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Do taxpayer-funded ads contaminate DWI jury pools?

While attorneys have long railed against taxpayer funded sloganeering over DWI, at The Matlock Blog, defense lawyer Shawn Matlock suggests an hypothesis I've long harbored in some deeply cynical pocket of my soul but never publicly pronounced: Is the main, real-world function of anti-DWI advertising of the type Texans see everywhere on billboards and television, essentially to contaminate the jury pool? If not in intent, certainly I think that occurs in practice. Matlock writes:Not too long ago, I had a conversation with my father about some federal case I had where there were some complex search and seizure issues. I tried to explain to my twenty-ninth generation Texan, former rodeo cowboy, straight-talking father that the government can?t actually just walk into your house and seize everything on a hunch...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on September 02, 2008 (boomark / email).