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Reuben Kramer's monumental bronze
sculpture of Justice Thurgood Marshall stands outside the U.S. Courthouse in
Baltimore, the Justice's hometown. In his early years as a private
lawyer in Baltimore, Justice Marshall often accepted cases on behalf of
people who needed a lawyer but could not afford one.
Three criminal cases had a profound effect
upon his development as a lawyer. In 1936, he persuaded an all-white
jury in Baltimore to acquit a weak-minded youngster on the charge of murder.
He successfully represented a criminal defense attorney charged with the
"ethical violation" of having maintained that his client's conviction was a
result of racial prejudice. And in 1935, James Gross, young man
whom Justice Marshall unsuccessfully represented on the charge of having
aided and abetted murder, was hanged in the Maryland Penitentiary. |
Former Federal Public Defender Fred W. Bennett, died on July 15, 2007.
Fred was special. One of those people who --
because of his larger-than-life presence --
could simply be referred to by his first name and everyone
-- at least in the criminal defense community
-- knew immediately who was being discussed. And
they probably knew to get ready for yet another "Fred
story." Many of our friends
responded to the e-mail announcement of Fred's
death by sharing a memory of his tenacity as a
litigator, or how patient Fred was in dispensing advice or inspiring young
lawyers. Teacher, litigator, mentor: Fred touched a lot of lives.
The Federal Public
Defender’s Office for the District of Maryland will always bear Fred’s
imprint. His portrait presides prominently in our conference room. He
spoke at a number of office trainings and joined us for celebrations of
important office events. Most importantly, he hired Susan Bauer, Joe
Balter, Denise Barrett, Joe Segreti, Renee Watts, and others, much of the
backbone of our current office, who remain to maintain Fred’s memory and
his legacy of commitment to the right to counsel and the dream of equal
justice.
Our Fall CJA
training is scheduled for November 16, 2007 at the Greenbelt Courthouse.
We will again use the Jury Assembly Room on the first floor. This space
allows us to include small group breakout sessions as part of our
program. Please contact us if you have
thoughts on topics or speakers that we should include in our training.
The District of
Maryland is again revisiting electronic case filing (ECF) in criminal
cases. Our Court has been concerned with several
implications of implementing ECF, including the potential
to create greater security problems for
cooperators. But we are one of the last Districts in the nation without
electronic filing in criminal cases, and having ready
online access to documents would be useful. Although we continue to
work on effective security safeguards, it now seems only a matter of time
before ECF is in place for criminal cases.
AFPD Jeff Risberg and CJA
Panel Representatives Tim Sullivan and Bill Purpura are the defense
representatives on the Court’s Committee addressing ECF and the related
security issues. Judge Motz, who is leading the process, has set a
timetable for implementation on January 1, 2008. When ECF goes into
effect, we will assist counsel with training.
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