Robin McDonald of the Fulton Daily Report notes in a story today that Murray County Magistrate Judge Bryant Cochran resigned his post as Chief Magistrate Judge. His resignation letter departs from they typical fare of this genre — quivery sharky handwritten script, tendered to Richard Hyde. He doubled the average sentence length to two whole […]
It’s rare that the media (particularly the broadcast media) remain interested in a case after it gets into the appellate stage. I’m involved in one of those cases right now. Chris Shaw with Fox 5 News in Atlanta did a thorough job speaking with us about the implications of a recent indictment in a case […]
First, it’s been about three weeks since my last post. Between getting moved into the new office in Decatur and a family vacation, I have been on a bit of a blogging hiatus. I’ve spent time getting accustomed to a new commute and schedule. After so many years in truly solo practice, it is great […]
Appellate lawyers can work pretty much anywhere. We’re the professional writers and advisors of the legal world. I’m writing this post from my home office at 5:30 a.m. At the same time, there is something to be said for where you do business and where the shingle hangs. This week, the shingle has moved. The […]
Governor Deal has announced that Judge Keith Blackwell will be the Supreme Court’s newest Justice. He will fill the vacancy created by Chief Justice Carley’s retirement. I have gotten to know Judge Blackwell through my work on the Appellate Practice Section. He will be a great addition to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Readers of this blog may be surprised to know that I am a Scalia fan. Criminal defense lawyers who don’t like Jusice Scalia just don’t understand him yet. There is much to commend Jutice Scalia to a criminal defense attorney. He penned some of the most significant opinions in the last decade on the Confrontation […]
This won’t end well. Anthony Peters, the former Catoosa County assistant Magistrate Judge has filed a civil rights suit against the his former boss as well as the Sheriff of Catoosa County. When I read Joy Lukachick’s article (hat tip to her) in the Chattanooga Times Free Press about the lawsuit, I had to pull the […]
Williams v. Illinois, the newest Confrontation Clause case from the Supreme Court, leaves unresolved some key issues on the Confrontation Clause and its applicability to lab reports. Some things to note: Williams has no majority opinion It is very fact specific A similar case with a better set of facts might go the other way […]
Today, the Savannah morning news has a fantastic article about the late Terry Jackson, a hero of mine and of many Georgia criminal defense lawyers. I did not know Terry until late in his life. He referred me some cases in the past couple of years, and I am working now on one of his […]
While working on a brief, we discovered a Georgia Supreme Court case that I was sorry to have missed when it came out (hat tip to Margaret Flynt). A paradigm shifted in 2010, and I completely missed it. From an optimistic viewpoint, this case shows that almost nothing adds up to ineffective assistance of counsel. To […]