Notes from practice · D.C. Superior Court
On Police Officers and Other Bullies
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...
Why I Like Surveillance Cameras
A proposal to install indoor surveillance cameras at Fairfax County schools in Virginia has created quite a controversy. With many parents still upset over...
Blades v. U.S.: On Cross-Examination and Bias
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...
The “Collective Knowledge” Doctrine in D.C.
The firmly established “collective knowledge” doctrine in D.C. provides that, in determining whether the officers possessed sufficient knowledge to establish reasonable suspicion or probable...
On Jabbar Collins and Other Jailhouse Lawyers
I have only seen one “law library” at a prison, and I have to say I was not at all impressed. A converted broom closet...
Because Transcripts Can Be Unforgiving
When I was a public defender in Philadelphia, my office mate used to come across me reading transcripts from court hearings I had done and...
David Baugh on Voir Dire
David P. Baugh was one of the speakers at a Virginia Trial Lawyers Association CLE I attended yesterday. Baugh is perhaps best known for defending...
On Human Memory and Eyewitness Testimony
Many years ago, as a student at the University of Freiburg in Germany, I went with an American friend to West Berlin to sightsee. We...
On Michael Malone and the Jeffrey MacDonald Case
I have written a number of posts over the last couple of months about the Donald E. Gates case. As you will recall, Gates was...
Michael P. Malone’s Other Victims
I have written a number of entries over the last couple of months about the case of Donald E. Gates, a man who was imprisoned...
Listening to the Witness on Cross-Examination
This guy has his eye put out in an accident. He can’t afford a glass eye, so the eye doctor puts in a fake eye...