The Supreme Court’s first decision of its new term highlighted the rarity of winning an appeal based on ineffective assistance of counsel. In Maryland v. Kulbicki the Supreme Court overturned Maryland’s highest court in upholding the conviction of a man convicted almost exclusively on faulty scientific evidence. James Kulbicki was found guilty of killing his […]
The value of persistence and perseverance is shown in the case of People v. Jarvis a decision rendered today by the Fourth Department, a NY Appellate Court covering several Upstate counties. 22 years ago, Kharye Jarvis was convicted in the execution-style shooting of two men in Monroe County. The original appeal of his conviction and […]
The recent overturning of Michael Skakel’s conviction in the Martha’s Vineyard murder of Martha Moxley has brought a lot of attention to “ineffective assistance of counsel” claims. The case raised a lot of eyebrows because Skakel’s lawyer was Mickey Sherman, a high-profile attorney often seen as a talking head on those vacuous news programs that […]
Contingency fees in criminal cases are not only frowned upon, they are “per se unethical.” See, People v. Winkler 71 NY2d 592 (1988), where the NY Court of Appeals stated: “These arrangements are thus met with universal disapproval and, as a matter of strong public policy, we join in all appropriate efforts to discourage and […]
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