[blindlaw] Is blindness ever consider an issue in court

Daniel McBride dlmlaw at sbcglobal.net
Thu Jul 11 15:31:54 UTC 2013


Hello Robert:

I am glad to assist you at any time in any way I can.

Regarding the trial setting and judges: the only person in a criminal trial
with any rights is the Defendant.  Remember that trial is all about
preserving the record for appeal in the event your hero is found guilty,
which is about 95% of the time.  Thus, get accustomed to the concept of
effective assistance of counsel (your client's right) and mention the
concept of reasonable accommodations only as they relate directly to
effective assistance of counsel.  Otherwise, the judge could care less about
the ADA and reasonable accommodations.

Simply substitute reasonable accommodation with effective assistance.  And,
to properly preserve error for appeal, you must make it clear on the record
what is occurring in the courtroom and be specific about how it is depriving
your client of effective assistance, as well as being very specific about
what you are proposing to do to provide effective assistance.  For the
record, your objections will always be denial of your client's right to
effective assistance, a fair trial, due process and so forth.  Your
objection should never be your right to reasonable accommodations.

And, regarding your prosecuting brothers at the bar; when you walk into a
courtroom and seat the venire for jury selection, the brother at the bar
disappears.  While in trial, you are the enemy and they will run over you
with a quickness.  In fact, they will pull every dirty trick in the book to
convict your client, including any advantage they might gain due to your
blindness.

In Tarrant County, there are usually three prosecutors present at every
trial.  Two are sitting at counsel table for the State and the other is
sitting on the bench.  My guess is that this is true in Bexar County as
well.  So, as a criminal defense attorney in a jury trial, understand that
you and your client are the only two people in that courtroom who have any
interest in a level playing field.

Again, I am glad to assist at any time.

Your true brother at the defense bar,
Dan McBride

-----Original Message-----
From: blind law [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dittman,
Robert
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2013 11:02 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] is blindness ever consider an issue in court

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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