[blindlaw] Is blindness ever consitter an issue in court

Thu Jul 11 04:02:09 UTC 2013

Hi Dan,

Well, I filed my first trial setting so I will be calling you for guidance.  Only practicing on my own for two months and the fun is already starting.

Let me make it clear that I completely agree with your points.  The courts owe me nothing except that they must be reasonable with the requirements of the ADA and Rehab act of 1974.  It does however owe my client all rights they are entitled and so must allow me to practice the law in what ever adaptive way that I do as long as my legal representation is comparable to any cited attorney that may be representing that same client.

I have been lucky in that the DA (some of them I went to school with and are ready and willing to extend the idea of brothers and sisters at the bar) has on occasion read to me the content of an arrest report or other material located in the states file as long as it does not violate work product in order that I may be on a  level playing field.

I completely understand this is not always the case, nor do I expect it to be so, but it is helpful and appreciated as being a new solo practitioner I cannot yet afford to hire a legal assistant.

It is always good to hear from you, and I thank you for taking time to see me at my office.

Your brother at the bar.

On Jul 10, 2013, at 8:11 PM, Daniel McBride <dlmlaw at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Robert:
> 
> In all cases, civil and criminal, opposing counsel owes us nothing more as
> blind attorneys than they otherwise owe a sighted attorney.
> 
> As of January 1, 2014, the recently amended discovery statute, Article 39.14
> Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, takes effect.  Under this statute, the
> State is going to be obligated to very broad and significant requirements
> for discovery upon proper request by Defense Counsel.  If requested, the
> State need do nothing more than provide same to Defense Counsel, blind or
> not.
> 
> From that point, the central issue is that of the rights of the Citizen
> Accused; most particularly, the right not only to counsel, but, the right to
> Effective Assistance of counsel.  As long as a blind attorney insists that
> his client receives Effective Assistance, the problem then becomes that of
> the Judge hearing the case.
> 
> When I'm in trial, the Judge can give me all damned day to provide me
> opportunity to scrutinize any offered evidence, or the Judge can risk
> reversal for denying the Citizen Accused his right to Effective Assistance.
> 
> This right is not ours as blind attorneys, rather, the right is that of the
> Citizen Accused.
> 
> This is probably not so in civil cases to the extent of criminal cases, but
> I cannot speak to the civil side definitively.
> 
> The first time I had this problem during a jury trial, I was pretty much
> telling the Judge how the cow would chew the cabbage.  After word got out in
> the courthouse, the State did all it could, in future trials with me, to
> pave this road prior to jury selection.  A blind criminal defense attorney
> can cause the Court major headaches, regarding proper review of offered
> evidence and the time required to review it, in pursuing his client's right
> to Effective Assistance.  That is to say that the Court owes me nothing due
> to being blind, but the Court sure as hell cannot deprive my criminally
> accused client of effective assistance of counsel.
> 
> Always good to hear from you my friend.
> 
> Daniel McBride
> Fort Worth, Texas
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dittman,
> Robert
> Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 7:20 PM
> To: Blind Law Mailing List
> Cc: Blind Law Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Is blindness ever consitter an issue in court
> 
> I agree with your point that the state most likely doesn't have to do
> anything to accommodate the defense attorney. However, my point was that in
> many cases if the attorney is collegial the district attorney or assistant
> district attorney will accommodate the defense attorney. Or, at least this
> is been my experience practicing in San Antonio Texas. I guess I have been
> lucky. V
> 
> Robert D. Dittman, ESQ.
> Attorney and Counselor at Law
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> On Jul 10, 2013, at 18:38, "Parnell Diggs" <parnell at sccoast.net> wrote:
> 
>> Hello legal professionals,
>> The state probably doesn't have to do anything to accommodate the blind
> defense attorney. The defense attorney needs to ask a  cited person to
> describe the photos to him and determine whether the person depicted therein
> is indeed the defendant.
>> 
>> At trial, I would suggest that the defense attorney asked the state to
> present the photos to the defense counsel table just as they would if the
> defense attorney were sighted. On many occasions, I have made decisions
> about whether to object to photos I could not see, and the court often has
> overruled my objections, just as it would with a sighted attorney. In the
> meantime, the defense attorney may want to come up with an explanation as to
> why the defendant is depicted in the photographs.
>> 
>> Parnell Diggs, Esq.
>> President
>> National Federation of the Blind
>> of South Carolina
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>> On Jul 10, 2013, at 7:12 PM, pattichang at att.net wrote:
>> 
>>> I am blind and have served in Illinois on a jury. There was pictorial
> evidence. There were also diagrams of the location. The judge asked and I
> think this is appropriate for most situations that both attorneys verbally
> describe what they were pointing at and reference verbally anything that
> related to the evidence. I would also note that most states require a
> witness to describe what is in the pictures in order to lay a proper
> foundation.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Patti S. Gregory-Chang
>>> NFBI President
>>> NFB Scholarship Comm. Chair
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>> On Jul 10, 2013, at 6:05 PM, "RJ Sandefur"
> <joltingjacksandefur at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> John Smith is a blind defence aturney. He is defending Mike shafer 
>>>> on murder 1 charges. The state has photos of the defendant at the 
>>>> crime seen. What should the state do taking into consitteration the 
>>>> defence lawyer is blind and is unable to see the pictures? RJ 
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