This is Why Lawyers Say the Courtroom is Too Real for Reality

courtrooms too real for realityPeople who work in the criminal field, whether as law enforcement or in the courtroom end of things, always say, “You couldn’t make a reality show about this stuff–it’s too real!”

The endless turning of human behavior is so unusual, it’s sometimes unbelievable. For people who work in the criminal field, we know it’s not a TV show, …

Defending Sex Offenders

I know this may sound odd, but one of the more common questions I get as a criminal defense lawyer is:  what’s it like to represent a sexsex offenders offender?

After 30 years as a criminal defense lawyer, I’ve defended everyone you can imagine, charged with every kind of crime you can imagine.  Still, I have to say that …

How can you defend a guilty person!? Part 1

defend a guilty personIt’s the question I get all the time: How can you defend someone you know is guilty? Especiall if it’s a horrible crime. It’s easy to reply “it’s my job,” “everyone has a right to a trial,” “I have an ethical duty…blah, blah, blah.”  All true but there’s the human part of every lawyer that is repulsed by …

Does Child Protection Protect Children?

Imagine two parents who drank constantly, ignored their children while the wife gambled on line and the husband watched porn–all day long.  The children were forced to eat potato chips off the greasy carpet.

Or the boyfriend who was beating his “woman” and her son intervened to try and stop the violence.  As punishment for interrupting, the man …

The Child on the Corner

I just read a great blog by Karen Boros on MinnPost at minneapolis-targets-backpagecom-ads-fight-against-juvenile-sex-trafficking about the efforts of the Minneapolis City Council to stop the Internet advertisements for juvenile prostitutes.  Protected by the 1st Amendment, the web site, backpage.com has run ads for sexual activity.  Through code words like “new in town,” they indicate to the buyers that …

Protecting Kids in Court

What if you knew the kids who lived with their family next door to you were being abused?  Not being fed?  Or never went to school?  Is there anything the courts could do to protect and help those kids?

In the last fifteen years in Minnesota the number of child protection cases has skyrocketed.  The local (county) …

Seven Reasons Casey Anthony was found Not Guilty

People who followed the televised trial of Casey Anthony seemed to be convinced that she was guilty of killing her child–yet the jury, which heard the case, found her Not Guilty.

How could this happen?

In my 30+ years of trying criminal cases, both as a prosecutor and defense lawyer, I can tell you that it’s rare, …