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Public Defense

A Public Defender

Criminal law news from Connecticut and around the country.
By Gideon

Post Frequency: 10.1/day

Last Entry: March 31, 2011 at 12:17:35

Probation reform considered

Posted on March 12, 2008
One of the most interesting bills being debated today is H.B. 5877, which is a product of the Sentencing Task Force. The bill would change probation terms (which now max out at 5 years for all felonies) to 5 years for a B felony, 3 years for a C & D felony, 2 years for [...

Woman stuck to boyfriend?s toilet

Posted on March 12, 2008
Your eyes are not deceiving you. Deputies said a woman in western Kansas sat on her boyfriend’s toilet for two years, and they’re investigating whether she was mistreated. Ness County Sheriff Bryan Whipple said a man called his office last month to report that something was wrong with his girlfriend...

Three-strikes, prison overcrowding back before Judiciary Committee

Posted on March 12, 2008
Not satisfied with the harsh penalties enacted by the special session of the legislature in February, we once again embark on a discussion of “true” three-strikes laws. There are four separate proposals before the Judiciary Committee to create a three-strikes and you’re out law and there are several bills dealing with prison overcrowding, inmate services [...

Denial is not a river in Egypt

Posted on March 11, 2008
Allegations of prison overcrowding and inhumane treatment of inmates abound and yet the American Idol Governor continues to turn a blind eye. Take this latest lawsuit for example. Two inmates at Cheshire Correctional filed a lawsuit claiming that they were forced to defecate and urinate in plastic bags because of the severe overcrowding problem...

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Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony

Posted on March 11, 2008
So by now you must have heard of NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer and his escort escapade(s). This from the same man who zealously pursued prostitution rings as a prosecutor and is generally known to give no quarter to others. He now finds himself in the opposite spot at the table, which used to be occupied [...

Sex in the stationhouse: What?s the relevance?

Posted on March 11, 2008
Joshua Mauldin’s legal problems just got a bit more complicated. After being charged with (and confessing to) microwaving his infant for 10-20 seconds, prosecutors are now seeking to have introduced at trial evidence that he had oral sex with his wife in the interrogation room at the police station...

The long arm of the law (updated)

Posted on March 11, 2008
Adam Liptak’s latest Sidebar column in the NYT highlights a new study [pdf] conducted by the Chief Supervising Attorney of the Supreme Court of California, Jake Dear, and Edward Jessen, the Reporter of Judicial Decisions in California. The study, published in the UC Davis Law Review, finds that California’s Supreme Court is the most “followed” [...

Monday Morning Jumpstart

Posted on March 10, 2008
I hate Daylight Saving Time. Really hate it. So forgive me if this is shorter than usual: A national ballistics database has been “shot down“. This NYT editorial urges passage of the Second Chance Act. A private attorney wonders whether to give clients his cell phone number...

Death penalty on our minds

Posted on March 10, 2008
Two separate news items of note on the death penalty in Connecticut today. The first is a hearing in the judiciary committee on a bill that sets absurd time limits on the filing of appeals and habeas corpus petitions. S.B. 320 is a resurrection of an almost identical bill that failed in the last legislative [...

Sunday stupidity: fuel efficiency edition

Posted on March 09, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4lD0rLocTQ SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Sunday stupidity: fuel efficiency edition", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/03/09/sunday-stupidity-fuel-efficiency-edition/" } );

The uselessness of crossing an eyewitness

Posted on March 08, 2008
Via CDW comes this fantastic new paper by Jules Epstein, which examines the problems with eyewitness identification testimony and the short-comings of using cross-examination to challenge it. It is a must read for the practitioner. The first 40 pages or so trace the history of eyewitness identification and of cross examinations and their place in [...

What?s on your mind?

Posted on March 07, 2008
Gov. Rell pushes ahead with her plan to use cameras to ticket speeders despite the bill getting killed in committee. Parents will have to attend driving classes with their teens. I have nothing else. Treat this as an open thread if you want. SHARETHIS...

TMYK: Statute of Limitations is an affirmative defense

Posted on March 05, 2008
The Statute of Limitations is a legislatively enacted section of the penal code that states: (b) No person may be prosecuted for any offense, except a capital felony, a class A felony or a violation of section 53a-54d or 53a-169, for which the punishment is or may be imprisonment in excess of one year, except within [...

Holy mo-zzzzzzzzz (ARO 3/5/08)

Posted on March 05, 2008
As you can judge by the title, today’s advance release opinions from the Supreme and Appellate Court seem promising but quickly put me to sleep. That may have nothing to do with the opinions themselves. The Supreme Court issued State v. John M., in which the defendant claimed that the trial court abused its discretion in [...

Monday Morning Jumpstart

Posted on March 03, 2008
Welcome to March! Today also happens to be the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell who, as most of us surely know, invented the telephone (or rather the first to patent the working telephone) - the precursor to modern day social networking tools. So with that in mind, let us turn to what has been happening [...

Burgling your mother?s house?

Posted on March 03, 2008
This very odd story today leads me to ask the question in the title of this post. Luke Stetson and his girlfriend stole his mother’s chihuahua from the mother’s house and held it for ransom. They demanded hundreds of dollars. Hundreds. Apparently the transfer was made, but they were arrested trying to flee...

Sunday stupidity: Crash edition

Posted on March 02, 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmJdQWuVqmM SHARETHIS.addEntry( { title: "Sunday stupidity: Crash edition", url: "http://apublicdefender.com/2008/03/02/sunday-stupidity-crash-edition/" } );

A warning to informers/snitches

Posted on March 02, 2008
If you can figure it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggjoSmSp4XU Actually, if you do figure it out, let me know. I’ve been listening to this song for over 15 years now and I have no clue what he’s saying. That’s what happens when a Canadian does reggae...

Eyewitness ID reform bill introduced in judiciary committee

Posted on March 02, 2008
Fantastic news today. A new bill has been introduced to reform ID procedures in CT. The bill provides for most of the recommended changes to ID procedures during lineups. I have reproduced the bill in its entirety below. Spread the word: (b) Not later than January 1, 2009, each municipal police department and the Department of Public [...

Re-entry: Whose problem is it?

Posted on March 02, 2008
Over the past week or so, a fight of sorts has broken out between New Haven mayor John DeStefano and Governor Rell. It started with a meeting in New Haven about prisoner re-entry, with town residents complaining that DOC “dumped” inmates into New Haven who then had nowhere to go...

This month at the Supreme Court

Posted on March 01, 2008
It’s that time again! The docket has been released, so it’s time to preview the upcoming cases at the Connecticut Supreme Court. It’s no wonder that they sent me a notice saying: “Attorney Trumpet [yes, that’s my last name], we regret to inform you that yours was one of the many qualified petitions for certification [...

One by one they steal my sanity

Posted on February 29, 2008
No wonder we’re all alcoholics. Researchers in Australia studied 50 criminal lawyers and 50 non-criminal lawyers and found that those engaged in the practice of criminal law are more likely to require therapy and turn to alcoholism. This is because of the nature of our jobs...

Piercing the blogging veil

Posted on February 28, 2008
So, despite my best half-hearted attempts to conceal my identity, it has come to my attention that a growing number of you know who I am. My initial reaction was to go the Audacity route and just shut down. But I’m not going to do that. Frankly, because I enjoy this too much and I [...

Disparity challenge to death penalty survives motion to dismiss (updated)

Posted on February 28, 2008
Update: Here’s a copy CT death row inmates’ racial and geographical disparity challenge to the death penalty survived a motion to dismiss. The challenge was made under provisions of both the Connecticut and Federal Constitutions. That might be what saved it (among other things)...

1 in 99: America?s prison population explodes (even more)

Posted on February 28, 2008
A new study released today by the Pew Center reports that 1 in 99.1 Americans is in prison. From the press release: For the first time in history more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison?a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety...

Money won?t buy you better justice

Posted on February 27, 2008
On occasion, clients will hesitantly - almost embarrassingly - ask if giving us pds money will make things better for their case. Perhaps it will make us investigate defenses with more vigor or make us move their case to the top of our pile.� Obviously, for the ethical attorney, the answer is no...

Waste of tax dollars: pointless prosecution edition

Posted on February 27, 2008
This week’s edition of “biggest waste of governmental money” is not a video, but a story that stems from a Supreme Court case. SCOTUS granted cert. in Keith Lavon Burgess v. United States. The certified question is can a sentence be enhanced on the basis of a prior felony conviction, so as to require a [...

Growing up inside Supermax

Posted on February 26, 2008
Meet Jacob Ind. Jacob is one of 46 teens sentenced to life without parole in Colorado, pursuant to a statute that has since been repealed. The facts surrounding his conviction are pretty gruesome. He hired a fellow student to kill his mother and step-father, both of whom levied years of abuse on Jacob - emotional [...

The ?Hillary as public defender? flak (updated)

Posted on February 26, 2008
There’s some nonsense on the interweb about Hillary Clinton when she was appointed by the court to represent an individual accused of assaulting a teen and how she cross-examined the 12-year old complainant and what this means about her as a person or some such thing...

Monday Morning Jumpstart

Posted on February 25, 2008
photo credit: Jessica DeWinter Welcome to the Oscar after-party edition of the Jumpstart. How hungover are you? The Windypundit gives us a refresher course on why shutting down wikileaks.org hasn’t shut down the actual website. Scott continues the Miranda/videotaped interrogations conversation by quoting the perspective of a cop...

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