Criminal Defense Attorney Blogging

Eve of Trial Evidence

Defense Attorney: “I am moving to suppress the officer’s testimony.” Prosecution: “Why? We disclosed the evidence as soon as we got it.” -Flashback 12 hours- It is the night before trial and your email shows a new message.  It is from the attorney you will be in trial with – tomorrow morning.   He writes, “We just realized that there is some evidence we intend use tomorrow that you are unaware of.”  It turns out the officer who arrested your client

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New Times: Bill Montgomery Opposes Ethics Rule Requiring Prosecutors to Reveal Evidence of Wrongful Convictions

Stephen Lemons | New Times As Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery fights to keep Debra Milke behind bars pending a retrial on her overturned murder conviction, he also is fighting a proposed rule to the State Bar of Arizona that would require prosecutors to act on new evidence of a wrongful conviction. For the past two years, the Arizona Justice Project has petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to change the State Bar of Arizona’s ethics rules, adding a provision based

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Milke Wants MCAO Conflicted Off The Case

Here is latest news article on the Milke case. It discusses the potential conflict of interest issues with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) prosecuting her case after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed her conviction. The court’s ruling was based upon MCAO’s prior violation of their duty to disclose exculpatory evidence pursuant to Brady v. Maryland. Anna Edney | Bloomberg News as reported in the Arizona Republic An Arizona woman awaiting retrial on charges she had a part

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The Latest Ruling In the Massachusetts Crime Lab Scandal

Here is an update of the Massachusetts Crime Lab Scandal: • In June, 2011, allegations of misconduct at the William A. Hinton State Laboratory Institute in Jamaica Plain (Hinton drug lab) surfaced regarding work performed by Annie Dookhan, a chemist who had been employed in the forensic drug laboratory since November 2003. • Following an internal review, the Department of Public Health launched a formal investigation of the matter in December, 2011. The investigation concluded that “Dookhan failed to follow

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Do We Really Care About Prosecutorial Misconduct?

In my experience most prosecutors play by the rules.  They know their ethical duties and abide by them.  However, I, along with many of my colleagues, have observed a growing number of prosecutors that have no problem stepping over the ethics line.  The issue seems more to do with ignorance than intent. For the most part, the public is unaware of this growing problem.  It is only when the misconduct is so outrageous and the victim has the means to

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Best In Criminal Defense: July 2010

Here is a round up of the best criminal defense blog posts for July, 2010.  I always look for posts that provide either strong opinion, insight or novel information.  While July had a great selection to choose from, here are the top five: The Hatred of Being In Trial – published by Brian Tannebaum a Miami criminal defense attorney.  He provides his view of doing trial work and being a criminal defense attorney. Blagojevich Recap (Part II) – published by

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