New York, April 30, 2016. Renee Hill represents one of nine current or former Rikers Island prison guards charged with viciously beating an inmate. Jahmal Lightfoot, the former inmate, is...
Ghomeshi: The Letter
Once in rare while we come across a piece of advocacy which seems almost perfect. This is hard to accomplish in cross examination because your "partner" is hostile and seeks...
Ghomeshi: Witness #3
After the DeCoutre Disaster the Crown called to the witness box a woman publicly identified only as complaint #3. If the Crown thought she would bring their case back from...
Jian Ghomeshi: Cross-examination #1
I enjoy following trials and dissecting cross-examinations. An outstanding example of confrontation is currently proceeding in Canada. Jian Ghomeshi is the celebrity defendant in the Canadian “Trial of the Century.”...
What Makes a Hero?
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…. Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals."—Rev. Dr. Martin...
Mob Justice in Baltimore
Few animals are as dangerous as a lynch mob. Pitchforks and torches, or slogans and signs, the effect is the same; taking justice into their own hands.
Cross-Examination: Try to Leave Before Redirect
I hate redirect. Any form of rebuttal can be deadly but redirect under the federal rules is pure torture. A brilliant cross-examination can be entirely unwound with an effective redirect,...
David Rosen
David Rosen died as he lived, with little fanfare. He passed on October 3, 2015, yet I didn’t know it until I read his obituary this morning.
The Slippery Slope of Waiving Rights
I read in the New York Times that Eli Cherkasky, an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA public corruption unit, was adjudged guilty of third-degree assault, criminal obstruction of...
Cross: The deadly “Why”
“Cross-examination is the greatest legal engine ever invented for the discovery of truth. You can do anything with a bayonet except sit on it. A lawyer can do anything with...