Saturday, March 07, 2009
Books: Good and Bad; Jury Train Wreck Averted
As long as I'm on a book review rant, here are two things:
I ditched Turow's book and exchanged it at the library for Brad Thor's The First Commandment. This is a very good book that is difficult to put down. I didn't get any thrilling courtroom drama, but I did get an exciting read that kept me up late. I give it 4 bandoliers out of 5. I can see that I need to read the rest of Thor's Scot Harvath books.
I also note that this blogger http://bamber.blogspot.com/ has a review of Twilight that I can agree with, "[this book] is evil." However, I could only bring myself to read a few pages from the middle of the book before I made the call that it was without redeeming features.
In the prosecutorial zone (which I believe is just north of New Guinea and some what south of harmless error) a train wreck was narrowly averted. A case that went from a felony to a misdemeanor to "he's going to plead so don't worry about preparing for trial" and then to "you're star witness has memory problems so we'll be going to trial" (plus the influence of the new United States Supreme Court case dealing with the loss of the right to firearms for any conviction where the underlying facts involved violence against a household member) did not go to trial. We used a little imagination and the guy agreed to a conditional dismissal with voluntary probation for year, including some specific treatment and counseling.
On another case that is just starting, as we go in for the probable cause hearing, the officer informs me that we can't actually tie the guy we're charging to the crime, other than by some weak hearsay - which is probably enough to get us through the PC hearing. 1st I have to thank the officer for clarifying that point for me as I had not recognized the tenousness (if that's even a word) of the link. 2nd I had to let the court know that we would not be proceeding with the PC hearing as there was some additional information I felt we required. 3rd I instructed the officer to continue the investigation, including talking to the other 2 people who were supposed to be present when the crime was committed. I'm trying to put to use the thinking that was presented to us at the prosecutor training about getting the case built and made certain before we even charge the guys - to avoid wrongful convictions or wrongful acquittals.
I ditched Turow's book and exchanged it at the library for Brad Thor's The First Commandment. This is a very good book that is difficult to put down. I didn't get any thrilling courtroom drama, but I did get an exciting read that kept me up late. I give it 4 bandoliers out of 5. I can see that I need to read the rest of Thor's Scot Harvath books.
I also note that this blogger http://bamber.blogspot.com/ has a review of Twilight that I can agree with, "[this book] is evil." However, I could only bring myself to read a few pages from the middle of the book before I made the call that it was without redeeming features.
In the prosecutorial zone (which I believe is just north of New Guinea and some what south of harmless error) a train wreck was narrowly averted. A case that went from a felony to a misdemeanor to "he's going to plead so don't worry about preparing for trial" and then to "you're star witness has memory problems so we'll be going to trial" (plus the influence of the new United States Supreme Court case dealing with the loss of the right to firearms for any conviction where the underlying facts involved violence against a household member) did not go to trial. We used a little imagination and the guy agreed to a conditional dismissal with voluntary probation for year, including some specific treatment and counseling.
On another case that is just starting, as we go in for the probable cause hearing, the officer informs me that we can't actually tie the guy we're charging to the crime, other than by some weak hearsay - which is probably enough to get us through the PC hearing. 1st I have to thank the officer for clarifying that point for me as I had not recognized the tenousness (if that's even a word) of the link. 2nd I had to let the court know that we would not be proceeding with the PC hearing as there was some additional information I felt we required. 3rd I instructed the officer to continue the investigation, including talking to the other 2 people who were supposed to be present when the crime was committed. I'm trying to put to use the thinking that was presented to us at the prosecutor training about getting the case built and made certain before we even charge the guys - to avoid wrongful convictions or wrongful acquittals.
// posted by Zerin Hood @ 3:01 PM 
