Public Defenders

Prosecutors Wrestle Unsuccessfully With a Bear of a Misdemeanor Case

Was it a bear den, or wasn’t it a bear den? That was a central question in an unusual trial of a mentally ill man, who won an acquittal this week in a misdemeanor zoo trespassing case. Although, in fact, Kenneth Herron did enter the San Francisco Zoo’s grizzly grotto…

Nov 4, 2009 7:25 PM CST

Pa. Jail Taped Inmate Calls to Counsel, Sent Some to Feds, Lawyer Says

Adding another jurisdiction to those in which defense lawyers have previously accused officials of improperly recording inmate phone calls to their legal counsel, Federal Public Defender Lisa Freeland says in an e-mail this week to the Allegheny County defense bar that this has been happening at their local jail, too.…

Oct 23, 2009 10:14 PM CDT

O.J. Simpson Prosecutor Marcia Clark Bolsters Case Against Polanski

After initial protests over the what some see as the unfairness of the arrest last week of fugitive film director Roman Polanski in a decades-old California sexual abuse case concerning a 13-year-old girl, additional observers are now weighing in on the side of the prosecution. Columnist Steve Lopez at the…

Oct 1, 2009 1:15 AM CDT

Former Public Defender Is Convicted in Sex-with-Client Case

If a private practitioner has sex with a client, it might be pursued as an a legal ethics violation. But because of his governmental role, a former assistant public defender in New York has been criminally convicted of a misdemeanor for admittedly doing so. An Albany County jury yesterday found…

Sep 23, 2009 8:53 PM CDT

Judge’s Affair With Prosecutor Raised Too Late; Appeals Court Denies New Trial

Despite a now-admitted affair between the prosecutor and the judge in his capital murder trial, Charles Dean Hood’s conviction won’t be overturned. Because he waited too long to challenge his murder conviction, Hood should not be retried, a divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals panel has ruled. However, the issue…

Sep 16, 2009 5:49 PM CDT

Judge Appoints Public Defender for Billionaire R. Allen Stanford

A federal judge today appointed a public defender to represent a Texas billionaire who is accused of bilking $7 billion or so from investors in a scheme that allegedly revolved around an offshore bank’s certificates of deposit. Because R. Allen Stanford’s assets were frozen in a civil suit brought by…

Sep 15, 2009 7:45 PM CDT

Blogging Assistant PD Accused of Revealing Secrets of Little-Disguised Clients

Updated: A former Illinois assistant public defender’s blog musings about her difficult clients and clueless judges has landed her in trouble with disciplinary officials. Kristine Ann Peshek has been accused of revealing client confidences, allegedly for describing her clients in a way that made it possible to identify them. Peshek…

Sep 10, 2009 1:41 PM CDT

California PD’s Office Tells Judges It Has to Refuse Some Cases

Another overworked public defender’s office is acting to limit its cases. The public defender’s office in Alameda County, Calif., is telling judges that it can no longer represent certain defendants because it doesn’t have enough lawyers to do the job. Public Defender Diane Bellas estimates her office will have to…

Aug 4, 2009 2:09 PM CDT

Dismiss Ye Gon Case Due to DOJ ‘Systemic Failure,’ Defender Agencies Urge Judge

Joining in a call by private defense lawyers representing Zhenli Ye Gon to dismiss the federal drug conspiracy indictment against him with prejudice, two Washington, D.C., public defender agencies say the way the U.S. Department of Justice has handled the high-profile case against the Mexican millionaire merits this sanction. Invited…

Jul 28, 2009 9:27 PM CDT

Va. Bar Wants AG to Stop Sending Cautionary Letter to Death Penalty Jurors

For years, the state attorney general’s office in Virginia has distributed letters to former jurors in capital cases, cautioning them against talking to defense lawyers working on appeals. And the Virginia State Bar wants to put a stop to the letters. The form letter, which is supplied to local prosecutors,…

Jun 22, 2009 11:58 AM CDT

PD’s Book About Her Cases & Her Kids Shows Why She Went to Work

When Claudia Trupp had a cancer scare, the New York appellate public defender decided to author a book. Written between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.. for six months, as her husband, who is also an attorney, kept the coffee coming, it was initially intended for her children. “I wrote it…

May 22, 2009 5:24 PM CDT

Georgia Funds Shortage Leads to Lawyer Shortage in State Criminal Cases

An ongoing state funding shortage has left a number of indigent criminal defendants in Georgia without lawyers. A chronic problem of unpaid state legal bills, especially in expensive capital cases in which Georgia’s public defenders are conflicted out of the representation, has made private lawyers unwilling to take on such…

May 7, 2009 6:04 PM CDT

Stop Prosecuting Many Misdemeanors, Defense Counsel Group Suggests

Cash-strapped courts throughout the country could save a significant amount of money if they simply stopped prosecuting nonviolent misdemeanor cases, a study by a national defense counsel group suggests in a national report yesterday. Instead of seeking jail time, a system of civil fines and community service would be at…

Apr 30, 2009 7:21 PM CDT

Fake Lawyer Taught Real CLE Class

A presenter at a 2007 continuing legal education course on sentencing issues in Milwaukee did indeed have a certain amount of criminal experience. But it wasn’t the criminal experience claimed on his resume. Rather than being a lawyer and former congressional aide, as stated on biographical information for a seminar…

Apr 27, 2009 7:27 PM CDT

Batboy-Turned-Lawyer Returns to His Role for 100th Birthday

A batboy who went on to become a lawyer in Hartford, Conn., will get to reprise his boyhood role on Saturday in honor of his upcoming 100th birthday. Arthur Giddon will handle batboy responsibilities during batting practice for the Boston Red Sox, the New York Times reports. Liability issues bar…

Apr 24, 2009 2:54 PM CDT