Is This How YOU Want Police To Spend Your Tax Dollars?

I am involved in a really difficult matter in Brooklyn. It borders on heartbreaking. I represent a guy who is just an average Joe. He works hard, earns a decent but not great living and takes care of his family. Everybody likes this guy in the neighborhood. He wakes up everyday, plays with his kids, checks on his Father and Mother, gives rides to Seniors in the area who have to go to the hospital and then goes off to drive his limo for rich people through out New York City. He works out of a garage that books drivers and cars for airport runs etc.

He is in this country legally. He was sponsored with his brothers,sisters and parents by an aunt and her son. Now here is the rub, the son, my clients cousin is a drug addled HIV positive crackhead. Nevertheless, my client owes his whole life to these two people. If not for them, he is still in Haiti making Three Hundred Ninety Dollars instead of a week.

Now the son of my client's family's benefactor, gets into trouble with the law. Facing a long time in jail, which would mean he dies on the inside, the police and the DA offer him an out. Help us buy guns and drugs and we will let you stay on the street.

So the idiot approaches his low life friends. None will help him because they can smell a set up from a mile away. He asks my client for help, but my client will not find him drugs. A while later, he begs my client to help him find a gun for a "Friend" who needs protection. My client already felt bad about not helping this guy put himself out of his misery with the drugs, so in fact he helps him by picking up a gun and giving it to the kid to "sell." Of course it is not a real sale, the cops bought it.

The cousin thanks my client and tells him he got a couple of hundred dollars for the gun. He asks him if he can get some more. My client allegedly tells him sure, people all over NY are selling these things. Anybody who really wants one can buy one almost anywhere in Harlem the Bronx Brooklyn the lower East side, Flushing. The cousin has only months to live, his AIDS is full blown. So even though he knows in his heart that the kid is using the money he gets for drugs he tells himself he is eating with it, and gets him another 2 guns to sell

Now I should point out that though deadly, these weapons are garbage. Not a decent weapon in the whole group. But the guy who pays wants a weapon so...

The cousin dies. Does that stop the cops? No. They go back to our client and call him over and over and over, at work at home at church, yelling for him to get them another gun. He finally relents after months of badgering. Then once more a few months later. Same scenario, same reticence, same result. Finally they come once more. He is less and less cooperative, They figure he's done, so they bust him. He is looking at ridiculous time if he blows trial. On the other hand, would he have even been here at all if the police had demanded that the cousin give them someone who was a KNOWN gun dealer??? Would this have happened if the client had not been tight with the cousin, and felt like he owed the guy for his whole existance?

The whole neighborhood, some 500+ people have signed a petition asking the judge not to incarcerate this guy. 20 people almost all immigrants themselves have written the court. Still this is going to be tough. Of course, if they were serious about getting these guns off the street, all they had to do was offer the &600 they were offering my client to buy the guns. After all there wasn't one there that they couldn't have bought themselves for half the price.

So my question for you dear reader is:
Is this how you want your Police Department to spend your tax dollar? Is it good police work to get someone who otherwise would never commit a crime to commit one so that you can get a couple of pea shooters off the street? Let me know what you think I ought to tell the judge in a couple of weeks when I go back to him to enter a plea.

"The Attorney General And The FBI Are Part Of The Problem, And They Cannot Be Trusted To Be Part Of The Solution,"

The words above belong to ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero. The sentiment behind them speak for me. It is time we drop this national charade and stop the destruction of the greatest piece of political writing the world has ever known. It is time to deconstruct the "Patriot Act" which was never patriotic to begin with. It is time we ask Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to stop acting on our behalf and step down NOW. FBI Director Mueller sadly must go too. This was on their watch. They do not get the privilege of cleaning it up or more cynically white washing it. Read the ACLU analysis of the report here

What the "Just Us" Department did (thats in justice for Just us) was lie, purposely under reported abuses, obtained personal information on thousands THOUSANDS of AMERICANS without cause and without permission. The excuse? Not enough training. Come on. To be an FBI agent you have to be a lawyer or an accountant or have some other professional background. These guys are not high school drop outs. They know how to read regulations and they know when they are being pressured by higher ups for information. THEY SPIED ON AMERICANS!!! Now Gonzales wants to remedy it with an apology and a few firings??? He wants us to trust him that he will make it better? I no longer trust this Attorney General with anything that effects my liberty interest, or any other interest of mine either. He is so married to the neo-con agenda that he has no idea how to check this or fix it. Let him go chase after dogs, people are far too scary for him.

Washington has a love hate relationship with liberty and freedom. They love to stand on the Capitol steps and talk about it. They love to quote Jefferson and Adams, however they are so uncomfortable about the idea that everyone of us gets it.
This is not a new thing. If you look at the original way we granted freedom it is right in the documents themselves. The constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Over the years there would be a public outrage and then there would be a loosening of the reigns of tyranny. The time is coming again.

Our "leaders" co-opted our privacy without justification. They forced our bankers and telephone companies to give up our information. Internet providers and credit card companies, our employers and other financial participants in our lives were all told they had to give up our records if asked. That is what our legislators agreed to when they passed the "Patsyriot act." They were able to do this without our knowledge because the act gave them permission to do it "administratively." I want to personally thank the gutless Congressman and Senators who voted away their obligation to act like a check on the administrations action. Who are so distrustful of Judges that they took away the "balance" the judiciary gives to the discretion of the executive. I have looked at who supported the act. I will remember you in '08 if you are still around.


It is time we Americans start to stand up for liberty. If we don't start getting more personally possessive of it, it may not be here for much longer.

Ripped From The Headlines

A few issues “Ripped From The Headlines.”

I. Credit Card Fraud.
From May It Please The Court.
we learn that cash register receipts may no longer display your entire credit card number. These receipts may only show THE LAST FOUR(4)DIGITS of the credit card number. They also may not include your card's expiration date. If they show more than that it is a violation of the Fair Faith and Credit Transaction Act and they can be in BIG TROUBLE!!

Why you may be asking? Because "penalties range up to $1,000 per incident, and the suits can be filed as class actions, multiplying the penalties dramatically."In other words vendors who are not in compliance as of January 2007 are at risk of lawsuits. Are you in compliance? Have you been a "victim" of a violation? Time to check out those receipts.

II. Dallas Tx. District Attorney Seems To Care About Innocents Being Convicted..

Now here is what appears to be a prosecutor with both an interest in justice and a brain. Rather than waste money from his budget trying to keep evidence secret and protect possibly faulty convictions, he is willing to open his files to the Texas Tech Law School Innocence Project. Now people who claim that the have been convicted of crimes wrongfully will have the chance to have their claims investigated by a private organization which can bring their findings to the DA’s office or to court. In the long run it will save his county money and do a service to the community (and to the wrongfully accused if any exist there.) Story here
HatTip: Crim Prof Blog.

III. Pace University Law School institutes a Return to Practice Program With The Westchester Women's Bar Association..

Interesting new program over at Pace Law School. It is designed to help Lawyer-Parents who are returning to the workforce to brush up on what they may have missed while performing familial duties. It will also be open to attorneys who have found other alternate career opportunities. I can foresee a day where a smart law school will open a program like this for disbarred and suspended attorney’s and it will be required as part of their application to be restored to practice. The course could have a heavy ethics concentration as well as small business skills building. The program is described as follows:
“’New Directions,’ set for a May 21 launch, is a two-semester certificate program of study and externship for attorneys who have temporarily left practice and now want to return. “ Click here to find a form to get more information.

IV. Politics and Prosecutors..
Over the last 2 months Eight (8) Federal prosecutors have been fired by the Bush Administration. Some suspected politics at work. In this articleit appears Senator Pete Dominici had it in for a guy he formerly supported because he wasn't indicting democrats fast enough. What ever the reason, Federal prosecutors, (US Attorneys) serve at the President's discretion. President Bush has a right to fire whomever he wants. What he does not have, however, is the right to fill the positions that open up with out the advice and consent of the Senate. Right now, he fills the spots with interim people who never get to a vote up or down in the Senate. That is both a dereliction of the Constitution and a petty way to run government. Worse than that, it appears that the senator and the President were trying to rig prosecutions for political reasons. This type of behavior calls into question the fairness of the prosecutor's function. It further indicts the entire criminal justice system. Congress should be looking into that as well as the clear violation of the spirit and possible the words of the Constitution.

V. How do Courts Work. .
Here is a quick piece on how courts are set up within the states and federal government. It explains jurisdiction and how to tell which court hears what type of case. It is a good teaching tool.

VI. A Little TOO Friendly Skies: Airline Employee Fondles Sleeping Passenger on Flight.

Seems a maintenance man working for Northwest airlines boarded a plane from Tacoma to Minneapolis. He then allegedly waited for a female passenger to fall asleep and while the passenger slept, he lifted her shirt in an attempt to fondle her. When she awoke from feeling the material of the shirt move, he got up from the seat next to her and went elsewhere in the plane. The passenger alerted an attendant and the FBI met the flight in Minneapolis. He is being held. Article here.

Ok that's it for now.

A Weekend Filled With Bloggable Fun: What I Found Interesting

I. Criminalizing Domain Name Sales to Terrorists
CyberCrime Law has this post about a well-meaning but ultimately meaningless proposal in the NY State Legislature. The bill seeks to ban the selling of domain names to terrorist organizations. Seems to me that this is something that the NY State Legislature has no control over. In addition as the post points out all the legislation will do is make it more expensive for honest people to get domain names, the terrorists are not going to provide the information to give the law any teeth. Nice try Albany.

II.State Liquor Authority Strips SCORES Of Liquor License.

SCORES is a strip club. It is very large as these things go and has many employees. A couple of the women working there were arrested a couple of weeks ago for prostitution. I have represented women and clubs in these "stings" by vice. For the most part I think the cops entrap and lie about their "success" rate. To begin, the amounts they allegedly offer these woman is far less than they could get in an escort service, and if they offered that amount, then there should be serious concerns that the cops are in fact entrapping these women. That assumes that the girls involved do not know the cops are cops (highly unlikely they can pick out a cop, a lawyer, an out of town businessman or a
high roller as soon as they walk in the door)and that they are saying yes (also highly unlikely as a SCORES girl can make an easy thousand plus a night, and will blow the gig if found "doing extras." Then after the girls are arrested, even if the woman do not plead or are found guilty, the State Liquor Authority pulls the liquor license. The whole deal smells bad.
The whole sting, revoke liquor license is a waste of taxpayer’s money. It would be better to see the NY State Department of Taxation and Finance in the club making sure that everyone is paying the correct tax bill.

III.New York's New Comptroller Moves to Train Fire Commissioners

Tom DiNapoli has just been tapped to be the state's new Comptroller. His selection was criticized by our new Governor Elliot Spitzer as being politically motivated (Unlike Spitzer's recent elevation of popular Republican State Senator Mike Balboni to head up the state's Homeland Security Department...)
In his first move on the job, DiNapoli has outlined his plans to better train Fire Commissioners on how to watch over the public fisc. This is no small endeavor. To begin Fire Districts have very large budgets. There is little oversight of these organizations and the media ignores them until there is a scandal then everyone is jumping on these volunteers. DiNapoli is offering a structured training program to educate these people on how to oversee a budget, spending and accounting. It could be a great program which reduces waste if it is done right... IF.

IV.Delta Zeta Sorority Discriminates Against The Socially Awkward.
I hope you can link this story without subscribing. It is about a national sorority coming onto the campus of DePauw University and throwing out all the non pretty non skinny geeky girls in the house (not to mention the racial minorities and the disabled) so that they could get more popular girls into the sorority.
OK we have all heard of this stereotype through the movies (Animal House for instance)and have thought it a throw back to the 50's or a gross overstatement. Clearly it isn't. What makes this worse however, is that the women doing the throwing out are adults. Not members of the house, Alumnae and leaders.
Now some of you are saying, "what did you expect from an elitist organization like a sorority" however I have to say that this is not what I have witnessed on the campus' I have visited from any national fraternity or sorority.
I think this sorority ought to be blacklisted. I know I would not let a child of mine join it anywhere it has a chapter.

V.Two Long Island Attorney's Arrested For Mortgage Fraud.
This post at the Mortgage Fraud Blog reports on two NY lawyers, one from Long Island one from Brooklyn who allegedly helped swindle a woman out of her home.
I do not know if the government has the proof necessary to convict these people of what they accuse them of, however it seems to me that a lot of this could have been avoided if Credit scores were free and easy to get. I do not want to get into the whole scam here, suffice it to say, that if you are in danger of losing your home, you can do things to protect it by seeing a bankruptcy attorney. Straw buyers are not the way to go. If you are going to work with a so called investor, be sure that you have a retainer with your attorney, you have a rental agreement with the right to repurchase and of first refusal or better for a specified amount, and that the entire agreement is spelled out and made a part of the filed documents.

VI.Lawyer Set Up in Sting Refuses the Bait, Bar Outraged at Police and Court for Authorizing the Caper.
The Legal Reader Blog is reporting that a leading Brattleboro VT. criminal defense attorney was stung by local police who tried to get her to help obstruct governmental administration and tamper with evidence. A cop pretending to be a witness in a domestic violence case tried to get attorney Eileen Hongisto to tell him to deny service of process and to not come to trial if subpoenaed. A judge signed off on the caper. Lawyers including the prosecutor are shocked. What was the judge thinking? What did the cops go to her with? I think Hongisto ought to sue for libel and see just what they were up to.
As for the rest of us, it is time to remember it is open season on lawyers. Practice smart.

That's it for now

The Land of the Sheep and the Home of the Frightened

I spent yesterday afternoon on Capitol Hill. I used to love that place. The Hill was to me, the epitome of Freedom, and Liberty. With street names like “Independence” and “Constitution” I could breathe the air there, and be infused with the breath of vigor that drove Clay and Webster, Lincoln and Truman, JFK and Goldwater. NO MORE. It has become a sad and scared place where armed men and women walk and direct and herd us. In the name of protecting our freedoms, they steal them. It was unnerving; it was frustrating; it was, in a word... sad.

I am visiting the Capitol with an intern from my office. She is a high school senior. She is nervous, going to meet a congressional aide. She hopes to inspire the aide to work on a legislative solution to a concern of her's that she is working on in my office. She is unsure of herself, unaware that the seat of power our Capitol is actually "her" home. I am explaining to her, how I first came to Washington as a 16 year old high school kid. I was in a Presidential Classroom for Young Americans Program. I had my run of the Capitol. Riding the Senate underground trolley; walking the basement catacombs to legislative offices for meetings with my congressman and senators. Pretty heady stuff, for a kid who grew up in a neighborhood that still had farms on it.

In college, I frequently went up to the hill to see pols that I was working for, or with, on campaigns or legislation. I had already been an aide in the state house. I was wise now to the ways of power. After law school I spent significant time on the Hill advocating for better, fairer, laws for America. I spent hours underground at the Capitol, buttonholing Congressmen and walking with them to votes. Talking to them about Scleroderma funding or pending criminal law legislation.

I told Lara there was nothing to worry about. The Capitol was a stately and grand building so as to scare off foreign powers who may want to invade us. It was a home to us. We could walk its corridors and breathe in the liberty giving air.

We entered through the Cannon Building entrance. There we were met by three guards and a very sensitive magnetometer, that required I disrobe (or at least de-shoe) to get through it. Then we stopped at a congressional office and after what I consider to be a good meeting with the aide to Congressman Steve Israel, I thought we would go to the Capitol Rotunda to see the place where the Supreme Court once met, and where Presidents lay in state. We would take pictures next to the statue of one of the guys who represents NY in Statuary Hall.

As we came to the basement of the Cannon Building, we proceeded down the hall to the rotunda to get to the underground hallway that leads to the Capitol building; you know the building whose top is capped with "The Statute of Freedom". There was, at the entrance another Magnetometer and 4 more guards. Ok, I am not sure why, but I was more than willing to be stripped searched to get to the home of liberty. All of a sudden I was approached by a genial elderly lady in a red jacket.

"Sir, are you on a tour or with a staff member?" "No we are going to see the Capitol. I have been there often enough that I can give the tour. But thank you anyway" I replied, genially.

"Sir, You may not travel through the tunnel to the Capitol unless you are on an authorized tour or in the company of a staffer." She said with sharpness to her tone.

"Why not? I've been doing it for 30 plus years now." I said incredulously.

“Not since 9-11.” She said impatiently.
“Ok,” I said annoyed, “We will go outside and enter through the public entrance.”
“Sorry” a Capitol Police officer piped up, “You may only enter the Capitol in a tour or when accompanied by a staffer!! Regulations"
"That's ridiculous. I have already passed through a Magnetometer, and I am about to go through another, all for the privilege of seeing where the heart of my government works!”

Then she killed me. The little old lady in the red jacket stabbed me right in the heart. She said the exactly wrong thing to say to any real American (of which I am beginning to think there are few in Washington and fewer yet on Capitol Hill)

She said, “It’s for our safety, yours and ours…It’s better than being bombed.”

I looked at her hard for a moment. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind, such as:

1. I would rather be dead in the name of liberty than be herded like a sheep and led quietly to my slaughter.

2. How safe are we if can’t travel through 3 floors of a building and walk in its basement without being x-rayed at every turn.

3, My death would be a small price to pay for the opportunity to keep Americans free to walk through the halls of their government and have the same access to their lawmakers as the lobbyists and the corporate donors have to them.

4. I’m From Freaking NYC the number one city on the terrorist Hit parade, and even we’re not this freaking paranoid.

I looked at her as a crowd of people, staffers and Capitol Police began to gather. I did not feel that getting arrested was a good way to stand up for liberty while I was in charge of safeguarding a 17 year old. So I said in a quiet but strong voice,

“No, it is not better than being bombed, but for today, that lousy explanation will have to do. How sad it is that none of you know the words of Benjamin Franklin.”

And I took Lara’s arm and headed back to the elevator from whence we came. Sadder in the knowledge that a bearded "religious" fanatic, bent on destroying the fabric of our democracy had succeeded today.

When Clinton closed off Pennsylvania Avenue to motor vehicle traffic for the 2 blocks in fromy of the White House, I though it unfortunate, but as his family lived there, I felt like it was probably for the best. The man had their safety to worry about. My freedom to go to the president was not injured by the move, only my ability to drive by the house.

This is completely different. This is a travesty. It is an assault on democracy, perpetrated by our own government and its leaders who are too scared of some raging maniac hiding in a mountain, to remember why we elected them to office in the first place.

So back we walked out of the door of the Cannon building. We called our driver, and I asked him to drive us to the World War II Memorial. I needed to be around men and women who understood what the expenses of freedom are. We had to settle for their ghosts. It will have to do, for now…

Why Can't Prisons Be Made Safe For Prisoners: The Prison Litigation Reform Act and Qualified Immunity, Two Concepts That Are Bad Public Policy

The Volokh conspirators are having a lively debate about governments inability to stop or decrease prison rape. The following is a reprint of my input into that debate:

Enforce 1983 as written. NO Qualified Immunity, No Prison Litigation Reform Act. Trial lawyers can and will force government to do what it is supposed to do.

In response to troublesome nusiance suits brought by inmates, Congress passed a reform act that said they had a three stike rule. Bring a suit without merit 3 times and you can't bring one anymore without court permission. The concept was supposed to be to stop these ridiculous nusiance suits.

Except until you get to the part that says even if the prisoner is the prevailing party, the lawyers cannot get a legal fee beyond 1.5 times the amount granted to the prisoner. The point of that? Get those pain in the ass lawyers out of investigating prison misconduct by the government. The result has been a wholesale reduction in the number of suits bought by LAWYERS (who presumably know a good cause of action from a frivolous one.)It is a ridiculous rule and needs to be over turned. It can result in a lawyer working on behalf of all prisoners, getting them a real change in circumstances and because the monetary damages in the case are small or hard to quantify, the jury changes the rule or condition but only give the plaintiff Ten($10.00)Dollars. The attorney may put literally 300 hours into the trial and appeal of the case. His fee for all that work? Fifteen (15.00)Dollars.

The attorney's who bring these suits are ususally small and solo lawyers. They cannot afford to take a bad one. The law discourages outside legal experts from looking into the conditions of prisons. That renders these institutions unsafe. The law passed by Congress is bad public policy and flies in the face of the fee switching statute that accompanies civil rights cases under 42USC 1983, 1988.
Get rid of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (as to attorney's fees) and the Qualified Immunity defense and watch the prisons really become what they should be...Correctional institutions.

Dean Arron Twerski Resigns as Dean of Hofstra University School of Law: Dean Cites Health Concerns

Aaron Twerski has been Dean of Hofstra University School of Law for two years. He has been part of Hofstra Law's family for far longer. He served as an Intrim Dean, and as a full fledge Dean. He was there at or near the beginning and after a move to Brooklyn Law School (for family reasons more than anything)he returned to Hofstra to begin to rebuild the school after a couple of disasterous years that saw the school move into the lower tier of the US News & World Report rankings.

Since his return, Hofstra has been back on track: Expanding the faculty, strengthening the curriculum and getting its name out in front of law firms and prospective students. Hopefully the new leadership will move things in the same directions.

I had the pleasure of taking "Products Liability" with Dean Twerski. (Trust me the pleasure truly was all mine.) Twerski brought scholarship, knowledge and a unique style to teaching the subject. Generous with his time, he could explain the most arcane concepts ( Res ipsa loquitur anyone?) and make it come alive. Noted for his ability to strategize trials and more importantly pre trial techniques, He was sought out by the best Civil defense firms in the country. Many of my collegues benefited from the law firms he was able to attract to the school.

When he left to go to Brooklyn, a large part of the Hofstra Law heart went with him. Moreover, when he returned two years ago, there was an immediate electrical charge that went through the alumni students and staff.

In his letter to the Alumni, Dean Twerski cites his recent quadruple bypass and the commute from his Hassidic community home in Brooklyn for his decision to leave. It is amazingly sad that a man with so much "heart" could be felled by his own.
In his letter, he says that "I will always take pride that I was able to b part of (Hofstra Law's) glorious history..." In fact, it is we, the alumni and students as well as the faculty, staff, and Administration, that will always take pride and be thankful for the fact that you are part of our History, and our lives.

"Zol zayn mit mazel" Professor, and may G-d bless you and your family.

Relaunch of Long Island (Criminal) Trial Law Set For Monday: Let me Introduce You To My New Blogging Partners

I am very excited to announce that my formerly solo blog Long Island (Criminal)Trial Law is back and going to be better than ever. If you are reading carefully, you saw the word "formerly" in the last sentence. That is because LICTL is becoming a group blog. Two of my Associates, Amy Hsu and Diane Petillo are joining me. I would like to introduce these talented women to you.

Diane Petillo is our Sr. Associate and leads our Civil Litigation Department. Practicing in the personal injury field for most of her 13 year career, Diane has been a plaintiff and defendant's lawyer. For the last year, she has concentrated her work on civil matters as diverse as mistreatment of prisoners to the devastating injuries caused by motor vehicle accidents where drivers were not taking sufficient care of themselves or of their vehicles. Diane's case load is extremely diverse. She can be working on behalf of a victim of government misconduct one day, and working on behalf of a wrongfully accused corporation on a civil Rico case the next. The Defamed, victims of Assualt, False Imprisonment, Sexual Abuse; Whistleblowers and those discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, race, age or sex, all wind up in Diane's office. As a co-blogger, I expect to see Diane writing on a lot of the cases and issues that appear in her case load. A hard nosed trial lawyer (as opposed to a litigator, trial lawyers actually try cases)Diane is a good teacher of trial techniques as well. I look forward to her teaching posts.

Amy Hsu is another associate in our Office. Amy is in charge of Appeals. In our offices we all try cases and we all write motions and appeals. It's just that Amy writes better than most. Formerly a law fellow for the Honorable William Donnino, This year's NYS Bar Association's Vincent Doyle award Reciepient As Outstanding Jurist, Amy has studied and learned at the elbow of one of NY's finest trial judges. Since joining our firm in September of 2005, Amy has tried two cases to verdict and sucessfully achieved dismisals in many others, thanks to her well crafted and ingenious motion practice. In addition to her work here at The Law Offices of Anthony J. Colleluori & Associates PLLC Amy works on legal articles and CLE Programs for the Nassau County Bar Association's Academy of Law. She is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and understands Taiwanese as well. I look forward to her insightful commentary on criminal cases.

As both young women are new to blogging, I expect we will be starting out slowly but I hope you will find nearly daily blogging by members of our team soon.
Please encourage these young writers and comment on their work as often as you can.

The Work Life Balance in Law Firms. Two Sides of the Debate.

Juxtapose these two blog posts by two of my favorite bloggers and lawyers, Dan Hull over at What About Clients, and Nicole Black over at Sui Generis.

How do you serve clients and still not burn out faster than a Grucci fireworks display? I'm a certified baby boomer. I am driven, I love the law, and I sacrificed a lot of family time for success. I am here to say that while I enjoyed pretty much every minute of it, I gave up too much. Fortunately I learned my lesson early, not so much for me but for staff. The issues are bigger than one post but I will deal with two of the issues here. One is how do I become a good lawyer. Two is much do I need to earn to be happy.

Now of course the second issue is troubled by what I consider to be ridiculous debt caused by tuition and education loans. A kid out of law school who had to finance the whole thing has to earn at least Sixty thousand a year plus to be able to afford the tuition repayment, rent, a car, and basic insurance. He can forget about saving for his future. Fortunately he can put that off for a few years.

On the other hand, how much can one expect to earn if they work a regular work week. What is a regular work week for a lawyer? How much of an outside life can a lawyer expect when just for development of skills he needs to put in a lot of time.

Learning the law, does not happen between 9-5 or even 8-6. It is the reading and working done when the phones stop ringing and the partners stop screaming that permits the opportunity for learning to take place.

How does a young lawyer learn. Well CLE is part of the equation, but frankly the advance sheets and the daily bar journal is the first thing to turn to. Now I never trained transactional lawyers so I can only speak for trial lawyers, but reading transcripts of trials and issue spotting the appellate issues is a good tool in learning how to put a question, and on how to object and preserve a record.

Reading non legal magazines of the right type help too. Jurors do not usually read the Review of Books. They are not likely to read the Times Sunday cover to cover either. They read the Daily News or Post, a tabloid, People magazine, Ebony, Jet, Woman's Day, Cosmo, Maxim and Playboy, GQ, Time or Newsweek and Sports Illustrated. These are a few of what trial lawyers should be reading each month. Hanging around the office doing work that most lawyers hate doing, like trial briefs and reviewing the Casemap is a good way of prepping too. Of course looking on-line and reading at least a few of the blogs is also important.

The young lawyer should expect that Monday through Thursday will be 10-12 hour days. I like to see them alternate 10 one day 12 the next etc. Thursdays will also be a chance to go to bar and other oganizational meetings. Friday is a day of relaxation...after 4pm. Saturday or Sunday is meant for renewal but a few hours either in the office or at home working on self improvement or on office work should be required. The key to this is that the lawyer should want to do this. Part of the problem of course is that as someone points out (I think it was in Nicole's post) a lot of lawyers only see that the work they do at 25 years old brings a reward of more work after you become a partner. That is where the law firm culture comes in.

In my firm, there is a very low (compared to most firms) requested billable hour standard. I seek One Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Hours (1250) of billed time. I also expect the associate to be active in one or two Bar association activities and be working up the ladder there. After 3 years, belonging to a local business or other networking group (at church, in the community, a PTA) should also be part of the firm supported marketing approach. Writing and lectures are becoming a part of the regime also.

A key to this however is that, as a partner, I do not try to over leverage the work of the associates. In other words, I do not try to retire on the backs of my staff. I expect them to work. I may actually get out less work than they do, because of my rainmaking responsibilities. I cannot and do not want to so out-earn them that they feel every minute they spend working extra is so that I can go home with a fatter wallet.

How do I do this? By keeping a fair ratio between what I earn as a partner and what the lowest paid associate makes. Hence I think a Six to one (6:1) ratio is not only fair but gives the associate something to aspire to. It is also a way to not become a "You make what you eat" law firm. Rain is not over-appreciated and toiling uselessly and becoming a "stacks troll" isn't either. Family time is up held and no one has to worry that because they went to a football game to see their brother play that they are losing a spot on next years bonus roll.

When it comes to women, there is another thing that needs to be addressed and that is their traditional mother role. I would not steal a child from his mother, nor would I want one of my staff to lose the opportunity to become a partner, a lead trial lawyer, or any other opportunity because she chose to have and care for her child. Hence in my office, you do not lose your turn in line for partnership if you take time to have a baby, you are considered at six years out and at least two years with us, even if you had to stop a time or two to have a child. I am experimenting with an in-house nursery idea right now, and of course home-telecommuting.

Men too need time however, and their fuses should not be forgotten. Hence I also look to help my male attorney's take time off with their young ones and if employees do not have children, then childless employees plan for a sabbatical of at least four months after 7 years with the firm. There is no point in not taking it and it can only be put off for good reason and only for a period of 18 months.

Taking care of one's spirit is important. I am looking forward to memberships in gyms and personal training as a perk some day. I am also going to pepper the bonus's this year with Massage and Spa gift certificates.

I think that while dedication to clients is a very important obligation of a lawyer, one cannnot give much to that client, if he has nothing in the tank. I do not agree with Dan, work-life balance is an issue for partners. It didn't used to be. It has led to the sloppy lawyering and the dissatisfaction of so many promising attorneys. It is time we not only ask "What about Clients" but we ask simultaneously "What about Souls."

Sex, Lies & Video Tape Equals Blackmail: The Making of the Next Long Island Sex Scandal

I am sure many of my NY and Long Island Readers (all 5 of you) have seen the headlines (here,here, here,here and on the TV as well)
The deal was easy. Meet lonely hearts on the Internet through groups like Adult Friendfinder or Craigslist, engage in sex acts taped on the sly, build a relationship with the victims so that you know lots of stuff about them, then tell them to pay up or you're gonna give the stuff to their kids or bosses or spouses.
Not a pretty sight.

I have been involved in the representation of people in the adult entertainment community for my whole career. It is not glamorous work nor is it very lucrative. It is however a part of the world that desperately needs legal representation. Because of the mores of the world we live in, these people are very susceptible to being abused, attacked and sometimes blackmailed. I have come to know the actors, the dancers, and the strip and swing club owners. I have been present in the middle of the nights at the raids on their clubs, and I have watched this group of people abused by police, prosecutors and the press, in the past. I have been at the side of their hospital beds as they suffered otherwise alone because they had been abandoned by family and friends.

Earlier this week, Blackmail came to haunt the sex community on Long Island. Without accusing or condemning (yet) the accused blackmailers, I can say that as word of the tapes got out, a general panic arose in the swinger community. It seems one of the defendants had over 100 hours of tape of people having sex with his "partner." It further seems that these defendants have been attacking the "opportunity" in many different forms. My office recieved phonecalls from people who knew these people and from friends and family members who called on behalf of others who were too scared to call themselves.

On Thursday February 1st I got a call from a reporter, who is aware of my long term representation of this community. He asked me what I knew which, at that time, frankly wasn't much. I knew people were frightened and that they wanted to know if the Police would come to their door or their businesses. They were afraid of being victimized twice. Once by the blackmailers and then by the police.

The people I spoke to were sick to their stomachs. They were worried about disease and they were worried about breaking the hearts of people they had no intention of hurting. Some had become attached to the accused blackmailers. They thought they were dealing with a friend and lover, the pretend people that the two accused said they were. These folks felt more than just fear, they felt a sense of loss and disbelief that they could be taken in.

I agreed to speak to the press at that point, so that others would know that they were not alone. I also spoke to the media so that these same victims would know that there was a law office they could come to that would not judge them and would be there for them should they chose to cooperate with the police, or decline to do so.

I have not accepted one cent from anyone who has called. I do not intend to accept one cent. I will, if I am asked to do more than advise these folks on their legal rights. Many may have a right to sue the individuals involved in deceiving them. I will take that case if I find that there is a chance to make these victims whole. It is what I do.

Under the guise of "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" I have read that I am "just another ambulance chaser". I want to point out a few things to the people saying that about me:

1. I did not hold a press conference, or send a press release or even call one single reporter to speak to this case. They each called me, ask them. Most of them either had covered other cases I had worked on and knew I worked on this type of stuff, or they had spoken to reporters (or read their articles) and were following up on their leads. There are just not a lot of lawyers who will admit to handling these cases.

2. I have not asked for a penny from anyone.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02022007/news/regionalnews/mystery_vips_in_sex_trap_regionalnews_kieran_crowley_and_cynthia_r__fagen.htm

3. That I have no purient interest in this case. In a lifetime of working with this community, I have seen all that I ever wanted to and far more, I am concerned that the people who are involved, are not preyed upon by ANYONE. Bad guys or good guys.

4. My family suffers as much as anyone does when I decide to take on cases like this. The get teased and sit through the funny looks and the "dirty jokes" we hear when we go to the diner or pizzaria. My family however knows that, especially in a case like this one, my active participation could mean the difference between someone hopeless, killing themselves and that same person going home to their family that night. They didn't sign up for the duty, but they carry it out really well and with a lot of understanding and I love them for that.

I do not have any idea how this will shake out in the end. I know that if we continue to worry about who is on the tape rather than bringing the case to justice, that we are just a bunch of nosy body gossips.

If the press wants to cover a story, they and you should be asking me about the medical dosing abuse at the Nassau County Correctional Center or about the abject torture of female prisoners in the Federal Medical facility in Texas. They can ask about people who have paid their debts to society only to be forced into a life of crime by otherwise law abiding people who feel no guilt over breaking the law to discriminate against them.

We can talk about a lot of things. Who has sex with whom should not be one of them.

No Honor In The Bush White House: Charles "Cully" Stimson Resigns Over Remarks About Guantanamo Defense Lawyers

Cully Stimson Resigns. Good riddance.
A couple of weeks ago, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs Charles "Cully" Stimson intimated to America that some of the volunteer lawyers defending the terror suspect on Guantanamo Bay were taking money from terrorists and their sympathizers and that Corporate America should force law firms involved in the volunteer efforts

"to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms...."

When I first heard the remarks, I thought "oh another General with foot in mouth disease." I was wrong. Stimson is a 1986 graduate of Kenyon College and a 1992 graduate of George Mason Law School. He is a former prosecutor, and even did some defense work. No "Cully" was not just a military guy who didn't get it. It was far worse. He is a lawyer who doesn't get it. In fairness to Stimson, he apologized about five days after his intemperate remarks (sorta. He said he didn't mean it.)

If you read Stimson's letter to the Washington Post, and some of his other statements you begin to see that he is not so much as lying as he is splitting hairs the way that the rest of the Bush White House and Justice (Just Us) department does it.

You see, we learned in our Social Studies and History classes that the bill of rights included rights which were basically owed all people. The Bushies must have had a different textbook. We were told that we were going to bring "American style" democracy to the middle east. We all thought that we were going to keep it here too. But the Bushies had other ideas. They split hairs. We have a war on Terror, but if you are captured in that war you are not a prisoner of war, you are an "enemy combatant." That means that the rights we want you to have in your country. and the rights we say we have here, you can't have. Confused? Join the club.

But then those pesky lawyers started waiving that pesky Constitution and those really pesky amendments at the Bushies, and well you know, if you aren't one of them, well your just a traitor. Never mind you are a military hero or even a regular GI Joe. Just because you actually served in a war you can't know more than the all but draft dodging President and Vice President. If you are a lawyer, you are a problem in the Bush White House. "Rights? We don't need no stinking rights"

If you are in favor of everything every soldier who has died in battle believed he was fighting for, YOU ARE THE ENEMY. So when Cully made his statement about lawyers he had the Bush White House game plan right there. Lawyers are bad, people who fight the administration are anti-American and then he said it. The lawyers who fight for free in the highest service to the bar and the law are so un-American that any American CEO who hires them will fire them. Unreal. Sad even.

The White House immediately smelled a fiasco and so they did exactly what they always do. They threw Cully under the bus and ran from his statement. He had so many tire tracks on him evenMike Brown thought he was road kill. So Cully has now been hounded out. He quit. Underfire.

But there might be hope for Cully Stimson. He once had a sense of his job. He may even be prescient. In an Article in the Kenyon Alumni Newsletter aptly entitled "In the Eye of the Storm" Cully Stimson is quoted as saying:

"As the primary policy advisor, I am the focal point in the department of defense for all things related to detainees," says Stimson. "I want to make sure we are treating detainees everywhere in Department of Defense custody humanely, consistent with our values, and our domestic and international legal obligations as a country. I have an enormous weight on my shoulders. I have to choose my words carefully because I am a public figure on a very, very controversial topic."

Too bad he didn't frame the article and read it every morning. Maybe the weight got to heavy for him. Either way, he is just a microcosm of a far bigger problem. We have a President so out of touch with his electorate, and the laws of his nation, that, short of impeachment, there is no chance we will not be embarrassed by him or one of his minions again.

Our February Newsletter Is Now Available

Our Newsletter (written by the good folks at Findlaw) is available by clicking this link.This months edition features the rights defendants have in criminal cases.
Here is my introduction:

The Law Offices of Anthony J. Colleluori & Associates wishes you a Happy New Year!!
We are proud to distribute the Criminal Defense E- Newsletter each month to our friends and clients. This month's issue focuses on the Rights of A Person Accused of a Crime. The Criminal Trial is compelling and interesting but fraught with twists and turns. Criminal trials are very complex and should only be handled by the most experienced of attorneys. A conviction for a crime carries with it potential jail, loss of income, business and not the least, loss of reputation.

Civil penalties can cost a party loss of their home and valuables. Other collateral consequences of a conviction could result in the client's deporation or force the client to permanently have to register with the state. It can even keep a client from living in certain towns or villages. It can result in a judicial order keeping convicted people from their children. It could result in the loss of their professional license as well as a loss of one's driving privileges depending what the case is about.

Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Courts are sending more and more business people to prison for longer periods of time than ever before. Moreover, the person convicted of a crime is often denied employment and other opportunities including the right to pursue a career in Law, medicine or public accounting. State laws have toughened recently as well, with more mandatory minimum jail sentences and an increase in jail as a whole.

Our office has successfully defended many cases involving allegations of crime. We have also been in the forefront of law firms that seek remedies for those unfairly or falsely convicted. We are very adept at working on the investigation of criminal cases. Click the link for information on Where to call if your loved one is under arrest in NY or on Long Island. Please visit our web site for more information on Fraud, and Criminal Defense or to contact us by clicking on this link

Hope you will enjoy this edition of the Newsletter of the Law Offices of Anthony J. Colleluori and Associates PLLC

Where Are The Stars? How Long Should A Kid Spend In Jail For Getting A Blow Job?

Genarlow Wilson was a High School athlete of some reknown, when he and a couple of buddies got a few High School girls drunk and then filmed them providing oral sex. There was no question that the girls were under age 16, and that Genarlow was over 16. There is also no question that the girls consented to the act although it was probably easier to overcome their sense of propriety thanks to the alcohol provided by the boys (though accepted and consumed by the girls.) For these "crimes" Georgia has sentenced Genarlow to TEN YEARS IN PRISON. Had they had sexual intercourse he would have faced but one year in jail. Go figure.

I have blogged about the case before here. A ton of the Blogosphere has blogged the case too not the least of whom are Professor Volokh and our friend Professor Berman.

Berman asks an important question. Where are the stars who usually rally around these cases? Prof. Berman recieved two interesting responses to his suggestion that the stars come out for Genarlow. One suggested that because he acted like a cad, most of Hollywood is afraid to come to his aid. Unfortuately Hollywood has created the beast. Genarlow is simply acting like the idiots he sees on MTV, E! and even on the big three.

I have been interviewed on the subject in Newsday recently and on CNN but I truly believe that the culture of reality TV and the easy access to fame(YouTube, MySpace) make it "acceptable" in the teenage mind to be part of a life that makes most adults shutter.

While it is just like teens to push the envelope, the push has become stronger now that the Internet and TV is there to tell each of them where the line in the sand is drawn. (How's that for metaphor mixing?)

Anyway, the need for parents to increase their vigilance is even higher now. We have gone beyond the need to snoop into one's diary. We need access to web addresses and to passwords.

As for the original part of the post, maybe the guy who owns "BangBus" or "Girls Gone Wild" should be kicking in to the defense fund here. After all, was what these kids did, any different from what those two companies extol??

That Lawyer Dude Is Cited in Newsday On The North Babylon "Wilding" or "Hopping" Incident

Big week for being cited by the MSM (Main Stream Media, as opposed to the blogging community)for That Lawyer Dude. First Fox.com and now these two stories in Newsday today.
The topic (sadly) is a wilding incident where three young women attacked another girl for no apparent reason (evidently it had something to do with a boy.)
Though the child who got beaten was not hurt, the incident passed by every one's notice until one of the kids or their friends put it up on the Internet. It went on some one's My Space.com and now it is all over the place.

The three aggressors have been suspended from school and now they are being prosecuted. I must admit if you see the video it looks pretty violent...then again assaults always seems violent. There is hair pulling and pinching and punching and pushing and probably a whole bunch of other stuff too (I think I saw kicking.)

On the other hand, it pretty much looks like every other fight I have ever seen. Whether it is now worth a criminal investigation is really questionable, but now that it is front page news, well we gotta have an investigation. Damn the expense there is a chance to be on a front page (or on Larry King Live.)

Now you maybe wondering why since I was quoted extensively I would be complaining. Well because the only reason anyone cares about this is because it is in the newspapers and on TV. I was shocked to see how little the interviewers (I was also vetted by CNN for their programs but I guess I wasn't willing to make enough out of it to be interesting to their viewers so they had Dr? Laura Schlessinger on to rant about our kids run amok.)

The incident does raise a lot of issues, but the least one is whether these kids need to be prosecuted. The girls have been suspended from school. This is even though the incident did not happen at their school or during school hours. It wasn't even an attack on a girl who goes to their school.

The issues I think are important are:
1. Why would they attack a girl 3 on 1?
2. Why did they film it?
3. After filming it, why did they put it up on one of their web pages?
4. What effect did reality TV playing in this?
5. What effect did violent entertainment (ie video games, TV, Movies etc)play here?
6. What if any responsibility does the hosting website have in this mess?
7. Why aren't the parents of these youngsters monitoring and editing their websites.

That kids fight, well, sadly that happens. Further it is probably age appropriate for 11-14 year olds. If I had been the principal, after I learned they had put the thing on the web, I too would have suspended the girls so that they would not be a distraction to other students. Had the item not appeared on the web and I learned of it I would have ordered peer counseling which has remarkable results on bullying, more than any other counseling I have seen in this age group when done correctly.

What makes this really scary, is the need of the girls to publically humiliate their victim, and to boast of their own violence on the Internet.

Our practice handles a lot of Internet/Cyber Crime. Up until lately that has been limited to Pornography, illegal Internet Gambling, Identity Theft, and of course Sexual Abuse. The addition of children (these are 13 and 14 year old girls) using the net to posit and boast or threaten other children is a burgeoning field. Every week we are getting more and more e-mails and phone calls about cyberstalking and calling people out.

It is in posts on My Space. It is not just on the weirdo sites anymore. It is on YouTube. There has always been a market for "backyard fighting" and such. These wilding incidents are just a push of the limits as to how far we will go to both protect the internet from censorship and to what controls we as adults will use to control our own kids.

For now, I am more a reporter of fact than I am a commentator. As a parent, and a lawyer I will tell other parents they have a right to snoop and check up on the internet use of their kids. Even so, there are limits how successful we can be. Our ability to monitor is difinitively going to be reduced as technology skyrockets. The new I-phones for example will be a huge test for us. When kids have them, even parents who are conscientious can easily loose track and control. Kids understand the technology much better than we do. These new smart phones will give kids access to the internet 24-7-365. Even the best of us cannot monitor that.

If we cannot monitor, what can we do?
*Well, for starters we can force internet companies like YouTube and My Space to take more responsiblity for monitoring their sites.

*We can to the best of our abilities monitor the sites our children use on the home or their personal computors.

*We can require the cellular phone companies provide us with detail bills of whom are children are sending text messages and MMS and other types of messages to.

*We can require e-mail to provide us with passwords to monitor our kids e-mail.

*Most importantly we can require that we talk to our kids. We need to find out if they are miffed at someone or if they are being threatened by someone. We can take phone calls from other parents who say their kid is afraid of our kids seriously. We can refuse to allow our kids to speak to us as they do thier friends. We can require civility.

*We can teach our kids about peace and love and even a higher power. We can stop eschewing formal religion and practice the ethics of the religion we adopt. We can be home when the kids get home, and we can be up and awake when they walk through the door.

Knowing that they will have to face us, and answer a host of imposing questions (like who were you with?, and where were you?, and what did you do?, etc) will be enough to slow most kids down. If nothing else, it's a start.

Fox News Cites That Lawyer Dude On The Heidgen Case

I want to welcome all of the visitors from Fox News. I hope you will visit often.
The hits on this blog more than doubled yesterday and I had no idea why. Now I know. This story on Fox News' website cites my post on the Martin Heidgen verdict. I am cited for differing with the prosecution and saying that the verdict will be overturned. I guess we will see. Coincidentally I just had another post on DWI's right below this one. I guess that's proof that "great" minds think alike.

Drinking And Driving Does Not Equal Driving While Intoxicated

I have spent the better part of this holiday season trying to disabuse potential clients of the idea that because they had a drink and drove, didn't mean that the prosecutors could prove they were drunk at the time they were arrested. The anti-alcohol lobby has done an excellent job of telling America, wrongly of course that if you drink and drive, you're guilty of Driving While Intoxicated.

If you were not driving while intoxicated, under NY law you are not guilty of the crime. There are many ways to attack an unlawful charge of driving while intoxicated.

To begin, If there were others in the car with you, and they can testify to your sobriety that will help. In a recent trial a policeman testified that the defendant was weaving within his lane and twice hit a divider. The police officer wrote a ticket for failing to maintain lane (he needed probable cause to stop and otherwise legally driven car so he could breath test the driver.) The defendant and his friend both testified that it never happened. The jury failed to convict on the charge. Juries do not always believe the police.

Second, assuming that the accused was drinking at a bar or restaurant before driving a bill from the bar or restaurant that delineates what was consumed can be strong evidence of total consumption especially when coupled with the bartender or waitress testimony or that of fellow diners.

Inaccuracies as to how the Standardized Field Sobriety Test is given also can lead to a jury raising reasonable doubt as to one's guilt of intoxication at the time they were operating a motor vehicle.

Finally if the judge will allow it, there is the issue that the breath test does not test your actual blood alcohol level and there may be medical evidence to attack the validity of the test.

With new plea bargaining rules in place in Nassau and Suffolk Counties it may behoove those that are facing the real possibility of jail to skip the Breath test. If one has taken the test, there is a very good attack on both the science of the machine and the way the test is taken. One of the most damaging pieces of evidence is that police will not allow defense experts to examine their machine. After all, if they have nothing to hide, why won't they let our expert take a peek?

The main message here is that even though the politicians and the advocates for the anti-alcohol lobby have been snowing America for years there are very strong defenses for someone who is wrongfully accused of drinking and driving. The most important part of the puzzle is finding a lawyer who is not afraid of the jury and is not in it to cash in on your misfortune. A lawyer who is really going to put the people to the test is going to be expensive. There will be motions and hearings and trials involved. With the cost of an expert witness or witnesses the cost could easily run in the tens of thousands of dollars. That said, with District Attorney's in both Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island and even in Queens County tightening up their plea bargaining rules, and with the New York State Legislature making ridiculous rules that can ruin lives of good people wrongfully accused of this crime, the investment in winning a trial is far more than worth the cost.

And While We're On The Topic Of Porn & Computers... Check Out This Prosecution Boondoggle

In a couple of our last posts (here and here) I have been talking about prosecutors and government wasting taxpayers money, their time and our precious resources on sex crime issues. Just as I thought I was finished with the topic, I saw this article. Is this Prosecutor Thomas kidding??? Sadly no. The voters of Maricopa County AZ need to start a recall. In fact they should be outside of his office everyday until he resigns for being an idiot. I am sorry but putting a 16 year old through hell for possession of 9 pictures that he may or may not have downloaded and making a crime of one 16 year old showing another 16 year old a Playboy magazine is a crime in itself. Forcing the plea was at best a face-saving effort for a jerk DA. Maybe a Congressman should ask the Bar to investigate this guy. What ever happened to the saying "De minimis non curat lex?”

Hattip to : Classically Liberal.

Justice Department Doesn't Need More Money, It Needs To Get It's Priorities Straight: That Lawyer Dude's Solution To Justice's Staffing Problem

Seems that budget problems in Washington D.C. are creating a hiring freeze of sort at the big three Law-enforcement agencies; The FBI, The DEA and ATFE (formerly ATF the guys that brought us WACO.) According to the Beltway Brains, the failure to increase the budget on these agencies is costing us in the crucial areas of fighting violent crime and terrorism. Their answer of course is to pass a spending bill that increases the budgets for these agencies instead of stop-gap spending bills that create an inability to plan and hire more "troops." Well far be it from me to suggest that Congress shouldn't do its job and pass a budget. As for increasing the budget for the Justice Department to squander... well lets just say I have a better idea.

How about we scale back the DOJ budget and get the Justice Department to stop trying to enforce laws that the states should be enforcing? Additionally, how about we stop using federal funds to look into things that are the pet peeves of the political elite... like say Pornography? Yeah, lets take the Forty or so agents (and their staffs) whose job it is to scour the internet for porn (not child porn mind you but adult porn) to look at dirty movies and put them to work fighting Al Qaeda? In fact we can use the porn tapes they've been buying to torture the Al Qaeda operatives we capture. Instead of Water-boarding, they have to watch Mary Carey movies until they break. Sure it's cruel, but then again, think of how much we will save on the cellophane. After all the movies are reusable. Believe it or not, after watching the porn, the agents need psychological help which our government then has to provide.

The Justice Department's budget is OUT OF CONTROL because the Neo-conservatives have a basic misunderstanding of the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution. (They need to read this and study these.) Unfortunately, so do democrats and liberals. Hence the Democrat Senator Barbra Mikulski (who chairs a panel that oversees funding of the Justice Department) is saying stupid things like

"Without a budget in place, "the FBI and DOJ will not be able to maintain the operations tempo they've achieved since Sept. 11."

Instead of saying smart things like:

"Without a change in priorities the FBI and DOJ will not be able to maintain the operations tempo in fighting Terror and Violence that they achieved since 9-11."

Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. Hey Barbra, instead of telling me how much money the Justice Department should get; first you do that "oversight thing" your supposed to do and find out what DOJ uses the money they are getting for, and then after evaluating that, you decide how much they should get for their next go around.

We cannot afford to keep looking to Washington DC to fight every battle that someone thinks needs to be fought. If people in Pittsburgh think porn is a bad thing and should be fought, let them pay for that privilege. In NYC we have bigger things to worry about. Porn is not even on the first fifty pages of the list. Al Queda doesn't even know Pittsburgh exists. I wish I could say the same about Manhattan.

Goodbye Mike It's Been Good To Know You...NOT!!: DA Nifong Asks Off The Duke Rape Case

You guys may know this by know but Durham (NC) District Attorney Mike Nifong has asked the State's attorney to assign another prosecutor to the Duke Lacrosse Rape case. It has been a disaster from the beginging. I still cannot figure out what Nifong was thinking about when he brought the charges. There was a rush to judgment and condemnation of the boys involved, who forever will have their reputations sullied by a District Attorney who seemed more interested in the publicity he could get from the case than doing justice.

A prosecutor has a different set of Rules than most lawyers. He doesn't represent a client unlike defense attorney's or even civil lawyers. He represents the power of the state. He doesn't have a right to put his interest before those of the state. He has an obligation to bring to justice people who it seems committed a crime by at least a preponderance of the evidence...that's the credible evidence.

The word credible was what Nifong missed throughout the case. Sadly he never took the time to speak to the alleged victim. In the fear I guess that he might further the harm to her, he decided not to speak to her. WRONG! He had an obligation to investigate and in this racially charged case he had an obligation to move ponderously so as to not rush to judgment.

In NY right now I have been listening to complaints about the Queens District Attorney's office handling of the Club Kahlua/Sean Bell police shooting. I have refrained commenting on the case because I have been involved with both Kahlua club and another area club in the past.

Despite my distaste for the vice squad and their tactics, I nevertheless, commended the District Attorney's office for taking time to investigate the case and not be pressured by community activists and outside pundit's comments. I do not know what happened the night of the shooting, but I do know that on its face, it would be easy to condemn the police officers who shot Shaun Bell. Condemnation however is different from using the criminal justice system to destroy and potentially jail an otherwise "innocent" person.

If criminal charges are brought against one or more of the police officers whose bullets killed Mr. Bell, well at least we know that the decision to prosecute them was made diliberately and with thought.

The kids from Duke cannot say that. In fact they probably can say that with Nifong facing a tough re-election and needing the minority vote to win, their case was political and he used it for his own political gain. Win lose or draw, the damage to the Duke 3 is done, and there is nothing anyone can do to give them back their youth.

10000 hits since April...

I know that 10000 hits since April is no big deal for some blogs but for this one...WOW. Anyway, Thanks for all of you who stop here regularly. And thanks to you guys who get lost here courtesy of Google or Blogger. Don't forget to look for the return of Long Island (Criminal)Trial Law next week. Take care.

A Life Well Lived: Rest in Peace Lieutenant (FDNY) Joseph P. Colleluori

One of my heroes died last Thursday evening. My cousin Joe. I am profoundly sad, and a bit angry, but mostly I am proud of him. I am proud of him for the way he lived his life, and for the way he died.

If eulogy leaves you maudlin, or if you think sentiment cheap, tune out now.

Joe's dad and my dad were brothers. Two of five brothers and three sisters children of Italian immigrants. Though seven years separated them, they shared the same birthday. Each lived only 67 years. They died 7 years apart. Joseph is his father's eldest son. His death on Thursday night came about seven years after my dad's. Each of these three men worked in fields where they were constantly exposed to toxins, especially asbestos.

In High School he was a state champion hurdler, and married his High School sweetheart (his next door neighbor) basically right out of High School. They have been married for 30 years. It is impossible to think of Coleen without thinking of Joe. Even as young people, these two were wise beyond their years. The one thing you could say about them is that they were not selfish. As their young marriage went on, they were thrust into situations that were difficult.

They helped care for Coleen’s dad and sister after her mom passed away. They cared for my uncle and aunt as they too contracted Cancer and died difficult deaths. They adapted to be there for others.

Joe was supportive of everyone’s endeavors. Whether you were trying to be an athlete, or were an artist or wanted to be a professional, Joe urged you on. In my own life, I wanted to be like him and my other cousins. I wanted to be as athletic as they were. Alas, Music and schoolwork was my forte. One day when I was still in High School, I was bemoaning the fact that I was just not very good at sports, Joseph took me aside. He knew I wanted to be a lawyer. He told me that while sports were a great thing, I should be proud of what I was good at. That someday, I would be able to do things that the athletes in the family would never be able to do. That I would help many people through my efforts to be a lawyer, and that they would be as in awe of me, as I was of them. I don’t know that I accomplished exactly what he had in mind, yet, but I strive to everyday. He was that kind of a motivator.

In 1983, Joe became a fireman in part at the urging of his friend Battalion Chief Brian Hickey NYFD dec. 9-11-01. Brian and Joey were friends forever. They worked together and Brian convinced Joe to take the fireman's exam. On 9-11-01, Joe was ordered to Shea Stadium to help organize the men there who would relieve the firemen at Ground Zero. It was a tough assignment for him. He wanted to be downtown where the action was. Where his son Brian was, where his friend Brian Hickey was.

When the towers came down, My heart was in my mouth. I knew how many firemen were there and I was sure either Brian or Joseph was there. Fortunately for us they weren't there. Unfortunately, then Captain Hickey was there. After serving his tour at Shea, Joe volunteered at ground zero on his days off. He had to search for his friend and golfing partner, Brian Hickey. Until the day he died, Joe missed Brian, and many of the other men who he had worked beside. Many have mentioned that if Heaven has a golf course on it, Joe and Brian are with Mr. Kelly and Coleen’s brother Frank teeing it up and enjoying the game. I guess my anger comes wondering what effect the work Joe did at Ground Zero effected the brain cancer that took him

I was amazed to see how many boys who played ball for Joe and Brian became firefighters. These two were a recruiting poster for the NYFD. One way to judge a man is by the mark he makes on others. Joseph certainly made a mark on these young men. These boys, now young firemen, were at the wake in droves, as were all the kids Joe had touched in life. Through the entire 2 year ordeal they have been there supporting the family, helping where they could. They are a tribute to their coach and mentor.

Joe's was a life well lived. He has 2 beautiful daughters and two handsome sons. Brian, the eldest, followed in his dad's boots, and is a NYFD firefighter. Brian married his high school sweetheart and they gave Joseph his pride a joy for the last 10 months, a granddaughter, Saige. They have another on the way.

I think Kevin, a sophomore in College, will be an all American lacrosse player. He is studying to be a dentist. Diana is going to be a teacher when she graduates college soon, and Melissa is a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Joe coached each child, in soccer or football or lacrosse or some other sport. They carry with them his steely determination and love for life.

Joe gave back to his hometown. Raised in Bethpage NY, Joe and his brothers excelled in Track and Field. Joe was a state finalist in the hurdles. By the time his son Brian hit high school, Joseph was active in the Bethpage Dad's club. He became President of the club and raised thousands of dollars to offset the extra costs of being a high school athlete. In a blue collar neighborhood like Bethpage, those extras can mean the difference between a kid playing ball, or never having the chance. Joe and those he worked with, made a difference, and they had a good time doing it. They helped obtain defibrulators and bought batting cages. Mostly they taught the kids they helped to have pride in their hometown and to give back to it.

Joe was Mr. Bethpage. He knew everyone and they knew him. He either coached them or went to High school with them, or worked with them in the Dad’s club. He helped them in a snow storm, or saved them from a burning building. Bethpage came to the wake by the hundreds. The wake was a tribute to a man who understood what it meant to be a neighbor, a friend, a Father, a husband, a man.

About two years ago, I was laying in a hospital in NYC, I had had surgery the day before, but I started bleeding, and had to undergo a second surgery. Unbeknownst to me, Joseph had taken a seizure earlier that day. The next morning I learned that we were in the same hospital, a floor apart. Joe had a deadly form of Brain cancer. The doctors had gone in and removed the tumor. Even so the survival rate was low. Because Joe was in such good shape they expected him to do as well as anyone. We spent Easter in the hospital together. It was one of the best Easter's I have ever had. Our families were together, and supported each other. Joe's firemen friends were there too. They helped to lighten the mood, as only those who regularly face death can do. I will never forget that week.

Thereafter, life changed for Joe. It was a regular routine of doctors and medicine. I never heard him complain about it. I never heard him whine about the unfairness of it. I only saw him work hard as he always did to beat his new foe. For over a year Joe was doing well. He even thought about returning to the FDNY on light duty. Then the cancer reappeared. Though he put up a valiant fight, Cancer won this time. Joe died at home, among his family, where he belonged.

As we prepare to bury Joseph today, at 10:45AM, we bury only a body, a carcass. The man’s spirit will never be buried. All that knew him and loved him, will carry that spirit forever. After today, we will be finding out how we will live without him. It will not be an easy task, he has set the bar high. No matter what, we will never forget him.

Rest in Peace Joe, we’ll get together again someday.

Joining The NARP: Keeping Railways Open To Passengers

I joined the National Association of Railway Passengers. I suppose my money will be spent fighting the money I send to the Cato Institute, but I really believe that funding the Nation's RailRoad System now is an investment in our future...yes I said future.

I know that people think that railway traffic is a thing of the past but I have to say that I would rather take an Acela Express to Washington DC than fly into Reagan National or (G-d forbid Dulles.) The Railroad is an inexpensive, profit making travel alternative for me.

Look it takes me 1 hour to get from my home on Long Island to either of the big airports closest to me. It takes the same time to get to Penn Station NYC by taking the Long Island Railroad or driving. I have to drive to the airport. I can work on the LIRR. I cannot work on the LIE. (That's the Long Island Expressway for the uninitiated. Alan King called it the Worlds longest parking lot...He was right)

I have to be to the airport at least an hour and if I really want to be safe two hours before flight time. By the time I get through the gate and to my gate, buy a coffee and find a place to open my laptop it can take almost an hour.
I also have to "strip" first to get past the metal detectors...not a pretty site.

At Penn station I have use of a nice lounge and I only have to be there a half hour before my scheduled departure.

On a flight to DC I cannot get up to use the restroom... or really for any other reason. I can roam the train if I want to. The train seats are spacious. I am a big guy. On the plane, I have to buy a second seat or talk my way into first class if I really want comfort. I have plenty of legroom and work space on the train. I have no legroom or work space on the plane.

On the train I have full Wi-fi connectivity for nearly the whole time, on the plane I have to shut off my Verizon WWAN device or take responsibility for a mid air disaster. On the train I even have a plug.

On the train I can sit at a table across from my colleagues. We can spread out like in the law school library. On the plane? No way.

BUT WHAT ABOUT TIME???? What about it? It takes the Acela about 2:45 to get from NY to Washington. I bill about 2 hours of that minimum. It is nearly always on time. The shuttle is 45 minutes and it always takes off late. There are almost always flight delays getting into NY this summer. I can't work while I lose and hour or two at the gate. From my house to my hotel in DC it is a 4 hour ordeal. I took the plane three times from Chicago to NY. Direct NON STOP FLIGHTS!!! Average time spent in travel from Home to hotel 9 hours. Why...Delays Laguardia, Delays O'Hare. Expressway (an oxymoron)delays both cities. If we had a Acela Express to Chicago, time home to hotel... 6 hours!!

Now unfortunately we do not have Acela Express service to Chicago or Pittsburg or anywhere not in the Northeast Corridor, but we should. We should be making the kind of financial commitment to rail travel that Europe has made because in the long run it will increase profits for small and even big business.

Rail travel is stress free (at least for me) and efficient. If we had begun proper funding of Rail travel 30 years ago as we should have, we could have a lot better travel at a fraction of the cost.

Now before anyone goes on to tell me that Acela fares rival plane fares, let me say that based on my hourly billing rate, I would rather pay the Acela fare, than ride the plane...FOR FREE!!!That is the difference. If you haven't taken a intercity railway in a while, and can take the Acela Express, try it out. You will never go back. Heck I once became retained in a case for in excess of One Hundred Thousand Dollars, because I was able to call the client from the train. He was so impressed that I called him while I was traveling. I couldn't have done that from 30,000 feet.

If you do not live in a city that has Acela Service you should be writing your congressman and screaming. As prices go up and service gets weaker(on the airlines,) those trains are gonna look a lot more sweeter... Ok I will stick to polemics and avoid poetry. You get on your Congressman and Senators and don't just ask them to save Amtrak but ask them to make it even better!

The Blogosphere At The New Year: Back From The Party

I don't know about all of you, but this last week felt like a whirlwind of hello's and goodbyes. It felt like a food orgy too. I am going walking tomorrow just to see if I still can.

In the meantime the blogosphere has been posting everything from Saddam's death to the Duke Rape case. Here are some of my favorites from the week that was, the last week of 2006:

On Tuesday, the Profs over at Crim Profs blog were talking about a potential bipartisan effort to pass the Second Chance legislation that might make it a little easier to help felons on parole succeed in moving on with their lives. Here's a thought on that, how about we get an expungment law on the books in NY?

In Wednesday Professor Berman brought our attention to a really good decision on Booker and the career offender guidelines by Judge Nancy Gertner of the US District Court's Mass.District. The judge evaluated the career offender requirements and noted how in the case before her it meant a big co-defendant disparity as well as a roll disparity and the incarceration of a very elderly defendant. The case is US v. Ennis, No. 03-cr-10298 (D. Mass. Dec. 21, 2006). You can link to the decision from Sentencing Law and Policy's post.

Wednesday also saw the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (F.I.R.E.) release it's end of year report on First Amendment freedoms on campus...pretty dismal reading. Between the Cartoon wars and college newspaper thefts and attacks on religious freedom on public campus's it was a pretty busy year, for Fire Volunteers.

In another example of bad cases making bad law, Talkleft's TChris blogged about a federal judge releasing Major League Baseball Drug testing results to US Prosecutors in the widening Balco Steroid case. Here is the warning quote:

Your employer wants you to submit to drug testing but assures you that the results will be kept confidential. Is your privacy protected? Don't count on it.

On Friday Eugene Volokh asks What's Wrong With Retired Federal Judges Filing a Friend-of-the-Court Brief?. Seems a bunch of former federal judges got together to suggest to the DC Circuit how to decide one of the Guantanamo cases attacking the new military tribunals law. The Circuit felt the judges were trading on their titles as former judges. What is interesting is that the chief judge who opposed taking their former colleagues amicus briefs (which the government did not oppose) was David Sentenelle who always would address Ken Starr as Judge Starr during the Clinton/Whitewater investigation.

On Saturday Harlan Protass over at Second Circuit Sentencing Blog blogs two cases seeking (and getting) significantly below guideline range sentences. Harlan worries that the amount under guidelines will set off an appeal in the Second Circuit.

Harlan is right back to us on Saturday morning with this post concerning whether the Second Circuit panel in United States v. Jones, No. 05-5312-CR, 2006 WL 3687530 (2d Cir. Dec. 12, 2006) has impermissible changed the standard of review of Booker sentences.

Here is the money quote from the decision:

What does the Second Circuit mean when it says it reviews sentences for "unreasonableness"? We know from cases like Fernandez and Rattoballi that the Second Circuit is deferential to sentencing court determinations. But does Jones indicate a higher level of deference? In other words, if the Second Circuit's review is only for "unreasonableness," is the Second Circuit indicating that a sentencing court's sentence is presumptively reasonable? And, if so, does that gut the entire purpose of reasonableness review?

Sunday saw the late night release of Justice Roberts report on the state of the Courts. Roberts basically demanded a raise for judges. I think he makes a very good point. Federal judges earn less than Law Professors and Law school deans. Roerts points out that if we don't start to give raises soon we are going to get judges who are so rich they are not in the same situation as the litigants before them or judges for whom the present salary is a pay raise. He points to the evidence of how many Government lawyers leave to go to the Judiciary. The guys over at the Wall Street Journal talk about it here. They see it differently. At over two hundred thousand a year they feel judges should be thankful for having their jobs.
I disagree and hope that a pay raise will attract some practicing criminal lawyers onto the bench.

Finally there is a rather mystical journey over at Blawg Review 89. Check it out. It was quite the travelogue.

Ok till next time, you can reach us with an email to me at Catlaw1@yahoo.com and enjoy a happy and healthy New Year's Day. Drive carefully.