Brian McDonald

news reports out of connecticut say that steven hayes was found unconscious in his cell today and was transported to UConn hospital in nearby Farmington. He is in a coma that was medically-induced, according to sources. one source said that hayes might have tried to overdose on medication. i'll keep you updated as info becomes available. stay tuned.

another juror has been picked to serve on Steven Hayes's capital murder trial, that's 4 in less than two weeks, and, by my count, out of less than 200 perspective jurors. at this rate a jury, with backups and alternates, will be ready to be seated by the end of March. now the question becomes: (more…)

as far as i know, Connecticut has executed only one person in the past 50 years--and he asked to be. Michael Ross, a convicted serial killer, received a lethal injection on May 13th, 2005.

but perhaps just as rare is the monstrous nature of the crimes Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky are accused, and the sustained (more…)

one more question being asked of potential jurors piqued my interest: "A decision has not been made about whether Steven Hayes with testify. If he does not, will you hold that against him?"

In 2000, Hayes's attorney, Thomas Ullman, represented Jonathan Mills, who was convicted of killing his aunt and his two young cousins. Michael (more…)

the were no tweets today from New Haven Superior Court. i'm not sure whether any new jurors were added. for once, there was a pretty positive news story about In the Middle of the Night. I did the interview several weeks ago. see New Haven Advocate link to the left.

I gotta say, all hard feelings aside, I'm getting a real kick out of Ubinas's tweets. for those of you who don't know, Helen Ubinas writes a blog for the Hartford Courant.com, and is now tweeting updates as they happen from the courtroom in New Haven. When my book was released, she fanned the (more…)

in further dissecting the questions being asked of potential jurors, several concern attitudes towards police officers, e.g.: "Do you think law enforcement officials have more credibility when testifying?" and "Have you had bad experiences with cops?" Unless the lawyers are trying to weed out jurors with a law enforcement bias one way or the other, (more…)

the Hartford Courant published a list of 28 questions asked of potential jurors (see link to left). I'm not sure if this list is complete and I would guess that follow-up questions are allowed. like most good interviews, the questions go from general: "Are you an independent thinker?" to the more specific: (more…)

true crime books can be a rotten business. but maybe the lesson from them is that life is often random, and should be held precious.

after 4 days of interviewing 90 prospective jurors (in connecticut, voir dire, the legal term for the interviews, is conducted individually), only 1 has been chosen. although i haven't been in court, (more…)

My father was the squad commander of the 41st precinct from 1951 to 1965, it was during that era when "Fort Apache" began to change from a vibrant, multi-ethnic community into the most crime-ridden acreage in the country. By the 1980s, as crack-cocaine laid waste to Harlem and much of the outer boroughs, the four-one was virtually a ghost town, burned with the rest of the South Bronx to a cinder. To the left is a link to story I did about the precinct for the Times many years ago

happy new year. two months ago, the cheshire library advisory board voted 6-1 to back the librarian's decision to add two copies of In the Middle of the Night to the library's collection. the decision irked a group of town residents who continue to fight to have the book banned from the library. here's where the story gets interesting. the republicans won control over town government in last november's elections. right now, the library board is overwhelmingly democrat. but their term is up at the end of the month and changes are certain. though residents who are actively engaged in the fight to remove the book deny that the issue is political, news stories out of connecticut say that the republican majority gives the book-banners traction to have the board's decision rescinded. for all of you interested in First Amendment issues or political interpretation of the Constitution, stay tuned. this could turn into your own little Scopes trial