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The Court of Appeals, with a panel made up of Judges Dillard, Ellington, and Phipps, has reversed an order granting a motion to suppress from the State Court of Fayette County. I write about this case because it further develops the law in the area of Miranda and field sobriety testing and because it illustrates…

HB 349 has been the subject of much discussion for its sentencing innovations. However, nestled within it are some significant changes to the appellate code. This post will familiarize you with the appellate provisions of HB 349 and provide some tips to get around them. Pre-HB 349 Under the soon to be old law, any…

Ray Lewis’s retirement has made for an interesting time to be a criminal defense lawyer. Many of us who defend people for a living lead two lives. In one, we are in and out of jails, explaining things to clients. We are in the hallway huddled with families after a loved one was led out…

I recently finished the audio version of Stephen King’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. It’s geared toward fiction writers, but there is much to commend it to lawyerly writing. The best writing advice I have heard in a while was something that a publisher wrote on a slip rejecting one of King’s early…

Today, I had my first oral argument at the Court of Appeal in perhaps two years. Argument is granted more frequently in civil cases than criminal ones at the Georgia Court of Appeals. So, most of my arguing is at the Supreme Court down the hall. The presiding judge began most of the cases with…

Over the holidays, I have taken the time to reflect on the direction of my practice and this blog. I’d like to address a few things in the coming year. First of all, the paucity of posts from 2012 is something I would not like to repeat in the coming year. I’ve taken the time…

Following up on my post on the subject, I had the chance to speak with Colin O’Keefe of LXBN regarding just how far gun control can go under the Second Amendment and when this was last tested by our country’s judicial system. In the interview, I discuss Heller v. District of Columbia, the last Second Amendment…

In light of recent events, gun control is the subject of discussion. My practice touches upon guns. Generally it arises in the context of clients who have been accused or convicted of being felons in possession of a firearm or of being in possession of a weapon during the commission of a crime. I have…

A recent Georgia Supreme Court case on jury selection provides a framework for determining what a case’s subject matter is. There is a fine line between asking juror to prejudge the facts and figuring out if jurors cannot be fair. A few words about the problem in the case first. Full disclosure, I was amicus counsel…

I have no affiliation with the University of Georgia. But I have been glued to the controversy over its independent newspaper for the past week and a half. And if you are a lawyer who is interested in social media, you should learn this story and use it as a parable. It has much to…