Dennis Elias’s Latest Tweet :. Injustice News Twitter Feed :.Mark Bennett | January 30, 2010
I wrote a couple of posts over at Social Media Tyro about the ethics of ghostblawging (something I’d scribbled about here before). One ghostblawger’s response raised broader issues that fit better here at Defending People. In an email, Jenni Buchanan of LegalGhostblogger.com invited private discussion of the ethics of ghostblogging, and asked that I remove [...]
Mark Bennett | January 27, 2010
It’s easy to respect the rights of the pretty people, the popular ones, the charming folk, the nice guys. No one’s going to run roughshod over Mr. Rogers’ rights. We probably don’t need a Constitution to protect the Prom Queen. It’s the assholes we need to write the rules for. It’s harder to treat them [...]
Mark Bennett | January 27, 2010
Guy James Gray and his client didn’t talk for six weeks before trial:When asked, “How can you defend a guy when you’re not communicating with him?”, Gray replies: I filed a motion asking to get off the case. The judge didn’t want a delay, and he made me try it, and I tried it. So [...]
Mark Bennett | January 26, 2010
This is going to remind many of you of David Martin’s conduct in the Cameron Willingham case, but this isn’t normal for Texas criminal-defense lawyers. Really. I promise. After Matt Baker got sentenced to 65 years in prison for the murder of his wife: Baker’s Kerrville-based attorneys, Guy James Gray and Harold Danford, said they [...]
Mark Bennett | January 23, 2010
The American Society of Trial Consultants has published my Sixteen Simple Rules for Better Jury Selection in its online newsletter, The Jury Expert, along with responses from several jury consultants. Read the rules and responses here.
Mark Bennett | January 22, 2010
Try this: Stand up. Raise one foot off the ground. Now shift your weight forward. Don’t set your raised foot down. What happens? You fall down. But if you do the same thing and set the raised foot down to stop your fall, you take a step. Raise the other foot off the ground, shift [...]
Mark Bennett | January 21, 2010
I’ve said before that I would choose a lawyer who sometimes loses over one who always wins. But today I was reminded how much losing a criminal trial sucks. The case: a “DWI-first no test no accident” in the argot. That is, a driving while intoxicated case, which was my client’s first, and in which [...]
Mark Bennett | January 11, 2010
The receptionist was okay with me perusing their wardrobe, but the public defender herself came up and asked me who was going to get the clothes. Not just a public defender, but the public defender, the county official in charge of the office. She told me she would not let my client wear one of [...]
Mark Bennett | January 8, 2010
Here is The Question: Why do you defend people who you know to be factually guilty? The question is often phrased as “How . . .” or “How can you sleep at night when you . . .” but those demand smartass answers like “very well” or “on a pillowcase full of hundred-dollar bills.” Typically, [...]
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