This article discusses how lawyers can responsibly comment on celebrated legal cases after some legal research. Despite a period of uniformity-seeking in the 1960s and 1970s (which led to the Model Penal Code and the adoption of some of its provisions by states), the criminal law of the 50 states and the District of Columbia diverges greatly. Degrees of murder vary from state to state. Manslaughter means one thing on one side of a state border than it does on the other. It is prudent for legal commentators to go beyond their experience in one state to look up the actual laws being applied in these cases. This article describes some easy and free ways to do so.