Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

Welcome back. We'll look at four cases, arranging in increasing order of the height of their media profile. Death with the Assistance of Counsel Diving right in there: in McCOY v. LOUISIANA (May 14)  the Court found that the "effective assistance of counsel" guaranteed by the 6th amendment to the Constitution requires that the defendant be able to choose the objective of his defense -- that is, whether the defense should be to concede the crime but plead mitigating circumstances, or whether it should deny guilt. In the case before the court, McCoy's attorney, Robert English, admitted to the jury repeatedly, and against his client's repeated instructions, that his client "committed three murders." Indeed, he told them there was "no way reasonably possible" that they could hear the case and come to any other conclusion than that McCoy was "the cause of these individuals' deaths." He tried to make the case for mercy, for seei...

Villamaino's pre-trial hearing date, last I knew, was set for December 3. Whether it will actually generate any news, I have no idea. Unless you keep up with the news of certain suburbs of Springfield, MA, you likely have no idea who Enrico ("Jack") Villamaino is. The chap pictured above. Splashy voter fraud case, though., With an odd twist -- but we'll get to that. Villamaino was a Selectman in East Longmeadow, Mass. He wanted to move up the political ladder and become a state representative (as a Republican.) The state alleges that he sought to do this through an elaborate scheme for tampering with ballots. He had help from a town employee, Courtney Llewellyn. In a Hollywoodish touch, Villamaino was actually arrested on October 16th with a passport and a bag with personal effects. He had apparently told witnesses his planned destination was Switzerland. Dude! That sort of thing makes it tough for your lawyer to argue for low bail. Here's the neat twi...