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Criminology 101 – Advanced Theories of Street Crime and Hard Time.
“There was crime, but it sure as Hell wasn’t organized.” This is a quote my client told me in an interview room at the jail while recounting his growing up as a gang member in an agricultural community...
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Criminology 201: Selected Topics in Disorganized Crime
Criminology 201: Selected Topics in Disorganized Crime In my last post, I discussed a client whose life experience failed to square with the accepted narratives that are taught to police, probation,...
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How Do I Know if my REAL Lawyer is Doing a Good Job?
Dear Norm: I was arrested recently, and my family pooled their money together to hire a private attorney. He sure sounds persuasive when we talk to him, and we really believed him when he told us that...
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Brushing Off the Dust
To my readers, passersby, and criminal justice enthusiasts: Many of you have noticed that Chasing Truth, Catching Hell has been in a state of hibernation for the past few months; it has been too long...
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Cry Havoc: Jury Selection in a World Without Civic Virtue (Part I)
This is not a manifesto on the virtues of jury duty. I will not wax romantic about the importance of juries in our system of justice or in any system of representative government. I hold no degrees...
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Adversaries Need Not Apply
To: Mr. Blaise Trettis, Public Defender 18th Judicial Circuit Public Defender Brevard County, Florida From: Norm DeGuerre, Esq. Deputy Public Defender,...
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An Afternoon With Judge Goodhair
Seven police officers sat behind me as I questioned one of their colleagues in Judge Goodhair’s courtroom. Witnesses in a case are normally excluded from the courtroom when another witness is...
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Cry Havoc II: Cry Harder
In Part I of this tale, the County of Santa Asphalt entrusted me to defend a man who robbed a store of its beer at knife-point. After a series of clumsy, ham-fisted questions by the judge and...
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Murderer’s Privilege (An Attempt at Mostly Fiction)
The heavy steel door latched shut with the tiniest of clicks just before the jail guard walked away. My seat was round and about as large as a personal pizza. My left buttock tingled and then drifted...
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Let Me Tell You About my Morning…
When you ride as a passenger in someone’s car, does the driver then get access, dominion, or control over your anus? I thought the obvious answer was “no, are you kidding me?” This week, I tried — and...
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Grandma, Should I Plea? (A Largely True Story)
“I have an idea – humor me on this.” I would never have imagined saying these words to a client on the eve of trial. We were in court for a last-minute settlement conference. The jury panel would show...
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The Thin Blue Curtain
Dozens of cars whooshed over my head every second; I first heard the engine, followed by thunks of axles bumping over seams in the freeway, and then the air as it tried in vain to catch up in their...
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A Reluctant Call for Mercy Killing: This Lawyer’s Opinion
The time has come for the criminal defense community to rethink its well-rehearsed response to the following question: What would happen if every defendant who wanted a trial got one? Michelle...
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The Warrant Exception: A Fourth Amendment Field Report
Most of my cases involve some kind of search. My clients have had their homes raided by squads of police officers sporting surplus military weaponry. Their underwear drawers, pants pockets, and...
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Three Years Ago Today…
Happy Anniversary to me! Chasing Truth, Catching Hell turns 3 years old today. Year 3 will begin with a different tone and focus. The theme of the blog won’t change, but the style will be more fiction...
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Jury Dookie
(A piece of short fiction) “Oh. My. GAWD!” For the first time in several hours, Juror Number 2 put down her cell phone. By this point, I had served on this jury with her for 8 days, six hours, and 15...
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Triage
(More short fiction) From his seat in courtroom 110, the Honorable Quentin Castro felt thousands of tiny fingers around his neck. If he took both hands away from his pen, away from his files, away...
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Sworn to Silence
The public defender who hired me warned that most of our attempts to help our clients will fail, despite our very best efforts. But she went on to say that even when all of our efforts fall short, a...
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“Staying Billable,” or “Norm Reviews: The Six-Minute Solution”
Saint Asphalt, my county’s namesake, lived in what is now Eastern Luxembourg in the 15th century. She was known for her extreme compassion for the poor and her miraculous efforts on their behalf are...
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Dear Norm: How Do You Defend Those People? (Part 3,223)
Dear Norm: How do you defend those people? No, I don’t mean “how can you live with yourself ensuring due process for people who have done really really bad things” or anything like that. I mean, how do...
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