As an avid fan of the This American Life podcast series, my ears perked up when I saw the title of last week’s show: Pro Se. The hour-long episode told the stories of four people who took their legal fate into their own hands.

In talking with my colleagues and other lawyers, I’m aware that ‘pro se’ defense is more common of late, as the economy’s in the tank and many people can’t afford a lawyer. This is especially true for relatively minor civil matters and family law troubles, I gather.

But it’s unusual for a non-lawyer to represent himself in a criminal case, right? And it’s even more atypical for that non-lawyer to win, especially when he is up against an experienced prosecutor.

A prosecutor like Francisco Calderon, an assistant district attorney with Albany County District Attorney’s Office, who’s won over 500 cases in the last five years. Calderon granted an interview to Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, and tried to explain how a 52-year-old cocaine user who knew “nothing” about the law got the best of him.

Jorge Cruz faced a felony charge of cocaine possession with intent to distribute — which could have landed him in jail for a decade. As Calderon tells it, Cruz got an acquittal by eliciting sympathy from jurors, blurting out the sentence he faced when he was not testifying and portraying himself as a drug-addicted grandpa – a crime, sure, but a lesser one.

Calderon points out that opposing counsel often spar back and forth, but in this case, the jury’s impression was likely that Calderon was constantly berating a defenseless man.

You can stream the podcast here. “Disorder in the Court,” the story of Jorge Cruz, begins at the 30-minute mark.

The Supreme Court will be packed for Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and Assistant Public Defender Celia A. Davis when they argue the case of Maryland v. Shatzer before the justices.

The draw will not be the case itself, though it does present an intriguing right to counsel issue. Nor will most of the public be enticed primarily by the participants (with apologies to Mr. Gansler and Ms. Davis).

No, the attraction will be the date of the high-court showdown: Oct. 5, the first Monday in October. Not only will the day mark the opening of the Supreme Court’s 2009-2010 term but also, presumably, the first day on the bench for Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s nominee to succeed former Justice David H. Souter, who retired this summer.

A Senate vote on Sotomayor’s anticipated confirmation is expected within the next few weeks.

Maryland v. Shatzer is scheduled to be the second case argued on that historic day.

In Shatzer, the state is appealing a Maryland Court of Appeals decision that threw out an accused child molester’s conviction because police questioned him nearly three years after he first requested an attorney. The Maryland court said the time span did not vitiate Michael Blaine Shatzer Sr.’s invocation of his right to counsel, and that police, years later, were barred from questioning him until an attorney was provided.

Kevin Cogill, the blogger who leaked songs from Guns N’ Roses’ new album last year, was sentenced to one year of probation last week by a federal judge in Los Angeles. Cogill will also serve two months of home confinement (which I heard a DJ joke will give Cogill plenty of time to leak more albums), allow the government to keep tabs on his computers and record a public service announcement for the Recording Industry Association of America.

Cogill, whose nom de blog is Skwerl, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of copyright infringment, a misdemeanor, according to the Associated Press. He faced a maximum of one year in jail and fines and restitution in the amount of $371,000.

Cogill’s site, Antiquiet, has a bit more colorful take on the case’s outcome. (Warning: “colorful” means “uses profanities.”) Cogill himself commented that he respects artists’ right to decide how their music is released.

“In that sense, I will concede to an error in judgement I do not intend to repeat,” he wrote.