Author: matthaiduk

Matt Haiduk is a criminal defense lawyer in Illinois. He loves his dog. And pizza.

Citizenfour

I’m not great at watching movies. Sometimes I fall asleep. Sometimes I just don’t pay attention. Sometimes I watch and forget I’ve even seen a movie a week or two later.

I don’t think I’m going to forget Citizenfour, though.

I’ll admit to not paying a ton of attention to every minute detail of Snowden’s disclosures when they were fist reported. I knew he’d blown the top off of electronic spying. I knew he fled the country, and I knew he’s facing charges that will likely land him in prison the rest of his life if the U.S. intelligence committee ever catches up with him.

I didn’t need to know much more in order to connect the dots. So, I’ll probably forget a lot of what is in the movie, which is fine- it’s completely aggravating.

One thing I won’t forget, though, is the connection to the movie, “Unconstitutional.” Continue reading “Citizenfour”

The Regular Person Standard.

I don’t know much about a lot of things. Nobody will dispute that. I might know a little about a few things. At least, people ask me questions as though they think I do. Of course, I’ve got a philosophy degree so I know that I really know nothing. That’s what the bearded, hippie, teaching assistants told me, anyway. I don’t know enough to disagree with them, that’s for sure.

My favorite legal questions are when friends and family of people without much exposure to law enforcement have that first “experience” and want to know what to do.

  •  “The police were banging on my brother’s door and screaming for him to come outside. What should he have done?”
  • “Some investigator showed up at my friend’s house and asked him to come talk at the station. The Investigator wouldn’t say what it was about. Is that normal?”
  • “The police wouldn’t let me answer my phone and were asking me weird questions. Why would they do that?”

Continue reading “The Regular Person Standard.”

Taking a Stand on the Gay Hoosier Pizza.

I have a secret to tell you: I was born in Indiana. If you don’t think that’s a big secret, it means you’re either unfamiliar with Indiana or you currently live in Indiana and you’re lying to yourself.  Thankfully, I’m both familiar with Indiana and not living there. That makes me especially qualified to comment on this Memories Pizza debacle. Continue reading “Taking a Stand on the Gay Hoosier Pizza.”

Setting Every Damn Case For Trial: The beginning of the end of my “reign of pain” as a public defender.

When I worked for the public defender’s office I was a complete pain in the ass.  Or, at least I like to think I was. Considering a judge once told me I was “the only roadblock to an otherwise smooth running courtroom,” I probably was.

I pulled out every trick people would teach me. When I ran out of those, I’d invent some of my own and see how they worked. If they rocked, I’d use them until they wouldn’t. If they didn’t, I’d think up something else.

I don’t regret that. Not even a little bit. Continue reading “Setting Every Damn Case For Trial: The beginning of the end of my “reign of pain” as a public defender.”

Cop Games, Due Process and the CPD “Black Site.”

“Sorry to disrupt, but I’m here for Mr. Innocent.”

One of my favorite things to do at this job is to show up at police stations.  If a client is inside an interrogation room, manages to wade through the coercive Reed Technique garbage and get a call out to me, I’ll drop almost anything I’m doing and try to get there if I can.  It hardly every happens, though.

Cops play all sorts of games to prevent it- despite what the Constitution says.

If I can talk to the cop directly, they’ll do everything they can to interfere. My favorite is when I ask “You’ve arrested Bob Innocent, my client…” to which the response is always, “No, sir, Mr. Innocent has not been arrested“,  Because, as you know, even though a man is handcuffed and locked in a police interrogation room, he might be arrested to you or me, but that’s not “arrested” to the cops.

So, you have to say “detained”.  That’s the magic cop word that means “arrested” to everybody else. If you don’t use their magic words, they play dumb. Continue reading “Cop Games, Due Process and the CPD “Black Site.””