Clear View Project

Justice in the Long Halls: Jarvis Masters’ Hearings — A Fascinating and Exasperating Day in Court for Lovers of Language

28 March 2011

Eight weeks have passed since the last evidentiary hearing in Jarvis Masters’ appeal.   At the last session on 27 January, Judge Lynn Duryee allowed for testimony by a final defense witness, forensic linguist Robert Leonard, on his … Read more

Jarvis Masters: A Concise Summary of His Evidentiary Hearings, January 2011

Note: This post kind of overlaps with Day 10 of Justice in Long Halls.  But this is more of a summary of the hearing from the Masters team’s standpoint. Although the legal issues and testimony of these hearings are technically … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls — Jarvis Masters’ Hearings, Day 10

Closing Arguments — 27 January 2011

Last Thursday’s oral arguments brought Jarvis Master’s evidentiary hearings almost to an end.  (Almost, because there is still one more expert witness for the petitioners/defense scheduled for 15 February.)  Judge Duryee had asked both … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls: Jarvis Masters’ Hearings — Day 9

Jarvis Masters’ evidentiary hearings reached a kind of conclusion around noon, after nine days of testimony.  The first planned witness, a former prisoner and ex-gang member implicated in the Burchfield attack, was not called.  In the housekeeping that followed — … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls: Jarvis Masters’ Hearing — Day 8

Today’s hearing was uneventful, which is not necessarily bad.  There were not a lot of us in attendance — about 14 or 15.  And a smaller crew of corrections officers guarding Jarvis.  A lot of the questions and answers were … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls — Jarvis Masters’ Hearing, Day 7

The courtroom was packed again this morning.  The day began with some drama.  Court was in session as we took our seats, and there was palpable tension. When the hearing broke last Thursday, the witness (call him Witness Z) was … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls — Jarvis Masters’ Hearing, Day 6

Morning and afternoon all the visitors’ seats were filled.  There were about thirty Jarvis Masters supporters at today’s hearing, and a large group of corrections officers.  It felt like the hearings had gathered momentum, as the Jarvis Masters legal team … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls — Jarvis Master’s Hearing, Day 5

Another short day.  Today’s witness was a current inmate, 40 years into a “life without parole” sentence for murder/robbery.  For many years, this inmate — very articulate — had been a regional prison gang leader in California’s prisons, transferred around … Read more

Justice in the Long Halls — Jarvis Masters’ Hearing, Day 4

10 January 2011

The hearings continued today in the surreal surrounds of the Marin Civic Center. Jarvis Masters’ team called three witness. The first was co-counsel for defense at the original trial. His testimony was very brief, and, to me, … Read more