Blog Posts

The prosecution of those behaviors we commonly call vice strikes me as pointless. Consider, if you will, the war on drugs. Prosecutors can lock up drug peddlers by the prison full, but no sooner are one set of dealers taken into custody, than another set appears. The demand for some products is so...

If you are going to stand up in the well of the court and demand accountability on behalf of the people of the State of Connecticut from some poor schmuck charged with a crime, you ought at least to be accountable yourself. But in the Danbury State’s Attorney’s Office, accountability is...

A client of mine is in the process of being tarred and feathered, and I don’t much like it. Dr. Tory Westbrook has been accused of multiple counts of sexual assault by his patients. His former employer is busy at work interviewing folks. New complainants are springing up like weeds on an...

Good grief. Was James Bond the inspiration behind the latest escapade in the Danbury State’s Attorney’s office? Or was it just lust gone awry in the form of a foot fetish? Whatever the cause, Connecticut’s premiere venue for the prosecution of sex crimes is now reeling in the wake...

I tried to catch the Olympic spirit last night. I really did. Instead I got little bored and antsy. After watching the opening ceremony for little more than an hour, a good book beckoned. The incoherent extravaganza produced by Danny Boyle had the look and feel of a schizophrenic taking an oral...

News that Superior Court Judge William Holden faces discipline by the Judicial Review Council caught me by surprise. What had the man done to warrant a public takedown? It turns out he’s guilty, if that’s the right word, of the collective sin of the judiciary -- delay. Query? Rather...

Every lawyer has a case or two in the “What happened?” bag. Those are cases you were sure would win, but a jury did not share your conviction. It sometimes works the other way, too, giving an unforeseen windfall. Go to court long enough and the words “what happened?” will...

It says a lot that as James Holmes opened fire on moviegoers in Aurora, Colorado, they did not know whether he was part of the film’s special effects, an opening night piece of eye candy tossed into the mix for a little extra thrill. The audience was there to see good versus evil, after all....

Am I alone in wondering whether federal prosecutors in Connecticut are abusing the grand jury process? When I discuss the issue with fellow members of the defense bar, folks get nervous. Blowing the whistle on Uncle Sam could hurt either them or their clients. Funny how the topic of grand jury...

Louis Freeh’s report on Penn State and Jerry Sandusky reads like the not-too-original account of a honeymoon: He said all the right things, and in just the right tone. There were even pictures, in the form of exhibits. I am sure the university spent millions of dollars for the effort. But it...