Many moons ago, Hanah Volokh linked to this great story of a man defending himself against a bogus criminal charge in court by simple reasoning.
Since I don’t know anything about the state of the criminal justice system in the southern states, I don’t wish to either endorse or dispute the author’s general observations on that score. Certainly, I’ve been horrified to hear of the ever-so-friendly out-of-court discussions about civil cases between local attorneys and judges possible in some states — happily not Colorado. That court business should be conducted with all parties present in court — rather than between friends on the golf course — seems like such a basic procedural requirement of justice that I can only imagine how else our justice system fails, particularly on the local level.
