Jeralyn Elise Merritt (born September 28, 1949) is an American criminal defense attorney in private practice in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, since 1974. She served as one of the trial lawyers for

Timothy McVeigh Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third ...

in the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorism in the United States, domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-federal go ...

case in 1996 and 1997. In 2002 Merritt founded and is the principal author of the

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

''TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime''. She also serves as a legal commentator for news media programs and as an internet journalist.

Education

A 1967 graduate of

New Rochelle High School New Rochelle High School (NRHS) is a public high school in New Rochelle, New York. It is part of the City School District of New Rochelle and is the city's sole public high school. Its student body represents 60 countries from around the world. I ...

, in New Rochelle, New York, Merritt attended Case Western Reserve University before transferring to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she majored in political science and earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in 1971.Jeralyn E. Merritt
"Jeralyn E. Merritt - Lawyer Profile"
''

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Martindale-Hubbell is an information services company to the legal profession that was founded in 1868. The company publishes the ''Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory'', which provides background information on lawyers and law firms in the United S ...

Law Directory'', ''lawyers.com'', accessed September 29, 2012.Carrie Printz,
"Alumni Profile: Jeralyn Merritt Founds Talkleft Political Blog"
''

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

Magazine'' (Fall 2006), accessed October 1, 2012; rpt. i
"People: Merritt's Blog Covers Crime and Justice"
''DU Today'', August 30, 2006, News. In 1973 she earned a J.D. degree from the

Law School, returning there to teach "Wrongful Convictions" and "Criminal Defense" as Lecturer in Law from 2000 to 2003.

Legal career

In 1974 Merritt was admitted to the Bar in Colorado, established her own law firm, and in 1981 she was admitted to practice before the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. She is also a member of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. From 1996 to 2007, she served as a member of the

Legal Advisory Board. In 1996 and 1997 she served as one of the trial lawyers for

in the

case, after the court venue moved to Denver.

United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (in case citations, 10th Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Colorado * District of Kansas * Distr ...

"Petition for Writ of Mandamus of Petitioner-Defendant
Timothy James McVeigh and Brief in Support, March 25, 1997", Case No. 96-CR-68-M, accessed March 1, 2007. In 1995 she received the first annual Marshall Stern Legislative Achievement Award, from the

National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) is an American criminal defense organization. Members include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, active U.S. military defense counsel, law professors, judges, and d ...

(NACDL), for which she has served as a member of the Board of Directors (1995–2001),

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a ...

(2002–2003) and treasurer (2003–2004), as the vice-chair of NACDL's

Innocence Project Innocence Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal organization that is committed to exonerating individuals who have been wrongly convicted, through the use of DNA testing and working to reform the criminal justice system to prevent futu ...

from 1998 to 2002 and on other committees. In 2008 she received the Al Horn Award from the

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Ac ...

(NORML), "a Lifetime achievement award for advancing the cause of justice and extraordinary support of NORML.""Jeralyn E. Merritt, Esq."
at

NORML The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Acc ...

, accessed September 29, 2012. After giving up her practice for a year and a half in order to work on the McVeigh defense team, since 1997, Merritt has continued her own criminal defense practice emphasizing federal drug and white collar crimes and has served as a legal analyst for and commentator on television news programs. From 1997 to 1999, she served as a television legal analyst for

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

, and, from 1996 to 2008, as a guest legal commentator on television for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, MSNBC,

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, Court TV and

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

, presenting her perspective as a criminal defense attorney on contemporary legal cases being covered on national media news programs. Merritt is also a specialist in the use of the internet as a legal research resource and presents seminars and speeches on its use in investigation, on handwriting analysis, and on other matters pertaining to her legal specialties.

Areas of practice

*Federal and State Drug Offenses *Complex Federal Criminal Cases (including multi-defendant drug and fraud conspiracies) *Criminal and Civil Forfeitures *Pre-Indictment and Grand Jury Representation *White Collar Defense (financial crimes, including fraud, money laundering, criminal forfeitures) *Electronic Surveillance (cases involving the use of electronic surveillance, including wiretaps)

Bar admissions

* Colorado Bar Association (CBA or cobar) (1974) * Colorado Criminal Defense Bar (1974) *

Supreme Court of Colorado The Colorado Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Colorado. Located in Denver, the Court consists of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. Powers and duties Appellate jurisdiction Discretionary appeals The Court p ...

(1974) * U.S. District Court, District of Colorado (1974) * U.S. Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit (1974) *

(1981) * New York Supreme Court (1990) * U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit (1990) * U.S. District Court, District of Arizona (1991) * U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1999)

Internet journalism

Merritt is the creator of ''CrimeLynx'', an online legal resource for legal professionals and the general public, and a blog called ''TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime'', which is a three-time winner of a Koufax Award for best single-issue blog in 2002, 2003 and 2004 (in 2004 ''TalkLeft'' shared the award with ''Grits for Breakfast''), and a 2006 winner of the Weblog Awards for "The Best of the Top 250 Blogs". ''TalkLeft'' became one of the blogs featured in "The Ruckus" section at ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' Online in 2007.Talkleft Joins Newsweek's "The Ruckus"
''TalkLeft'', February 15, 2008, accessed September 29, 2012., ''

'', ''blog.newsweek.com'' (archived via the

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

), accessed September 29, 2012. ("The Ruckus" did not survive the merger of ''Newsweek'' with ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', now

The Newsweek Daily Beast Company NewsBeast was an American media company, and owner of ''Newsweek'' and ''The Daily Beast''. It was established in 2010 as a merger between the two media outlets. The company was owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp and the estate of Sidney Harman, with S ...

.) Merritt covered the '' United States v. Libby'' trial on ''TalkLeft'', and with

Jane Hamsher Jane Hamsher (born Jane Murphy; July 25, 1959) is a US film producer, author, and blogger best known as the author of ''Killer Instinct'', a memoir about co-producing the 1994 movie ''Natural Born Killers'' with Don Murphy and others, and as the ...

and

Marcy Wheeler Marcy Wheeler (known on Twitter by the handle "emptywheel") is an American independent journalist specializing in national security and civil liberties. Wheeler publishes on her own site, ''Emptywheel'', established in July 2011. She has reported ...

, was among the first bloggers to receive fully accredited media passes to a U.S. federal trial and during which they also appeared on ''PoliticsTV.com'' for a round up summarizing each day's trial events. Her blog posts on the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial appeared in ''FireDogLake'' and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. On August 2, 2007, Merritt moderated a panel discussion at the 2007

YearlyKos Netroots Nation is a political convention for American progressive political activists. Originally organized by readers and writers of Daily Kos, a liberal political blog, it was previously called YearlyKos and rebranded as Netroots Nation ...

Convention, featuring Christy Hardin Smith of

's ''Firedoglake'' and

of ''The Next Hurrah'', relating their experiences "liveblogging" the Libby trial. The panel also included Sheldon L. Snook, Chief of Staff to the

Chief Judge A chief judge (also known as presiding judge, president judge or principal judge) is the highest-ranking or most senior member of a lower court or circuit court with more than one judge. According to the Federal judiciary of the United States, th ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Columbia The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District ...

, who was "the court official in charge of news media at the Libby trial."Jeralyn Merritt
"Announcing the YKos Panel on Live-Blogging the Scooter Libby Trial"
''TalkLeft'', July 17, 2007, accessed July 17, 2007."Live Blogging the Libby Trial"
program listing, ''

'' convention, August 2, 2007, accessed July 28, 2007. o_longer_accessible_online;_for_past_YearlyKos_conventions,_see_Netroots_Nation..html" ;"title="Netroots_Nation.html" ;"title="o longer accessible online; for past YearlyKos conventions, see Netroots Nation">o longer accessible online; for past YearlyKos conventions, see Netroots Nation.">Netroots_Nation.html" ;"title="o longer accessible online; for past YearlyKos conventions, see Netroots Nation">o longer accessible online; for past YearlyKos conventions, see Netroots Nation./ref>"Jeralyn Merritt," in , ''YearlyKos Convention: Building a Netroots Nation'', ''yearlykosconvention.org'', October 9, 2007, archived by the Internet Archive, accessed October 1, 2012. ''TalkLeft'' was accredited as a national blog at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, held in

, from August 25 through 28, 2008,"Blogs Credentialed For the Convention"
, ''demconvention.com'' ( 2008 Democratic National Convention Committee, Inc.,

), May 29, 2008, accessed August 27, 2008. posting photographs of celebrities from both the

Pepsi Center Ball Arena (formerly known as Pepsi Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by two nearby exits off Interstate 25. A light r ...

and various other convention venues in Denver and cross-links to other bloggers' reports and photographs.Jeralyn Merritt
"The Pepsi Center Tonight"
''TalkLeft'', August 26, 2008, accessed October 13, 2008. Recently, she has consolidated spaces on ''TalkLeft'' for archived and ongoing discussion board topics such as the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case and the

killing of Trayvon Martin On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American boy. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old man of mixed race, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his ...

. In addition to blogging at ''

'' and for ''Elevated Voices'', published in '' 5280: Denver's Mile High Magazine'', Merritt has guest blogged for

Eric Alterman Eric Alterman (born January 14, 1960) is an American historian, journalist, author, media critic, blogger, and educator. He is a CUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism at Brooklyn College and the author of eleven books. From 1 ...

's ''Altercation''. She has also occasionally served as a guest columnist for newspapers such as the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'',Jeralyn Merritt
"Scooter Libby Takes One for the Team"
, ''

'', March 9, 2007, accessed September 30, 2012. and as a guest moderator for online discussions on legal issues for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''.Jeralyn E. Merritt, et al.,
"Transcript: JonBenet Ramsey Murder Case"
''

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

'', August 17, 2006, Live Online discussions (Live Q&As), accessed September 29, 2012. Merritt has also been featured in a number of online videos and podcasts in which she discusses legal and political issues, such as the Libby trial, the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy, and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

Publications and filmography

*Merritt, Jeralyn E. (co-author) ''USA Patriot Act of 2001: An Analysis'' (2002). *''Was Justice Denied?'' Merritt appeared as a member of the legal team in a

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

re-examining two murder cases which the defendants claim resulted in wrongful convictions.Jeralyn Merritt
biography on the ''Was Justice Denied?'' documentary film's website.

Videos and webcasts

"Götterdemocraterung"
with Jeralyn Merritt and

Mark Kleiman Mark Albert Robert Kleiman (May 18, 1951 – July 21, 2019) was an American professor, author, and blogger who dealt with issues of drug and criminal justice policy. A professor of public policy at New York University, in 2015, Kleiman became th ...

. Webcast recorded April 22, 2008. Posted on ''

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

'', April 24, 2008. Accessed May 22, 2008. *
The Libby Trial V-Log
' with Jeralyn Merritt,

, and

. ''

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

'' clips recorded from January 29 to January 31, 2007. Archived on ''

Google Videos Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

''. Accessed May 22, 2008.
"The Loneliness of the Pro-Hillary Blogger"
with Jeralyn Merritt and

Ann Althouse Ann Althouse (born January 12, 1951) is an American law professor and blogger. Education Raised in Newark and Wilmington, Delaware (and later as a teen in Wayne, New Jersey), Althouse has a degree in fine art from the University of Michigan, B. ...

. Webcast recorded April 8, 2008. Posted on ''

'', April 9, 2008. Accessed May 22, 2008.
"Purging Prosecutors: Was TV News Clueless?"
Interview of Jeralyn Merritt (guest) by

Howard Kurtz Howard Alan Kurtz (; born August 1, 1953) is an American journalist and author best known for his coverage of the media. Kurtz is the host of Fox News's '' Media Buzz'' program, the successor to ''Fox News Watch''. He is the former media writer f ...

. '' Reliable Sources'', ''

'', broadcast on March 18, 2007. ''

'' clip asarchived on ''

''. Accessed May 23, 2008. (No longer accessible online; see transcript for program segmen
"U.S. Attorney Firings Scandal"
Accessed September 29, 2012.)
"Why Won't Hillary Quit?"
with Jeralyn Merritt and

. Webcast recorded May 7, 2008. Posted on ''

'', May 7, 2008. Accessed May 22, 2008.

References

Sources

*Mailman, Stanley, Jeralyn E. Merritt, Theresa M. B. Van Vliet, and Stephen Yale-Loehr. ''Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (

USA PATRIOT Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

) Act of 2001: An Analysis''. Newark, NJ and San Francisco, CA: LexisNexis (Matthew Bender & Co., Inc.), 2002. . *Pankratz, Howard.
"Two Lawyers Join McVeigh Team"
''

The Denver Post ''The Denver Post'' is a daily newspaper and website published in Denver, Colorado. As of June 2022, it has an average print circulation of 57,265. In 2016, its website received roughly six million monthly unique visitors generating more than 13 ...

'', May 10, 1996, News archive. Accessed 29 September 2012. *Printz, Carrie.
"Alumni Profile: Defense Lawyer Jeralyn Merritt Founds Talkleft Political Blog"
''

Magazine'' (Fall 2006). Accessed October 1, 2012. Rpt. i
"Merritt's Blog Covers Crime and Justice"
''DU Today'', August 30, 2006, News. Accessed October 1, 2012.

External links

CrimeLynx – "the criminal practitioner's guide through the internet"
website created by Jeralyn Merritt
Jeralyn E. Merritt – Firm websiteTalkLeft: The Politics of Crime
– "the online magazine with liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news" – blog created by Jeralyn Merritt {{DEFAULTSORT:Merritt, Jeralyn E. 1949 births Living people American bloggers American women lawyers Colorado lawyers Criminal defense lawyers Lawyers from New Rochelle, New York University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni American women bloggers 21st-century American women New Rochelle High School alumni