#130 Third Department Caselaw Round-Up for January 12, 2012, Part 2 of 14
While we have two (2) more affirmed cases, I'm nonetheless impressed with the statistics. Namely, the odds of having your case modified or reversed on appeal seem to be hovering right around 25%. So, at least in the Third Department, your odds are pretty decent. This is much better than the 10% that I have often quoted to my clients in the past.
Therefore, it would be quite foolish for any trial attorney NOT to draft and file a cursory notice of appeal, just to safeguard the rights of the client. You'll sleep better, I promise you.
There are forty-two (42) decisions for this week. This is an amazing week since, of those decisions, I found twenty-eight (28) - that's right: twenty-eight (28) - to be interesting enough to include here.
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Two cases: one matrimonial and the other criminal. The first tests your biases and the second your funny-bone.
It's hard to remember a time when Joe's monstrously huge record collection was unknown to me. I vaguely remember becoming aware of it when I was in kindergarten, hanging out with my best friend, John. John idolized his much older brother and followed him around like a puppy. So, it wasn't long before I followed John up to Joe's second-floor bedroom. And, unlike most older brothers I would come to know, Joe was the coolest. He actually enjoyed our attention and took the time to teach us various cool things (many of which turned out to be illegal, much to our supreme satisfaction).
I'm actually starting to get into these various criminal appeals as they are often as interesting as the family law and matrimonial law appeals (if not more so!). In fact, while the family law cases can be exceedingly dysfunctional and disturbing, nothing beats a good criminal appeal for lurid human behavior.
The first case concerns another Anders brief. It is amazing how often these things appear in the decisions.
The next pair of cases are interesting insofar as they involve the same defendant. The first case pertains to the initial period of incarceration, while the second case deals with the defendant's re-incarceration on a subsequent violation of the terms and conditions of his probation.
There are forty-one (41) 
Spring is like the adolescence of nature: it's a long messy process before you get to the fullness of summer. It entails lots of cold, wind, clouds, and rain, with lots of crazy fluctuations in temperature. The spring weekends of my youth are probably most memorable for being stuck inside the house because it was too nasty to go outside for long. And even parents, who were normally yelling at us to "get outside and play!" were resigned to the fact that spring (way back then) was largely an indoors existence spent doing one of three things: watching television, playing board games, or listening to music. Luckily, we never tired of any of these three options (sure, sure, reading was always an option, but not one we would exercise (or admit to) until we were older).
The last case of the year for 2011 is an ugly one and goes to show you just how bizarre family court cases can get. Seriously: you can't make this stuff up. Furthermore, this case marvelously illustrates how the UCCJEA works. And for those of you reading these cases on your own, this case should sound familiar (as it has been before this court twice before, in 2010 and 2011). Also, as with all lengthy cases, it is probably best to go directly to the decision and read it yourself. In fact, you should read this case just for a better understanding of how the UCCJEA operates.
First up is another denial of resentencing case, with a similar result, though with a very short (1 1/2 pages) decision.
Here are two more criminal cases. The first case is a good read if you like to see what the Third Department is like when they are angry. Even when angry, the court shows enormous restraint. But read between the lines. And wince accordingly.
In the first case, we have yet another Anders brief submitted which the Third Department does not like. Filing an Anders brief is like poking a wasps' nest with a stick: you just know you're going to regret doing it.
The first case, though a criminal matter, is interesting insofar as it is a small victory for due process.
Another question that I get a lot is this: "What sort of geographical area do you cover?" Well, the answer would probably amaze you. If you remember from a 
One more week of cases and we are done with both December and 2011. Just a few more to go. From there, we will move quickly into the many new cases decided in 2012.
Alright, so some of these songs might not be as popular (or as good) as those from previous months. However, I've always found that the mass-marketing of rock is such that some very interesting songs are almost always overlooked if only because they are deemed too long or too weird or too outside the accepted style of the artist. A perfect example of this is the seminal sound collage that is the Beatles' "Revolution 9", which I proudly call My Favorite Song Of All Time. The Beatles themselves had heated arguments over whether or not to include this "song" on the White Album ("The Beatles"). From what I've read, Paul McCartney was completely repulsed by the idea that this song could be in any way representative of The Beatles' oeuvre. And John Lennon felt just as strongly that The Beatles were, if anything, an ever-evolving, progressive force of nature in the music world and that they simply had to prove their bona fides with a song like this.
There are forty-one (41) 
Despite my recent four-part post - or probably because of it - I've had several people ask me for some sort of exhaustive list of the various legal services that I provide. As luck would have it, this has also been the request of my webmaster, Justia.com, for some time now as well. And while my webmaster would like this information provided as an easy-to-locate web page (which is still not finished!), I decided, what the heck, why not just provide the list as a blog post and just get it out there to start with?
Ah, yes, here we are, back again, with another caselaw round-up. I'm sure you were getting restless. And I must confess that I have missed it over the past month. I know I have been remiss in not posting more of these a lot more often than I have, as I now find myself with well over sixty (60) of them to post. Here it is April and I haven't even wrapped up December! Well, I'll have to remedy that with several dozen caselaw round-up posts in the coming weeks.
As I was playing this month's selection of songs, I realize that while I consider it to be a wide variety, they are all firmly within the sphere of rock. Rarely will you find a song within these lists which cannot be considered a rock song. Cloyingly mellow or unlistenably hard, they are, to a fault, rock. And why not? This is the music I was raised on (other than the classical music I loved from church). And once you've been exposed to a lifetime's worth of music, in the form of rock, why the hell would you want to listen to anything else?
