Criminal Law

Fewer than half of authorized new treatment beds online

Posted on October 20, 2008
While Texas has earned praise for its diversion programs, of the 8,500 new treatment beds for which the Texas Legislature appropriated money in 2007, only 4,102 have been contracted so far, Nicole Porter at the blog Texas Prison Bidness reports, providing a detailed table of which companies have received contracts for how many beds (as of Oct...

Even death row not immune to contraband smuggling

Posted on October 20, 2008
There's no more secure environment in all of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice than death row, so how did murderers there get access to a cell phone used to make hundreds of calls including to Sen. John Whitmire whose family was implicitly threatened? Reports AP:Texas prison officials Monday arrested the mother of a death row inmate on charges she paid for cell phone minutes for an illegal phone that had been smuggled in to her condemned son...

Elected Sheriff receiving Governor's border security funds allegedly worked for Gulf Cartel

Posted on October 20, 2008
Yet another elected Texas Sheriff has been ousted on corruption charges, this time Starr County Reymundo Guerra who was allegedly helping the Gulf Cartel smuggle drugs through his county. He resiged today.Guerra joins former Brownsville Sheriff Conrado Cantu and several sheriffs caught up in commissary-related bribery schemes in the annals of disgraced, corrupt elected law enforcement officials lately hounded out of office...

Austin PD finally implementing B misdemeanor citation policy

Posted on October 19, 2008
More than a year after they gained the new authority created by the Texas Legislature, the Austin Police Department has joined the ranks of Texas law enforcement agencies issuing citations instead of arresting (at the officers' discretion) for certain low-level, non-violent misdemeanors, a change that's been promoted locally by the group Keep Austin Safe...

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Free Pacman Jones! Or at least let him back on the football field

Posted on October 18, 2008
As UT's Longhorn football team approached their spectacular game with Oklahoma last week and a tough stretch in their schedule over the next few games, including tonight hosting #11 Missouri, I've found myself checking in more frequently at the venerable sports cable network ESPN and couldn't help but notice they're producing a flood of stories aggressively criticizing troubled Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones, who was suspended this week by the league after an argument with a bodyguard at a hotel...

Annual Halloween scare tactic on sex offenders doesn't improve public safety

Posted on October 17, 2008
I'm republishing this Halloween post from last year after seeing lately the resumption of what's become an annual trend: Halloween themed demagoguing and media hype from law enforcement - usually locally generated but seemingly widespread and coordinated - over the possibility of registered sex offenders molesting kids who come to the door at Halloween, an event so rare (there's only been one documented case, ever, of a Halloween abduction) that a kid would be much more likely to select tomorrow's winning lottery numbers...

Texas leads in geography of Bush pardons

Posted on October 17, 2008
Declaring that, "The quality of mercy is not strained but its geography is notable," Doc Berman points to this excellent post from Pardon Power documenting President Bush's use of executive clemency by state. Texas tops the list with 17, followed by Florida at 10...

TYC conservator gone but controversies remain

Posted on October 17, 2008
Several recent Texas Youth Commision-related stories deserve Grits readers attention:For starters, see the governor's press release and the official proclamation ending TYC's conservatorship. See also a promising initial letter to employees by the new Executive Commissioner Cherie Townsend...

Austin foot chase restrictions intended to reduce risk

Posted on October 16, 2008
Having discussed police departments' chase polices for vehicles on Grits in the past, I was interested to see this story from the Austin Statesman ("Austin police adopting new foot chase policy," Oct. 15) about the Austin police creating a more restrictive policy for foot chases:The issue of when ? and how ? such pursuits should happen had fueled debate about whether a fired sergeant acted appropriately when he shot and killed Kevin Alexander Brown last year...

Confession Suppression: Why we need the exclusionary rule

Posted on October 16, 2008
Defense attorney Katherine Scardino, blogging over at Women In Crime Ink, says a Texas death row inmate "hit the jackpot" when a federal judge granted a new trial because of police misconduct. Writes Scardino, the defendant:is currently in the process of being removed from Death Row and returned to the Harris County Jail...

Extraordinary Women in Law

Posted on October 15, 2008
Texas Lawyer recently published a series of features on "Extraordinary Women in Law," including profiles of several barristers whose work I've admired, including Texas Fair Defense Project chief Andrea Marsh, Texas Defender Service staff attorney Maurie Levin, Austin solo Linda Icenhauer-Ramirez, and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aide managing attorney Susan Zinn...

Economic downturn could boost suicides, domestic violence

Posted on October 15, 2008
Discussing ways in which the much-ballyhooed economic downturn will affect the criminal justice system, I'd earlier suggested that "there's little reason to think this economic downturn must automatically boost crime rates. I'd expect a handful of specific offenses to increase - particularly stuff like theft of copper and other metals or siphoning gasoline...

TYC out of conservatorship

Posted on October 15, 2008
Naming Cherie Townsend Executive Commissioner, Gov. Rick Perry yesterday ended the Texas Youth Commission's conservatorship after a rocky year and a half. The Statesman offered these observations from the legislative leadership ("TYC out of conservatorship," Oct...

A Desperate Argument: Sheriff claims feds will mandate jail building if voters don't approve new Tyler lockup

Posted on October 15, 2008
Smith County Sheriff J.B. Smith told a local TV station that if voters don't approve a new jail on the November ballot, "He believes if a new jail doesn't get approved now the federal government will step-in and approve one themselves."Hmmmmm ... Really?!And where else in Texas has this occurred? In Dallas, where the feds have active litigation, nobody's come close to doing anything like the Sheriff suggests here...

Expect judicial races to top Democratic vote getters

Posted on October 15, 2008
Here's an underdog pick for the Election Day office betting pool: If Democratic turnout surges and Rick Noriega even comes close to picking off John Cornyn in the US Senate race - a longshot, but the gap has been narrowing - don't be surprised to see Democratic candidates for the Court of Criminal Appeals, Susan Strawn and J...

Voters can't know details of Tyler jail until after election day

Posted on October 14, 2008
Are jail proponents now trying to kill their own plan in Tyler?I can only wonder in amazement at the foolishness behind the Smith County Commissioners Court's decision to sue the Attorney General over whether they can conceal detailed plans of the jail they're asking voters to finance...

Dallas using public humiliation tactics for petty scofflaws

Posted on October 14, 2008
It's one thing to publish information about sex offenders online - I disagree with the tactic, mainly because it increases recidivism for those on the rolls and the database includes too many minor offenders, but at least I understand the flawed public safety motivation behind it...

The sad and disgraceful case of Judge Samuel Kent

Posted on October 13, 2008
Here are several related stories about the disgraceful case of indicted federal District Judge Samuel Kent, whose saga of disciplinary woes and sexual abuse allegations I've not followed closely, but which is rightfully garnering national attention as his trial approaches:From Joel Jacobson at Judging Crimes, "Fifth Circuit Sleaze"From the Houston Chronicle: "More judges under investigation"From the Tex Parte Blog, "Loosening the gag just a little"Allegations that Kent forced himself on a Galveston courthouse employee - and the inability of the federal judiciary to punish Kent's behavior - have left an increasingly sizable stain on the reputation of the federal judiciary...

DPS' anticlimactic Sunset report

Posted on October 13, 2008
Of the several criminal justice agencies under Sunset Review this year, the Department of Public Safety is among the first for which the Sunset Advisory Commission has already issued their final report (pdf) with their official legislative recommendations...

Jail Standards Commission makes web complaints easier

Posted on October 13, 2008
Kudos to Texas Commission on Jail Standards chief Adan Munoz for agreeing to add a tab on their main web page with information about how to file complaints with the commission about local jails, something Diana Claitor and the Texas Jail Project had asked them to do during the Sunset Review Process.

Bluing of the Dallas Judiciary Foreshadows Turnover Among Harris Judges; CCA Electoral Update

Posted on October 13, 2008
In typical times, judicial politics in Texas plays out in the springtime every even-numbered year in the primaries of the party in power. If you want to dismiss an incumbent local judge in an election, the only viable way to do it for all intents and purposes is usually a primary challenge...

'Show up' tactic can taint witness IDs

Posted on October 13, 2008
Following up on its coverage of eyewitness ID flaws in Dallas DNA exonerations, the Dallas News today brings us an analysis of the use of "show ups" to identify suspects - where suspects simply take a witness to a single suspect who's already in custody and ask "is he the guy?" Reported the News ("Police use show-ups to quickly nab suspects - and sometimes choose wrong," Oct...

New FBI guidelines expand reliance on snitching, political snooping

Posted on October 12, 2008
I'd like to hear both Presidential candidates tell us whether they'd repeal the new DOJ investigative guidelines (pdf) issued this month by the Bush Administration, which appear designed to enable expanded investigations of political dissenters and create all sorts of negative, unintended consequences, not the least of which is expanding FBI use of informants in situations there is no active investigation of a crime - sort of like the East German Stasi maintained an ongoing informant network to monitor dissenters during the Cold War...

Eyewitness IDs at root of most Dallas DNA exonerations, newspaper analysis finds

Posted on October 12, 2008
Be sure to check out a must-read Dallas News piece by reporters Steve McGonigle and Jennifer Emily analyzing the causes of Dallas County DNA exonerations, honing in on particular faulty eyewitness identifications, which occurred among 18 of 19 Dallas cases where DNA exonerated the defendant ("18 Dallas County cases overturned by DNA relied heavily on eyewitness testimony," Oct...

AG says Tyler jail proponents can't keep plans secret

Posted on October 10, 2008
Via the blog for the What Part of No Don't You Understand Committee, we learn that Texas Attorney General Greg Abott ruled against the Smith County Commissioners Court who inexplicably wanted to keep secret detailed plans for the jail being proposed to voters on the ballot just 24 days from now...

Attack on Jessica's Law vote in House race amounts to demagoguery

Posted on October 10, 2008
I don't live in Austin's District 47 or know much about either Texas House candidate in the Southwest Travis County race; one-term Democratic Rep. Valinda Bolton wasn't on any of the committees I watch closely in 2007, and while I've had extensive dealings with former Rep...

A 'Barney Fife Exception' to the exclusionary rule?

Posted on October 09, 2008
A few items I'd blog about in more detail if I had more time:A 'Barney Fife Exception' to the exclusionary rule? See Crime and Consequences and Orin Kerr for details.Harris County Innocence Cases. From the Houston Press (Oct. 9): "Ronald Taylor Is One of Perhaps Hundreds of Innocent People Harris County Has Sent to Prison: Our local justice system would prefer to leave them there"Training police to handle mentally ill...

Local Texas law enforcement elections on the November ballot

Posted on October 09, 2008
With most voters focused on the presidential election, I thought it'd be worthwhile to scout about for news on the various law enforcement-related races in Texas, particularly in the largest counties.The biggest prizes undoubtedly are the two top law enforcement spots in Harris County - Sheriff and District Attorney - whose jurisdiction is more populous than a majority of American states...

How will UTMB layoffs affect prison healthcare?

Posted on October 09, 2008
As Galveston Island continues to dig itself out from the refuse, has anyone heard what effect Hurricane Ike has had on medical care delivery in Texas prisons? Recent news of up to 4,000 proposed layoffs makes me think the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston must be struggling to meet its contractual obligations for providing prisoner healthcare after the big storm destroyed more than $700 million dollars worth of facilities...

More on Whitmire's TYC plans

Posted on October 08, 2008
Following up on this discussion of Sen. John Whitmire's idea for downsizing the Texas Youth Commission and shifting more responsibility to counties, an aide to Sen. Whitmire forwarded me a copy of this written testimony (pdf) from our pal Marc Levin with the Texas Public Policy Foundation...

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