How Not to Behave at Your Sentencing

This video come by way of Syracuse.com; at the link you can read an excellent "print" report.

Generally speaking the sort of conduct at your sentencing shown in the video will not advantage you in anyway in your path through the justice system.  Conduct like this is, also, not likely to improve the conditions or your incarceration or put you on a fast path to parole or alternative sentencing. 

What an asshole.

How Are Illegal Drugs Valued?

As far as I know illegal drugs do not come with UPC symbols or price tags, so my question is: how are illegal drugs seized by law enforcement valued?   My question is prompted by an endless stream of articles especially from the Border states announcing eye-popping drug seizures like this one from Gustavo Solis at SignOnSanDiego:

U.S. Border Patrol agents foiled two drug smuggling attempts over the weekend resulting in the seizure of $676,880 worth of cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and marijuana.

The first seizure occurred about 3:20 a.m. Saturday when agents at the Interstate 8 checkpoint near Pine Valley stopped two men in a 1980 Chevrolet Camaro. The men, 36 and 25 years old, were from Mexico but legally in the United States.

With the help of a police dog, agents discovered in the Camaro nearly 41 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $409,400 and about 9 pounds of crystal methamphetamine worth an estimated $164,700. The men were taken into custody and their car was seized, agent Scott Simon said.

Would You Convict Romeo In the Murder of Tybalt?

The BBC brings us the mock trial of Romeo in the murder of Tybalt.  Where's my pal Gayle, the Bard Scholar, when I need her?  Would she convict, would you?

Shocking Verdict: TASER hit for $10 Million

A federal jury in Charlotte, North Carolina awarded $10 million in the death of a local teen.  Here's reporter Doug Miller's account at the Charlotte Observer:

A federal jury has ordered Taser International Inc. to pay $10 million to the family of a 17-year-old Charlotte teenager who died after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer struck him with a Taser.
The incident happened in March 2008 at a Food Lion in northeast Charlotte.

Police at the time said the officer violated policy when he shocked Darryl Turner (pic) for about 37 seconds, contributing to the teen's death. Turner fell to the floor during the confrontation and died.

The jury returned its verdict Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.

Lawyers for Turner's family persuaded jurors that the manufacturer knew the product could cause heart problems if it struck near the heart but failed to warn customers, the newspaper reported.
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Great.  Go after TASER Inernational and the Boys who think they need these toys as often as merited.  While I don't think this weapon should be unavailable to law enforcement TASERS should be used rarely.  In other words current usage levels are out of control.  These are dangerous, often fatal weapons too often deployed by knuckleheads with badges.

Scott Greenfield on the "Nancy Grace Hours"

Don't miss this excellent essay on the impact of Nancy Grace on the upcoming Dr. Conrad Murray (Michael Jackson's physician's) trial in LA. 

You know you love her....just kidding.

Coke in the Courthouse Costs Counsel 90 Days

When you're cokehead CDL defending a high profile accused murderer and the police investigator and lab technician are hanging out where you're hanging (the lawyer's lounge, for instance) you might want to consider not sniffing cocaine at the conference table during recesses in the court proceedings.

The Legal Profession blawg reports, this morning, on the a Twin-Cities based lawyer's Charles Ramsey's (pic) earned a 90-day suspension for Cocaine possession following his arrest in January 2009. 

Ramsey was defending a murder suspect in a high profile cold case prosecution when the police investigator and lab tech noticed cocaine residue and Ramsey wandering around sniffing like he might have been tooting.  Upon this suspicion other police took the CDL into custody and a search turned up 5 grams of cocaine.  The criminal trial came to a screeching halt, Ramsey went to jail, and has according to the disciplinary case, successfully entered recovery for his cocaine addiction. 

The client, accused murderer, Jack Nissalke, was convicted following a retrial 6 months later, now represented by different counsel.

"Okay. Allrgiht. Thank You."

Did the defense attorney's utterance of  these words: Okay. Allright. Thank you, constitute a waiver of his request to have a jury polled following a $1.69 million dollar verdict against a Syracuse hospital in a recent medical malpractice case? 

According to court's reporter Jim O'Hara at the Post-Standard that is in fact the decision of the Appellate court in upholding the million dollar plus verdict for Tina Holstein against Community General Hospital of Syracuse.  What happened is fairly ambiguous both in Mr. O'Hara's story and in the underlying facts.  But apparently after the verdict was read from the bench, the defense attorney asked that the jury be polled to determine if in fact the verdict was the verdict of each juror.  The judge in response to the request said to the defense attorney--each of the jurors signed the verdict form whereupon the 5 magic words were uttered which were construed by the judge to be a waiver of the "polling." 

I'm struck at the judicial scrutiny is given this "waiver" in a civil malpractice case, but the US Supreme Court confronted by repeated insistence upon having a lawyer present during an interrogation can find "a waiver" through lapse of time.  I realize we're talking about "apples and oranges," but it does seem remarkable to me that we bend over backwards for wealthy corporations over something as inconsequential as polling a civil jury following a verdict, but a criminal defendant--whose life and liberty is on the line gets short shrift. 

Well, really I'm not surprised.  You?

Busted By the Feds, um Because You're On Facebook, Idiot!

Andrew Wolfson at the Louisville Courier-Journal has a witty discussion of the (Darwin Award-worthy candidates and) criminal defendants who find themselves in hot water over their Facebook postings.  Here's an excerpt from Wolfson's excellent article:

If you don't want to do the time, stay offline. Or at the very least, don't “friend” your probation officer.

Convicted of possessing methamphetamine and Ecstasy, Scott W. Roby learned that the hard way. The Louisville man had his probation revoked this month — and was sentenced to two years in prison — in part for violating conditions that required him to stay alcohol-free and out of bars and liquor stores.

Cyclist Killed in LA Road Rage Incident

The LA Times is reporting on the cyclist death allegedly caused by a driver in a road rage incident not involving the cyclist.  Here's the LAT account:

A driver in an apparent road-rage incident that left a bicyclist dead in downtown Los Angeles has been released, though police say he may still be criminally charged.  A 62-year-old bicyclist was killed Tuesday after being struck by one of two drivers in the midst of a dispute near 8th and Francisco streets. The crash was still under investigation.

The driver of a Chevrolet Avalanche, a 37-year-old man, was detained for questioning by police. He has since been released, with a “possibility of filing later on,” said LAPD Sgt. J. Jennerson. The driver of a Kia compact car, a 23-year-old woman, remained on the scene but was not detained, police said.

The drivers apparently had some dispute while heading north on Figueroa Street.They turned left on 8th Street, and near Francisco Street, the driver of the Avalanche tried to pass the Kia on the right. While doing so, he allegedly struck the bicyclist, police said.
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Cycling in a urban setting can be terrifying enough but to be the innocent victim of some knucklehead in the throes of road rage is sickening.  I am reminded of the Dr. Thompson assault case which also came out of LA and  which I blawged extensively about throughout the latter part of 2009.  The former physician is now doing 8 years for his near-deadly assault on cyclists.  We are targets, out there.

Quote of the Day: "I'm not really happy about too many things with the practice of law right now."

Twenty-nine year old New Hampshire lawyer, Dan Dargon, is already fed up with the practice of law.  He and his defunct law firm are currently on the hook to the tune of $330,000 in fines for illegal mortgage modification.  This is Maddie Hanna's account for the Concord Monitor:

Concord attorney Dan Dargon and his disbanded law firm have been ordered by the state Banking Department to pay more than $330,000 in fines and restitution for modifying mortgages without a license.  But it's unclear whether the department - or the 71 clients it decided were entitled to restitution - will see any of the money.

"It's not going to happen," Dargon said yesterday. "Number one, I don't have a half a million dollars or whatever to pay. I'm 29 years old, I'm a young lawyer. I'm actually going into the Army late October. I'm not really happy about too many things with the practice of law right now."

Martin Frost: Ex-Congressman, Lawyer, Proud Thief



Martin Frost

Tristan Hallman a reporter for the Washington, D.C. bureau of the Dallas Morning News is marveling over ex-congressman, and lawyer, Martin Frost's admission in a Politico essay to his theft of photos from the photo morgue at the Dallas Morning News.  This is what Frost had to say:

"The story about female public figures and photos is not new, unfortunately. About 40 years ago, I clerked for a terrific federal judge, Sarah Hughes (pic), who was 74 at the time. She often complained when The Dallas Morning News ran unflattering photos of her.


Judge Sarah Hughes



This went on for a while. One day I went down to the paper’s photo morgue — where a publication’s pictures were kept on file — and I took some of the offending photos. This was before digital photographs — so once a picture was gone, it was really gone."

Judge Hughes is a significant historical figure having administered the oath of office to LBJ aboard Air Force One following the assassinatio of John F. Kennedy.
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Pretty obnoxious bit of bragging by Mr. Frost.  Could cost him a disciplinary hit--not the underlying act, but the bragging about it.

Eyewitness to Sexual Abuse

The most disturbing story of the day is Sam Stanton's story at the Sacramento Bee of the school receptionist who testified that she witnessed sexual abuse by a local principal, that she reported what she saw and that the shool authorities took no action.  If this story surprises you, you have not been paying attention to the news reports about the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse scandals or sex scandals in the schools around the country over the last decade.  What's unusual in Stanton's SacBee account is the eyewitness testimony.  Here's an excerpt:

A worker at Creative Frontiers School claimed today she was aware of at least two instances of possible abuse in the last year at the private Citrus Heights school, including one that she says she witnessed herself involving Principal Robert B. Adams.

Irma Mertens, a 62-year-old receptionist at the school until she quit in May, said in an interview with The Bee at her home that she surprised Adams when she walked into the school's administrative office last summer and found him tending to a 7- or 8-year-old girl in a swim suit.

The Albuquerque Chief Criminal Judge Is a Rapist?

Albuquerque's 2d Judicial District Chief Judge, "Pat" Murdoch (pic) was arrested after being caught on video raping a prostitute.  Here's the story from kasa.com via Debra Cassens Weiss at the ABAJournal.com this morning:

District Judge Albert "Pat" Murdoch was arrested Tuesday afternoon on charges including rape. According to the arrest warrant, the charges stem from a secret video tape the prostitute made of the judge in his own bedroom.

"Bra-Lift" Searches of Female Students, Unconstitutionally Intrusive

I don't think I've ever come across the concept of the "Bra-Lift" until I saw Martha Waggoner's article at the Charlotte Observer, this morning. Here's an excerpt:

A search for pills at an alternative school that required female students to untuck their shirts and pull out their bras with their thumbs was "degrading, demeaning and highly intrusive," a divided state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

The court ruled 2-1 that Brunswick County Academy overstepped when it required the "bra-lift" search on Nov. 5, 2008. The judges mentioned several reasons for their decision, including that the tip about pills wasn't specific and that there's no indication that the underwear of male students also was searched. They also mention that a male law enforcement officer observed all the searches, regardless of the sex of the student.

"Here, despite the complete lack of any reasonable belief that any single student possessed any pills, the Academy searched all 134 of its students," said the ruling, written by Judge Cheri Beasley. "Further, the school required all of the girls to perform the 'bra lift' even if nothing revealed during the less intrusive part of the search suggested that the student was hiding contraband in her underwear."

Brunswick County schools Superintendent Edward Pruden Jr. said Tuesday the schools plan to conform their procedures with the law.
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I generally don't get too agitated by the idea that my kid is subjected to intrusive securtiy or searches--after all he goes to a large OurTown public high school.  But this sort of intrustion is pretty outrageous, but we are voluntarily giving up our freedoms and liberty in exchange for the illusion of security.

At this link, the court's opinion.

Back to the Future?

Louisiana Lawyer, Christian Goudeau represented a client in a claim against the Lousiana Patient's Compensation Fund.  While the claim was pending Goudeau's client died which in many instances and most states operates to abate the claim.  Did Goudeau give up the ghost?  Nah, we wouldn't be writing about him if he did...would we? 

In fact, Goudeau continued trying to negotiate a claim for his deceased client going so far to argue that the expired-client should receive compensation for future medical expenses!  Love it.

At the link, the recommendation of the Louisiana disciplinary authorities with all credit to the Legal Profession blawg.

Penis Pump Judge Is Back in the News

Oklahoma's ex-Judge Donald Thompson is back in the news.  Thompson (mugshot) is being held on $75,000 bond after being arrested for DUI and possession of a controlled substance.  And yes, this is the same Donald Thompson of the Penis Pump fame. 

Thompson was a long time serving Creek County judge (pic) but was charged with masturbating and using a penis pump while on the bench hearing cases.  Including in one case a murder trial.  Thompson was convicted in 2006 on four felony counts of indecent exposure and he served 20 months of a 4 year sentence.  He was released in 2008 but his problems with alcohol and substance abuse appear not to have abated. 

Circumstantial Evidence of DUI Conviction Upheld by Wisconsin Supremes

Bruce Vielmetti at the Journal Sentinel writes about the conviction for DUI based solely on circumstantial evidence:

Gregg B. Kandutsch was bombed when police arrested him at his wife's home in Wausau in 2006. He wasn't driving, or even in a motor vehicle, and no one saw him driving to get there. So how did prosecutors convict him of his fifth-offense drunken driving?

They relied on circumstantial evidence, the kind commonly used to prove many other crimes but extremely rare in drunken driving cases. Kandutsch appealed, but on Tuesday the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld his conviction. Kandutsch was done in by the electronic monitoring device he was wearing while on probation for other offenses. It showed he left his mother's house in Rib Mountain about 15 minutes before he was arrested in Wausau. Jurors concluded he must have driven himself there.

Two Words No Man Likes to Hear: Botched Circumcision

A year or more, ago, the Bad Lawyer blawg featured a couple of posts on botched circumcision verdicts and lawsuits.  This morning the ABAJournal blawg reports on confirmation of a $4.6 million dollar verdict in California for a botched circumcision.  This "approval" by the court was necessary because of a defense challenge based on legislated malpractice caps.

I was planning to revisit this subject because of the proposed San Francisco ban on circumcision which is much in the news due to an ACLU lawsuit disputing the constitutionality of the proposed ban based on religious freedoms. 

You Aren't Covered!

The Oregon State Bar Liability Insurance program is refusing to cover a law firm that suffered a $150,000 loss to a thieving secretary.  According to the Courthouse New Service, the law firm knew they were hiring a secretary with a propensity to embezzle (image, Janet Leigh, the greatest fictional embezzling secretary); and, as a consequence the Bar Association insurance carrier denied liability.  This is an excerpt form the CNS stroy:

Oregon State Bar says its Professional Liability Fund should not have to cover a law firm that hired a secretary with a history of theft who forged checks and embezzled $150,000 from an estate.

Creative DUI Sentencing

Arelis R. Hernández, a reporter at the Orlando Sentinel, has this profile of Judge Carmine Bravo (pic) who has undertaken to systematically address drunk driving sentencing:

You've seen them before: the lollipop-shaped markers along state roads adorned with fake flowers, fading photographs or discolored stuffed animals.  As you drive by, the words "Drive Safely" come into view in bold, blunt letters. Perhaps you slow down a bit. Maybe you stop texting. You might place a second hand on the steering wheel.

It's more likely you won't pay any attention at all. But hundreds of Florida families wish you would. And if you drive drunk, recklessly or commit repeat traffic offenses in Seminole County, Judge Carmine Bravo will make sure you start noticing.