The cost of free lawyers

It says here that Virginia spent $57 million on court-appointed counsel for criminal defendants in 2002.

Norfolk lawyer Walter Kelley nominated for the E.D. Va.

One of the few Tidewater lawyers I met (however briefly) while I was in law school at William & Mary and can remember to this day is Walter Kelley, who has been nominated to be a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to this report.

Scott County prosecutor declines ESPN interview on football team hazing incident

Interim Commonwealth's attorney Marcus McClung in Scott County is refusing to talk to ESPN about the football team hazing incident from Rye Cove, concluding that it would add to the suffering of the victims to have their stories told on national television, according to this report in the Kingsport paper (registration required).

The article quotes Mr. McClung as saying the following:

"Marcus McClung said Thursday that he has spoken with officials at ESPN, the 24-hour sports cable network, but their requests for an interview from his office about the June 16 incident have been refused.

"It's not that we are trying to be rude to ESPN or hate ESPN or any other national media (source). This is a policy issue that my office is taking,'' said McClung.

"It just doesn't seem right to do (an interview) and blow this issue up any more than it is now. To think that this issue would not be reported on given the facts would be incorrect. But to further expand upon events to a national audience, I think, is not acceptable because the victims are trying to get on with their lives,'' he said."

Unrelated to matters of law enforcement, I'm sure Marcus would be glad to hear talk on ESPN about another McClung, Seth McClung, a major league baseball pitcher with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. I think Seth and Marcus are brothers. The last I heard, Seth was injured and did not play the last part of the season. ESPN says here that Seth pitched 38 and 3/2 innings for Tampa in 2003, with a 4-1 record and 25 strikeouts.

States lobbying for end to bar on taxing Internet access

The Washington Post reports here on increased state lobbying of Congress for the right to tax access to the Internet, an issue not to be confused with collecting sales tax on items sold over the Internet.

Wise County files for rehearing in landfill fee case, administrator moves to dismiss civil rights claim

In these reports from the Coalfield Progress, here it says that Wise County has filed a petition for rehearing of the Virginia Supreme Court's decision in the landfill fee case, and here it says that the Wise County administrator has filed a motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity and failure to state a claim, in the federal civil rights suit brought by a woman who was criminally prosecuted for failure to pay the landfill fee before it was declared unconstitutional.

Moonshine in Fairfax County

In Fairfax County, they've got Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom's, and the latest offering sale, illegal home-brewed whiskey, according to this Washington Post article.

New theory in suit over inmate death at Wallens Ridge prison

According to this Roanoke Times report, the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the death of an inmate at Wallens Ridge are now making the additional claim that "an automatic external defibrillator that would have saved the inmate's life was not used to revive him."

U.S. attorney for W.D. Va. speaks to county board against methadone clinic

This Roanoke Times article says that the W.D. Va.'s U.S. attorney, John Brownlee, spoke against allowing a methadone clinic to be located in Roanoke County, even though he had to admit there were no problems with crime in the areas of other methadone clinics in Southwest Virginia.

From what little I know of it, methadone treatment is sort of like probation, only those with a high-level of discipline can pull it off, and the people with the problem are often going to fail.

Viewpoints not unlike my own regarding the law schools vs. DOD

This column from the Yale Daily News says law schools who want to keep military recruiters off-campus are phony Free Speech advocates, repressing the views of both recruiters and those who might want to be recruited, and cites the words of Justice Brandeis, that "the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."

Federal judgeship news - Urbanski as magistrate judge, while senators riled over 4th Circuit pick

Two stories via VLW - first, as reported here in the Roanoke Times, Mike Urbanski of the Woods Rogers firm in Roanoke, a commercial litigator and anti-trust expert, has been selected by the judges of the Western District of Virginia as the new magistrate judge to succeed Judge Glen Conrad. Second, the Richmond paper has this incredible story about opposition and snafus in connection with the nomination of William Haynes for the Fourth Circuit seat made vacant by the senior status of Judge H. Emory Widener, Jr.

Big chicken

The Roanoke Times has this article on the debate (or lack thereof) about who's the "Big Chicken" in the race between one of the Emicks and Morgan Griffith - and it has nothing to do with Hardees, the only place I would expect to see a Big Chicken.

Supreme Court says no to Hanover County wastewater case

According to this report, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied the petition for certiorari filed by landowners who brought suit against Hanover County, Virginia, regarding the construction of a wastewater treatment plant. In the Fourth Circuit, the district court's ruling for the landowners was reversed in favor of the County. The article notes that another form of the same litigation is still alive in the Circuit Court for the City of Richmond.

Bummed out in Southwest Virginia

In the Virginia Tech student newspaper, this report mentions, among other things, a state statistic which says that "residents of Southwest Virginia were 50 percent more likely to commit suicide than any other part of the commonwealth."

Virginia Tech still paying for suing the ACC and other Big East support

This article says that Va. Tech just got a bill of $229,657 as its share of the legal fees and costs while it was a plaintiff in the Big East vs. ACC lawsuit. In addition, Tech may continue to pay the Big East some of the other membership fees it would have owed if it stayed a Big East member.

Harmless error in baseball and law

From Findlaw, Michael Dorf in this article compares the like notions of "harmless error" in the rules of baseball and the common law.

Somehow, I doubt this will achieve the cult status of the "The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule," 123 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1474 (1974), the best-known law and baseball work known to law review nerds everywhere but unfortunately not (according to Ernie) available online.

The Amway-P&G feud leads to ruling on privilege to republish court documents on the Internet

In Amway Corp. v. Procter & Gamble Co., the Sixth Circuit in an opinion by Judge Batchelder, joined by Judge Clay, and with District Judge Schwarzer concurring separately, held that under Michigan's statutory "fair reporting privilege," Procter & Gamble and its law firm, Cincinnati-based Dinsmore & Shohl, could not be liable for the posting of the text of pleadings on the Internet of complaints filed in court with allegations against Amway.

The memorable opinion begins: "Recitation of the extensive and hate-filled history between P&G(1) and Amway(2) would take a writing as long as both the Old and New Testaments and involve at least one of the Good Book’s more prominent players. Although each side would likely argue, if given the chance, that its opponent was in the garden advising the serpent when Eve took her first bite of the apple, for our purposes we need only go back to the 1970s and Satan’s rumored more recent activity with and interest in soap products."

Two new law schools in Western North Carolina?

Via Law.com, this story from MSNBC reports that there both Elon University and UNC-Charlotte are working on plans for new law schools.

In recent months, there has been news about a new law school in Lynchburg, Virginia, and another in South Carolina, now these two in North Caroline. Maybe the founders of the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy were ahead of the curve.

John Edwards in Bristol today

I got some notices that U.S. Senator, former trial lawyer, and current presidential candidate John Edwards is in downtown Bristol today for some kind of rally in the park down the street by the courthouse, starting in about at 11:30 am. Perhaps this was sent to me because of my membership in the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association. (Unlike ATLA, VTLA does not require as a condition of membership that the applicant is only a plaintiff's lawyer.) The only other Democrat running for president who made an appearance this year in Southwest Virginia was Bob Graham, who since quit the race. North Carolina is not far from here but I doubt that John Edwards is very well-known in this area.

"No Child Left Behind" as potential political liability for President Bush

Today's Washington Post has this article which begins, "President Bush's No Child Left Behind education program -- acclaimed as a policy and political breakthrough by the Republicans in January 2002 -- is threatening to backfire on Bush and his party in the 2004 elections," and explains that "Bush is being criticized in swing states such as West Virginia for not adequately funding programs to help administrators and teachers meet the new, and critics say unreasonable, standards."

In Virginia, the fat will hit the fire this coming spring for graduation standards, when the Standards of Learning require tests to be passed for graduation. Last week, it was reported that the New York education authorities were lowering the standards on the mandatory tests for graduation, according to this NY Times article, titled "New York to Lower the Bar for High School Graduation," and which begins "New York State's education commissioner, Richard P. Mills, said Wednesday that the state would loosen the demanding testing requirements it has imposed for high school graduation in recent years, including the standards used to judge math proficiency."

"The ACC can run but it cannot hide"

Rule of Reason has this post on the dismissal for lack of personal jurisdiction of the NC-based Atlantic Coast Conference from the Big East lawsuit filed in a Connecticut state court, after which ruling the Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal declared, ""The ACC can run but it cannot hide."