Before we start, I have a small secret to share. Those of you who regularly follow this blog will have noticed that I sort of disappeared the past few weeks. That’s because I was having open-heart surgery and recovering. Recovery is going OK, but it sort of took the...
Ethics
The Nature of War and The Confederate Flag
I have been following the Confederate Flag issue closely and resisting the temptation to comment. However, I wanted to share a true story that happened to me to put this issue into perspective. But before I do, I also wanted to state my position on this. To me, this...
To Play the Race Card or Not to Play the Race Card? That is the Question.
This again? I had not planned on talking more about this issue but after being asked some really interesting questions I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It gets so complicated. The best question was whether it is EVER possible to “play the race card”? Of course it...
Tampering with Evidence Makes You Guilty…
Tampering with Evidence Makes You Guilty… of Tampering with Evidence, not Murder. This is, for now, the final installment of the sad saga of Officer Slager’s shooting of poor Mr. Walter Scott. People are talking about how Slager must be guilty because he apparently...
Questions, Questions!
People have been asking questions about the last few posts, and, of course, I can’t resist replying. The first thing I heard were questions about how I represent people when I “know” they are guilty. The answer to that is both simple and complex, as usual. The simple...
COPS GONE WILD
It’s a giant flood of bad cops, raining down from the internet skies. A veritable avalanche of bad behavior, much of it caught on tape. Bad cops on tape. By bad I don’t necessarily mean dishonest. Just bad. Take the case of the Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve deputy, Robert...
Everyone Deserves a Decent Defense
The Right to a Good Defense. Sorry if I am going overboard on the case of Officer Slager’s shooting of Walter Scott. I just can’t help it. If law school exams had been this interesting I would have enjoyed them much more. Real life is so much more interesting than...
Cops Get Away With Murder… Or Not (the Fleeing Felon Rule)
Finally. A cop is being treated like any normal citizen. Well, almost. It took a real live caught-in-the-act video to make this happen. The common thread in the so-called “expert” analysis is that if Officer Slager had not been caught on tape he never would have been...
iPhones Cause Police Brutality
It’s official. Cell phones cause police brutality. Incredible how that works. Just start shooting video and there they are, beating people to death, sitting on their chests until they suffocate, even gunning them down. It’s like bad magic. Just kidding. Except I’m...
Why I am Against the Death Penalty
China, Iran, North Korea, and The U.S.A. What do we all have in common? How could we possibly have anything in common with those despotic dictatorial terroristic States? You guessed it. We all kill people who commit crimes. Great company, huh? It reminds me of the old...