Norm Pattis
Norm Pattis is a criminal defense attorney and civil rights lawyer in Bethany. Most days he blogs at www.pattisblog.com.
One Hand Clapping
Criminal Defense Fees Can Cripple Middle Class
Monday, February 22, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Are we prepared, as a society, to pay more than lip service to the presumption of innocence? If we are, then it's time to we offered to pay for the legal defense of anyone accused of a crime. Anything less amounts to the most regressive tax of all, a tax which devastates the middle class while encouraging the growth of a government detached from the consequences of its actions.
One Hand Clapping
Just Who Is Normal? Maybe Not Anyone
Monday, February 15, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
It was inevitable, really. A new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" is in the works. And with it will come yet new diagnoses and disorders. The tiny corner of psychic life reserved for the reasonable person just got smaller. Perhaps it's time to admit that we're all chained to pathologies of one sort or another. The DSM is currently in its fourth revised edition.
One Hand Clapping
The Petty Stuff Can All Add Up
Monday, February 8, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
I was standing on line in a courthouse the other day, waiting for my turn through the metal detector. These waits never really bother me. Courthouses can be violent places. I appreciate the job done by judicial marshals to protect my back. But then someone waltzed by. The marshals said hello. The metal detector bleeped and belched. But no one stopped the walker. It turns out that he worked at the courthouse, in the public defender's office.
One Hand Clapping
Stop Visiting Judges From Acting Like Bullies
Monday, February 1, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
We've got a pretty good thing going in the federal courts of this state, or at least I think we do. It is a small bar. Almost all of the judges have roots in the state and still draw nourishment from relationships formed at the bar. We've not yet become a big state, replete with brash big-state norms. That seems to be changing. Big-city lawyers trot through the courts on loan from Boston and New York. Every third word is "sanction." Give 'em what they want or they'll seek sanctions.
One Hand Clapping
Cheshire Case Illustrates Jury Picking Problems
Monday, January 25, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Ice is melting in a New Haven courtroom, and the world has turned out to watch. Will members of the Connecticut General Assembly pay any attention? Will they open their eyes and realize that individual sequestered voir dire wastes time and contributes little or nothing to the pursuit of justice? Jury selection is underway in the case of State v. Steven Hayes. He is one of the two men accused of invading the home of Dr. William Petit in the summer of 2007.
One Hand Clapping
Courtroom TV? No. Gay Marriage? Yes.
Monday, January 18, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Cameras in the courtroom are a stupid idea. We've been dabbling with the televised court proceedings in Connecticut. My experience to date suggests that, at least at the trial level, all the public really wants is a picture of the person accused of a heinous crime. This is titillation, not education. The same public that pauses to gawk at an accident scene wants to see the accused killer plead not guilty: We just love road kill.
One Hand Clapping
A Landmark Decision Is Frequently Ignored
Monday, January 4, 2010 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
The New Year is a time to ask big questions, to put nagging issues and concerns into perspective, and to chart a course which, perhaps, will make the world a more elegant place in which to live and work. So I ask this question on the cusp of 2010. It is a question that has been on my mind for the past few years. I simply have not had the courage to ask it. Was Monroe v. Pape wrongly decided?
One Hand Clapping
Public Defenders For All? Justice Demands It
Monday, December 21, 2009 | by Norm Pattis | The Connecticut Law Tribune
Connecticut was the first state in the nation to adopt a Public Defender system, so we have a tradition of leading the way when it comes to the pursuit of justice. It's time we advanced the claims of justice once again. What's needed now is a universal public defender system. In plain English, each and every person accused of a crime in this state should have court-appointed counsel.
