I hate having work dreams followed by more work dreams followed by waking up obsessing about work. ⇒ Me, too!

To all you naysayers out there: Remember that the executive branch is responsible for carrying out the laws. ⇒

Blonde Justice (who, sadly, is leaving our PD ranks soon) has been hosting a great conversation about how many people who plead guilty really are and whether courts allow no-contest and Alford pleas. Some great stuff in there, not least this from an anonymous commenter who says he/she practices in St. Louis:

in my jurisdiction judges no not really enhance punishment if a defendant exercises his right to a jury trial.

Wouldn’t that be nice!? We’d have a helluva lot more trials if that were the case in my jurisdiction. It’s very discouraging how much of our criminal justice system ends up resting on mythical principles that turn out in practice to be basically empty platitudes , e.g., “right to trial by jury” and “presumption of innocence.” Here, if you “waste” a court’s time by exercising your right to trial when “everybody” knows you’re guilty, well, you better be ready to get double or triple or more punishment than you could have expected prior to the trial. Justice? Constitutional rights? What are those things?

In this jurisdiction judges commonly take nolo/no-contest pleas; it’s the prosecutors you have to convince. The prosecutors seem to decide on a case-by-case basis whether they’ll take such a plea, and it’s not clear to me what makes the difference. Sometimes I suspect it comes down to whether they think such a plea will make the difference between getting a conviction by plea and having to go to trial, but I really haven’t figured it out.

I really like my job. In fact, I love it. Where I do my job? Well…. It leaves much to be desired. So of course I’m interested in what the experience of being a public defender is like for people in other places, and especially what it’s like to be a newly graduated PD in other places. So I was fascinated to learn that about these three new hires in Victorville, CA. Apparently they start out with “an extensive four-week training course” and then they go to trial. That sounds pretty cool. The fact that the local paper profiles them prior to their first trials so that their clients are likely to know that their attorney is fresh off the pumpkin truck?¹ That’s not so cool, yet it is cool because it shows a community interest in public defenders that certainly seems absent here.

One of these new public defenders said that one reason she wanted to be a public defender is the quality of people she works with:

“I think that public defenders in general are great people to work with,” Dyerly said. “They have huge hearts.”

Sounds like a bright-eyed, idealistic, newly-graduated law student, doesn’t it?

How about it, folks? I know just about every public defender out there w/a blog is the kind of person Ms. Dyerly describes, but is the same true of the people you work with? Are public defenders big-hearted in general, or are they just as petty, selfish, and egomaniacal as any other attorney? Inquiring minds want to know…

1. This would be assuming that public defender clients read newspapers. Your instinct might be that the average person who can’t afford a lawyer probably also does not read the newspaper. That may be true so long as that average client is not in jail. If your clients are in jail, be prepared: They probably know more about local news (especially as it relates to criminal justice) than you do. ↩

The family of bears wandered off the ridge shortly after the Grizzly football game let out, and began their meal around 6:30 p.m. ⇒ Colbert, we need help! We’ve got grizzlies playing football and stopping traffic. Things are clearly out of control!

It’s happened again. Members of the Republican party—including the president—have twisted and spun the debate about the ongoing occupation of Iraq and turned it into another installment of “you’re either with us or you’re not a patriot” propaganda. Did General Petraeus betray us? Well, sure, if you think the duty of a military leader is to do what is best to protect the citizens and future of our country. Criticizing military leadership does not mean criticizing the troops who carry out his orders. Bush has turned this debacle over to Patraeus so it’s only appropriate that those critical of the ongoing occupation turn their criticism against its current nominal leader. For the freaking Senate of the United States to pass a resolution condemning that criticism is so appalling as to be beyond words. The Republican party and those idiotic and spineless Democrats who initiated and voted for this resolution are the real traitors here. They have betrayed the principles of freedom and liberty that were supposedly the basis for the invasion of Iraq in the first place.

Struggling to find a bright side here, perhaps there’s a tiny bit of good in the fact that Bush and his dwindling supporters feel threatened enough by MoveOn.org’s criticism that they are willing to stoop to this level. Of course, that little spot of hope is mostly drowned out by the fact that polls supposedly show that a majority of Americans were somewhat persuaded by Patraeus and his “stay the course and hope” plan, and also that a majority agrees there was something objectionable about MoveOn’s ad.

Will the insanity ever end? [tags]war, iraq, censorship, hypocrisy[/tags]

In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. ⇒

“There is so much sensitive information in the documents that it is clear that Homeland Security is not playing straight with the American people,” ⇒

Makler, a former public defender, specializes in counseling and defending students living in I.V. on charges ranging from alcohol-related infractions and misdemeanors to more serious charges like assault and burglary. ⇒ Brilliant! What a great place to hang a shingle!

The bear also clawed or bit him on the back and then laid its face alongside his cheek. Flack could hear the bear breathing.⇒ Can someone please alert Colbert!?