A lawyer in Honolulu has asked us to mention that the federal courthouse in Honolulu no longer allows palm pilots and other pda's to be brought inside. He wants to know if any other federal courthouses have this rule (Denver does not, at least as of last week when ours went through security just fine) and what other lawyers think about it. His email address is dk@thedefense.com

Apparently, there is concern that the pda's could be used to surreptitiously record sound and pictures, and that they might be altered to conceal firearms or explosive devices. Here is the Honolulu's Court Order.

And while we are on legal stuff, we thought we'd mention a new, free web resource for people charged with crime in New York--put out by the criminal defense law firm of Shalley & Murray.

New York City Criminal Court Arraignments Information contains "specific, detailed information about New York City criminal court arraignments, including directions, locations, hours, information about bail, and specific step by step analysis of the arraignment process (including explanations of notices) in an easy to understand, simple to use format for the layperson. There is also a section about New York Crimes in which the user can look up crimes in New York by name, Penal Code Section number, or category and a basic sentencing chart with directions for users to get a rough idea about the possible range of sentences in New York State."

We looked, it's a real nice site and a valuable public resource.