Just a piece of advice: make sure whoever you hire specializes ONLY in criminal law. Don't go to a general practice lawyer who does real estate and divorces on the side. You need someone who is in the criminal courts every single day and knows the local prosecutors.

Wait, you were just throwing them away? The idea of someone holding a piece of a thousand year old pot and not seeing it is wild. Carl must have had the patience of a saint. It's a good reminder that most of us walk right past that kind of stuff every single day.

Heard about a friend whose group tackled War and Peace by assigning each person a different character to track. They said it made the huge cast way less confusing and actually fun to compare notes. Maybe that focus on just one thread could help other groups too.