Michelle Carter The Manslaughterer, or "How I Was Convicted Of A Felony For Saying Words" Recently, a young woman named Michelle Carter was found guilty of manslaughter for texting her boyfriend to carry out his suicide plans. The text messages are difficult to read and are emotionally confusing. In some instances, Ms. Carter is urging him to end his life, while later she claims that she loves him. Some of the final text messages show that Ms. Carter was panicking at the thought of her boyfriend dying and was desperately seeking help. This is an important case in our history because it is directly affecting our rights to free speech. Ms. Carter's actions are certainly reprehensible. Why encourage someone who is struggling with such things? If you truly love them, why encourage suicide? I'm not here to talk about whether what she said was morally reprehensible. Were Ms. Carter's text messages protected speech? Protected Speech? I’m concerned with the rece
I recently had the opportunity to do a preliminary hearing for a woman who was charged with obstruction of justice. The charge was dismissed with prejudice because the a local city with an infamously incompetent police force improperly charged her. I had several thoughts after this victory, ranging from how great my performance was, to how significant my mistakes were in spite of my victory. I'll go over what I felt I did right and wrong in the hopes that it will benefit some other attorney, or myself, at some point. What Happened A woman was charged with Obstruction of Justice, which is a fairly long statute. The situation was that a police officer came to her home to investigate a crime. Her son had some active warrants, but the police officer didn't know that at the time. The officer had both the son and the woman outside, asking them questions about his investigation. He then asked her for her personal info. Then he asked the son. The son gave the officer incorrect i