October, 2016 | McLane Bednarski & Litt, LLP

25 Oct

Batson Basics: What Are Jurors Protected From?

October 25, 2016

BLOG BULLETS: Batson requires an affirmative intent to discriminate, not just disparate impact. Disparate impact is simply evidence of discrimination. Still, some characteristics may be so closely tied to race that they serve as a surrogate for race under Batson. NOW THE BLOG: In a related vein to my post last week, how are […]

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18 Oct

Batson Basics: Who Does It Protect?

October 18, 2016

By Carl GunnPress

BLOG BULLETS: Batson clearly prohibits discrimination based on race and gender, under the Supreme Court’s own decisions. Lower courts have rejected the extension of Batson to white ethnic groups such as Irish Americans and Italian Americans and have also rejected its extension to characteristics such as obesity, age, and long hair. The Ninth Circuit did […]

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13 Oct

Jury Awards $1.6 Million which legal observers believe to be the largest non-lethal excessive force jury verdict in Long Beach history.

October 13, 2016

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

Federal magistrates seen as a strategic trial choice By America Hernandez Civil rights attorneys fed up with ever-shortening trial time limits in the Central District said they are increasingly considering stipulating to magistrates, who are able to give cases the time they deserve before jurors. Crushing caseloads and the need to prioritize criminal suits may […]

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13 Oct

Cousins win $1.6 million verdict after graphic video shows Long Beach police hitting them with batons

October 13, 2016

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

By Jeremiah Dobruck, PressTelegram Tuesday, October 11, 2016 EDITOR’S NOTE: Video contains violence and graphic language. A federal jury Friday awarded more than $1.6 million to two men who claimed Long Beach police beat them with batons and stomped on one of their hands without provocation, leaving them with broken bones and permanently disabling one […]

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11 Oct

Those Great Discovery Opinions From a Couple of Years Ago Are Still Being Followed.

October 11, 2016

By Carl GunnPress

BLOG BULLETS: A recent Ninth Circuit opinion confirms two opinions from several years ago holding that Rule 16’s right to discovery of items “material to preparing the defense” isn’t limited to admissible evidence, sets a very low threshold, and includes evidence that affects choice of defenses, witness preparation, and other such things. The opinion also […]

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4 Oct

A Glimmer of Hope Glimmers Again.

October 4, 2016

By Carl GunnPress

BLOG BULLETS: Another unpublished Ninth Circuit opinion has held the Arizona drug statutes overbroad and indivisible and so not subject to the modified categorical approach. You can look to this case, along with another similar case earlier this year, for guidance in challenging the divisibility of other states’ drug statutes. NOW THE BLOG: I’ve […]

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About the Blog

Shortly before I moved on after 28 years of work as a Federal Public Defender, one of the younger attorneys I had the honor to mentor forwarded me an e-mail he’d received from an Assistant United States Attorney. The e-mail complained that my younger colleague was being extremely frustrating, that my colleague was making far too much of a “simple little case,” that the client in the case was going to be deported no matter what, and that my colleague was forcing the prosecutor to “expend a tremendous amount of effort” on what the prosecutor characterized as a “silly issue.” He ended his e-mail by asking, “Have you been hanging out with Carl Gunn?”

Some people would have been insulted by this, but I felt rather proud. Making as much as we can out of what the government sees as “simple little cases,” litigating issues despite the government’s view that they might be “silly,” and “expend[ing] a tremendous amount of effort” on behalf of clients who have the full weight of the government thrown up against them – often with the government’s view that the case is open and shut, or “simple” – is our calling as public defenders and defense attorneys. We all have our different reasons for doing it, but it’s a crucial task – for our clients, our system, and ourselves. As Sir Thomas More was said to say in “A Man for All Seasons” in response to his future son-in- law’s exclamation that he’d “cut down every law in England” to get at the devil: “Oh, and when the last law in England was down and the Devil turned round on you – where would you hide, Roper, all the laws being flat?”

I’m proud if “hanging out with Carl Gunn” means not just accepting the government’s view that cases are “simple” and “little,” that issues are “silly,” and that we shouldn’t expend resources on our clients. Hence the name of this blog: “Hanging out with Carl Gunn.” I hope to offer some thoughts and ideas that the government may think are “silly,” but I respectfully don’t; that you can use in cases that the government may think are “simple,” but aren’t so simple when looked at more critically; and that are an entirely appropriate way to expend our resources. And in the spirit of this being a “hanging out” together, there might be guest bloggers from time to time with their “silly” ideas to offer. I hope you find some of the ideas on this blog helpful and offer whatever comments you might have to add to them.

Month: October 2016

Batson Basics: What Are Jurors Protected From?

Batson Basics: Who Does It Protect?

Jury Awards $1.6 Million which legal observers believe to be the largest non-lethal excessive force jury verdict in Long Beach history.

Cousins win $1.6 million verdict after graphic video shows Long Beach police hitting them with batons

Those Great Discovery Opinions From a Couple of Years Ago Are Still Being Followed.

A Glimmer of Hope Glimmers Again.

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