgment nearly destroyed the life of a Marine....

Press accounts of criminal convictions and their consequences make for painful reading, especially for practicing lawyers and their clients. I've had more than one family say in exasperation something along the following lines: "I've seen murderers get less time. What can we do?"
I sometimes...

Salahi, Salahi, oh, such a wannabe;
Seeking reality here on our own TV.
Like sheep we all gather,
To watch all the blather,
About glitz and fake fame,
Have we lost all true shame?
We've come along way in the past one hundred years. We've gone from confidence to paranoia, and...

Today's New Haven Register reports the case of a young woman sent to prison for extortion. It turns out the she and several others were shaking down a lawyer for cash. Several years ago, the lawyer asked someone to find him some companionship. Two young women appeared at the lawyer's office, and he...

When common sense fails, claim some variant of exceptionalism. That's what Kenton Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders in Ohio has done. You see, he wanted to convict Nicole Howell, a teacher in her mid-twenties, of first degree sexual assault. He wanted her in prison. He wanted her registered...