Defending People

the tao of criminal-defense trial lawyering

Padilla v. Kentucky

| March 31, 2010

Immigration law can be complex, and it is a legal specialty of its own. Some members of the bar who represent clients facing criminal charges, in either state or federal court or both, may not be well versed in it.  There will, therefore, undoubtedly be numerous situations in which the deportation consequences of a particular [...]

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Take 2.8 Seconds. Be Thankful.

| March 27, 2010

Friday morning, I saw a dead guy. He was lying on his back under a sheet in a pool of his own blood. I saw him from above. His running shoes, untied, were off to one side and his car keys were at his feet. I deduced that he had jumped from one of the [...]

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Hover Through Fog and Filthy Air

| March 26, 2010

I’ve long mistrusted the argumentum ad lexicon. English-language dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive, so any argument that relies on a dictionary definition is showing a weak hand to begin with. Then, a good dictionary will show enough different definitions for a word that the arguer can base a sophistical argument on the one that he [...]

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Procedure Geek: The Skinner Case [Updated 25 May 2010]

| March 24, 2010

I am a procedure geek. As Robert Ragazzo, my law school civil procedure professor, used to say, "procedure is everything." Today the U.S. Supreme Court granted a stay of execution to Hank Skinner. Here's a little explanation of how, procedurally, Skinner got there and where he goes next.

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Maybe A.R. Gupta Was Wrong.

| March 24, 2010

The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed Hank Skinner’s execution (AP).

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Ten Social Media Sex Secrets for Lawyers

| March 24, 2010

This post isn’t really about social media sex secrets for lawyers. I don’t even know one. But experience teaches that three things sell online: sex, social media, and lists. This post is about Hank Skinner. Hank is going to be executed in about four hours unless Governor Perry or the U.S. Supreme Court grants a [...]

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Anonymous Quote of the Day

| March 24, 2010

For those feeling sanguine about health care reform: Let me get this straight: we just signed into law a health care plan . . . written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it . . . passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it (but exempts themselves from it) . . . [...]

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Nope, No Balm in Gilead. Sorry.

| March 23, 2010

Nobody knows for sure whether Texas has executed an innocent person. Insiders recognize that the odds are excellent, but there hasn’t been the sort of thoroughgoing review of the evidence that would be required to exonerate an executed person. Cameron Willingham is looking like a good candidate, but the State of Texas is in no [...]

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Three Years

| March 18, 2010

Today begins my fourth year of writing Defending People. It all started on March 19, 2007 with Introduction. Since then I’ve written 1,325 posts and published over 6,000 comments. I’ve had about 429,065 unique visitors, and received enough positive feedback to keep me both blogging and humble. Thank you for reading Defending People. Without you [...]

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John Coby Writes Blog Post With Words “Gay Nigger”

| March 18, 2010

Someone using John Coby’s email address and a link to his blog tried to leave the following comment to this post: Your article is a bit too long for a blog entry. I couldnt finish it. I emailed Coby to ask if it was actually him leaving this moronic comment. He did not respond. Judging, [...]

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