Innocence Project Clients from Clark County Freed

UW's Innocence Project Secures Two More Conviction Reversals, UW Law press release, April 22, 2010. Note links to other stories and video clips in sidebar.

Prosecutor Sleeps with Judge: Conflict of Interest?

Dahlia Lithwick writes about a distressing conflict of interest in a murder trial -- a conflict that does not seem to distress reviewing courts. Courting Disaster: The most outrageous thing about the Texas judge who slept with the prosecutor in a death-penalty case, Slate, April 24, 2010.

You don't even have to take a position on Hood's guilt, innocence, or the efficacy of the death penalty to recognize that when a judge and prosecutor are secret paramours, the integrity of the whole judicial system suffers.

Thanks: Jennifer Wertkin

Corrected 6/25/10

Trial Advocacy Resources Guide

Check out our library's new Trial Advocacy Resources guide. It lists print, video, and online resources for developing skills and finding academic studies. It has links to national and Washington State professional organizations and local courts. And it has information about newsletters and blogs that can help you stay current.

I've added it as a link in the sidebar to the right, so you can find it again easily if you want to.

Judge Franklin Burgess Dies

Judge Franklin D. Burgess, the second African American judge in the Western District of Washington, died last week. Gonzaga star Judge Franklin Burgess a genuine legend, Seattle Times, March 27, 2010.

Court Requires Warning About Deportation Risk

Court Requires Warning About Deportation Risk, N.Y. Times, March 31, 2010:

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that lawyers for people thinking of pleading guilty to a crime must advise their clients who are not citizens about the possibility that they will be deported.

Likening deportation to the punishments of banishment and exile, Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for five justices, said the Constitution guaranteed competent legal advice on at least some collateral consequences of guilty pleas.

“It is our responsibility under the Constitution to ensure that no criminal defendant — whether a citizen or not — is left to the mercies of incompetent counsel,” Justice Stevens wrote.

Padilla v. Kentucky, No. 08-651 (March 31, 2010) is here. SCOTUS Blog has links to other stories here.