The defendant is charged with armed robbery. He and the government reach agreement on a plea deal in which the government agrees to ask for no more than 10 years of incarceration. In a memorandum submitted to the judge before sentencing, the government then violates that agreement by asking the judge to impose 20 years. It is the judge, not …
I have never been a fan of D.C.’s “threats to do bodily harm” statute. For one thing, it criminalizes behavior that is already covered under the assault statute. After all, is there any real difference between threatening to hurt another person and intending to frighten someone? For another, with almost identical language in both the felony and misdemeanor threats statutes, …
We have been coming to Cape Cod with my extended family now for 25 years. We came first as couples. Then we came with children. With the 13 cousins growing up and the rest of us just getting old, it is unclear how many more years we will cross the Sagamore Bridge to make this trip. Like a game of …
Jejomar Untalan has been busy. I reported last week on his successful appeal in In re S.B. This week the D.C. Court of Appeals issued yet another decision bearing Untalan’s name as the appellant’s attorney: In re W.R., 52 A.3d 820 (D.C. 2012). This time, however, Untalan was unsuccessful. W.R. was approached during the school day by a police officer …
California v. Hodari D, 499 U.S. 621 (1991), is a lousy opinion. It used to be that a person was seized for Fourth Amendment purposes the moment his or her liberty was “restrained” by “some physical force or show of authority” by a police officer. This was the standard established by Terry v. Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court case that lays …
Ten years ago this month, I walked out of the Ronald Reagan Building carrying a single cardboard box. Having just resigned from the federal government, the box contained all I had to show after an 18-year career: a coffee mug, photographs, some personal papers, and the plaque they had just given me at a going-away party. The last thing I …
“[I]t is a matter of common knowledge that men who are entirely innocent do sometimes fly from the scene of a crime through fear of being apprehended as the guilty parties, or from an unwillingness to appear as witnesses. Nor is it true as an accepted axiom of criminal law that ‘the wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the …
It must be pretty intimidating to arrive at the courthouse for trial to find five police officers, an eyewitness, and a complaining witness all sitting in the hallway, laughing and joking with each other and then growing silent as you pass by – all of them there for the sole purpose of testifying against you, their bond a common interest …
My client was walking along one night in Philadelphia when he was jumped by three men who took his money and firearm. When he went to the police to report the robbery, the police ran his record. They then arrested him for being a felon in possession of a firearm. In other words, he went into the police station as …
The defendant should not have been penalized at sentencing for having exercised his constitutional right to cross-examine the government’s witness at trial.
DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I noticed that you checked the box for “stuporous” on the police report. OFFICER: Yes sir. Q: You also used the term on direct. A: Yes sir. Q: You obviously thought that this was an important observation. A: Yes. Q: Let me ask you, Officer. When was the last time you used that term in every day conversation? …
Q: You testified that my client stumbled as he got out of the car that night. A: That’s right. Q: What do you mean by “stumbled?” A: I don’t know. He stumbled. Q: Did he fall? A: No. He kind of swayed. And he put his hand on the car for support. Q: This was as he was getting out …
I am a middle-aged man with some life experience. I have been doing criminal defense for a while now. Just yesterday I posted how many police officers “editorialize” when testifying. Still, I continue to be surprised – each time anew – every time a police officer gets up on the stand and lies. I should have seen the signs. There …
Many police officers have a tendency to editorialize on the witness stand. It is not that the driver reached for the glove compartment after being pulled over so that he could have his license and registration ready for the officer’s inspection. It is that the “suspect” was making “furtive movements” upon the officer’s approach. It is not that the police …
POLICE OFFICER: . . . The defendants knew they were not allowed in the store. DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Objection. THE COURT: Grounds? DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Your Honor, as to what the defendants knew, I’d object to that and move to strike. PROSECUTOR: Your Honor – THE COURT: Calls – PROSECUTOR: — I think he was saying the defendants – THE COURT: — …
The disciplined judicial mind should not be subjected to any unnecessary strain;…the most austere intellect has a subconscious. How great is this language? Although the language dates back to 1972, it did not come to my attention until it was quoted in a opinion issued this month by the D.C. Court of Appeals, Plummer v. United States, ___A.3d ___, ___ …
It is a snippet of life from a CVS store in the District, viewed again and again through 15 different surveillance cameras. There is a 5-minute view from one camera – say, for example, at the entrance of the store. When that 5 minutes is up, you go back in time like the Bill Murray character in Groundhog Day to …
“That’s as low as my office is willing to go for this type of offense.” This is what the prosecutor tells me. We are talking about the number of hours of community service my client would be required to perform under a plea bargain, and we have deadlocked. This is the only outstanding issue. The difference between us is a …
Back when I was a public defender, my office mate used to come across me reading transcripts from court hearings I had done – from either a trial or a preliminary hearing – and kid me. I thought I was being conscientious, working hard to make myself a better lawyer. He thought I was being vain. Apparently he hadn’t read …
After you get what you need on cross-examination, you sit down. The charge is unlawful entry. Both defendants had been issued a barring notice from the Meadowbrook Run Apartments, and the government alleges that the defendants violated this notice by entering an apartment at Meadowbrook Run. During cross-examination, Attorney A gets the police officer to testify that he saw the …
I recently served as co-counsel in two juvenile cases with Eddie Ferrer of D.C. Lawyers for Youth. Although neither case ended up going to trial, you do get a pretty good sense of your colleagues when working together to represent co-defendants. I am always happy when co-counseling with lawyers from the D.C. Public Defender Service — most recently Michael Carter, …
In an opinion issued last week, Dawkins v. United States, 41 A.3d 1265 (D.C. 2012), the D.C. Court of Appeals addressed the issue of how far a party must go in order to preserve an issue for appeal. The Court also confirmed the long-standing principle that the potential bias of a witness is always relevant in assessing a witness’ credibility. …
After pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Dontrell Deaner has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be followed by 5 years of supervised probation. Remember Dontrell Deaner? Just over a year ago, his name was all over the Internet in connection with the Joseph Rakofsky fiasco. Rakofsky was the lawyer, a few years out of law school, who took …
The prosecutor has acknowledged that he should have turned over certain information to defense attorneys. That is what he says today. The case was back in 1984. Witnesses came forward when he was still preparing the case to say that there were two other men in the alley that night who were never charged. One of these men, identified by …
Over 65 years ago, Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the U.S. Supreme Court in Michelson v. United States, 335 U.S. 469 (1948), complained about the “helpful but illogical options” available to a defendant attempting to introduce evidence of his good character in a criminal trial: “We concur in the general opinion of courts, textwriters and the profession,” Jackson wrote, …
My wife complains about all the closet space I take up with my neckties. I do have lots of them. You see, I have this theory about ties, a theory that was finally confirmed by the guy who sells me my clothes. If you keep wearing the same tie, the tie will refuse to lie flat after a couple of …
One of the things I miss most about working at the public defender’s office was the ability to get immediate feedback from colleagues on an issue. Do you know this judge or prosecutor? Have you faced this type of situation before and, if so, how did you handle it? And so on. A major drawback to this ability, however, is …
To my godson Ross, who has just been accepted to Villanova Law for next fall, I offer the following advice on starting law school. There are lots of books out there with handy tips on doing well at law school: how to brief cases, how to interact with your classmates, how to prepare for exams, and so on. Go out …
One of the things that surprised me when I first began to practice criminal law was the notion that you could be acquitted of a particular offense at trial and then have that very same criminal charge – the one on which you were just found not guilty – serve as the basis for being found in violation of probation …
Beginning July 1, 2012, every person who is convicted of a drinking-and-driving offense in Virginia and who wants to drive on a restricted license will be required to install an ignition interlock device on his/her car. Current law applies this requirement only to repeat offenders and to first-time offenders who are convicted of a blood alcohol level of 0.15 or …
Was the government’s addition of the new charge an effort to punish Simms for exercising his right to seek additional discovery through compulsory process?
Nobody talks about Total Quality Management (TQM) anymore. An outdated fad from the 1980’s, and even then applied mostly within the automobile manufacturing industry, it may have questionable applicability to the practice of criminal law. But still I believe: You think ahead. You show up to meetings early. You return phone calls. You meet deadlines. You don’t make excuses. You …
I have a little speech I like to give to my juvenile clients. I tell them that, while I will be looking out for their legal interests as their lawyer, what happens to them pending trial or if found guilty of the offense will depend far more on what they do for themselves. I then hold up four fingers and …
When faced with a really bad case, one option is to work out a favorable plea agreement with the government to try to mitigate consequences for the client. Another frequently overlooked option is to do an open guilty plea. In fact, the Criminal Practice Manual put out by the D.C. Public Defender Service devotes an entire chapter to guilty pleas …
In the Blawg Review I hosted last year, “Images from the Criminal Law Blawgosphere,” I took a look at the photographs bloggers use on their sites. I was intrigued, for example, by how bloggers portray themselves to their readers. Do they go for the formal headshot? A more informal shot in casual clothes? Or do they provide no picture at …
I used to buy my suits at Joseph Banks. When I started to put on weight, I switched to Brooks Brothers. Now I have my suits tailor made through J Peditto Apparel. But, until just a couple of years ago, I never gave a moment of thought to the shoes I wore. Linda Mullen, the woman who used to dress …
“No questions, Your Honor.” What could be more satisfying to say after your opponent has completed his direct examination than those four simple words? It is a challenge, a slap in the face with a folded glove. It is a declaration that the other side hasn’t touched you, hasn’t hurt you at all, with the testimony. It is like Muhammad …
Indigent criminal defendants often have two simultaneous and potentially irreconcilable opinions of the lawyers who are appointed to represent them. On the one hand, they have absolutely no respect for the public defender or court-appointed lawyer. You aren’t a real lawyer, they say. You are working with the government. It is easier for you if I just plead guilty. And …
A woman and her son come into the office for a consultation. At the end of the hour, the woman turns to me and tells me that they have also met with a number of other criminal defense lawyers. “Why should we hire you?” she wants to know. I have to say, I am somewhat taken aback by the question. …
The “Family Tree” people from Belchertown have taken down most of the big trees in my parents’ yard. My oldest sister – the one who helps my mother with her finances — hired them to do some trimming. They came back when my sister wasn’t there, again and again, each time getting my mother – always so cheerful, always so …
We are not going to win. We are not going to stabilize the country. We are not going to win any hearts and minds. The only thing we will accomplish by remaining in this miserable, strife-ridden country is to lose more American lives. At some point, maybe, we had an opportunity of doing something positive in Afghanistan. With the full …
I am a government witness in a criminal prosecution. The complaining witness is a former client, and I have been called to testify to a conversation I had with the defendant prior to a civil protection order hearing. The government will also use me to introduce parts of the transcript from that hearing. I know the Assistant Attorney General as …
Your client is heading home, minding his own business, when he comes across what appears to be a homeless man sleeping on a bench at the metro station. Sticking out of the man’s coat pocket is a shiny new I-Phone. In a moment of weakness, your client grabs the I-Phone and is immediately taken to the ground by both the …
The list of lawyers approved to take on court appointments for juvenile cases is now out. D.C. Superior Court Chief Judge Lee Satterfield issued the order approving the list on February 27. The appointment is good for four years. The process began last summer when all members of the Panel were asked to re-apply. The Family Court Panel Oversight Committee, …
When I first went out into private practice in 2009, I was tempted to take on traffic cases. After all, my wife and I may not know many habitual criminals, but we do know lots of people who get in trouble with traffic enforcement: parking tickets, speeding, failure to display proper tags, and so on. Suddenly all these people were …
I found out about the press conference this morning when Susan asked me for feedback on the suit she was wearing. “How come nobody from the media ever talks about the good-looking and supportive husband?” I asked her. Craving attention almost as much as she eschews it, I was annoyed the last go-round when one of the media reports mentioned …
Forty-three years old when I started my legal career, I loved law school and I love practicing law. The thing about the law is that there is also something new to learn.
“I want a new lawyer.” The defendant and his lawyer have clearly had some type of disagreement, and this is what the defendant, standing at the bar of the court alongside counsel, says to the judge. Who knows what the issue is? Maybe the lawyer wasn’t returning phone calls. In this case, the defendant would be justified in seeking …
A while back, a criminal defense lawyer who was starting his own practice in D.C. called to ask me for advice on starting a blog. Great, I thought. Finally someone who wants to hear what I have to say about blogging! The first thing you need to think about, I told this guy, is what kind of blog you …
The judge doesn’t like my idea of a “grace period.” In fact, he chuckles when I propose it: “I have never seen any case law on that,” he says. I was not trying to be funny. My client has been charged with both unlawful entry and unauthorized use of a stolen car in which he was a passenger. Unlawful …
How can you not love the criminal defenses? With the government burdened with proving every element of an offense beyond a reasonable doubt, one criminal defense strategy is to challenge the identity of the perpetrator. Yes, says the defense lawyer in an alibi defense. I am sure the crime was committed, and wasn’t it a particularly egregious one at …
It is never easy to plead guilty. As the cliché goes, if you plead guilty, there is a 100% chance that you will be found guilty. Nobody likes to stand up in open court and admit to a list of terrible actions recited by the prosecutor. And the greatest expressions of regret I hear from defendants are often based …
One of the first things they told us during the training for court-appointed juvenile cases was that we should never allow ourselves to become co-opted by the system. My first reaction upon hearing this was: What the heck are they talking about? My only previous experience with juvenile cases had been in Philadelphia, and it was not a good …
Guest Entry By Raymond Koehler My initial enthusiasm at being invited to write a piece for my brother’s law blog quickly turned to concern. I am a Latin teacher, not a lawyer, and although I often find myself citing my brother in defense of my subject before the incoming hordes of freshmen – twenty-seven to a class – I …
Assuming you did nothing to encourage or instigate the activity, there is nothing illegal about being present during the commission of a crime. There is also no duty, upon coming across a crime in progress, to prevent that crime from occurring. This is true even if you are with people who are actually committing the crime. These principles lay the …
There are people in this world, it turns out, who don’t like my wife. It is not surprising that, along with the fans, her high-profile public interest and human rights cases have also attracted her share of detractors. When you sue a major U.S. company for illegally dumping its waste in a developing country, people will assume you are anti-big …
Although the ability to cross-examine a witness is a critical component of the Sixth Amendment right to confront your accusers in a criminal case, this right is not without boundaries: “Once sufficient cross-examination has occurred to satisfy the Sixth Amendment, . . . the trial judge may curtail cross-examination because of concerns of harassment, prejudice, confusion of the issues, …
Before beginning my practice in Virginia, I went over to traffic court in Fairfax County to observe, and was struck by the large number of DWI cases that pled. One piece of blue paper after another was passed up to the judge, with the defendants lining up to accept responsibility for their offense. These guys don’t know how to …
Mark Bennett refers to them as “letter lawyers”; they are the lawyers who, with the hopes of securing new clients, send out advertising materials to the people whose names and addresses have been listed on public arrest records. A friend of ours was charged recently with a misdemeanor traffic offense and received over 20 letters in the mail. She …
Reviewing the transcript from a hearing or trial you have done can sometimes be a humbling experience. What you may have remembered as a dramatic moment at trial can come across as flat on the printed page, and a good stenographer will throw in every “er,” “um” and “okay” to remind you that you may not be quite the …
I went to my first meeting yesterday in over 10 years. Believe me, I know my way around a meeting. During my first career in the government, I did nothing but meetings: budget meetings, planning meetings, team meetings, agency meetings, inter-agency meetings. Half of my day was spent planning for meetings. The other half was spent sitting in them. …
Guest Post by “Hamilton Burger” Every trial lawyer faces that sharp chill in the middle of the night, when your mind refuses to let go of your upcoming trial — and you realize that your opponent has an expert witness who is going to crush your case. You may be a defense lawyer who has to prepare a trial …
I botched the investigation. I went to the store on Upper Wisconsin Avenue in which my client was alleged to have committed a robbery. While there, I neglected to look for a critical piece of evidence: whether or not there was a surveillance camera over the cash register. As a result, my investigator Wayne Marshall had to go back …
I have been called to testify in a criminal case. A couple of weeks ago I represented a woman seeking a civil protection order against a former boyfriend. With the boyfriend now facing criminal charges for contempt of court, certain admissions he made to me during the course of that representation have become relevant to the criminal proceedings. It …
Many mornings before the start of a trial, I find myself writing a blog entry. This initially struck me as odd. Shouldn’t I be putting final touches on my opening statement and focusing on the issues I expect to arise at trial? Then it occurred to me: In addition to the many other reasons I blog, blogging serves as …
Michael Bruckheim was scheduled to cross-examine Lucas Zarwell, the chief forensic toxicologist in D.C., and a group of DUI lawyers had gathered outside Room 116 yesterday afternoon shortly before 2:00 pm. Zarwell testified before city council last May that urine samples taken by police to test suspected drunk drivers are not reliable enough to accurately measure a person’s blood …
A couple of years ago, a Court of Common Pleas judge in Philadelphia banned me from her courtroom for life. Both the stenographer and her law clerk looked at me with sympathy when the judge issued the edict. Maybe they thought I would be upset. In fact, running a list in this judge’s courtroom was viewed to be a …
I will remember this. This is what the prosecutor promises you. In another context, she could be intending this as a threat. As in: I will get you back for this. In this case, she is trying to entice you into making a concession, and she is putting you on notice that she has a long memory. She …
Thank you very much to everyone who voted in the 2011 ABA Journal Blawg 100. Included among the list of top 100 blogs overall, the Koehler Law Blog received the highest number of popular votes in the “Criminal Justice” category. As I am a big fan of the other blogs that were included in this category (many of which …
The government vouches for him. He himself doesn’t need to come to court, much less explain the basis for his conclusions. His “testimony,” which is delivered through an interpreter, consists of nothing more than a couple of numbers and some pre-set generic language. There is no opportunity to cross-examine him. And yet the court can send the defendant away …
My client’s mother is annoyed with me. She disagrees with her 16-year-old son’s decision to take his case to trial, and she is convinced I am the one who talked him into it. She’s partially right; in this particular case, I did recommend trial. But it does not matter if the child is 16 years old or 11 years old, …
After finding my client guilty of simple assault, the judge orders my client to write a letter of apology to the complaining witness. I can understand an apology after a guilty plea. After all, acknowledgment of remorse could be an important part of the rehabilitation process. What I don’t understand is the need for an apology after the defendant …
MR. KOEHLER: Objection. Relevance. THE COURT: Mr. Koehler, you can sit down. MR. KOEHLER: Your honor, this is absolutely ridiculous. MR. RIORDAN: No, it’s not. THE WITNESS: No, it’s not. MR. KOEHLER: It is completely irrelevant. THE WITNESS: What’s ridiculous is how [the petitioner] gets away with all this stuff. THE COURT: I really can’t properly judge the relevance …
Mani Golzari told me she was coming to D.C., but I had no idea she was already here until I ran into her yesterday in the basement of Moultrie, heading to her first arraignment. I was not prepared for her hug because, well, I am an uptight kind of guy. Jackie Cadman has arrived. When I introduced Golzari on this …
If you plead guilty, there is a 100% chance that you will be found guilty. Or something like that. I read that on the Internet a few weeks ago and, while I can’t remember who said it for attribution, I had the opportunity to use this clever little phrase just the other day. It is what you tell a …
I only took two years of Latin in High School. It was years before I actually admitted this to my children. Because I often cited the Latin origins of a word, they assumed I was this great Latin scholar. It was not until their education in the language began to overtake mine that I had to admit to them …
Last year I wrote about the ABA’s annual list of the top 100 legal blogs – the ABA Journal Blawg 100 – asking readers to vote for their (and my) favorite blogs for 2010. I repeat that request this year with the benefit of being able to ask you to vote for my blog as well. I was very honored …
A number of years ago, while on vacation in Miami, my family and I were sitting in a restaurant when a man approached the table and handed my then 15-year-old daughter a paper rose. Angered by the intrusion, I took the rose from my daughter and tried to hand it back to him. The man refused to take it. …
I have often said that you can explain everything in life through a Seinfeld episode. And while there is no single case that does for criminal law what Seinfeld does for life, Terry v. Ohio comes pretty darn close. It is not that Terry is my favorite case. After all, it expanded the scope of constitutionally permitted searches. But, …
What happens if I release him and he goes out and kills someone? What happens if I release him and he goes out and gets himself killed? You know these questions are going through the judge’s mind every time a defense attorney argues for a client’s release. It is the great unspoken in the court room. It is why …
Years ago, back when the children were little and we lived in Arlington for the first time, we decided to go to the circus. I drove over to the baseball field in Ballston earlier in the day, and bought the tickets from a young Hungarian woman working out of a trailer. It was a small, family-owned circus with one …
Judge Milton Lee of D.C. Superior Court takes the bench at 9:00 am. Promptly. Every morning. Without fail. One of my biggest complaints about the Office of the Attorney General in D.C. is that its prosecutors often waltz into court well after 9:00 am every morning, usually minutes before the judge takes the bench. This can make life difficult …
One of the things I liked best about the Philadelphia public defender’s office – in addition to the camaraderie and sense of shared mission — was the support you got from other lawyers. If you had a legal question or wanted feedback on a possible trial tactic, you could step out into the court hallway or into the office next …
Police officers love the “plain view” exception to the Fourth Amendment requirement for a warrant. It is because this exception is so straightforward and understandable: I didn’t need a warrant because I saw it with my own eyes. I immediately recognized it as contraband. So I grabbed it. All the other exceptions are much more complicated, and the law …
My colleague — the lawyer for the co-defendant in one of my cases – is annoyed with me. We each represent a person charged with robbery at a metro stop, and I am cross-examining the police officer at a preliminary hearing. Our theory is mistaken identification, and I am trying to establish how many people were at the station …
A supervisor at the Philadelphia public defender’s office used to tell us all the time that we were representing people, not files. This really got on our nerves. As one colleague put it: Maybe he needs to be reminded of that fact. After all, he sits in his office all day doing nothing more than reviewing the files we …
I am sitting in court waiting for trial to begin. The charge is assault on a police officer. I have just been given a video recording in another case and I decide to use this time to watch it. So I pull out my laptop and stick it in. My viewing of the video seems to raise the attention …
Your client is 19 years old. She weighs 105 pounds and stands under five feet tall. Having been arrested for a minor offense, she sits handcuffed in a room surrounded by police officers. Her eyebrow is bleeding from a cut she suffered from being thrown up against a chain link fence. All the police officers are male. They are …
Wayne, my investigator, thinks he is being subtle. He insists on escorting me out of a bad neighborhood whenever we finish a crime scene investigation, and he doesn’t realize I can see him lingering down the street as I climb into my car. But this guy is bigger than his childhood hero, Jack Lambert of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and …
I am watching Mani Golzari of the D.C. Public Defender Service cross-examine a police officer at a probable cause hearing. Of all the cross-examinations I have either done or seen this past week, Golzari’s is undoubtedly the best. Golzari was a rising superstar when we worked together at the public defender’s office in Philadelphia, and he is even better …
I am sitting in JM-15 at D.C. Superior Court watching a Georgetown University law student cross-examine a police officer on a drug case. The officer is doing the old “dumb officer” routine; that is, he can’t seem to understand any of the questions, even though it is perfectly clear to everyone else in the courtroom what the student is …
A proposal to install indoor surveillance cameras at Fairfax County schools in Virginia has created quite a controversy. With many parents still upset over harsh disciplinary practices in the schools that have led to a couple of suicides, critics of the proposal have expressed concern over any further encroachment on the civil liberties of students. They see the proposal …
I am dealing with a “hide-the-ball”-type prosecutor in Virginia. I have gotten spoiled from working with D.C. prosecutors; they are usually pretty upfront about what they have against your client. There are no ambushes or surprises. Your client has better information in deciding whether to plea. Everyone is better off for it. This is not that kind of prosecutor. …
Of all the collateral consequences of a criminal arrest or conviction, one of the issues of greatest concern in the DC/Maryland/Northern Virginia area could be the effect of an arrest or conviction on a person’s security clearance. After all, with many military personnel and defense contractors living in the area, there are many people here who require a security …
Although Virginia juries have a reputation for being unforgiving, I have also been told that juries in Prince William County can be pretty unpredictable. Going into trial yesterday, my client was facing a mandatory 5-year sentence for being a violent felon in possession of a firearm. During execution of a search warrant at his home, police had recovered a firearm …
During my first couple of weeks with the Juvenile Division at the Philadelphia Public Defender’s Office, I took what I believed to be a very strong case to trial. My client had been charged with aggravated assault against another young woman. I had a couple of witnesses who testified that my client had actually intervened in order to break …
Although you can be found guilty of aiding and abetting flight in a motor vehicle, there was insufficient evidence in this case to sustain the conviction.
The French have always brought out a certain competitiveness in me. Maybe it’s because I know they view us Americans as crass and cultureless. It was therefore with some pleasure that I read about the discomfort they felt when we elected Barack Obama to office; they realized that, unlike us, they were not yet ready to elect a member of …
The right to cross-examine witnesses is one of the defendant’s most important trial rights. And, among the areas for cross-examination, what could be more important than bias? An inability to accurately perceive events could result in an honest mistake. Bias suggests that the witness might be deliberately coloring the testimony. In Blades v. United States, 25 A.3d 39 (D.C. 2011), …
The innocent or momentary possession of a firearm or any other type of contraband is a valid defense in Washington, D.C.