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Ruth out for lunch

2011-11-11T13:34:00.003-07:00

Ruth is excited to be out for lunch with her parents at P.F. Chang's!

Excited about Chinese food!

Valerie

The NFL doesn't want you to see the whole game

2011-11-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

When you watch a football game on TV, it's an endless barrage of highlights, cameras focused on the quarterback or the receiver. The view that you don't ever see is the "All-22" shot, showing the whole field and the actions of both teams simultaneously.

The Wall Street Journal has a fascinating article that delves into why the NFL doesn't release that footage to the public. The upshot is that it shows the viewer too much about how the game is played and how the team is coached (or not). The fear the league has is that fans and talk radio would criticize coaches more than they already do, and worse, would provide evidence to back those criticisms up.

I'm not optimistic that the NFL releases the footage any time soon, but I do want to try to see more of the big picture when I watch the games. I picked up a book from the library, Take Your Eye Off the Ball: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look. I'm not trying to become an expert, but I would like to understand more about what's happening on the field.

On the Redskins, halfway through the season

2011-11-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

We're halfway through the season and the Redskins are 3-4 going into today's game against the 49ers at Washington. I'm crossing my fingers for a win today, but after last week's game (9 sacks!), I don't know if it's realistic.

Beck's not a bad quarterback, but the injuries to the offensive line don't give him any time to throw the ball. Even when he does have time, I'm pretty sure the other teams in the league have figured out Kyle Shanahan's play calling. Add that to the injuries to Hightower and Moss, blown coverage in the defense (other than Fletcher), and the team may be on the way to a 4-12 season. Top of the NFC East seems so long ago...

Still, "Hail to the Redskins!"

Hiring a criminal defense lawyer

2011-05-31T08:51:00.002-06:00

I spend all of my working hours defending people accused of crimes. However, because I chose to be a public defender, you can't hire me, I have to be appointed. If you are charged with a crime and don't qualify for a public defender, you should probably talk to a reputable criminal defense lawyer.

Brian Tannebaum, a criminal defense lawyer in Florida, wrote an excellent e-book, "The Truth About Hiring a Criminal Defense Lawyer" that covers the process of finding and hiring a criminal defense attorney. Read it before you hire a lawyer for your criminal case. It'll answer most of your questions and make it a lot less scary.

Coffee: Is there anything it can't do?

2011-05-18T08:57:00.003-06:00

I like coffee. It wakes me up, helps me focus, and tastes good.

Turns out, it's not just good, it's good for you. If you're a guy, it lowers your risk for prostate cancer. If you're a woman, it lowers your risk for breast cancer. If you drink, it lowers your risk of getting cirrhosis.

So have another cup of joe.

Hat tip: The Atlantic

Rock climbing skills applicable to real life

2011-01-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

One of the things you learn when rock climbing is that you always need at least one stable hold when moving. Throwing yourself at the next hold usually leads to falling.

Now that I have a broken ankle, I find those same skills of having a steady hold before moving are paying off when showering on one foot, and especially in getting in and out.

Aside from that literal application to life, there's also the metaphorical. If you are going to make a big move in your career, relationship, or any other area, it's best to have at least one area of your life that is stable to lean on.

It's been a long time

2010-11-28T15:58:00.003-07:00

Looking at the blogger dashboard, it looks like it's been almost seven months since my last post. Things that have changed:

I'm going to be a father in +/- 3 weeks.

I'm about halfway through the winter 2010 Stanford iPhone Development course on iTunes U.

I'm handling my second felony case as a public defender.

The Redskins are 5-6, which is one game more then they won last year.

I'm going to try to blog more often going forward, but no promises. I'm working on a new iPhone app to assist with tracking the baby's inputs and outputs. It's a race against time at this point, but if I get it done, will post a link here.

My trial record: 2-3-3

2010-04-28T12:10:00.003-06:00

Derek prodded me to post some good news, since it's been too long.

My case load is larger than before, up to around 265. Since I started last August, I've had eight jury trials. My record at this point is 2-3-3. Two wins, three ties, and three losses.

Now, you may be wondering how you can tie in a criminal trial, where the two possible verdicts are guilty or not guilty.

In a criminal case, there will usually be a plea bargain offered to the defendant to resolve the case without a trial. The plea offer tends to be either a lesser charge, dismissal of some of the charges, limits the potential jail time, or some combination thereof.

Typically, if a person is charged with Assault, there may be an offer to plead to Harassment. If they are charged with Driving Under the Influence, there may be an offer to plead to Driving While Ability Impaired.

If a client chooses to take their case to trial, they are usually charged with the primary offense as well as the lesser offense.

If we go to trial and the jury returns a verdict of not guilty of the main charge (e.g. DUI), but guilty of the lesser offense that was offered as a plea bargain (e.g. DWAI), I consider that a tie. The client is no worse off than if he had taken the plea bargain, he's exercised his Constitutional right to a jury trial, cross-examined witnesses, and made the District Attorney and police officers work to convict him.

This blog has moved

2010-04-27T22:55:00.001-06:00

This blog is now located at http://blog.sarwark.org/.
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Happy New Year

2010-01-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Just over four months here in Colorado, we're settled in to the apartment, have a good sense for the area, and are getting used to having snow on the ground most of the time.

Work is super busy. Last I checked, I have 206 client files open. It's crazy, but I'm starting to feel like I know what I'm doing, even though there's still not enough hours in the day to get it all done.

No resolutions yet, but I'm considering some.

First month update

2009-09-14T20:22:00.002-06:00

On Thursday I will have completed a full month as a public defender. The move out here went smoothly and we're pretty much settled in. It's been busy, with two trips back to the east coast, so not a lot of time to rest.

Life as a PD is busy. I have over 100 cases right now, and should have over 150 by the end of this week, as more are transferred to me. I'm regularly in the office until 6:30 or 7:00, catching up on writing motions and returning client phone calls.

I was supposed to have worked on two trials by now, but one client didn't show up on time to court and another trial got continued because the prosecution didn't have their witness. I have another trial scheduled for next week.

I'll try to update more often, but I'm pretty busy and there's a lot of stuff I can't say, due to client confidentiality concerns.

It's been too long

2009-07-29T22:47:00.002-06:00

I'm not dead yet.

There's a lot of change in my life. I'm married now. We're moving to Colorado within the next two weeks, and I start my job as a Deputy Public Defender. I'm renting out my house in the DC area and am in the midst of a mad scramble to do all the things necessary to prepare the place for tenants, e.g. painting, licenses, leases, and various maintenance tasks I've been avoiding while residing here.

Stress Testing the Banks

2009-03-17T10:55:00.003-06:00

If you have to prove you are worthy of credit, your credit is already gone. -Walter Bagehot

Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, has come out with a plan (really more of a vague idea) to "stress-test" American banks to determine whether they can survive this current recession. To be conducted in April, this testing will be performed on banks of over $100 billion who have taken government money. Using assumptions of average unemployment of 8.9% in 2009 and 10.3% in 2010, Treasury will determine whether they can survive.

There are two problems with this plan. The most obvious is that we haven't been in a crisis like this before so we don't know whether those unemployment assumptions are too pessimistic, too optimistic, or just right. We won't find that out until it's too late, but that won't stop Treasury from spending more tax dollars based on the model.

The more fundamental problem is that the very fact that these banks are being stress tested indicates that they are on the road to failure. People don't ask whether your company can survive if they think it can; they ask to confirm that it can't.

My opinion is that this is all political theater to convince the American people that their money has not been thrown down a giant rathole and to pave the way for a more smooth nationalization for some of the ratholes banks that have already received government funds.

This I Believe: Everyone Deserves Defense

2008-10-20T20:10:00.002-06:00

I found out last Friday that my career as a public defender will be starting later than I'd like. Placement is by attrition and people aren't quitting as often as normal in this troubled economy. I'm disappointed, but still committed to being a public defender, albeit later than I had planned.

Derek pointed me to an NPR "This I Believe" essay by a former public defender. It's worth listening to, especially if you don't understand how I could choose a job where I fight for the accused, not the victim.

I passed the Colorado Bar Exam

2008-10-09T10:17:00.003-06:00

Results of the Colorado Bar Exam were posted this morning and my name was listed in the list of people who passed. Now I just need to pass the background check, take a professionalism class, and swear in and I'll be a real lawyer.

Stop the bailout in the Senate

2008-09-30T18:30:00.002-06:00

The Senate has scheduled a vote for Wednesday night at 7:30 pm on the bailout package. Now is the time to call your Senators and tell them not to support the bailout. Instructions on how to find your Senators and what to say are in my previous post.

Action: Stop Congress from giving away your money

2008-09-29T06:47:00.006-06:00

Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated. The bar exam is over, though it's still 10 days away from results.

This morning I urge you to take three minutes (literally only three minutes) out of your day to stop this insane $700 billion dollar bailout.

1) Call your Representative. You can look them up here. Be polite and tell them (a) your name and that you are a constituent, (b) ask if they have a position on the bailout, and (c) urge them to vote against it.

Fun bonus game: If they don't have a position, ask out of curiosity how many people have called them supporting the bailout. When they give the answer (my Senator had received a total of ten calls in favor), ask them why they don't have a position when their constituents overwhelmingly oppose the plan. Kindly let them know you'll be calling back to check on the position as it develops.

2) Call each of your two Senators. You can look them up here. Do all the same things you did for your Representative.

All told, each call will probably take less than a minute of your day and with luck, you can stop one of the worst pieces of legislation in recent memory from getting shoved down our throats.

Report back in the comments if you have the time.

UPDATE: According to Politico, the vote is currently 228 Nay, 205 Yes. However, the vote is being held open for the moment, so call again to tell your Representative to vote against it.

UPDATE 2: We have won! 228 against, 205 for!

UPDATE 3: The roll call vote results are here. Be sure to call your Representative to either congratulate or criticize.

The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way

2008-07-26T09:55:00.003-06:00

I was listening to Pandora the other day and heard an awesome song by the Kooks. Catchy, with a nice acoustic guitar riff running through it, I keep listening to it over and over after buying it from iTunes. If you want to pick it up, click

How to write with style

2008-07-14T23:32:00.004-06:00

Kurt Vonnegut wrote a lovely essay on style. Why should you read it? I'll let him answer:

Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever you're writing. If you scribble your thoughts any which way, your readers will surely feel that you care nothing about them. They will mark you down as an egomaniac or a chowderhead --- or, worse, they will stop reading you.

Supreme Court Upholds Individual Second Amendment Right

2008-06-26T14:38:00.005-06:00

The Supreme Court ruled today in District of Columbia v. Heller that the District of Columbia's ban on possession of a handgun for self-defense within the home violated an individual right to bear arms protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The majority in the 5-4 decision of the Court was written by Justice Scalia, with Justices Breyer and Stevens dissenting.

Congratulations to Alan Gura, Bob Levy, and Clark Neily, attorneys for the respondent, on their successful work to extract a clear ruling from a Court that has avoided the Second Amendment almost entirely since the nation's founding.

While the ruling clearly supports an individual right, it does not answer some important questions like:

Does the Second Amendment apply to state governments?

What standard of review should courts apply to gun laws challenged under the Second Amendment?

Are systems of gun licensing constitutionally permitted?

All of these questions will come up in the future, as this ruling opens the door for challenges to other gun laws. Likely first on the list for challenge is Chicago's prohibition on handguns.

My prediction is that any Supreme Court nominee that doesn't agree with Heller will be swiftly and immediately filibustered. This prediction stands no matter who the President is and no matter who controls the Senate. Congressmen are particularly sensitive on the issue of gun control, especially after the bloodbath following the Assault Weapons Ban, and this will just make them even more sensitive.

UPDATE: Looks like my prediction about Chicago's gun ban being next to be challenged was correct. From the press release at ChicagoGunCase.com:

Following Thursday’s (5-4) ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right to keep and bear arms, and that a municipal gun ban violates that right, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) filed a federal lawsuit (complaint) challenging the City of Chicago’s long-standing handgun ban.

Previous posts on the D.C. Gun Case:
Supreme Court to hear D.C. Gun Case
ABA Journal article on the D.C. Gun Case

Update from Colorado

2008-06-20T15:00:00.003-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posting. Since my last post, I have:

Graduated from law school cum laude.

Temporarily moved to Denver to study for the Colorado bar exam.

Set a wedding date and time with my fiancee and booked a venue for same.

Started growing a bar exam "playoff beard".

Quit my day job as a programmer in preparation for my new day job as a public defender (to commence at some indefinite future time).

Outdoor Animation in Brazil

2008-05-15T12:47:00.002-06:00

This is, without a doubt, the coolest video you will watch today.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

New Blog: Trust Me, I'm a Used Car Salesman

2008-04-18T08:45:00.004-06:00

My father has started blogging, focusing mostly on auto advice (buying and using, not repairing). Not only that, but he started a radio show too.

Infoporn: Where people go after law school

2008-04-18T08:39:00.002-06:00

The National Law Journal has an interesting chart that breaks down where the class of 2005 went after graduation.

Note the steep decline in large firm placement outside of the top 10 schools. Also, Yale sent almost half of it's graduating class into judicial clerkships. That's part of why the clerkship hunt sucks for the rest of us.

Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Law

2008-04-14T08:03:00.001-06:00

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."

-Martin Luther King Jr.