Blackstone Award and Nominations
10:1 Blackstone’s Order
Summary: We are told that at the Alamo a young Lieutenant Colonel by the name of William Barrett Travis Legend gazed out across the Texas prairie at Santa Anna's gathering forces, and drew a line in the sand. Then, he asked all those who would stand with him to cross the line. "Talking about Freedom," Travis had told them, "is always easier than coming face-to face with a man who is trying to take it away."
Every day public defenders and criminal defense lawyers in private practice we come face-to-face with such men and women. They struggle to exonerate their clients in difficult cases against an oppressive and unbalanced criminal justice system. Moreover, often when they win a pivotal pre-trial motion, an acquittal at trial or a reversal on appeal, there is usually no one there to recognize their efforts. Nevertheless, we must recognize them. These are the true Freedom Fighters in the never-ending battle to preserve the idea which is the American experiment.
These are the lawyers who remind judges and juries of the collateral damage that occurs to our society if we wage the war on crime with complete disregard rights of individual liberty that so many have fought and died to preserve. These are the lawyers who implement Blackstone's ratio in the courtroom. These are the lawyers who remind judges, jurors and even skeptical prosecutors that it is "Better that 10 guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer." The vigilance of these lawyers is the price of our liberty.
Past Recipients:
| E. King Alexander | Niles Haymer |
| David Anderson | Holli Herrle-Castillo |
| Wesley Bailey | Marcus Hunter |
| Mary Katherine Beaird | Charles Kincade |
| Andre Belanger | Tedrick Knightshead |
| Juan Bernal | Jessica Lacambra |
| William Boggs | Ryan LaPorte |
| Jim Boren | Kara Larson |
| Franz Borghardt | N'Ghana Lewis Gauf |
| Graham Bosworth | Guy Lillian, III |
| Eugene Bouquet | Robert Loque |
| Beau Brock | Barry Milligan |
| Danielle Brown | Marquita Naquin |
| Brett Brunson | Donna Orjuela |
| Wilford Carter | Ross Owen |
| Andy Casanave | Letita Parker-Davis |
| Sean Collins | Joe Perez |
| Howard Conday | Bryan Racer |
| Tommy Damico | Elton Richey |
| Harry Daniels, III | James Ross |
| Tommy Davenport | Carolyn Sartin |
| John DiGiulio | Louis Scott |
| Laurie Earl | Pam Spees |
| Davidson Ehle | Catherine Stagg |
| Jim Flammang | Ricky Swift |
| Thomas Frampton | Robert Toale |
| Trey Frazier | Jacques Touzet |
| Anna Friedberg | A. Hays Town, III |
| Thomas Gernhauser | Nicholas Trenticosta |
| Robby Gill | Cesar Vazquez |
| Shelley Goff | Arvind Viswanathan |
| Alan Golden | Derrick Whittington |
| Joshua Gordon | Katherine Widhalm Cooper |
| Broocks Greer | David Williams |
| Chris Hatch |