Dennis Elias’s Latest Tweet :. Injustice News Twitter Feed :.Mark Bennett | September 13, 2009
I’ve suggested before that a lawyer can know as much about the narrow subject of an expert witness’s testimony that hurts the defense than does the expert himself. Even when it’s brain surgery, it’s not rocket science. Being a trial lawyer means being able to learn enough about the topic at hand that ignorance is [...]
Mark Bennett | September 11, 2009
Randall Patterson’s Houston Press article on conditions inside the Harris County Jail, based on inmate interviews. If you believe the government, this must be a vast conspiracy of defamation conducted by inmates. If you believe the inmates, federal crimes are routinely committed by jailers. Which story is more credible? Considering that the inmates aren’t even [...]
Mark Bennett | September 10, 2009
The last rule for right now (it is an evolving list). . . . I’ve talked about how the jury panel is a group and the jury is a group. Why? Because people like to be in groups. Most people will, given a choice between being in a big group and being in a small [...]
Mark Bennett | September 10, 2009
If the rules were in some particular order, this would have received much higher ranking. Simple Rule 15: The Bat Rule: Ping, then listen. Or fail. Because bats, you know, use echolocation: ping! and detect food and obstacles by the signal that bounces back. A bat that doesn’t ping doesn’t eat, but neither does a [...]
Mark Bennett | September 10, 2009
Remember the scene near the end of To Kill a Mocking Bird in which Atticus Finch, having lost the case, wearily packs up his things to leave the courtroom? As he’s preparing to leave, the blacks in the gallery stand up for him; Reverend Sykes tells Scout, “Miss Jean Louise? Miss Jean Louise, stand up! [...]
Mark Bennett | September 10, 2009
In Simple Rule 12: The Field Trip Rule, I talked about how the jury panel is a group, and you have to stay with the group. This group has sixty heads and sixty bodies, each one of which is throwing off communications cues every second. It is not possible for one lawyer, talking to sixty [...]
Mark Bennett | September 10, 2009
In Simple Rule 2: The Blind Date Rule, I pointed out that the 60 potential jurors, by the time they reach the courtroom, are no longer strangers to each other; they have formed a group. When you get up to talk to them, what’s your relationship to the group? You’re an outsider. You are not [...]
Mark Bennett | September 10, 2009
When you outsource your marketing, you outsource your ethics and your reputation. It applies to judges running for reelection as well as lawyers looking for business. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Mark Bennett | September 8, 2009
I often (well, I used to often) gripe here about the want of real-world experience (that is, experience outside the high school–college–law school track) in prosecutors. As a broad generalization, it works great. I believe that before anyone is put into a job that includes making decisions about what punishment other people deserve for their [...]
Mark Bennett | September 8, 2009
Back to our originally-scheduled program: So you’re in jury selection, and you want to get the jurors talking about the things that maybe they’re not used to discussing in front of 60 near-strangers. What do you do? Well, everyone knows The Playing Doctor Rule: I’ll show you mine if you show me yours, right? That’s [...]
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