Only two States in the country, Louisiana and Oregon, allow for non-unanimous verdicts in criminal cases. One man - Calvin Duncan - has been fighting it in his home State of Louisiana for over 20 years. Duncan does not have a law degree. In fact he only had a 10th grade education when he was […]
Not a month goes by that I don’t receive a phone call from some family member, friend, or friend of a family member, or family member of a friend, asking “What’s the best way to get out of jury service?” With about the same or similar frequency I get asked “I see that you are […]
Some cases take on a bigger life. Some cases get caught up in a political firestorm. Sacco and Vanzetti, The Scopes trial, The Rosenbergs, Willie Horton, Rodney King to name a few. They end up being not about what actually happened but about some larger societal issue that is reflected in the case. Anarchists, Evolution, […]
The Supreme Court threw open the normally tightly-sealed doors of the jury room in overturning the conviction of Miguel Pena-Rodriguez in the case of Pena-Rodriguez v. Colorado. In a 5-3 decision written by Justice Kennedy, the Court ruled that a juror’s racial basis in the jury room - which was only revealed to the public […]
In 2012, James Holmes killed twelve people and injured seventy others in a ten-minute rampage at a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises.” Forty-one victims filed lawsuits some in Federal court and others in State court. According to the state lawsuit, the theater companies failed to hire sufficient security personnel in light of a previous […]
It’s not what The Donald waned to hear I’m sure. Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel — the same judge who Trump accused of being biased against him due to the Indiana native’s Mexican ancestry and Trump’s controversial positions on border security — is ordering Trump to stand trial in a Federal civil case field against him […]
A horrible story appears in the NY Press. An 18 year old woman is reportedly raped in a Brooklyn park by 5 men - their ages ranging from 14 to 18. The woman’s father was reportedly threatened with a gun and chased away when he tried to protect her and stop the crime from occurring. […]
On this the 224th Anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, I was thinking about what to write about the document that defines our country as much as the Constitution does. It such a grand document covering so many broad issues I was thinking about to narrow my focus. Originally I thought about […]
The recent “Guilty” verdict in the criminal trial of powerful NY politician Sheldon Silver sent a lot of loud and clear messages. Many in power in Albany use their positions for personal gain. Politicians who stay too long get to feel invincible and untouchable. When the Feds come after you, you’re in trouble. But it […]
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