About Colin Nelson

Colin T. Nelson worked for 40 years as a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer in Minneapolis. He tried everything from speeding tickets to first degree murder. His writing about the courtroom and the legal system give the reader a "back door" view of what goes on, what's funny, and what's a good story. He has also traveled extensively and includes those locations in his mysteries. Some are set in Southeast Asia, Ecuador,Peru, and South Africa. Readers get a suspenseful tale while learning about new places on the planet. Colin is married, has two adult children, and plays the saxophone in various bands.

Murder and Your Brain

murder and your brainThere have been lots of studies about the effects on the human mind when people kill others.  There are the effects on soldiers in war. Or, the guards in Nazi concentration camps.  Here is a great study about the effects of murder on your brain—if you’re a criminal!  The study is kind of technical, but I found it …

How Can You Defend a Guilty Person? Part II

My client was guilty! No question about it. Seventeen year old, Jim, found his wife in bed with another man. Jim went beserk and kicked the defend a guilty personother man out but did worse to his wife–he strangled her around the throat with his hands. Then, trying to avoid detection, he spray-painted her body in gang grafitti, and dumped her …

How can you defend a guilty person!? Part 1

defend a guilty personIt’s the question I get all the time: How can you defend someone you know is guilty? Especiall if it’s a horrible crime. It’s easy to reply “it’s my job,” “everyone has a right to a trial,” “I have an ethical duty…blah, blah, blah.”  All true but there’s the human part of every lawyer that is repulsed by …

Sex Bias Trial in Hi Tech

sex bias hi techIn San Francisco, Ellen Pao sued her former employer, venture capitalist firm Kleiner Perkins alleging sex bias in the hi tech industry.  The case went to a long trial, but in the end the jury rejected all of Ms. Pao’s claims.  See article in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/28/technology/ellen-pao-kleiner-perkins-case-decision.html?_r=0 What does the verdict tell us about the state …

The Truth About Jury Selection

How many of you have served on jury duty and gone through the jury selection process?jury selection

Do you remember questions by the lawyers?  Was it interesting?  Probably boring?!!

Before a trial starts, several people are chosen from a pool of jurors.  Those people will decide the outcome of the trial.  But first, the group must be “whittled-down” to …

How to Write Settings in Stories

how to write settings in storiesMany people have asked me about how to write settings in stories, that is where the story is placed.  Especially, for foreign locations how do you write accurately about those places?

Luckily, with the Internet and Google maps, it’s a lot easier than it was.  Here are the things I use for setting my stories someplace other than …

Real Forensic Science Revealed

Many of you are hooked on the TV series, CSI, and other forensic-based TV forensic scienceshows.  For you, I have a great book recommendation.  The Poisoner’s Handbook, by Deborah Blum.  She shows how the real forensic science is revealed.

Blum goes through a variety of poisons: strychnine, mercury, arsenic, and even “bootleg gin,” and explains in great detail …