Latest and Greatest - Suppressing Criminal Evidence

Are you considering filing a motion to suppress evidence that was obtained through a warrantless search of your client’s vehicle?

By Deja Vishny

James Publishing, Inc. (2016)

KF 9662 .V57 2016

Do you want to challenge a coerced confession or one made under Miranda v. Arizona?

Then, look than further than the Harris County Law Library’s new acquisition, Suppressing Criminal Evidence. This volume, complete with forms, will guide you, step-by-step, through the process of filing a motion to suppress from the initial client interview and discovery through actually drafting the motion and litigating it in court. The author provides a summary of the laws surrounding Fourth Amendment searches and seizures, including searches of the home, the standards of probable cause and reasonable suspicion, motor vehicle searches, and searches and seizures of electronic devices. She also discusses the suppression of confessions and other statements and police interrogation practices. Included in this volume are over 40 forms including sample motions to suppress and more than 80 pattern cross-examinations to assist you during the hearing on your motion to suppress. There are numerous practice pointers and tips throughout the book.

Before you file your next (or first) motion to suppress, come to the Harris County Law Library and have a look at Suppressing Criminal Evidence. Who knows? That evidence you got suppressed just may save your client.

Simplifying Your Legal Writing with Microsoft Word Tech Tips

Built into Microsoft Office are a number of simple, user-friendly mechanisms that are guaranteed to make your legal writing much less frustrating. A previous Tech Tuesday tip focused on using the Styles feature in Microsoft Word. Today’s recommendation, using Cross References to simplify and streamline the writing process, is another useful tool.

When you will be referencing a specific table or citing a particular source more than once, the cross-reference feature can be immensely helpful. Any numbered item (endnote, footnote, figure, or table) that is changed mid-text, can be automatically updated with each revision. If additional tables or footnotes are added, the software will shift the numeration to accommodate the new sequence, correcting every instance of the referenced item wherever it appears throughout the text. This saves you the headache of trying to making the changes manually and ensures that consecutive numbering is maintained. For detailed instructions on how to make cross-reference in Word work for you, visit this post from the Legal Sourcery [sic] blog.

Simple, effective, and efficient applications of the technology we’re already using is the key to saving money and can make a tremendous difference in the daily practice of law.

Law Day 2016: Miranda - More Than Words

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case, Miranda v. Arizona. In recognition of this historic decision, the American Bar Association has dedicated its annual Law Day celebration to the impact of Miranda and its role in safeguarding our personal rights. The theme -- Miranda: More Than Words – will “explore the procedural protections afforded to all of us by the U.S. Constitution, how these rights are safeguarded by the courts, and why the preservation of these principles is essential to our liberty.” (ABA)

To commemorate the Miranda decision, the Harris County Law Library has created an exhibit, which is currently on display in the library lobby. Three prize-winning posters, submitted to the Houston Bar Association’s annual Law Day contest, are also on view, along with a display copy of the contest’s  winning essay. We are grateful to the HBA and local school children for sharing this beautiful selection of artwork and writing with the library and its visitors.

Every week in the month of May, Ex Libris Juris will spotlight some aspect of the Miranda ruling. These “Miranda Monday” blog posts will explore how the case has influenced the administration of justice and the protection of our rights. Until next week, Happy Law Day!

Poetry of the Bench and Bar: Quoth the Raven, In re Love

We at the Harris County Law Library have enjoyed celebrating National Poetry Month. By featuring a new law-related poem every Friday in April, we’ve recognized the vital role of poetry in our lives, culture, history, and in the law, but as Geoffrey Chaucer said in Troilus and Criseyde, “All good things must come to an end.”

Before we conclude our celebration, we’re offering one more poem from the bench and bar, an exquisite illustration of the beauty of language, as well as the cleverness of the court. Written in the theme of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven, this legal verse is worth reading in full. It is a truly inspired piece of poetry by one very eloquent judge, the Hon. A. Jay Cristol, chief judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. The poem is excerpted here from the case In re Love, 61 B.R. 558 (1986),

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary
Over many quaint and curious files of chapter seven lore
While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door,
"Tis some debtor" I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--
Only this and nothing more."

Ah distinctly I recall, it was in the early fall
And the file still was small
The Code provided I could use it
If someone tried to substantially abuse it

No party asked that it be heard.
"Sua sponte" whispered a small black bird.
The bird himself, my only maven,
strongly looked to be a raven.

For more legal poetry, please look back at our Friday blog entries in April, especially The Calf Path or Precedents and Wills in Verse. And finally, for commentary on the role of legal levity, see Bons Mots, Buffoonery, and the Bench: The Role of Humor in Judicial Opinions by Lucas K. Hori, 60 UCLA L. Rev. Disc. 16 (2012)

Latest and Greatest – Nolo Publications

In an effort to support its mission of providing all patrons access to relevant and practical legal information, the Harris County Law Library maintains a self-help collection that is designed to assist self-represented parties in learning about an area or topic of law without having to sort through unfamiliar and often difficult legal terminology. Part of this self-help collection is a series of books published by Nolo, a company that seeks to “make the law accessible to everyone.” The books, written in plain English by attorneys and legal professors, cover a range of topics such as bankruptcy, immigration, family law, labor and employment, landlord-tenant, and estate planning, just to name a few. Although the books are not meant to be a substitute for getting the advice of a lawyer, they can help the reader better understand a legal issue and discover some answers to their legal questions.

The Harris County Law Library has recently received new editions of the following titles:

Look for them (and many other titles) on our shelves!