Sunday

I'll show you mine if...

This astonishing story is a perfect coda to a year of awful criminal justice stories. It turns out that our bizarre sex obsession in not limited to posting cops in airport stalls to play footsie.

These days, Columbus, Ohio is posting topless sunbathers in public parks to flirt with guys. After some sexy chatty fun, the babe asks to see the junk in the trunk. Whip it out though, and you get arrested. GENIUS!! More sex perverts to prosecute!!! Really and truly. It makes me sad for the state of our union.

Friday

Is Judge Alemán an "Evil Unfair Witch" and is it wrong to say it?

So one thing is very clear. A lot of people don't like Broward Circuit Judge Cheryl Alemán. Her temper and tempermemnt have been the subject of so many complaints that she is now essentially on trial as a result.


Witch Judge?

Now a strange side note to this whole thing is that one of the lawyers who complained about her, now may lose his license for a blog entry he wrote. It seems that in Broward county, the only thing worse than having injudicious judges who appear capricious and vindictive (and hold lawyers in contempt), is actually saying something about them.

Another hilarious bit: it appears that one of the judges who came to Judge Aleman's defense by testifying for her was none other than Judge Eileen O'Connor who I have posted about here, here and here (for you regular blog readers, she was the judge who tried to sentence a potential juror to 4 months in jail).

This whole episode shines a very unflattering light of what passes for justice in Florida. I supposed I shouldn't be surprised to learn that both these petty tyrannical jurists were appointed by Jeb Bush. Still, it does makes me wonder what is wrong with Broward County and with the judicial system down there.

Monday

Bronx Bomb--New Courthouse Unfit for Use

As usual, it wasn't the community, nor the interests of Bronx residents that stopped today's move into the new Bronx hall of Justice. Instead it was some Bronx Supreme Court clerks and judges who halted the process.


And so goes the half a billion dollar boondoggle designed to streamline the incarceration of ever more poor Bronx residents.

See you in February...

Wednesday

Comedy Writers are Funny...


Among the funny WGA strike related things isthis Zagat-Style Guide To WGA Picketing Hit tip to the dazzling Nikki Finke.

Tuesday

Excellent News on Retroactivity

The US Sentencing Commission finally make crack reductions retroactive!

Vick Gets 23 Months, Black 6.5 Years

Michael Vickgot 23 months and a lecture today for dog fighting while Conrad Black got 6 1/2 years for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud. It was the same day the Supreme Court loosened the reins on federal judges, allowing them much broader discretion to sentence defendants to below guideline numbers. I've blogged before about how troubling I find the Vick case and the sentencing colloquy does nothing to dissipate my sense that the whole case is a travesty.

Saturday

'Loony' lawyer in a Bronx courtroom

Yes indeed, according to the New York Daily News, Mark Brenner, the guy who sued me for saying he once kicked a client in open court "has been barred from taking any court-appointed work" Why? Because he kicked the client.

What I find amazing about this is that according to Brenner's lawyer the disciplinary committee investigated and cleared him. I find that strange since there were a number of eyewitnesses, (one of whom told me that Brenner admitted to kicking the guy) as well as the transcript (which as the article above suggests) makes totally clear he kicked the guy, not to mention a call to 911, and a complaint from the client himself.

So while we're on the subject of Brenner, It's also worth noting that every count of his suit against me has now been dismissed and I will not be surprised if, as a result of all this, he winds up disbarred. And of course there's also the little matter of a counter-suit.

Stay tuned.

On the picket lines...

Friday

Finally a Window into what Really Happens...

Recorded on a Suspect’s Hidden MP3 Player, a Bronx Detective Faces 12 Perjury Charges

Wow, a lying cop? A Bronx detective who falsely testifies about an interrogation? Say it isn't so!

This is the kind of story that should be required reading for manhattan jurors.

Wednesday

New Time for New Orleans?

Not if the judges there can help it. The stuff that's going on down there is absolutely unbelievable. Judges, used to doling out attorney assignments as patronage are getting pissy with the public defenders who have gone down there to try to fix the atrocious system.

Take Steve Singer for example:


Singer

He was held in contempt for helping an indigent client get a lawyer. And though the judges order was reversed, the Singer story tells you almost everything you need to know about a profoundly bankrupt system and the lengths it'll go to protect "the way they do things down there."

Tuesday

Here come the thought police...

A Wisconsin Teacher was arrested fora Blog Comment in which he praised columbine and yes, the police came a knockin' and the DA didn't just dismiss the case as absurd. Oy! What is this country coming to?