Sunday, December 23, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: How do lawyers evaluate the truthfulness of eye witness testimony?

At a bare minimum, you should look at the demeanor of the witness, the inherent probability of the account, any internal inconsistencies in the account, whether the account is consistent with previous statements by the witness, whether the witness has any bias against the accused or any family or group to which the accused belongs, whether the evidence at the crime scene supports the account, and whether the witness’s testimony is supported by the testimony of other witnesses. Uncorroborated eyewitness testimony is highly suspect. Most DNA exonerations in wrongful conviction cases come from convictions based on uncorroborated eyewitness testimony.

Monday, November 19, 2018

A MILESTONE REACHED

It seems like forever that I have been transcribing the testimony from the 4,000+ page record of the trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann in the Lindbergh Kidnapping Case. I have transcribed up to page 1,079, which means I am more than 20% through the transcript. Hopefully the next 3,000+ pages won't go as slowly as the first 1,079. Here's a link to the latest witness I have transcribed: HILDEGARDE OLGA ALEXANDER.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: Was there a massacre performed by the U.S. military after the Japanese troops had surrendered at Iwo Jima?

Bob Dekle
Bob Dekle, former Assistant State Attorney (1975-2005)




There was no formal surrender. The Japanese weren’t into surrendering. After a little over a month of fighting General Kuribayashi ordered his men to make one last midnight suicide attack, and the following morning he committed ritual seppuku. The island was then declared to be secured because it was believed that all enemy combat troops had been killed, captured, or committed suicide. Then some Japanese who were hiding out in caves and tunnels attempted a massacre.
Since the island was “secured,” somebody decided it was time to collect everyone’s weapons for storage. No need for firearms after the battle was over, right? Luckily, not all the firearm were collected. Approximately 280 uncaptured holdouts took advantage of the situation to make a nighttime attack on a bivouac consisting of a hodgepodge of men, mostly non-combatant troops. At 5:15 am the Japanese hit the bivouac from three directions. They were among the tents knifing sleeping Americans before any response could be made. By a stroke of luck, the main attack hit the Marines 5th Pioneer Battalion, who were not frontline combat troops but of the men in the bivouac were the ones most familiar with ground combat. They fended off two waves of attackers. It was touch and go for a while, but Marines from the Fifth Division, who were preparing to board a ship, joined the melee. The attack was finally contained at 8:00 am when a company from the Army’s 147th Infantry Regiment arrived with a flamethrower tank. When it was over 44 airmen and 9 Marines lay dead. Wounded numbered 88 airmen and 31 Marines. The attacking party’s casualties were 262 dead and 18 captured.
Sources: Bill D. Ross, “Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor;” oral communication from my father, who fought on Iwo Jima as a member of the Third Marine Division.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: How many major battles would a regular soldier usually fight in the American Civil War?

Sunday, October 28, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: As a lawyer, what is the worst behavior by a client you’ve ever witnessed?

Friday, October 26, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: WHAT'S THE FUNNIEST COURT CASE YOU'VE SEEN?






SIX CAPSULES: THE GILDED AGE MURDER OF HELEN POTTS


My latest book is nearing publication. and I am quite happy about how things are going with it. Unlike some previous publishers I've worked with, Kent State University Press did not ask for my input on cover design, which is fine with me. Most other publishers who have asked completely ignored my suggestions. I think KSU Press did a jam-up job of designing the cover. It is period appropriate, and it includes the one thing that I thought should go on the cover, a depiction of the murder weapon. Of course, I had no idea how to depict the poisoned capsule or what else to put on the cover.


Another thing that KSU Press did was change my title without asking me about it. This is completely alright with me, too. Other publishers have involved me in the tedious process of changing my working title, and it was a gigantic pain in the neck. Besides, KSU Press came up with a far better title than the one I had given the book. Six Capsules: The Carlyle Harris Murder Case just isn't as good as Six Capsules: The Gilded Age Murder of Helen Potts.


The third thing I really like about what KSU has done comes in pricing. It's more important to me that as many people as possible can afford to buy a copy than it is to make money from sales. The modest price of the book compared to most of my previous books is a definite plus.


The publication date is mid-May of next year, but you can pre-order it on Amazon and Barnes and Noble now. The book hasn't been on the Amazon website long, but it is already climbing the charts.


What's the book about, besides the murder of a beautiful young lady? This Annotated Table of Contents can give you an idea without giving away too much.


ANNOTATED TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: The Sleep of Morpheus—Describes how Helen Potts died from morphine poisoning at the Comstock School in New York City, and how suspicion immediately fell upon her supposed friend, medical student Carlyle Harris.

Chapter 2: The Secret Marriage—Tells how Harris met and became infatuated with Helen and traces their romance up to and through their contracting a secret marriage.

Chapter 3: The Sacred Marriage—Describes how Helen’s mother learned of the secret marriage and began pressuring Harris to enter into a “sacred [public] marriage” with Helen, a move which Harris vehemently opposed. 

Chapter 4: A World of Concern for Harris—Recounts the aftermath of Helen’s death: the coroner’s botched investigation and inquest, the media firestorm, Harris’s expulsion from medical school, and the bringing of charges against Harris with the District Attorney.

Chapter 5: Working Up a Case on Harris—Describes how Assistant District Attorneys Francis Wellman and Charles Simms reassembled the broken pieces of the coroner’s botched investigation and were able to amass enough evidence to indict Harris.

Chapter 6: Wellman States His Case Against Harris—Analyzes and critiques Wellman’s opening statement.

Chapter 7: The Prosecution Case Week One—Describes the course of the trial through the first week. Critiques both the prosecution’s presentation and the defense put up by Harris's attorneys,  William Travers Jerome and John Taylor.

Chapter 8: The Prosecution Case Week Two—Describes the course of the trial through the second week. Continues the critiques of both the prosecution’s presentation and Harris's defense.

Chapter 9: The Defense Case Day One—Describes how the defense suffered when Wellman's cross-examination undermined their star witness.

Chapter 10: The Defense Case Day Two—Tells of the efforts of the defense to make up the ground lost on the first day of the defense case.

Chapter 11: Taylor Sums Up—Analyzes and critiques defense attorney Taylor’s final argument.

Chapter 12: Wellman Sums Up—Analyzes and critiques prosecutor Wellman’s final argument. Describes the reaction to the verdict.

Chapter 13: New Evidence?—Tells how a new defense lawyer, William Howe, took over the post-conviction litigation and marshaled a host of witnesses who stood ready to testify that Helen Potts was a morphine addict who had killed herself with an accidental overdose.

Chapter 14: The Rains Commission—Describes Howe’s media campaign to pressure Governor Roswell P. Flower into reopening the case. Tells how Flower submitted the case to a commissioner to give him recommendations on how to proceed with the case.

Chapter 15: The Curtain Falls—Tells the aftermath of Commissioner Raines's written report to the governor.

Epilog: The Carlyle Harris Case Today—Discusses how the Harris case might play out today in a modern courtroom with a modern forensic investigation. 

Thursday, October 25, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: ON A PURELY MORAL BASIS, RATHER THAN A PRACTICAL ONE, TO YOU THINK THERE ARE ANY CRIMES/PEOPLE THAT DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY?




Wednesday, October 24, 2018

A NEW REVIEW OF "PRAIRIE DEFENDER"

I just got in a copy of an advertising flyer from Southern Illinois University Press. It highlighted some of their newer books on Lincoln, and Prairie Defender was one of the books included, along with an excerpt from a review of the book published in the Midwest Book Review. Here is the entry for Prairie Defender:


ADDENDUM: After making the above post, I found the Midwest Book Review online and found the full text of the review. Here it is:

Synopsis: According to conventional wisdom, Abraham Lincoln spent most of his law career collecting debt and representing railroads, and this focus made him inept at defending clients in homicide cases. "Prairie Defender: The Murder Trials of Abraham Lincoln" is an unprecedented study of Lincoln's criminal cases, in which George Dekle (who worked as an assistant state attorney in the Third Judicial Circuit of Florida, where he prosecuted hundreds of homicide cases, and for the past ten years he served as the director of the prosecution clinic at the University of Florida Law School) disproves these popular notions, showing that Lincoln was first and foremost a trial lawyer. Through careful examination of Lincoln's homicide cases and evaluation of his legal skills, Dekle demonstrates that criminal law was an important part of Lincoln's practice, and that he was quite capable of defending people accused of murder, trying approximately one such case per year. After more than 150 years it is remarkable that there is still more to be discovered and written about the life and accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln.

Critique: "Prairie Defender" is an impressively researched, exceptionally well written, informatively organized and presented work of seminal scholarship. The result is a unique and singular study that will prove to be an outstanding and appreciated contribution to community and academic library 19th Century American History collections in general, and Abraham Lincoln supplemental studies reading lists in particular. Highly recommended.

QUORA QUESTION: WHAT MADE ULYSSES S. GRANT SUCH AN EFFECTIVE GENERAL? WHY DID HE SUCCEED WHERE SO MANY OTHERS FAILED?

Saturday, October 20, 2018

QUORA QUESTION: WHEN HAVE YOU BELIEVED A CLIENT'S STORY, BUT THEY WERE LYING?

IS SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BRETT KAVANAUGH GUILTY?