Friday, February 8, 2008

Picking Our Battles

The best advice given the 250+ criminal defense lawyers attending the DWI Winning Edge training conference came from Mark Daniel. He didn't blow sunshine up our skirts. Rather, Mark told us something we already instinctively knew - defense lawyers must know how to pick their battles. And the best battles to fight are battles we have have a reasonable chance of winning.

A breath test case with a good video is a battle worth fighting. There the State's evidence is internally inconsistent with itself. Jurors are reluctant to convict when evidence they see, smell, and feel for themselves is not consistent with what the police and their experts try to tell us are facts.

So simple, yet so profound. Fight the battles we can win.

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