Legal System

October 15, 2016

A Reason to be Scared

halloween-2016As you may recall, in October 2012, Bishop Jenky issued a directive to all the priests in the Diocese of Peoria to read a letter at each of the weekend Masses. I’ve republished the letter below. Please take the time to read it. After the letter, I have some comments that are relevant to today.

September 3, 2016

Forced to Testify in a Deposition

DepositionOne of my early mentors — I’ll call him James — was a well-known trial lawyer in Peoria. I met James in January 1983, the same month that I opened my law practice. He started out by giving me research and writing projects. Before long, I was covering his court hearings and helping him prepare cases for trial.

July 2, 2016

Is Donald Trump A Christian?

Trump_PopeI had planned on refraining from writing anything about Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton because I felt that there was really nothing I could add to what’s already available on hundreds of websites. But I ran across an article last week that revealed some information that I haven’t seen anywhere else, and I figured you probably haven’t seen it either.

May 7, 2016

Responding to a Raging Critic

criticLast week I received a letter from a man who felt compelled to put me in my place. One of his comments pertained to my recent article, A Gunfighter Rides Into Peoria. In that article, I described what happened during a recent trial that I was involved in. Here’s what the man said about my article:

April 23, 2016

A Gunfighter Rides Into Peoria

ShaneOne of my favorite westerns is Shane, a movie that was released in 1953. It’s about a former gunfighter named Shane who rides into an isolated valley where nobody knows him. After he arrives, Shane meets Joe Starrett, a local family man and property owner. After Shane helps Starrett with some work, Starrett offers to hire him to work on Starrett’s farm. Starrett is not aware of the fact that Shane is a former gunfighter.

November 22, 2015

Sex and the Soulless Being

human-vs-robotFor the past several weeks, I’ve written about the sin of contraception and how it has led to the proliferation of premarital sex, divorce, abortion, adultery, pornography, homosexuality, out-of-wedlock births, the breakdown of the family, assisted suicide, and surrogate mothers. I’ve also written about how contraception has caused a shortage of Catholic priests and how it has allowed couples to easily overrule God’s plan concerning the number of children God planned for them.

October 3, 2015

Did Pope Francis Ever Cruise Main Street?

Chevy - 1955One of the greatest technological breakthroughs of the past 100 years was the perfection and mass production of the automobile. Although the initial design of a steam-powered “motorized carriage” dates back to the 18th century, it was the invention of the internal combustion engine that allowed the automobile industry to dramatically change our way of life.

August 15, 2015

I Was Accused of Being a Whiner

Whining-StopA recent event triggered my memory of a case I was involved in more than 20 years ago. The case involved a man who had been charged with a serious crime. For the purpose of this article, I’m going to call him “Ray.” Ray was arrested in Peoria and charged with committing a felony. Prior to the initial hearing in his case, he hired me to represent him.

August 8, 2015

An Unknown and Underused Power

jury-nullificationShortly after I opened my law practice in January 1983, I was contacted by a pro-life activist who had been arrested at the local abortion clinic. After his arrest, a criminal case was filed against him charging him with criminal trespass to property. I agreed to represent him and was able to get the case dismissed because, at the time of his arrest, he was standing on a public sidewalk near the clinic.

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