And, when your client makes incriminating statements of whatever nature to your competency expert, you have the ability to decide whether presenting that expert is worth bringing up these statements. They are privileged as long as you do not call your expert or disclose his report. You don’t have to…
I only ask for competency evaluations now when I believe there is little chance of my client making an incriminating statement in the evaluation. This is more often than not, but I am a lot more protective now. Why? Because, if you have grounds to request a competency expert, you…
It is always nice to hear when your client says “I am leaving my case in God’s hands” or “I know Jesus will win my case for me.” I never know what to say in response to this, except that Jesus won’t be there to testify, and Biblical figures in…
But, you MUST also speak to client’s relatives to get a better understanding. We lawyers all dread getting repeated phone calls from family members and friends of inmates asking us the same questions over and over. However, you cannot isolate yourself completely from your client’s family and put up the…
Representing the mentally ill is a big part of any true criminal defense practice. Citizens accused of crimes are normally undereducated and under medicated, so to speak. The statistics bear that too many have not finished high school for whatever reason, and many have an underlying mental illness that impairs…