Comparing the Practice of Criminal Law Between States
A “blogversation” has broken out. It started when Simple Justice responded to my post about Expunction/Expungement, noting that is not available to New Yorkers:
Personally, I think it’s a bit bizarre when Texas law is a step ahead of New York when it comes to something like expungement. Remember, this is the state that puts defendants to death when their lawyer is fast asleep at trial.
But the point of this post is that there are significant differences in the law and practice from place to place. Having tried cases as far away as Anchorage, Alaska, I've come to realize and appreciate that understanding local practice matters.
Then from Mark Bennett, a laundry list of the ways criminal justice is better in Texas. Next Gideon jumps into the fray, analyzing similarities and differences in Connecticut. Noticing that Mark has listed “You have a right to a jury trial. No ifs or buts.” he comments:
I had no idea that in some states, you didn’t have the right to a trial by jury.
Well, apparently New Jersey, Hawaii, Nevada and Arizona are OK denying the right to jury trial in DWI/DUI cases. (Perhaps I’ll comment on the Duncan v. Louisiana Supreme Court decision that layed the groundwork for that sometime.) So I’m siding with Mark in saying, thank goodness Texas defendant’s get that old jury trial in “just a misdemeanor” DWI cases.
So how about it folks? Let’s hear from criminal defense attorneys in other states about regional differences in the practice of law…
