Criminal Law

Houston's white-collar crime beat

Posted on May 14, 2009
Tom Kirkendall at Houston's Clear Thinkers has been a go-to source lately on white-collar crime coverage outta H-Town.Discussing a Fifth Circuit opinion in Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling's case, Big Tom notes that, "Inasmuch as there is now a clear split between Fifth Circuit decisions and other circuit appellate courts on the scope of honest services wire-fraud, the issue appears ripe for Supreme Court consideration...

Op eds support eyewitness ID bill

Posted on May 14, 2009
The Austin Statesman has an editorial today about the Austin PD's adoption of best practices for photo lineups conducted by police, encouraging the Legislature to pass SB 117 (currently in House Calendars) requiring all law enforcement agencies using them to develop written policies:Both kinds of lineups, photo and live, lend themselves to abuse because relatively few police departments have written, updated policies about how they should be done...

Indigency program for 'driver responsibility' fees?

Posted on May 14, 2009
The Texas House yesterday approved Sunset legislation for the Department of Public Safety, and it looks like Sylvester Turner added a couple of good amendments regarding the Orwellian-named "Driver Responsibility" surcharge, which adds a large, multi-year administrative fee on top of criminal penalties for DWI and no-insurance cases...

Perkins parole nomination scuttled!

Posted on May 13, 2009
What a shocking outcome: On Sen. Whitmire's motion, with Sen. John Carona's vocal, bipartisan support, the Senate rejected Shanda Perkins' nomination to the parole board on a 27-4 vote, calling her unqualified. Whitmire said he respected Perkins but she should not be on the parole board, which literally considers matters of life and death...

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Education a solution to crimes from murder to graffiti

Posted on May 13, 2009
After many years of criminal penalty hikes and prison building, I've wondered if we may have reached the limits of crime reduction based on incarceration and if other investments in healthcare (particularly mental health) and education might not do more to reduce crime...

Florida can't pay for new penalties, prisons

Posted on May 13, 2009
More states are rethinking their incarceration policies because of the current economic downturn. Most recently Florida, according to the Orlando Sentinel, has run up against the limits of their ability to pay for state prisons.With the state short on cash and prison beds, Republicans in the Florida Legislature are being forced to reassess the tough-on-crime mentality that has permeated their politics for years...

Heading into the home stretch

Posted on May 13, 2009
A key deadline passed last night at the Texas Lege; as of today, bills filed in the House which have not been scheduled for a floor vote (and do not have a Senate companion) cannot pass, barring their resurrection as amendments to other legislation. By rule, all bills originating in the House must be passed from that chamber by midnight Thursday, at which point the home stretch of the session begins in earnest...

Parole board vacancy: Insert dildo joke here

Posted on May 13, 2009
(UPDATED) The full Texas Senate today will consider the nomination of Shanda Perkins, the anti-sex toy crusader from Burleson who Governor Perry has nominated to serve on the parole board despite having no apparent experience regarding criminal justice besides the effort to ban dildos from Johnson County...

House would put stop to red-light cameras

Posted on May 12, 2009
Here's some surprising but welcome news: The Texas House on Friday amended its big transportation bill to ban new contracts for red light cameras and to require cities to phase them out as current contracts expire. According to the Amarillo-Globe News ("Red light cameras dealt blow," May 9): [Bill sponsor Rep...

'Worst of the worst'? House will consider 'law of parties' in capital cases

Posted on May 12, 2009
Should the death penalty be applied only to the worst of the worst, or also to those who associate with them?That's a question the Texas House will answer today when they take up and consider legislation to eliminate the death penalty for accomplices who didn't kill anyone based on the "law of parties...

Open meetings laws a First Amendment violation?

Posted on May 12, 2009
Here's an unfortunate and potentially devastating new ruling by a 3-judge panel of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that deserves to be overturned en banc, via the Chicago Tribune:Attorneys general from more than a dozen states asked a federal appeals court in New Orleans this week to review a ruling that they warn could cripple their open meetings laws...

Reliance on fees left drug courts underfunded

Posted on May 12, 2009
According to the Killeen Daily Herald ("Bell County making progress on drug court," May 12), the Lege did not provide enough funding for drug courts mandated by the 80th Texas Legislature in 2007, putting some counties in the position of possibly losing state probation funds:A mandate came out of the last legislative session, requiring counties with a population of more than 200,000 to create a drug court...

Reader poll: Most think Keller gone by year's end

Posted on May 12, 2009
Taken collectively, IMO Grits readers pretty accurately assessed in a poll last week the relative likelihood that Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller will be removed from the bench for official misconduct by the end of the year.Somewhat surprisingly, two-thirds of readers think Keller will no longer be a judge by year's end, though a plurality (34%) think nothing will happen to her...

Tanking economy prompts rethinking incarceration

Posted on May 11, 2009
As states struggle with paying for expanding prison populations in a tanking economy, Texas' 2007 diversion reforms were cited as a model in a New York Times editorial today titled "Shrinking the Prison Population":New prison sentencing and re-entry policies are already taking hold in several states, thanks in part to work by the Council of State Governments? prison policy arm, the Justice Center, with the support of the Pew Charitable Trust?s Center on the States...

Exoneree compensation bill passes Texas Senate

Posted on May 11, 2009
The Texas Senate today passed the Tim cole Act to improve compensation for false convictions and create a mechanism for posthumous exonerations. Here's a press release received via email from the Senate bill sponsors, Robert Duncan and Rodney Ellis:Senate Passes Tim Cole Act to Improve Compensation for Wrongfully Convicted and Their FamiliesHB 1736 ensures justice for those posthumously exonerated(Austin , Texas ) The Texas Senate today passed HB 1736, the Tim Cole Act, legislation to improve compensation for the wrongfully convicted and ensure justice for wrongfully convicted Texans who have died in prison...

Allen Stanford: DEA snitch?

Posted on May 10, 2009
Did the US government tolerate fraud, money laundering and white-collar crime by Houston billionaire Allen Stanford because he was a snitch for the DEA? Reports the Press Association today:Stanford guaranteed himself against fraud investigations by working with the US DEA, turning over details of money-laundering from Latin American clients from Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela and Ecuador, the corporation claims...

Inmate used as enforcer by corrupt Montague County Sheriff

Posted on May 10, 2009
The indicted Montage County Sheriff died last week, unfortunately before being held to account for his numerous crimes against inmates, female informants and the state. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram today has an extended story based on interviews with inmates, guards and other involved parties ("On Sheriff's watch, North Texas jail became den of drugs and debauchery," May 9)...

Getting creative on polygamy prosecution

Posted on May 10, 2009
It being Mother's Day, let's turn our attention to the legislative aftermath of the 2008 Great Eldorado Polygamist Roundup, where more than 400 children were taken from their parents at a West Texas ranch run by a polygamous Mormon sect, the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS)...

More media focus on Tim Cole's posthumous exoneration

Posted on May 09, 2009
CBS Evening News will air a story on Timothy Cole's false conviction and posthumous exoneration tonight, Saturday, May 9th, at 5:30pm CST. Check local listings on your CBS local station.See also a Mother's Day themed editorial in the San Antonio Express News on the Tim Cole case, in which the author writes, "Texans ought to be outraged enough by what happened to Cole to take a hard look at the state's criminal justice system and take tangible steps to assure that justice, not convenient convictions, is sought at every turn...

'Writ Writer' film wins award

Posted on May 09, 2009
Congratulations to Susanne Mason for winning a "Silver Gavel" award from the American Bar Association for her documentary film, "Writ Writer," chronicling the history of Texas prison inmate and famed jailhouse barrister, the late Fred Cruz. The film aired on PBS' award winning Independent Lens series and earlier this year was screened at the Texas capitol.

Legislature 'picking on kids'?

Posted on May 09, 2009
Christy Hoppe at the Dallas News last week noticed a trend at the Texas Legislature of the Lege injecting itself in the role of parent ("Are proposed laws at the Texas Legislature picking on kids?," May 3): Lawmakers don't want kids driving after 10 p...

Guilty plea from corrupt border Sheriff

Posted on May 08, 2009
Updating a story covered here on Grits last fall, StoptheDrugWar.org brings this news from a high-profile South Texas corruption case:In San Antonio, a former Starr County sheriff pleaded guilty last Friday to one drug trafficking charge for assisting the Mexican Gulf Cartel as it smuggled drugs through his border county...

Austin PD to create eyewitness ID policy

Posted on May 08, 2009
The stories of dozens of innocent men falsely convicted by mistaken victims and eyewitnesses in photo lineups are beginning to spur law enforcement to become more professional in this area.The Texas Legislature is responding - legislation to require law enforcement agencies to have written eyewitness ID policies yesterday passed out of the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee after already clearing the Senate...

Harris Sheriff can't spend stimulus money on guns and gadgets

Posted on May 08, 2009
The infusion of federal stimulus money for law enforcement purposes raises significant questions about oversight of those funds and how best to spend them, so I'm glad to see the Harris County Commissioners Court setting the proper tone by rejecting proposals from the new county Sheriff to buy the department machine guns and lease a helicopter...

Counties seek help on jail crowding, diversion

Posted on May 07, 2009
Two stories today related to county jail overcrowding caught my eye:In my hometown of Tyler, Smith County officials have decided to forego a fourth vote on a new jail for the time being, with County Judge Joel Rogers declaring, "Now is not the best time to bring up the bond option, so we have to find other ways to stop the bleeding...

Tenaha becoming poster child for asset-forfeiture abuses

Posted on May 07, 2009
Last night when laying out Sen. John Whitmire's SB 1529 regulating asset forfeiture, House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee Chairman Pete Gallego said he was sending a DVD to committee members with this story from CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 about Tenaha, a small town in East Texas that allegedly decided ripping off drivers passing through town was easier than raising taxes...

Innocence legislation wending through process

Posted on May 07, 2009
It's the time of year at the Texas capitol that bills are dying left and right because they can't make it through the process in time. Bills originating in the House of Representatives, for example, are dead if they do not pass out of committee by Monday May 11 and the final House floor calendar including House bills (excepting local and consent) will be issued the next day...

Larger cities may get needle exchange option

Posted on May 07, 2009
Excellent news! SB 188 - authorizing local-control needle exchange programs in Texas' largest cities and counties - passed out of the House Public Health Committee this afternoon on a 7-3 vote! Outstanding!Voting in favor of the legislation, according to the needle-exchange focused blog, Sifting the Haystack, were: Garnet Coleman, John E...

Florida passes compromised snitching reforms

Posted on May 07, 2009
While legislation in Texas is moving along to protect innocent defendants by requiring corroboration to obtain a conviction based on testimony from jailhouse informants, Florida's GOP Governor Charlie Crist just signed a bill (discussed here on Grits previously) to protect the rights of informants themselves...

Jeff Blackburn Hagiography

Posted on May 06, 2009
A blogger writing under the nom de plume "Harry Homeless" last month posted a notable hagiography of my boss Jeff Blackburn, the Legal Director at the Innocence Project of Texas (who incidentally will be in town this afternoon to testify on innocence legislation moving at the Lege)...

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