about 2 years ago - No comments
Would you believe it? Two reversals in two weeks! Two! The Appellate Court yesterday reversed a conviction on the grounds that a Motion to Suppress should have been granted on an issue, apparently, of first impression in Connecticut. We conclude that the defendant was unlawfully detained, that his consent to search the vehicle was tainted
about 2 years ago - 7 comments
The big news of the weekend thus far, for me at least, has been the announcement by the NYCLU that it is filing suit in New York, alleging Constitutional violations by the State for its failure to provide adequate resources to public defenders. From the press release: “Every day, in courtrooms throughout the state, New
about 2 years ago - No comments
Veteran’s Day edition! Governor Rell is opposed to the $260million proposal to build new prisons, which was covered here. This NYT piece considers whether suspension of parole is an Ex-Post Facto violation. Norm covers the CT angle, while Scott has the New York perspective. Indignant Indigent has a great post on why it is ineffective
about 2 years ago - 1 comment
Say two thirds of those polled in this latest Quinnipiac University poll. There you go legislators. Only 35 percent of voters support a so-called “third strike” law where a person convicted of three violent felonies automatically is sentenced to life in prison, while 63 percent say sentences should be decided on a case-by-case basis. Oh
about 2 years ago - 2 comments
After being denied a new trial in State court, Michael Skakel is now going straight to federal court. His attorneys filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus (not petition for new trial as the Courant first reported), raising essentially the same failed claims from his direct appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court. I’m not
about 2 years ago - No comments
Yesterday, the CT Supreme Court issued State v. Randolph [pdf], reversing a murder conviction. The Court agreed with the defendant that he should not have been tried together for two separate offenses. Here is the standard for severance in Connecticut: The defendant bears a heavy burden of showing that the denial of severance resulted in
about 2 years ago - 5 comments
It’s Monday. Have you set your clocks back one hour? The topic du jour is snitching, so let’s start off with the Windypundit’s exploration of the snitching debate from an economics perspective. Speaking of economics, Grits has this absolutely terrific post on why economic theory doesn’t apply to plea bargaining. Corrections Sentencing follows up on
about 2 years ago - 14 comments
Finally some good news on the criminal justice reform front. Mike Lawlor, co-chair of the Judiciary Committee, is also on the State Risk Assessment Board, which is charged with – you guessed it – assessing the risk of the state’s registered sex offenders. Lawlor wants to streamline the registry so as to provide more relevant
about 2 years ago - 1 comment
The Courant has this article today, seeking to make much of the under-utilized persistent felony statutes in Connecticut. All it does, instead, is underline the need for more rehabilitation programs. Meet Richard D. Halapin Jr., a small-time career burglar and thief who earlier this year broke into his sister’s home and stole the family’s jewelry
about 2 years ago - No comments
Stan Simpson has this fine piece in the Courant today, urging legislators to learn from the State’s past and resist the urge to simply expand prisons as a solution to reforming the criminal justice system. The last time the state went on a massive prison expansion escapade, it spent $1 billion to build 12 new
about 3 years ago
The melodrama of Morm Pattis’ piece is ridiculous. I’ll tell you what–if I were a defense attorney, I’d lose a hell of a lot more sleep worrying about an innocent man charged with a crime than losing this death case. The arrest of an innocent man is more of an injustice than the execution of these animals.
And calling citizens a “lynch mob” because they think that people who commit crimes such as these deserve death is patronizing. These animals do not deserve to live. That does not make me a believer in lynch mobs, just someone like John Stuart Mill.
Off topic–Gideon, your thoughts: http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/9DBF1253BDC0C24B8825733600550B10/$file/0615069.pdf?openelement
about 3 years ago
Norm’s piece does what a criminal lawyer is supposed to do. He stands detached from a horrific crime and reminds us that our system demands that everyone, from the most doubtful to the clearest, be tried before convicting. There’s no line to be drawn where we place those defendants undeserving of a fair trial, regardless of how evil we perceive them.
It’s the horrible cases like this that test us, not the easy ones. Norm knows that. Others would prefer to save their sympathies for the people who are easier to feel sympathetic about. But that’s not the defense lawyer’s job. And that’s Norm’s point.
about 3 years ago
I don’t think anyone is seriously suggesting that these guys do not get tried in a court of law. So ol’ Norm is setting up a straw man.
And then Norm goes into the lame-o arguments that those of us who think that these guys should be executed are members of a wannabe lynch mob. Whatever.
Yeah, we know that these guys have rights. We want them dead after they have been afforded their rights.
about 3 years ago
“Yeah, we know that these guys have rights. We want them dead after they have been afforded their rights.”
So let’s have a trial before we lynch them?
What do you have to be afraid of? Try them. If they’re convicted, sentence them. If they’re sentenced to death, execute them. It’s not like they’re walking the streets in the meantime. A civility of a society is judge by how it treats its worst. There’s nothing to fear from letting the system, including the defense lawyers, do its job.
about 3 years ago
Did I say I was afraid of anything? I am perfectly happy to let the defense lawyers do their jobs–I just don’t buy into the idea that the job of representing these animals is all that big of a deal. Once again, I would think that having the freedom of an innocent client entrusted to me would be far more important than figuring out the right amount of mitigation BS to fling at the wall in the penalty phase.
And I disagree with that hackneyed statement about how we treat our worst. In my view, worrying over whether some murder should have a sex-change operation (at taxpayer expense) is a measure of moral weakness not strength.