An Interview With Sam Dalton, Now In His Seventh Decade Of Criminal Defense Law

The year 2013 marked the 50th anniversary of two landmark
Supreme Court cases in criminal defense law. In Brady v. Maryland,
the Court ruled that prosecutors are required by law to turn
favorable evidence over to defense attorneys. And in Gideon v.
Wainwright, the Court ruled that for felony cases, the government
is obligated to provide indigent defendants with adequate legal
representation.

Earlier this year, I interviewed longtime criminal defense
attorney Sam Dalton for a
long investigative piece on prosecutorial
misconduct. Dalton is something of a legend in Louisiana
courtrooms. He has just entered his seventh decade of practicing
law. In that time, he has defended more than 300 death penalty
cases. Of those, he spared 16 defendants from execution — this in
a state that’s rather fond of executing people. He has also been a
voice for civil rights, he chartered a model public defender
system, and he’s currently leading a charge to impose some
accountability on Louisiana’s more egregiously misbehaving
prosecutors. My favorite thing about him: Outside his office door
there’s a “welcome” mat that reads: Come back with a
warrant.

Read the interview at The Huffington Post.