Both Sides of the Bench

On today’s show, I explained why the federal bribery sting case involving Hinds County DA Jody Owens is very different from the famous John DeLorean FBI sting case, even though both involved undercover operations, recordings, and entrapment arguments. The biggest difference? In the DeLorean case, the government looked like it was dragging a financially desperate businessman into a crime that would...

This week on Both Sides of the Bench, Shaun breaks down the federal bribery sting case involving Hinds County DA Jody Owens, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and Aaron Banks after a federal judge denied the motion to dismiss but allowed the defense to argue entrapment to the jury. What is entrapment really? Can the FBI create fake crimes? Are undercover agents allowed to lie, buy drinks, fly targets ar...

This week on Both Sides of the Bench, former prosecutor turned criminal defense attorney Shaun Yurtkuran pulls the curtain back on how criminal cases are really built and why “being cooperative” with police can sometimes make your situation dramatically worse. Hour One focuses on one of the biggest misconceptions people have about the justice system: police are not your personal investigators, the...

This week on Both Sides of the Bench, criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Shaun Yurtkuran breaks down how modern relationships, breakups, smartphones, and social media are creating criminal cases in Mississippi every single day. We discuss domestic violence charges, protective orders, no-contact orders, harassment laws, revenge porn statutes, gun rights, and the growing role phones, sc...

Are social media companies intentionally designing platforms to keep kids addicted? Today’s show dives into the growing wave of lawsuits and massive verdicts against Meta, YouTube, and other tech giants over claims that their algorithms are engineered to maximize addiction, especially among children and teenagers. Shaun breaks down why these cases are starting to resemble the Big Tobacco litigatio...

This week on Both Sides of the Bench, Shaun Yurtkuran spends two full hours breaking down the legal myths and internet “advice” that get people convicted every day. Hour one focuses on modern criminal investigation myths in the digital age: • Can police use your ChatGPT conversations against you? • Does deleting text messages actually delete evidence? • Do police have to tell you they’re recording...

Everybody thinks they know how criminal law works… until they’re the one in the system. In this episode, I break down some of the biggest misconceptions I hear every day—things people believe that actually end up hurting their case. From Miranda rights to DUI refusals, to the idea that a victim can “drop charges,” we walk through how these situations really play out in court. I’ve handled these ca...

Most people think they understand how criminal cases work. They don’t. In this episode, I break down three real scenarios that show how quickly things fall apart between what seems obvious and what the law actually requires. First, an aggravated DUI case where the driver was well over the legal limit, caused a crash, and the victim died—but that still wasn’t enough to guarantee a conviction. The m...

I kicked off my new show by telling the story of how my legal career actually started—and it’s not what you think. At 25 years old, fresh out of law school, I walked into federal court to try my first case with no file, no partner, and no clue what I was doing. The client? A man who had killed two cops and was now suing the State of Mississippi.  From there, I get into how I first met Robert Shule...