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The Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog Posts

My Take on Making a Murderer

Published January 13, 2016 by Craig Platt
Making a Murderer - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog
“Making a Murderer”. Photo: Courtesy of Netflix.

It has been tough getting into the swing of things after the holidays. It’s not because there is nothing to talk about; quite the contrary. With Affluenza Teens and Bill Cosby and stand-offs on Federal Land it’s an embarrassment of riches when it comes to legal subject matter right now.

Then I binged Making a Murderer last weekend on Netflix.

WOW. Everyone with even a slight interest in how criminal cases really work in real life needs to see this. It’s like the O.J. case on steroids. You just know I had to write about it.

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The End of Racism… and Politics

Published December 9, 2015 by Craig Platt

end of racism and politics - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

Political parties can be a problem.

For example, one party has portrayed itself as defenders of racism and discrimination. They have taken the position that it is OK to treat certain members of society differently, as lesser humans. To them, it has been acceptable to take away the constitutional rights of these outcasts.

The other political party has adopted a more enlightened view. They have supported freedom and civil rights for everyone. They have argued that we should all be treated the same by the government, not allowing some to be categorized as inferior to the majority, with less freedom and fewer rights. That party is the Republican Party.

This was the view 150 years ago. Where is it now?

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Au Revoir to ISIS

Published December 3, 2015 by Craig Platt

Au Revoir to ISIS - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

Paris. Je t’adore. I love Paris.

When the news broke I was lost. Lost in this crazy lost world. A world that has lost its friggin’ mind. Paris? Seriously? Even the stoner guy checking me out at the QFC, the one who was unable to follow directions to find a restaurant a block away when I tried to tell him about it once, even he said, “Paris? Dude! What did they do? I mean, I thought they were pretty chill.”

This guy’s view of world affairs may be a bit misinformed (since France has been involved in fighting in the Middle East and North Africa forever) but he was right. Paris is about life, not death.

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Lawyers and Truth in Advertising

Published November 18, 2015 by Craig Platt

Lawyers and Truth in Advertising - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

“DA-AAAD!! Who would ever want to hire a lawyer who needs advertising?!?”

That’s the punch line. Now, here’s the joke: for over a decade, our little law firm had served as the primary public defenders for Island and San Juan Counties. It was tough work, riding ferries at 4 a.m. between the islands during huge winter storms, answering emergency calls in the middle of the night for months on end giving advice to alleged drunk drivers, handling giant murder cases that dragged on forever for $400 a pop, trying every major case that came along while the private guys quietly gouged their clients with exorbitant fees before pleading them guilty without first mastering their cases (my wife told me to put “J/K” after that, but I’m not.)

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The Unsung Hero of the OJ Trials (Part III, or The Anatomy of a Trial)

Published November 12, 2015 by Craig Platt

OJ Simpson - The Anatomy of a Trial - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

[If you missed the first part of this series, it would be good to start at the beginning HERE. I had to cut it in half to make it more manageable, but there are just so many aspects to Petrocelli’s excellent trial work that I couldn’t leave any of this stuff out. Here is the last part of the Petrocelli post…]

Previously, I was explaining how Petrocelli’s questioning of OJ Simpson about his ‘ugly ass shoes’ worked so well – primarily by repeating the defendant’s very memorable statements back to him, and having him repeat obvious lies over, and over, and over. This really made it all stick in the minds of the jurors and made it extremely clear whenever OJ contradicted himself or just sounded so unbelievable they couldn’t look past it anymore.

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The Unsung Hero of the OJ Trials (Part II: Or, Petrocelli Goes to Work.)

Published November 10, 2015 by Craig Platt

 

OJ Trials - Petrocelli - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

I know the criminal guys got all of the attention on OJ, which is part of the reason I am focusing here on the civil lawyer, Dan Petrocelli; the one who sued OJ for Wrongful Death and won. But the main reason to focus on him is that his approach to this case demonstrates everything you need to know about the best way to try a case. Whether you are a seasoned trial attorney or a just an interested citizen, you can learn a lot about the right way to do this work by focusing on what Petrocelli did to achieve victory where others failed.

As with most things, the best way to analyze Petrocelli’s work is to begin with some general fundamentals and then move on to the specifics (just to be clear, I am going to refer to both the deposition and trial when I say “trial work”. That’s because the whole process, from first looking at the evidence to closing arguments, is “trial work.”)

Preparation, preparation, preparation. Preparation is to trial work what location is to real estate: everything. Without it you may as well pack up and go home.

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The Unsung Hero of the O.J. Trials (Part I)

The Unsung Hero of the O.J. Trials (Part I)

Published October 30, 2015 by Craig Platt

Dan Petrocelli - OJ Trials - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

Dan Petrocelli.

What a guy! Moreover, what a lawyer! This guy demonstrates everything that is good about lawyers and lawyering. Which is great, because decent lawyers were few and far between around the O.J. Simpson cases.

As discussed previously, the O.J. trials had it all: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly… and, of course, being LA, the Beautiful People. The only thing it sorely lacked, in my not so humble opinion, was great lawyering.

Take the prosecutors for example. They weren’t horrible. But they weren’t great. Simply put, this case, and the memories of Nicole and Ron Goodman, deserved better. It’s not totally the prosecutors’ fault; they suffered from prosecutor-itis. It comes from years of perfecting “masterful” trial techniques, like repeating the same question over and over: “And then what happened?”

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OJ Simpson Saved Lives! (Part II: Extreme Cases)

Published October 22, 2015 by Craig Platt

OJ Simpson Trials - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

As we shall see, the O.J. Simpson criminal murder trial turned out to be a complete circus. From the “Dancing Ito’s” on Jay Leno to the wall-to-wall coverage of the ten million defense attorneys, all vying for attention in front of the cameras. It was a joke.

But the impact of the trial on the actual real world, the one off-camera away from L.A., was no joke. To this day I tell people that it changed the face of criminal law forever.

Gone were the days of Domestic Violence (DV) cases being dismissed just because the chief witness didn’t show up. You see, it used to be that when you had a DV case, literally half the time you got to trial and the complaining witness (or victim, depending on how you look at it) was a no-show. No witness, no case, no trial, case dismissed. Simple as that.

Enter Nicole, stage right, with her nearly decapitated head, a truly horrific image.

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O.J. Simpson Saved Lives! (Part I: The Hidden Tapes)

Published October 15, 2015 by Craig Platt

OJ Simpson Trials - Hidden Tapes - Seattle Criminal Lawyer Blog

I know. Crazy title. Don’t worry, I’ll get to it.

The O.J. Simpson case(s) have had a huge impact on American society, particularly the legal system, and on me personally, over the past two decades. Most recently, A&E aired an excellent piece about his cases, the trials, and the legal work that was done behind the scenes, called O.J. Speaks: The Hidden Tapes (apparently there was another show on LMN, which I did not see, but will make a point of looking for it.) I predict that a lot of people watched or will watch these shows.

If you haven’t yet, you should. Try here.

They speak volumes about the anatomy of an actual murder case and describe in detail some extremely good (and bad) lawyering. This is real life murder mystery at its best – and worst.

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