The Oscar Pitorious Case

Two things the all-knowing Internet comment section fails to notice about the Oscar Pitorious case: 

1. Under their law, killing an intruder in your home, even in clear self defense, is a crime 

2. An appeals court convicted him of a higher offense than what the trial court chose. What kind of justice system can take someone that's been duly convicted, toss out the verdict, and immediately convict him of another crime without trial? #ThankfulToLiveHere

I think the Con Law final was the most difficult so far in law school, in large part because of the format: 53 questions over four hours, most of them multiple choice. You'd think that would be easy, but when each possible answer is fifty words long and filled with bits of truth, twists of logic, and lawyerly gobbledygook, er, not so much. I'm sure I did fine - I certainly didn't fail - but given my expectations I may be disappointed. We'll see. I know the material, I just hope the grade reflects that fact.

About to take my final in Constitutional Law - at Marquette

The brief is submitted. And just like that, Legal Writing 2 is complete. #RElief

Hey, It's True Folks

 Great slogan!

Research

I spent several hours today at Marquette, doing research at the law library on behalf of a relative. I was pleasantly surprised to have two faculty members stop and say hello when they saw me. Apparently I'm just as memorable in person as on Facebook.

LOL

Well,  law student. 

Torts

I'm at Marquette awaiting my three hour Torts final, after starting the day with my father-in-law's funeral. Quite the day.

update: Torts is done. 2,676 words written on six total problem sets over three hours. I had time to re-read my work before I submitted it, and while I can't say it's full of the greatest legal arguments of all time, I sure do write purty.

Raise My Glass

I spent most of the day mucking around with a research project for Legal Writing that *still* isn't finished. What a pain in the keister. A pox on it Now, I'm sitting with Lisa, getting ready to watch a movie - and drinking a mudslide in honor of Carlos H. IIRC, it's his favorite drink.

Baloney

ABC News is reporting that the death this week of James Brady (the Reagan Press Sec. wounded in the 1981 assassination attempt) has been ruled a homicide, with Hinkley named as his killer.

 [crickets chirp] 

Uh, a.) he was 73 b.) the family said he died of natural causes c) the shooting was 33 years ago. 

I know I've only taken one criminal law class in my time at Marquette, but good luck selling that shooting as the proximate cause of his death. And isn't it understood that for a wound to be responsible for a homicide it must have occurred within a year and a day of the death (at least in WI)? 

If he was an average Joe, you wouldn't hear squat about such baloney. It's an attempt to garner some free press and make a pitch for gun control all, as usual, on the taxpayer dime.

Spring Grades

Spring grades were posted. I didn't do as well as I hoped, notching only a B and a B- and taking a 2.912 GPA into the fall. 

The B in Civil Procedure ticks me off, b/c even in looking over the material in retrospect, I thought I kicked ass on the final. I'm left shaking my head and wondering what I have to do to earn an A.

Maybe it's beyond me. 

That said, that B- in Property Law features an obligatory reduction of my final grade because car trouble caused me to be late for the final, and the Professor informed me of the penalty before I was allowed to start the exam. Sooooooo, looking at it in that light, and remembering the awful stress that put on me in the moment, I guess I'll notch that as a shaky "win", or at least a draw.

As is almost always the case, EGBAR.

Just finished a three and a half hour Civil Procedure final. Wish I'd taken the day off from work, as it was draining.

 Just finished my Civil Procedure midterm. On the way out of the building I ran into the Dean who asked me how I'd done on the exam.

"Eh", I said. "I've had better nights"

"Well, you survived," he replied.

"That remains to be seen," I said. "I'll get the score next week."

"You'll make a great lawyer," he said. "You refuse to commit to any definable position."

A Little Light Reading

My contract law flash cards

Hot Dog!

To my great shock, it appears that I learned something in Criminal Law and the final went well!  I think that, barring the professor being on the take, I aced 32 of the 45 problems, bombed one, and listed 12 under "maybe" - but I'd go to Potawatomi on the odds of those "maybe's" being largely "correct" answers. This portion of the exam is only 1/3rd of the Final - the other 2/3rd's coming from two 2000 word take home essays I had to hand in to receive today's exam - so the possibility still exists that I stunk it up. But if I did, I stunk it up less than I feared four hours ago.

Changes at Marquette

 Today Marquette took a concrete step towards eliminating the part- time evening program ( I'm grandfathered in). So if you're a working adult hoping to get a law degree, you have only a year or so to apply and get in the final class.

Gulp

Less than 90 minutes until Marquette orientation. Rattler's in my stomach . . . .

Student loans make it possible to anyone. When there's a will there's a way. It's a huge financial risk....but sometimes risk pays off. - Lisa

update: 

Orientation at Marquette went fine. It was five hours long and featured two one hour class sessions, despite, you know, school not actually starting until next week :) 

The program is big on the Socratic method, which is a bit of an adjustment, but once I was called on and grilled for four or five minutes the nerves passed. I'm one of only 18 students in the part-time program and it looks like we'll be stuck with one another for years, so for good or bad we're bound to become a tight knit bunch. 

By coincidence my seat was next to someone I'd met and chatted with at the LSAT. We both congratulated each other on making the cut. Small world. 

This is just the beginning of the process, and as we all know (and some people may desire) this may all wind up a disaster. 

But, *IF* this was some dorky TV movie, and the start of law school was the denouement of a standard underdog story, it would have ended on the very view I saw driving home via 794: The moon, full and bright against a pitch black sky, surrounded by blossoming fireworks as it cast a single bar of light over the still waters of the lake. 

I almost laughed out loud at the cheesiness of it. :)

Gulp

t still may not happen, if I can't get the financial aspects in order, but it is now official: I have been accepted into Marquette Law School.

On the possibility of a civil trial in the Zimmerman case

Regarding the possibility of Zimmerman facing a civil suit from the Martin family, which (like the OJ trial) I view as a form of double jeopardy, "If Trayvon’s parents pursue civil action against Zimmerman in state court, they will likely encounter a major obstacle, the “immunity” provision of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law that became part of Zimmerman’s self-defense strategy at his criminal trial. The 2005 law, which allows a person to use force to prevent imminent death or harm to himself, can also shield a defendant from liability in a civil wrongful-death case."

Robert Bork

RIP Judge Robert Bork, woulda/coulda/shoulda been Supreme Court Justice