Anti-Death Penalty Song June 19, 2007
Posted by idta in Uncategorized.comments closed
Eric Bogle has written a beautiful song called Singing the Spirit Home about an execution in South Africa.The guards who come to take the condemned man to his death have no mercy for him. But the other prisoners sing for him. Their voices are the last sounds he hears . . . .
“Other hearts beat with him in his final desperate hour.
From the darkness of the prison came the sound of his brothers singing.
“Courage,” their voices told him. “You do not walk alone.”
New address. June 15, 2007
Posted by idta in Uncategorized.comments closed
I moved this blog over to its own domain name
I Defend The Accused is at http://idta.us
U.S. Constitution 101 June 11, 2007
Posted by idta in Uncategorized.comments closed
Top News – Court Rules in Favor of Enemy Combatant – AOL News
“Put simply, the Constitution does not allow the President to order the military to seize civilians residing within the United States and then detain them indefinitely without criminal process, and this is so even if he calls them ‘enemy combatants,’ ” the court said.
You’d think that would have been obvious from the get-go.
Never too young to learn June 10, 2007
Posted by idta in Uncategorized.comments closed
On one of my favorite episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, Andy showed Opie the importance of the attorney-client privilege:
Opie tape-recorded a thief talking to his lawyer. When Sheriff Andy Taylor found out what Opie had done, he erased the tape rather than use it to find the stolen property.
(There used to be a few links to this scene on YouTube, but they seem to have been taken down now.)
Studies say death penalty deters crime June 10, 2007
Posted by idta in Criminal Law.comments closed
This Yahoo News article, Studies say death penalty deters crime, interested me because I believe the only studies I recall on whether the death penalty is an effective deterrent were either inconclusive or suggested there was no deterrent effect.
Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see my former law professor, Cass Sunstein, quoted:
“If it’s the case that executing murderers prevents the execution of innocents by murderers, then the moral evaluation is not simple. Abolitionists or others, like me, who are skeptical about the death penalty haven’t given adequate consideration to the possibility that innocent life is saved by the death penalty.”
Why Libby’s Sentence Was So Tough June 5, 2007
Posted by idta in Criminal Law.comments closed
Why Libby’s Sentence Was So Tough from Time.com:
“one of the most troubling aspects of federal sentencing laws — allowing harsher sentences for a crime that was never actually proven.”
Practicing criminal defense has changed me. June 3, 2007
Posted by idta in Criminal Law.comments closed
Recently someone tried to pick-pocket me in! (At least, I think he was about to.) Seriously! I got mad at the thought of being ripped off and having to replace credit cards, drivers license, etc.
Coincidentally, I was almost out of money. I opened my wallet and pulled out my last $1 bill. I handed the dollar to the young man and showed him the wallet was empty. Surprised, he said, “Just one dollar?” Before walking away, he handed my dollar back to me.
Practicing criminal law has really changed me: When I was a civil lawyer, I’d never have had just one dollar in my wallet.
Rare Opportunity May 25, 2007
Posted by idta in Criminal Law.comments closed
There’s nothing like telling an innocent man the criminal charges hanging over him –which would require him to register as a sex offender, too–have been dismissed!
