August 15, 2007

CA: cool old hippie

From the Daily Democrat:

Yolo County's public defender: Yesterday and today

Yolo County Public Defender Barry Melton has been recognized in the publication, Northern California Super Lawyers, as being among the top five percent of northern California lawyers. This year the magazine featured Melton in a special section entitled "From the '60s to the Sixties" which highlighted Melton's social activism in the 1960s as the aquatic member of the band County Joe & The Fish, to today as he heads the Yolo County Public Defender's office...

August 14, 2007

DUI? 紅色角落!

Sometimes even a soul-less pseudo-blawg can stumble on an oddball insight.

Like this one: you're minding your business drinking and driving, you get pulled over, and suddenly, you're Richard Gere in "Red Corner."

Bochco, Feige lens p.d. pilot

The Indefensible Man's TV show is going before the cameras! From Ashleigh Raine:

This was the first day of filming for this pilot and I gotta say... if I hadn’t been told, I never would’ve known that this was day one. It was waaaaaay smooth. I played a ‘public defender’ in an office setting... If this pilot actually airs, I’ll likely be in it. I counter-crossed Mark-Paul Gosselaar a few times.

WA: other than a bad case of the munchies, they all were fine

From KOMO:

Pot-hunting deputies found after night in forest

Ten sheriff's deputies who got stranded in the woods of southwest Washington while busting a marijuana-growing operation were rescued Sunday...

August 12, 2007

Badgering the witness

Much obliged to Missouri Criminal Defense Lawyer for this illustration:
"Badger, badger, badger..."

ID & TX: prison disease "just part of the 'pleasant surprise'?"

By e-mail from Grits for Breakfast, your Texas-based source for Idaho corrections news:

"Mysterious illness" afflicting inmates at private Del Rio prison that Idaho corrections director called a "pleasant surprise"

So let's get this straight: Just a week ago the Director of the Idaho Department of Corrections visited the Geo Group private prison facility in Del Rio and pronounced it a "pleasant surprise" compared to what he'd expected. Now, we learn from the San Antonio Express News medical writer Don Finley ("Fatal Del Rio illness baffles authorities," Aug. 10) that even while he was there, officials already knew about: "A mysterious illness at a Del Rio detention center that has killed two inmates and hospitalized two others..."

The process is the punishment

Every new public defender should have this much insight; from Scoplaw:

Loss of Liberty

I hear ‘loss of liberty’ used in the courthouse. I’ve used it myself. But I often wonder if someone sitting in the jury box really knows what that means, what the “loss of liberty” truly costs a person... I often wonder if they know what the accused may have endured, just to get to this point. To take a step back, here’s a quick overview of the “cost” of a criminal accusation (just the accusation, not a conviction)...

Blonde Justice, the next chapter

Happy trails to you, Blondie.

August 10, 2007

IN: copygoat crime

It seems that the recent goat - at - large arrested in Twin Falls, Idaho was not the first, just the latest, of a wave of hooved delinquents. Last month's most wanted, from the Herald Argus:

They got their goat! - Animal that wandered across highway Wednesday taken in by Howmet employees

Billy was apprehended by police shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday outside Howmet. According to La Porte City Police Officer Nate Thode, no charges will be filed against the goat. He was taken away without incident, he said.

“He’s in custody,” Thode said with a smile. “We’re not charging him with anything.” The goat incident even resulted in a police report. No word on whether the goat got a copy, and if so, whether he ate it...

August 09, 2007

WA: cops' DUI's - bear stickers, free passes



<--- Correct.

Incorrect. --->



From the Seattle P-I:

That 'bear sticker' on the window signals, 'Hey, I'm a cop'

Undue Influence: Bear stickers and other cop-outs

One way some police officers get favoritism from other cops is small, round and sticky. P-I reporter Lewis Kamb gives the story behind the story of those bear stickers.

Bear stickers, other cop-outs: Lewis Kamb


The stylized, striding bear is a wink-and-a-nod to other officers, meaning: "This car's owner is a cop..."


And all this time I thought these were parking permits for the local high school, home of the Bears. I can be so dumb.

The whole "Undue Influence" series - "when cops let fellow cops drive drunk" - is here.

My dad the public defender

Caroline's dad is doing such a good job in trial, Caroline's mom called to say:

"dad was great! he made two witnesses cry!"

August 08, 2007

ID: some days I miss Twin Falls

From the Times-News:

Goat on the lam nabbed in downtown TF - Animal was missing since Saturday

A goat is in custody after a harrowing escape from a Twin Falls livestock yard and three days on the lam, police said Tuesday... (T)he goat had finally been captured. "Yeah, they got it," said Sgt. Anthony Barnhart with city police. Barnhart did not say if the goat would be charged with a crime or if it was being held for questioning. But the goat is unlikely to face serious punishment.

After all, it's just a kid.

August 06, 2007

OR: tigers and bears blogging

Uploaded from our Saturday trip to the Oregon Zoo:

August 05, 2007

Weekend new cat blogging

Courtesy of Feline Friends, please welcome Al the Cat:

August 03, 2007

ID: my hometown's going to hell, iPod edition

An alert reader e-mailed this one, from Tech.Blorg.com:

iPod knife-man stalks Boise through Craig's List?


A man advertising a free iPod on Craigslist asked to meet a woman at the park late Friday night. Police told her later he was wearing a ski mask and waiting with a butcher knife. The woman apparently tells her side of the story in an email circulating through Boise...

From the Boise Faux News channel:

A Boise woman's intuition may have saved her life over the weekend when instead of heading into an Eagle park Saturday evening to pick up a free iPod, she called police...

From the Idaho Statesman:

Ad for free iPod leads to arrest - Woman became suspicious of delivery that was to take place at a park at night

"So, could this be my way out?"

Well, what do you think, should former prosecutor Chuck try to become a public defender, or as he puts it:

should i join the dark side?