FEDS GET JUSTICE
IN CONNELLY’S OVERLOOK
CRIME & FEDERALISM BLOG
WWW.FEDERALISM.TYPEPAD.COM/
DAILY COMMENTARY ON CRIMINAL LAW, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND WHAT'S NEW AND
OUTRAGEOUS IN THE LAW.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I’M HAPPY TO SAY MIKE AND NORM INVITED ME TO
POST AT THE CRIME & FEDERALISM BLOG.
Spoiler Alert: The Overlook
HERE’S MY FIRST ENTRY …
Feds Get Justice In
Connelly’s Overlook
Andy Thibault
When I grow up, I want to do something like what Michael Connelly did.
So what if I’m a few years older than Connelly.
Connelly determined as a young man that he would be a mystery writer.
He must have known then -- in his soul -- of the art he might create
to validate integrity and expose corruption while telling great
stories. Connelly had no experience, but he liked what Raymond
Chandler had to say. He was intrigued by the way director Robert
Altman played with Chandler’s “The Long Goodbye.” This led
Connelly to play well enough to create his own universe, a universe so
endearing that others would support it.
The road to best-selling mystery author included extended stops as a
cop reporter in Florida and Los Angeles. I sense many of the friends
he made in those years are his friends today.
More than anything, I admire the integrity of Connelly’s writing.
Connelly’s hero, detective Harry Bosch, pays a huge price for doing
his job. Everyone counts or no one counts is Bosch’s motto. Living
that life in any endeavor is an enormous burden. It is the essence of
a democratic republic. To the extent that good cops like Bosch do
their jobs, we have some hope of living in an actual democracy. For
Bosch will not back down against anyone, regardless of power or
position. I have not read of anyone calling Bosch graceful, but I see
him carrying the mantle gracefully and courageously.
Bosch has some good and capable colleagues. But they are often
sidetracked by the inept, the apathetic, the clock-punchers and the
corrupt.
Here lies Connelly’s great accomplishment: As an artist he exposes
the corrupt and the oppressors in a way far more powerful that he
might have as a journalist. Connelly does this with the pacing and
depth of character as well as any novelist. Certainly there will be a
ripple effect, in the arts and possibly elsewhere.
As readers we see what we want to see. While I explore this dynamic
with Connelly, I am compelled to go back for a second round.
Foremost, with Connelly, we get classic great tales with hidden
friends and foes jumping out of the bushes right down to the wire. How
will Harry or other protagonists smote the enemy, or, first, identify
the correct enemy?
I began last fall with The Lincoln Lawyer. Several of my friends in
the criminal defense business live elements of protagonist Mickey
Haller’s tortured and occasionally rewarding life. Connelly’s
Lincoln Lawyer allowed me the pure and guiltless pleasure of following
Haller’s peril in a way I might not follow others in real life. The
distance and the journey are simultaneously relaxing and invigorating
– while safe.
Following The Lincoln Lawyer I read all the Harry Bosch novels, as
well as Blood Work and The Poet. Math isn’t my best subject, but I
think there are 17 Connelly novels and various short stories.
Yesterday, I capped this reading extravaganza and shook up my printer
with 16 installments of The Overlook, serialized in The New York
Times.
The Overlook, due out as an expanded hardcover in May, gave me the
best buzz of all.
Bosch catches a murder. The Feds move in, try to push aside Bosch and
the murder, and erroneously make it a weapons of mass destruction case
with all the bells and whistles and abuse of power. Thankfully, in
Bosch, we have the persona of someone who pushes back – effectively
and relentlessly. The Feds get what they deserve, and justice is done.
It is easy to recognize some of the Feds as the bad guys – the
arrogant and incompetent losers – as they are in real life. The only
thing this coterie of klutzes have going for them is unchecked power
in a brotherhood that allows access and action far beyond retirement.
As George Jackson so aptly put it, “Anyone who can pass the civil
service test today can kill tomorrow.”
From the political harassment of waves of immigrants going back at
least to the 1920’s and the infiltration of the civil rights and
anti-war movements -- to their own unclean hands in the operations of
organized crime in New England in recent years and spying on citizens
today – few if any entities pose a greater threat to the American
people than our own government and agents who would happily work for
any gang in power. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights be damned.
No one writing mystery stories today tells certain parts of this story
better than Connelly.
The story of The Overlook will resonate with good cops throughout the
nation. We need more good cops out there like Harry Bosch and more
good lawyers like Mickey Haller to protect us from enemies foreign and
domestic. We might need more help on the domestic side before it’s
too late.
About Mike of Crime & Federalism
Mike loves the law, and he is apolitical. In law school he served as
the chapter president Pepperdine’s chapter of the Federalist
Society, and was a member of the National Association of Criminal
Defense Lawyers.
He graduated from Pepperdine Law School, and also served nine years in
the National Guard and Army Reserves, where he was the youngest
graduate of Officer Candidate School and was honored as the runner-up
for Brigade Soldier of the Year (second best soldier out of
thousands). He was honorably discharged after resigning his commission
in 2004.
He is married and has a (well-read and active) dog.
During law school he earned a perfect "100" in
Constitutional Law: Federal and State Power Relations. He won
additional awards for obtaining the highest class grades in Advanced
Constitutional Law: Supreme Court Seminar, Civil Rights Actions, and
White Collar Crime. Additionally, he was selected to serve on a moot
court panel that helped prepare Dean Kenneth Starr prepare for a
United States Supreme Court oral argument.
Mike worked as a research assistant to three law professors, helping
them with a treatise on federal courts and Section 1983 actions, two
constitutional law case books, and a book on historically-significant
closing arguments. He also worked as a teaching assistant for Advanced
Legal Research, and assisted with Henke’s California Law Guide (7th
ed.). Recently, he wrote a book review on Constitutional Chaos and
submitted numerous entries on criminal and constitutional law for the
forthcoming Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties.
Mike has worked on dozens of Section 1983 cases, doing everything from
pre-filing consulting to helping write cert. petitions. His criminal
law experience is also deep, and includes motion and brief work in
everything from marijuana possession to murder, from cases involving
complex fraud to computer crimes. Notably, a brief he wrote
challenging a state criminal law under the First Amendment persuaded a
judge to strike down the law, resulting in a dismissal of criminal
charges. A recent motion to dismiss he wrote led to the dismissal of
the sole murder count of an indictment as well as nine perjury counts.
Mike has also studied trial advocacy under some of the greatest trial
lawyers in the country. While still in law school he graduated from
Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College Regional Seminar, and Gerry
Spence's Trial Lawyers College Advanced Regional Seminar.
Mike can be reached via e-mail at CrimeAndFederalism@gmail.com
About Norm of Crime & Federalism
Norman A. Pattis is an accomplished lawyer and writer. Mr. Pattis
practices law and owns a rare book shop (Whitlock Farms Bookstore)
just outside of New Haven, Connecticut. He recently formed his own
firm, specializing in criminal defense, civil rights, appellate work
and representing lawyers in professional disputes.
Notable civil rights included Kevin King v. Mark Verdone, et al., in
which he obtained a judgment of more than $2 million for a prisoner
beaten during an escape attempt; Peterson, et al. v. City of Hartford,
in which nine white and Hispanic firefighters won a $3.1 million
reverse discrimination verdict against the city's fire department;
Broadnax v. New Haven, in which he won a $1.5 million verdict on
behalf of a the city's highest ranking female firefighter. In Higgins
v. Burleigh, et al., Pattis won a $700,000 verdict for a young boxer
beaten by police officers outside a nightclub.
He recently obtained a $600,000 verdict in a First Amendment case for
a Hartford police officer who was the subject of retaliation by his
chief. The plaintiff had cooperated with federal prosecutors
investigating corruption in the Hartford Police Department.
He has also won many other federal civil rights verdicts for police
brutality, false arrest, malicious prosecution, denial of equal
protection of the law, discrimination and other civil rights. He once
tracked down the financier of a brutal contract shooting, forcing a
settlement after the man filed bankruptcy to avoid the civil trial,
and after several days of cross-examination of the financier and his
ex-wife designed to show that their "divorce" was little
more than a fraudulent conveyance.
Pattis has also represented those accused of crimes in state and
federal courts. He obtained an acquittal on two counts of attempted
murder of police officers arising from the point-blank shooting of two
Middletown officers during an arrest. He also won an acquittal for a
man accused of felony murder in the course of a high-speed chase in
which a police officer died. In another case, he won acquittals for
two men accused of beating several police officers. He has
successfully defended weapons charges, narcotics charges, cases
alleging sexual assault, bank robbery and embezzlement.
He has defended capital cases on both the trial and appellate level.
His defense of Lon Grammer and Tonica Jenkins, both accused of
fraudulently obtaining admission to Yale University in separate
incidents, attracted national attention.
A former member of the staff of Gerry Spence's Trial Lawyers College
in Wyoming, Pattis has also served as a faculty member for the
National Institute of Trial Advocacy. He has also been a guest speaker
before bar association groups, including the Idaho Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers. Pattis also writes a weekly column for the
Connecticut Law Tribune, found most weeks at www.law.com/ct.
He also writes about his experiences as an antiquarian book seller at
Bibliophile.
He is a frequent commentator on legal topics on television and radio.
His first attempt at fiction, Dark Justice, was published in serial
form by The Connecticut Law Tribune.
Pattis has argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second
and Sixth Circuits, and appeared before the United States Supreme
Court in prisoner's rights litigation.
You can reach Mr. Pattis via e-mail at NormPattis@gmail.com,
by visiting his firm's website, www.normanpattis.com,
or by contacting him via mail or telephone:
Norman A. Pattis
649 Amity Road
Bethany, CT 06524
203.393.3017
Welcome Notes To Crime & Federalism From Mike & Norm
Please Welcome Andy Thibault
Mike
Crime and Federalism is pleased to introduce our latest contributor,
Andy Thibault.
Thibault, author of Law & Justice in Everyday Life, was an
award-winning columnist for Law Tribune Newspapers from 2000-2006,
whom F. Lee Baily described as "a gunslinger from the Old West,
ready to fire at anything that moves - especially if he doesn't take
kindly to the movement."
Thibault was chief investigator for the Washington, D.C. public
interest law firm Judicial Watch. While at Judicial Watch, Thibault
brought in from the cold two girlfriends of the late U.S. Commerce
Secretary Ron Brown as the firm probed cash for trade mission
placements and other corruption in that agency.
Thibault also manages a non-profit foundation that awards prizes
annually to young poets and writers in Connecticut, and is a licensed
professional boxing judge.
You can find more about Thibault at his home page, www.andythibault.com,
and his blog, The Cool Justice Report.
From Norm-
Welcome, Andy. Sit back, relax, and get ready to be gnawed upon by our
faithful readers.
http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-posting-crime-federalism.html