Answer: It depends! (Okay, I’ve been a lawyer for 30+ years)  Here’s the best lawyer money can buy.

The idea that money can get you the best defense lawyer to get you out of trouble is prevalant among people. It can be true, but for reasons you may not know. Here’s why–

I’ve tried over 100 jury trials, both as a prosecutor and defense lawyer, and with the exception of an occasional quirky, run-away jury, they usually get it right. They aren’t susceptible to “smoke and mirrors” from the lawyers. In my experience, juries focus on the evidence, as they should, rather than on the flashy, expensive lawyers. This means, no matter how good your lawyer is, if the evidence against you is overwhelming, you’ll probably be convicted.

What a good defense lawyer can do is to exploit any weaknesses in the evidence.  So, who is the best lawyer money can buy and why do the “famous” lawyers seem to be better than others?

Actually, as day-to-day lawyers for accused people, Public Defenders are the best. They practice nothing but criminal law, know the intricacies of the system, and know all the tricks that will work with the judges. So why don’t Public Defenders win most of their cases?

They have a couple problems to overcome. For one, they cannot choose their cases. A private lawyer, regardless of pay, can always turn down a “loser.” Public Defenders must handle the worst cases with the least defenses before juries. Of course, they’re going to lose often as a result. Probably no lawyer could win these kinds of cases.

Second, since they’re representing poor people, it’s easier to convict these defendants. Why? Because the juries, for the most part, are middle-class people drawn from the community. If the defendant is working, has a family, dresses well, and has an education, the jurors can identify with that defendant, to some degree. Public Defender clients, by definition, don’t have any of the above advantages. They often even look like criminals. (Well, they are, aren’t they?)

As a prosecutor, one of the toughest defendants I tried to convict had been a US Air Force veteran, had a full time job, had a college degree, came to court everyday with a blue suit and his wife, who sat in the front row. He was good looking and sounded intelligent. The jury acquitted him. Conversely, most Public Defender clients don’t look this way at all.

Does that mean the more expensive defense lawyer is the best lawyer money can buy? Sometimes, it could be true, particularly if the lawyer uses some of the fee for investigation, both on site and scientific.

Regardless, each lawyer must deal with the evidence against his/her client. If it’s weak, many lawyers could prevail. If it’s overwhelming, it’ll be tough for all defense lawyers.

What do you think? Have you had any exeriences good or bad?

The post Here’s the Best Lawyer Money can Buy! appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

It started, informally, when Mahatma Ghandi went to dedicate a beautiful Hindu temple in Old Delhi.  He insisted that the lowest caste (untouchables) be allowed in the temple to worship or he wouldn’t dedicate it.  The officials agreed.  Since then, the caste system has been officially outlawed.  Except, that it is really still alive and practiced by everyone.

To counter that, the Indian government has set up quotas for admission to schools and jobs—to make certain the lowest castes and religious minorities get a shot at both.  As can be expected, people disagree about this.  Here’s a good story with video of a recent protest about the quota system by the Jat people in India.  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-35627819

The protest has three fascinating aspects to it:

1.  The Jat are primarily Muslims and are wealthy, land-owning people.  Although not as high in the caste system as the Bramins, the Jat are used to special privileges.  Now, they have created affirmative action problems in India.  They are upset because the access they used to have to schools and jobs has been decreased.  In their place, the lower castes are getting into these jobs and schools.  The Jat want reverse discrimination.  They want to go back to the privileges they enjoyed before.
2. The protesters have sabotaged one of the main water canals that supplies the 16 million people in the city of Delhi.  The affirmative action problems in India are so upsetting, the protesters have cut-off water to an estimated 10 million people in Delhi.  They also blocked a few of the main roads into the city  This has stopped millions of people from coming into or leaving Delhi.
3. If a group of protesters, mad about the affirmative action problems in India, could do this much damage, where is the Indian security?  What if a terrorist group had done the same thing with much more dangerous reasons?  Why didn’t the Indian government protect such a vital part of the city—its water supply?

It is interesting to study how protesters in another democracy try to get their way.  The affirmative action problems in India have been growing for years.  Other groups have also been opposed to the quota systems.

Can you see how different the U.S. population deals with this issue?  What do you think we’d do if we had the same affirmative action problems in India?

The post Affirmative Action Problems in India Revealed appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

It’s alleged that a young man named Mr. Claussen had over 300 tabs of synthetic LSD, identified as 25i-NBOMe, in his house and was selling them through a network of teenage friends.  One of them gave two tabs to his friend, Tara Fitzgerald.  Tara invited a different friend to spend the night at Tara’s home.  Both took a tab of the LSD, which they called “n-bombs.”  Unfortunately, the drug caused a heart attack (as it has been known to do in humans) in Tara and she died. By investigating back along the distribution chain of sales and giveaways, the police were able to identify two adults and five teenagers who had played some part in getting the synthetic LSD into Tara Fitzgerald’s hands, including Mr. Claussen. Usually, in a murder case, the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that an individual knew they would kill the victim and intended to do so.  Classic case:  two guys are fighting.  One pulls out a gun and fires it at the other. The shooter knows the bullet can kill and he intends to kill the other guy by using the gun.  In addition, if more people are involved in the killing any one who helps the shooter, in any way, can also be convicted of murder as an accomplice.  However, they must also intend that their help would kill the victim. The Tara Fitzgerald death is completely different.  In the past, the prosecutor would have a difficult, if not impossible, task of convincing a jury that anyone in the group intended to kill Tara.  Therefore, how could any of them be held responsible and be found guilty? But Mr. Orput has a new weapon:  the Minnesota legislature changed the homicide statutes to include Murder in the 3rd Degree which reads: Whoever, without intent to cause death, proximately of a human being by directly, indirectly, selling, or giving away an illegal controlled substance is guilty of murder in the third degree. This applies to the drug crimes committed by the juveniles (allegedly) but it goes beyond possession or the sale of illegal drugs.  Notice that, unlike most criminal laws, this does not require the prosecutor to prove anyone intended their actions would kill Fitzgerald.  It also includes anyone who indirectly sells or gives away drugs to a victim.  Obviously, the teen who gave the synthetic LSD directly to Fitzgerald would be guilty, but also all the others in the chain of sales and trades could be found guilty also. What a tragedy for so many young people.  The prosecutor has stated he’s moving forward in this fashion “to send a message” to young people who think that just because they don’t directly sell drugs to a victim, they aren’t responsible for the results.  They can be found guilty for much more than simply juvenile drug crimes now.

The post Juvenile Drug Crimes—New Weapons appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

With the increased vigilance across the land borders of our country, more smuggling has gone to sea.  Of  course, drugs constitute the largest product for traffickers but shipments of humans are right behind in numbers.  Since 2008, there’s been a fourfold increase in episodes involving smugglers off the coast.  They are traveling further out to sea to avoid law enforcement surveillance, going longer distances up the coast, and are using larger, more powerful boats.  Many of the Coast Guard boats are inadequate to meet the challenge.

So far, only drugs and human cargo have been seized, but the smugglers have so much money they’ve become more sophisticated.  For instance, last year the Coast Guard discovered a cache of fuel drums for refueling attached to buoys fifty miles off the coast.  Some of the boats are so large they can carry up to ten tons of narcotics.

Should we have expected these new routes?

Absolutely.  In research for my new book, Fallout, I discovered that many trafficking operations are set-up specifically to probe our borders, looking for soft spots.  these groups contract with all kinds of people including spies who watch the border crossing spots daily, financial people to bribe border security, lawyers to exploit legal loopholes, and even legitimate business that may be tempted to include an amount of illegal goods in with their legal shipments.  Like mercury, these groups flow around the borders, constantly changing their operations to take advantage of opportunities.  When one hole into the country closes, they move on to a new, vulnerable point.  As a result, many of the trafficking networks are tough to stop.

Should we worry they will become a more serious threat?

Most law enforcement organizations are the traditional, pyramid-style structures.  Because of that and various constitutional and legal restrictions, law enforcement moves slower than the criminals.  And then, there’s funding.  As the profits rise for traffickers and they can invest in bigger and better boats, governments are cutting-back on funding for law enforcement.

Today, the traffickers are able to bring-in drugs and humans.  Tomorrow, the cargo could easily change to terrorists who will wash-up on the beaches of California.

The post Washed-up on the Beach in California appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.

In federal court in Minneapolis a jury found Mahamud Said Omar guilty of recruiting as many as 20 young Somali men to fight in Somalia.  See the good article by Allie Shah in the StarTribune: http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/174834731.html  The conviction is the result of months of investigation by the FBI and the extradition of Mr. Omar from the Netherlands to stand trial here.  His conviction seems to solve the mystery of why and where over 20 young men went when they disappeared from the Twin Cities several years ago.

One by one, these young men disappeared from their schools, jobs, and homes.  When a few were able to make contact with their families here, they told a chilling story of recruitment to fight in a militia called El Shabab, in Somalia.  What happened?

When the FBI started investigating, they discovered the existence of the militia in Somalia which was fighting against the incursions of Christian forces from surrounding countries.  Apparently, the young  men were recruited to supply soldiers for El Shabab.  The trial of Mr. Omar centered on his efforts to recruit these men and send them through a secret pipeline overseas.

After working for over 30 years in the criminal justice system, here are three points that strike me as interesting:

1.  Although Mr. Omar worked for years as a janitor in a mosque, how was he able to hire not one, but three, very expensive defense lawyers?

2.  In many criminal cases, the accused is so arrogant that they become their own worst enemy.  Mr. Omar had been held in custody in the Netherlands for several months, fighting his extradition to the U.S.  In spite of the fact he knew what awaited him in the U.S. courts and the accusations against him, he still talked extensively to the FBI while in jail.  Those conversations were taped and provided some of the most damaging evidence against him during his trial.

3.  Thanks to the perseverance of several people and agents on the prosecution team, they were able to collect and assemble the evidence in an extremely complex case.  One of the toughest problems they faced was how to organize it all in order for the jury to understand the arcane and twisted trail of money and clues.  The team was successful and convinced the jury of Mr. Omar’s guilt.

I’ve followed the story of the missing young men because my first novel, Reprisal, deals with this mystery and tells the story of international terrorists who have grabbed the young men in order to start a devastating plague.  Although my novel is fiction, real events raise a troubling question that makes my book interesting

Although the conviction of Mr. Omar solves the mystery of what happened to some of the missing boys, many of them are still unaccounted for…what really happened to them and where are they now?

The post Terrorist Guilty in Minneapolis appeared first on Colin T. Nelson.