TV news broadcasts often start with sensational celebrity news that may not be tremendously substantive. I'll follow suit and highlight this AP profile of Casey Anthony defense lawyer Jose Baez. He has a GED, ran two failed bikini companies before going to law school, and after graduation took eight years (!) to be admitted to the bar despite passing the exam "because of a list of complaints about his personal and financial conduct." But he also does significant charity work, and has silenced those who questioned his competence to handle a case as complex as the Anthony matter. In other news: 1. Continuing with the celebrity theme, John Edwards' case is moving forward, with a tentative trial date in the fall. Reportedly, he was considering founding a public interest law firm in New York before his indictment. Meanwhile, Roger Clemens' case -- he's charged with lying to Congress when he denied taking steroids -- ended in a mistrial due to the prosecutor's misstep. Details here. 2. A reader submitted this link, which I found intriguing. It tells the story of Ernesto Miranda -- yes, that Miranda -- and what happened after the Supreme Court reversed his conviction. The piece concludes: "And what became of Miranda? The case was retried without the confession in 1967, but it turned out the jury didn’t need one to convict. Miranda was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison but got out in 1972. For a while, he made a living signing Miranda cards (small [...]
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