Mark Bennett | June 30, 2010
(In lieu of the more complete trial journal that I should have been keeping for the last eight weekdays.) 0530: Get up. Prepare for trial. 0620: Breakfast, shower, shave, get dressed, etc. 0725: Leave for courthouse. 0800: Arrive in courtroom. Meditate. 0830: Trial begins. 0930: 1-hour break for court to handle court business. Small snack—half an […]
Mark Bennett | March 2, 2010
It turns out that insurance defense lawyers are putting at least some effort into finding new ways to try cases. They have a magazine, For the Defense, and an associated blog (sadly uncommented-on). Kathy Cochran, writing on the blog, takes note of David Ball and Don Keenan’s Reptile: This book posits that jurors must be […]
Mark Bennett | February 12, 2010
In Anthony Graves’s first trial, prosecutor Charles Sebesta had to cheat to win, hiding exculpatory evidence and eliciting perjured testimony (Graves v. Dretke, Fifth Circuit opinion, PDF on Scribd). Now, not only has the evidence that Sebesta suppressed in violation of Brady v. Maryland been revealed so that the next prosecutor trying the case can’t […]
Mark Bennett | February 12, 2010
A Harris County felony prosecutor, in closing argument, says (PDF on Scribd): You-all heard some evidence, which I would have loved to brought you more people, but I couldn’t. This case is, does Harris County find what he did okay? And I still don’t know what he did, because he won’t even say it. We all […]
Mark Bennett | February 3, 2010
On April 16th, 1995 (three days before the highly-significant-to-militias April 19th anniversary of the Oklahoma City Bombing and the burning of the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco), Scott Roeder was arrested with bomb-making materials. Roeder claimed association with the “Freemen” movement, yet another batch of personal sovereignty kooks. On May 31, 2009, Scott Roeder shot […]
Mark Bennett | February 3, 2010
In this morning’s Houston Chronicle, criminal-defense lawyer (and HCCLA ex-president, and former U.S. Navy officer) Pat McCann asks, Since When are Americans Afraid of Trials? Those who are caught in the act of a crime or afterward and can be prosecuted in our justice system, however, should be prosecuted. There is no simpler way to […]
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 your […]
Mark Bennett | October 8, 2009
Here’s a picture from Harris County’s 263rd District Court yesterday. The prosecutors trying a murder (?) case had laid down a blue tape outline of the dead person’s body, chalk-outline style, early in the trial: When I saw this, my first reaction was: awesome! (coincidentally, that was my nine-year-old’s reaction as well). The prosecutors, Brad Hart […]
Mark Bennett | January 11, 2009
New York criminal-defense lawyer Scott Greenfield and I usually agree on things, and he’s a lot older and somewhat wiser than me (though still spry), so when he seems to disagree with me I take a careful look to see if maybe I’m wrong. The client charged with a crime has three (in Texas, four) decisions […]
Mark Bennett | November 21, 2008
When I read articles about quirks of human behavior, I try to think of how I can take advantage of them both defensively and offensively. For example, when I read an article (from the American Society of Trial Consultants’ The Jury Expert magazine) entitled How We Can Help Witnesses Remember More, I consider not only […]
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