"It's a Mountie thing"

Due South? Constable Benton Fraser, RCMP, relocated to the States, remember that show?

"You are innocent," Fraser tells Willie. "The police have no reason to incarcerate you." And the public defender... says tiredly, "Not from around here, are you?"

I liked that show.

Insert your own punchline here

Best. Lawyer. Interview. Ever. From CBC's As It Happens:

LOUD DONKEY Duration: 00:06:34

Texas oilman John Cantrell was fed up with his neighbour's braying, pooping donkey. So he took his beef with Gregory Shamoun to court. But he didn't expect to have his objections overmuled.

Mr. Shamoun, a lawyer, decided there was only one way to deal with the situation. So yesterday, he hauled his ass into the courtroom, and let Buddy speak for himself.

We reached Mr. Shamoun in Dallas, Texas.

(Click on "Listen to Part 1 of As It Happens," then fast-forward to 18:45)

BC: how disarming

If you're a resident of British California, remember:

you have just a few hours of gun amnesty left to get rid of any of those unregistered handguns, rifles, or rocket launchers you might have lying around the house.

Off-topic: citius, altius, fortius

My trial set for Monday settled last Friday. As for me and my house, we've been basking in this stuff that I vaguely recall from my sagebrush days as "sunshine." When we haven't, we've been feasting on endless Winter Olympics coverage on NBC and CBC. It took my wife and me back to that Brigadoon-like moment four years ago when Salt Lake was hip and happening, a day when we went from seeing sweet Croatian Janica Kostelić going downhill way faster than human knees were intended, to cracking wise to a CBC reporter about America's sweethearts Salé and Pelletier.

Watching the CBC Olympics coverage on cable has been pretty great. Where else could I not feel guilty for cheering when the American luger got bumped from the bronze by the plucky Latvian Mārtiņš Rubenis? I for one welcome our new Canadian overloads.

Canada Day blogging

Thanks, neighbor. Happy birthday.

This is not wonderland

So I take my bride to British Columbia to get away from it all, hang out and not think about criminal defense (or criminal defence) for a long weekend. Here's the front page headline that arrives with our Sunday morning crumpets:
 

33 Deaths in BC Linked to Crystal Meth

Methamphetamine: It's Everywhere You Want To Be.

(Bonus link goes to "This is Wonderland," a dramedy about public defenders with one familiar face from U.S. movies and TV, on CBC tonight.)

Peace arch

 


"The world needs more Canada"
- seen in a Canadian chain bookstore, Vancouver 2/20/05
(More later - the family's tired and the cats are complaining.)

The lady or the tiger

The owner and proprietor of Crime and Federalism is back to posting more and more on his site, and a good thing too! For a while, it seemed that C&F had been hijacked by a guest blogger with his own agenda, who just didn't care to write about crime, the first word in the title of the blawg be damned. Mike, we've missed you, man!

Here is a new quality post by Mike, inspired by David Giacalone: Public Defenders or Court-Appointed Attorneys? Giacalone recently blawgged that Too Many Assigned Counsel Don't Give a Damn. My new county's responded by taking more indigent defense in-house, and creating five brand-new p.d. positions, which is the only way I could've scored the sweet job that I now enjoy.

I've thought a bit about this issue in my professional capacity, and I might have more to say about it in the future, but for now, go read the thing and the comments, while I go off to drop the boy with my folks and take my wife up to Vancouver to mark our tenth anniversary. Cheers!


The Law Courts, Vancouver, B.C.
(Arthur Erickson, architect 1979)