Defenders of Caylee's Law have been arguing in my comments and elsewhere that even though the rush to legislate will result in a poorly-written law, my fear that it will punish innocent parents and babysitters far more than it helps any child is unfounded, because prosecutors will use their discretion wisely and mercifully. In most cases, I'm sure they're right, but why rely on … [Read more...] about Never Rely on Prosecutors For Mercy
Maryland Revisited
I just drove through Maryland a few weeks ago, and now I'm back, this time on business. One of my on-again, off-again clients has a bit of work that I'm suited for, so I flew out here for a meeting. Yeah, that's right. I flew. For the first time in about 11 years. My lack of flying had nothing to do with 9/11. I've always disliked flying -- getting through the airport traffic, … [Read more...] about Maryland Revisited
Meet the New Cuteness
About 10 years ago, my wife had just adopted Ripley, and we were thinking of getting a kitten next, and we thought it might be fun to get a purebread kitten. We weren't sure what breed we wanted, so we did some research on the web and at cat shows. Eventually we settled on the Ragdoll breed, and began to contact a few local breeders to learn to learn how the adoption process … [Read more...] about Meet the New Cuteness
“Caylee’s Law” Is a Bad Idea
I've been getting slammed in the comments to my earlier post about why Caylee's Law is a bad idea, as has Radley Balko on his piece in the Huffington Post. Perhaps people will ease up a bit if I point out that Serena Straus, a former prosecutor in the Bronx Sex Crimes and Domestic Violence Unit, also thinks that Caylee's Law is a bad idea. Some of her reasons are … [Read more...] about “Caylee’s Law” Is a Bad Idea
Don’t Dis the iPad
I think it's fair to say that Scott Greenfield is not a fan of Apple's iPad. From reading his banter with Brian Tannebaum, I gather there's been a lot of hype about how the iPad is a "game changer" for lawyers -- I guess because it can serve as a thin client front-end to some sort of "virtual office in the cloud" web application. Whatever. As criminal defense lawyers, Scott and … [Read more...] about Don’t Dis the iPad