Mark Bennett | July 7, 2010
After twelve days of trial and deliberation, the jury found my client guilty of tampering with physical evidence. Now, ordinarily I figure that going and talking to a jury after a trial is a good way to get lied to, but here we had what I felt was a full and fair exchange of views. […]
Mark Bennett | July 4, 2010
“Common sense” has nothing to do with it. The words do not appear in a Texas criminal jury charge. The existence of jury trials is not common sense. The presumption of innocence is not common sense. Requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not common sense. If any of these concepts were common sense, everyone would […]
Mark Bennett | July 2, 2010
It doesn’t matter who asks them—defense lawyers, prosecutors, cops—or whom they are asked—witnesses, the jurors themselves, defendants—jurors don’t like trick questions. Getting caught asking a trick question lessens the questioner’s credibility. Here’s a trick question that cops sometimes ask people suspected of DWI: “On a scale of zero to ten, how intoxicated would you say […]
Mark Bennett | June 18, 2010
I admit it: I was wrong. For a decade I’ve been encouraging young lawyers and soon-to-be lawyers to start their criminal defense practices right out of law school. With hard work, intelligence, and humility, I thought, they could do well without hurting anyone; the question, I thought, was not whether they would provide perfect representation, but […]
Mark Bennett | June 4, 2010
“Not a team sport.” That’s how the federal prosecutor described federal drug defense practice after a hearing in which two colleagues and I had shown a certain unity of purpose on behalf of our clients. Divide and separate is the name of the game for federal prosecutors (that and, I can bribe witnesses but you can’t). […]
Mark Bennett | June 4, 2010
“When you get to the end zone, act like you’ve been there before.“ – Darrell K. Royal Too few lawyers heed Royal’s admonition. Every dismissal becomes an excuse for a victory dance. They post to their blogs, tweet on twitter, have their buddies laud them on the listserves. Does it help get them business? Maybe so. […]
Mark Bennett | May 20, 2010
Why have I been repeating for three years (okay, for a lot longer than that) that lawyers should not waive detention hearings without good reason and that good reason means “because having a detention hearing will prejudice the accused”? Because better representation in a federal criminal case begins with a detention hearing, and for some […]
Mark Bennett | May 16, 2010
I’ve noticed that trial lawyers, when their beliefs about how to try cases are questioned, sometimes react as though the questions are personal attacks. This came to my attention in discussions among Trial Lawyers College alumni about the management of that institution. Most alumni remained silent, but the truth—that the avowedly anti-institutional College is run […]
Mark Bennett | November 30, 2009
Personal injury lawyer Paul Luvera has written about Applying Reptile Concepts in Trial—describing how plaintiffs’ lawyers should appeal to jurors’ reptile brains. The reptile brain is the core of the human brain, sitting right at the top of the spine surrounded by the later-developing dog brain and ape brain. The reptile brain is a survival […]
Mark Bennett | November 6, 2009
I’ve been asked to write about how to choose a criminal-defense lawyer. Disclaimer: What I write here, I write not with the intention of making myself more presentable to clients, but only of telling the truth, revealing a bit of myself, and maybe entertaining or educating. Some of my posts have probably scared off potential […]
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