@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social
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Teri_Kanefield

@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social

Former appellate defender and UC Berkeley Law graduate. My practice was limited to representing indigents on appeal.

I’ve written more than a dozen books and published more than 50 short pieces in The Washington Post, Cnn.com, and others. My book prizes include the Jane Addams Book Award.

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timothyjohnson, to random
@timothyjohnson@mastodon.sdf.org avatar

@Teri_Kanefield
If People v. Trump finds him guilty, what are his options for appeals?

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@timothyjohnson

I wouldn't know without reading the record.

When I received a case on appeal, the record would hundreds, or thousands, of pages in length. I would spend about a week reading, combing for possible issues, then research the issues and decide.

cherold, to random
@cherold@zirk.us avatar

@Teri_Kanefield says we don't need legal pundits, and at first I thought, of course we need someone who understands how the legal system works and can tell us what's what. But then she wrote

"...lawyers confuse people. Confused people then turn to lawyers for explanations."

And I realized that if pundits quit saying the legal system was corrupt, we wouldn't keep asking, "is this corrupt behavior?" We would just ... follow what happens and see how it turns out.

https://terikanefield.com/beware-the-lawyers-follow-up/

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@cherold

Someone wrote to me and asked, "Don't we need legal pundits to tell us what the facts mean?"

But when people want to know what something "means" they are usually asking for a scorecard assessment: Does it help our team?

This is the opposite of learning about the legal system. People start rooting for destructive policies if they think it will hurt Trump.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

When people show me hostility, they often speak in the first person plural.

(I blocked this person, so don't pile on him.)

It's group think. It's also mob-like to think that a group of citizens can change the pace or outcome of a criminal investigation.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

Hi, Fediverse:

Whew. I finished this week's blog post. Do your thing, Mastodon.

https://terikanefield.com/beware-the-lawyers-follow-up/

It's a follow up from last week, answering some of the questions and comments I got.

In response to people telling me that I am overestimating the ability of people to decode legal news, I attempt to prove this hypothesis:

If people stop listening to legal pundits speculating, they wouldn’t feel confused and they wouldn’t think they need help from lawyers decoding the news.

1/

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

(I hope that made sense. I've been working on this since early morning 😂)

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@sswerdloff See. I can count on Mastodon. Thanks.

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@nadams I'm not seeing the error. (me tired)

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@nadams Right but I don't see what is wrong with it.

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@WearsHats Got it.

Sheesh I told you I'm tired.

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@smurthys

Facepalm. What a clown.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

When the prosecution rests in the Manhattan case, I plan to read the transcripts so far looking for evidence that supports the elements of particular crimes.

This is my thing: Reading trial transcripts. My job was reading trial transcripts looking for appealable errors.

Shall I tell you my favorite moment in a transcript?

The defendant (yes, my client) walked in to court with baggy pants. The judge (a woman) was offended and angry. She thought the defendant was disrespecting her.

1/

Teri_Kanefield, (edited )
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

She was so angry that the prosecutor felt bad for the young man and came to his defense. (It's hard to read emotion in a transcript, but she was obviously furious for the prosecutor to come to his defense.)

First the defense lawyer tried to explain that it was (unfortunately) the current fashion.

The prosecutor confirmed that it is a fashion.

The judge said, "Well. It's a fashion felony." (Reading it, I could allmost 'hear' her sputtering.)

I adopted the phrase "fashion felony."

2/

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

(I know. He shouldn't have been in court in baggy pants. I assume that the trial lawyer learned to explain things like that ahead of time.)

They were probably very, very baggy, I assume indecently baggy.

3/

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@rdnielsen I laughed out loud.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

Now that my son (the youngest) is 20 and in college, he will occasionally ask me for writing advice.

After looking at his thesis and intro: "Good set up! Now you need to think of a bunch of smart things to say."

(It's an art history class comparing paintings)

😂

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@dougfir

This is an art history class. He is doing something called Speculative Design at UC San Diego.

He is a talented artist who didn't want to do "just art" which he informed me is "just to look at."

He wanted to design "big" things.

This is housed in the visual arts, but combines city planning, solving problems for the future, etc.

Teri_Kanefield, (edited ) to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

Okay, I wrote the blog post I said I'd write: A more thoughtful explanation of why I refused to answer a few questions this week.

It's here: https://terikanefield.com/beware-the-lawyers/

This blog post could have been called “Why you don’t need a lawyer to answer your questions about legal issues in the news.”

Mostly it’s about former TV pundit Peter Arenella’s piece that I posted earlier.

If you get the error message, this is why:
https://news.itsfoss.com/mastodon-link-problem/

Just wait a minute and try again.

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@kkeller A few weeks ago I read and analyzed the opening statements (the transcripts are posted on the court website) and I came to the same conclusion. At least in the opening statements, there was no clear statement of a theory of the case.

Teri_Kanefield, to random
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

I am getting questions across a few soical media sites about the ongoing trials.

I gave some quick answers about the problems with this.

Maybe, for my next blog post, I should offer a more thoughtful and thorough answer about what a lawyer can actually say that is valuable as a trial progresses.

It will probably appeal to my geekiest readers and annoy everyone else.

Maybe I should call it: "Beware the Lawyers." (Like "beware the Ides of March" but worse.)

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@EllenJS @rdnielsen

HAHA I posted a paper he wrote in 1998 I think about a week ago. He said I can call him a friend :)

mastodonmigration, to random
@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online avatar

For those losing their heads over today's actions by Judge Cannon, take a deep breath. This was always going to happen. The writing has been on the wall since Judge Cannon was drawn for the case. Getting all worked up about it is only going to make you crazy and desperate. The way we will rid ourselves of this menace is at the polls in November.

For a sober discussion on this topic this exchange today between @Teri_Kanefield and @JonChevreau is highly recommended:

https://mstdn.ca/@JonChevreau/112401937598899929

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@eurobubba @mastodonmigration

I will even offer the link: https://terikanefield.com/criminallawfaqs/

My blog has a search function, but I just use google, which gets me there faster.

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@eurobubba @mastodonmigration

At the same time, if you think I was saying, "Don't worry, the courts are just broken" it is unlikely you will get much out of my blog.

I was about to be snide myself so I edited.

In other words, you may not be one of my readers. My work may never mean much to you. That's fine. That's why we have unfollow and mute buttons.

I personally would not take anyone seriously who said "don't worry our court are just broken."

cdlhamma, to random
@cdlhamma@hachyderm.io avatar

@Teri_Kanefield as someone who’s spent zero time in courtrooms other than almost being a juror I’m curious, is it normal to violate a judges order ten times and not end up in jail by noon? And I realize there’s gray area here. Just curious because it seems extreme 😳

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@cdlhamma I am trying to find the original question you asked me. I'm writing a blog post right now about legal commentary and the problems with it.

You asked, "is this normal" and pointed to the criminal contempt for the 10th time, right?"

I have a question back to you. Did you think I'd be able to say "yes" or "no" easily?

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@cdlhamma

In that case, the answer would be,

'In my private appellate practice I do not recall anyone being jailed for violating a court order, but that could be because of the nature of cases I handled.

I did, however, observe situations when people violated orders, but that was generally in family matters with restraining orders.

Teri_Kanefield, (edited )
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@cdlhamma

And that would be of no help, right?

I assumed that what you wanted was for me to make a comment on whether Trump should have been jailed.

Put another way, you wanted to understand whether the court's ruling was good, bad, normal, or abnormal?

Teri_Kanefield,
@Teri_Kanefield@mastodon.social avatar

@cdlhamma I did a better job in the blog post I'm about to finish responding to you.

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