“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 …
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 …
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 …
Sitting in Room 117 of D.C. Superior Court last week, I caught the tail end of a bench trial in which the defense attorney read her closing argument from a sheet of paper. I have no idea how persuasive the content of her argument was because the delivery was so poor. I had the feeling I was sitting in an …
Earlier this week, I caught the tail-end of a DWI trial in which Michael Bruckheim was representing the defendant. Bruckheim had attended portions of my last DWI trial in D.C., and I decided to repay the favor. I wanted to see him cross examine the same police officer who had testified in my case. And, recognizing that everyone has a …
Having a client accept a guilty plea is like getting all dressed up for the prom and then deciding to stay home. On Friday I stood with the prosecutor outside a Prince William County courtroom on a driving while intoxicated (DWI) case. I had my trial notebook in one hand bursting with photographs of the scene and breath test records …
You are wearing one of the good suits you save for trial. Your trial notebook is at your side. You got up early to exercise, and now you are feeling rested, relaxed, and confident. You don’t go to trial as a private practitioner nearly as much as you did as a public defender or prosecutor, and you savor these moments …
A good friend of mine, a former prosecutor in Massachusetts and Virginia, has criticized my blog for its defense-centric viewpoint. The actual words he used, if I recall correctly, were “criminal apologisms.” Since I will be need to take some time off over the next couple of weeks to prepare for the Virginia Bar Examination, I have offered him the …
It is a sad but well-known fact among criminal defense lawyers in many jurisdictions that if you insist on a jury trial and lose, you will get a stiffer penalty than if you lose the same case in front of a judge. That’s right: Same facts. Same verdict. Different sentence. This is a variation of the so-called “trial tax,” which …
I was sorry to learn this morning that one of my favorite legal bloggers – Michael McLees of Fast Texas Divorce – has decided to discontinue his blog. Writes McLees on a recent entry: “I’m just not sure that [the blog] contributes anything to my practice and since the novelty has worn off, it just isn’t fun anymore.” McLees also …