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Category Archives: Opinions and Analysis

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GPDSC’s First Executive Director Weighs In

Posted in Attorney-Client Relationship, News, Opinions and Analysis

Aly Palmer, a reporter with the Fulton Daily Report, read the exchanges of the last few days and reported on it at the ATLaw Blog. Michael Mears, an Associate Professor at the John Marshall School of Law and the man who was GPDSC’s very first Executive Directer when it was created, wrote a very thoughtful… Continue Reading

My Reply to the Circuit Public Defender

Posted in Attorney-Client Relationship, News, Opinions and Analysis, Uncategorized

To catch you up to speed, I recently blogged about GPDSC’s recent argument to the Supreme Court of Georgia that public defenders should have the right to represent clients in the same circuit public defender’s office even when there is a conflict in the representation. Mr. Samuel Merritt, a Circuit Public Defender disagreed. I posted… Continue Reading

The Implications of the New SCOTUS Eyewitness Case on Georgia Cases

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis

Adam Liptak of the New York Times reports that the Supreme Court has held that courts are not required to conduct pre-trial hearings to determine whether the circumstances of an eyewitness identification were so unreliable that the jury shouldn’t hear about the lineup. The Court has held that, only in instances of police misconduct in… Continue Reading

Even More Reasons to Run From GPDSC and a Modest Proposal

Posted in Attorney-Client Relationship, News, Opinions and Analysis

A blog post I wrote a week ago about GPDSC’s alliance with the Attorney General’s Office to oppose the Georgia Bar’s formal advisory opinion regarding imputed conflicts for indigent defendants inspired a few comments over on my Facebook page. A friend of mine who is a former assistant public defender commented: The absence of conflict-free… Continue Reading

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

Posted in Opinions and Analysis

For those of you who don’t know, the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon is that weird occurrence where you hear about something for the first time and then encounter it again shortly afterwards. (Don’t worry, I didn’t know that term either until I searched for it on Google. And if there is any truth to this phenomenon you… Continue Reading

Amanda Knox, the Appeals Process, and Moneyball

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis, Preservation of Error, Uncategorized

Today, my recent post on Amanda Knox was quoted by Ronald V. Miller in his Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog. He picks up on my point about the Knox case and other high-profile cases with an unexpected result. For clients and potential clients, such cases reinforce the often mistaken idea that, if you keep on slugging until… Continue Reading

Managing Expectations in the Wake of the Amanda Knox Win

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis

I’ve already been asked about it several times. For the criminal trial lawyer, the Casey Anthony verdict was the result that made it difficult to counsel clients on whether to accept a negotiate plea rather than risk a trial against an overwhelming case. Several colleagues have told me that clients have balked in the face… Continue Reading

When Judges Tell Juries About Appeals

Posted in Opinions and Analysis, Uncategorized

There’s an old bright line rule about whether judges should mention the appellate process to juries. The subtext is that you shouldn’t do it at all. The literal rule is that you shouldn’t do it in a way suggesting that the defendant is going to lose the trial. The Supreme Court recently reaffirmed on old… Continue Reading

Granted Petitions on Criminal Cases for the Month of September

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis, Supreme Court of Georgia, Uncategorized

The Supreme Court has granted two petitions for certiorari and one application for discretionary appeal so far this month. Below is an overview of each case Bunn v. State In its Order granting Cert., from September 6, 2011, the Court notes that it is particularly concerned with the following issue: Does the Child Hearsay Statute… Continue Reading

New UGA Law Review Article Takes Georgia to Task for the Way We Handle IAC Claims

Posted in Attorney-Client Relationship, Motion for New Trial, News, Opinions and Analysis, Uncategorized

I returned from vacation pleased to find in my in basket at the office a copy of Ryan C. Tuck’s article from the Georgia Law Review on the confusing state of the law as it relates to ineffective assistance of counsel in Georgia. The article is titled “Ineffective-Assistance-of-Counsel Blues: Navigating the Muddy Waters of Georgia… Continue Reading

Supreme Court of Georgia Grants Cert. Petitions in Three Criminal Cases

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis

The Supreme Court of Georgia is back in full swing. The Court has already heard oral argument in several sessions. Yesterday, the Court granted certiorari petitions on three criminal cases. Each case has important implications for the criminal defense bar. While I am not entirely thrilled with some of the decisions the Court has made… Continue Reading

How to Lose Your Appeal: Ignore the Court’s Rules / Make the Court Find Your Argument

Posted in Opinions and Analysis, Writing

It’s one thing to get practice tips from judges at a seminar or in a bar publication. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Yvette Miller has some tips in appellate advocacy in this Month’s Georgia Bar Journal (PDF page 28 – worth the wait for it to download). It’s quite another thing to get advocacy advice… Continue Reading

11th Circuit Reverses Conviction on Failure to Charge on Reliance on Advice

Posted in 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Opinions and Analysis, Preservation of Error

Professor Ellen S. Podgor reports in her White Collar Criminal Prof Blog that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed several convictions in Kottwitz.pdf because of a trial court’s failure to charge the jury on the defendants’s good faith reliance upon an accountant’s advice. The Court has also held that, regardless of the strength… Continue Reading

Preserve the Record Alert: Felon in Possession Statutes are Low-Hanging Fruit

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis, Preservation of Error

Douglas A. Berman, Professor at Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University reports at his blog, Sentencing Law and Policy, that the Seventh Circuit has suggested that a non-violent felon might prevail on a Second Amendment challenge if he brings an as-applied challenge to the Federal Felon in Possession statute (18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1)))…. Continue Reading

U.S. v. Irey: The Return of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in the 11th Circuit

Posted in 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, News, Opinions and Analysis

There is a moment in most great horror movies where the evil presence/bad guy/ghost/homicidal maniac takes out a character who has it coming. For a moment, the audience applauds the wicked antagonist. Think of Jason from Friday the 13th taking out a weaselly teen or the scene in Jurassic Park where the velociraptors eat Dennis… Continue Reading

Client Autonomy on the Front Lines as a Georgia Appeals Lawyer

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis

From Bob Mabry at his blog, Courts and Writing, I learned about an article by University of Georgia law professor Erica J Hashimoto in the latest issue of the Boston University Law Review. According to Professor Hashimoto, the criminal client should have a complete right to represent himself at trial and on appeal. Also, when… Continue Reading

A New Approach to Felony Murder and a New Template to Attack Precedent in Georgia

Posted in Opinions and Analysis, Supreme Court of Georgia

There are two big stories in the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision in Jackson v. State. The first is that the rule of causation for felony murder that had been in place for thirty years has been changed. The second is that the majority has provided a framework for any appellant to use in future cases… Continue Reading

Supreme Court of Georgia Changes Approach to Sentencing After Appeal

Posted in News, Opinions and Analysis, Supreme Court of Georgia

 In Adams v. State.pdf, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that it is appropriate for a sentencing judge, after a reversal for judicial error, to impose a greater sentence on an individual count as long as the sentence in the aggregate is not increased. The dissent, consisting of three justices, reasons that the Court’s holding… Continue Reading

Jamie Weis Appeal Puts Georgia’s Criminal Justice System on Trial

Posted in Opinions and Analysis, Supreme Court of Georgia

Adam Liptak’s recent editorial in the New York Times will provide comfort for those of us who have watched the legislature and governor gut indigent defense in Georgia and attack the judiciary systematically. At the same time, it is a little embarrassing to read about the system that I love so much and wonder what… Continue Reading