McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLP | McLane Bednarski & Litt, LLP

11 Nov

Corrections Department Settles with Family of Girl Who Attempted Suicide

November 11, 2011

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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20 Oct

DA Dismisses Case Against Visitor to Jail After KMB Attorney Presents Evidence of Innocence

October 20, 2011

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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24 Feb

BakersfieldNow: Kern County Agrees to Pay $7 Million in Jail Lawsuit

February 24, 2011

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

By Eyewitness News BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Kern County has agreed to pay out $7 million to settle a class-action lawsuit involving strip searches in its jails. Some inmates claimed they were strip searched either in a group without privacy or after the court had ordered them to be released. The settlement covers eligible beneficiaries who […]

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9 Feb

Defense Undermines DA Witness in the City of Bell Corruption Case

February 9, 2011

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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2 Feb

Prosecution of Bell City Councilmen is Unfair, Politically Motivated, and Should Be Dismissed,” Argued KMB Attorney

February 2, 2011

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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24 Sep

ICE’s Arrests Politically Motivated

September 24, 2010

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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13 Aug

Hollywood Couple Draw 6 Months Prison Term in FCPA Bribery Case

August 13, 2010

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

Federal prosecutors had sought 10 years apiece, but federal judge express concerns about the health of the defendants if given lengthy prison sentences. Amanda Bronstad The National Law Journal | August 13, 2010 A federal judge sentenced a Beverly Hills, Calif., film producer and his wife to six months in prison and six months home […]

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12 Aug

LA Times: Long Beach Agrees to Pay $8 Million in Wrongful Murder Conviction

August 12, 2010

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

Thomas Goldstein was jailed 24 years based largely on a jailhouse informant whose credibility was questionable. The city denies his rights were violated but says it couldn’t risk a sizable jury award. August 12, 2010 | By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times Long Beach has agreed to pay nearly $8 million to settle a lawsuit […]

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10 Aug

$7.95 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted Man

August 10, 2010

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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4 Jun

Personal Injury Negligence – Auto vs. Bus

June 4, 2010

By McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLPPress

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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.

Author: McLane, Bednarski & Litt, LLP

Corrections Department Settles with Family of Girl Who Attempted Suicide

DA Dismisses Case Against Visitor to Jail After KMB Attorney Presents Evidence of Innocence

BakersfieldNow: Kern County Agrees to Pay $7 Million in Jail Lawsuit

Defense Undermines DA Witness in the City of Bell Corruption Case

Prosecution of Bell City Councilmen is Unfair, Politically Motivated, and Should Be Dismissed,” Argued KMB Attorney

ICE’s Arrests Politically Motivated

Hollywood Couple Draw 6 Months Prison Term in FCPA Bribery Case

LA Times: Long Beach Agrees to Pay $8 Million in Wrongful Murder Conviction

$7.95 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted Man

Personal Injury Negligence – Auto vs. Bus

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