Blog Posts
State Appeal
"A Judge who requires others to 'tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth' must set an example by telling the truth herself in a legal proceeding."
-- Administrative Judge Robert Tembeckjian, State Commission on Judicial Conduct
Propensity / Who Cares?
"The underlying premise of our criminal justice system is that a defendant must be tried for what he did, not who he is."
-- Bennett Gershman, Prosecutorial Misconduct, at § 10:2, pg. 10-4 (quoting the American Bar Association's Standards for Criminal Justice)
Suggestibility
"Child witnesses are highly susceptible to suggestion and often undergo severely suggestive interviews."
--Dugas, 'State of New Jersey v. Michaels: The Due Process Implications in Interviewing Child Witnesses,' 55 Lou.L.Rev. 1205, 1226 (1995)
Pre-Trial Hearings
The prosecutor as well as the judge initially assigned to the Nickel case were different from those who would handle his case at trial. Presiding at Nickel's pre-trial hearings was Judge Thomas Breslin ; the prosecutor was Veronica Dumas .
Sentencing
Indignation, it seems, is the most gratifying of all emotions. Nothing is quite so soothing as the feeling of superiority over sinners who have committed offenses that we are sure ourselves to be innocent of and that allow us to purse our lips in disdain…
Two Minutes
Two Minutes, Really? Let me tell you how I know!
Non-Jury (Bench) Trial
A non-jury or "bench" trial is when the judge, rather than a jury, decides guilt or innocence.
