Criminal Law

Challenging eyewitness IDs in court

Posted on February 16, 2008
The price is a little dear for my means, but some of you legal eagles may be interested in an event sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in New York City in March on litigating eyewitness ID testimony, a timely topic in the wake of increasingly strong evidence that faulty witness and victim identifications are the leading cause of wrongful convictions...

Where is Congressional investigation of steroid abuse among law enforcement?

Posted on February 16, 2008
Ever since the US Department of Justice (USDOJ) began selectively prosecuting high-profile athletes amidst Congressional media grandstanding, I've been wondering why the same focus isn't placed on law enforcement, where there's at least as much evidence of widespread use...

Rosenthal Finally Chucks It

Posted on February 15, 2008
First Dimitria Pope's resignation at the beginning of the week and now Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal has resigned. Somebody pinch me!Why would Rosenthal leave now after all he's endured? According to his resignation letter, reports the Houston Chronicle, he declared that "Although I have enjoyed excellent medical and pharmacological treatment, I have come to learn that the particular combination of drugs prescribed for me in the past has caused some impairment in my judgment...

Give me your opinion on a draft resolution supporting TYC reform and we'll see if Grits readers can get it passed

Posted on February 15, 2008
This year the presidential fight for every last delegate in Texas ensures that Democratic precinct conventions on March 4 will be better attended than any time since I've been politically active.Precinct-level battles on the GOP side have long ago been won, by and large, by the religious right, and are mostly attended by party regulars...

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Watch Travis County DA Candidate Forum Online

Posted on February 14, 2008
I just finished listening to a Travis County DA candidate forum held by the Austin chapter of ACLU and the Texas Moratorium Network, which Scott Cobb of TMN placed online over at Burnt Orange Report. (Isn't the internet a wonderful thing? I regretted missing the forum which took place about a half mile from my house, but Voila!, here it is!) Honestly, we're pretty lucky: From what I've seen, I'd be proud to have any of these Democratic candidates (there's no Republican running) represent me...

Prosecutorial palavers about dildos, unhackable passwords, bogus forensics and copper theft

Posted on February 14, 2008
I hadn't visited the Texas prosecutors association message board in a while, and doing so today found several interesting goodies there:One less felony on the books: Texas ban on sex toys struck downI've mentioned before that Texas had 2,324 separate felonies on the books, but as of yesterday the new number is 2,323...

Texas law bloggers enjoy deep talent pool

Posted on February 14, 2008
Scott Greenfield at Simple Justice thinks there must be something in the water that generates so many Texas law blawggers:It seems like there's another new blawg by a Texas lawyer for every new one by a lawyer anywhere else in the country. Why is that? Today, I stumbled upon two blogs I'd never seen before, Bad Court Thingy and Not Guilty...

Congressional steroid hearings an abuse of power

Posted on February 13, 2008
We're at war. The nation's credit system and housing markets are headed down the toilet. One quarter of Americans don't have healthcare and about 2 million Americans are locked up behind bars. But Congress and the nation's media today will focus their rapt attention on steroids and baseball, with "Rocket" Roger Clemens scheduled to testify under oath, risking perjury charges if he lies...

Feds want to set up shop in Texas jails, but county commissioners ask who will pay?

Posted on February 12, 2008
Sheriffs who want to allow immigration officials to detain more immigrants in local Texas jails are running up against a backlash from county commissioners who don't want to foot the bill for federal detainees.I'd identified that problem earlier when Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas proposed such a change as part of his primary re-election campaign...

Texas' Tulia Lesson: Dems Should Join GOP in Abandoning Failed Drug Task Force Strategy

Posted on February 11, 2008
Several recent bits of news remind us (reflectively, if not nostalgically) of Texas' defunct system of drug task forces, the most famous of which was the one in Tulia, where 39 people were convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of a single, rogue undercover cop, Tom Coleman...

Propose Jail Diversion Resolution at Local Precinct Conventions

Posted on February 11, 2008
With Texas in play this year in the presidential primary, the fight for Texas' delegates will include precinct convention-level battles that will mark many people's first interaction with the nuts and bolts of a political party's internal process.Over at Burnt Orange Report, Mark Camann has a nice post describing the process of proposing a resolution at your party's precinct convention...

DMN reports TYC's Pope is out

Posted on February 11, 2008
I've heard rumblings all morning, and now The Dallas News is reporting that "Texas Youth Commission Acting Executive Director Dimitria Pope will either resign or be terminated by the end of the day, high ranking state officials said Monday."I guess somebody finally gave her a push...

Insider baseball, venom in TYC debates harms others besides participants

Posted on February 10, 2008
The Texas Youth Commission posts on this blog have always drawn easily the most vociferous debate. I can't read every comment on Grits anymore, though I try to enforce two comment rules: I delete outright libelous comments when they come to my attention, or those which make personal attacks without engaging in any argument...

Texas presidential primary relevant for first time in years: Huckabee, Obama best candidates on criminal justice reform

Posted on February 10, 2008
I don't talk much about national elections on this blog, but in this astonishing political year it appears that, for the first time in my adult lifetime, the presidential contest will still be in play in both primaries when Texans get to vote.On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee told Stephen Colbert the other night that he believed he could win Texas to make a comeback victory against John McCain...

State Rep. Terri Hodge likely headed back to Austin

Posted on February 09, 2008
Over at the Texas Observer, Jason Johnson has a story about the dead-certain re-election prospects of state Rep. Terri Hodge, a Dallas Democrat who has been indicted on federal bribery charges but who drew no Democratic nor GOP opposition in her South Dallas district...

NRA selling out gun rights of felons: Claims 70,000 Texans exiting prison each year are not "people"

Posted on February 09, 2008
Sometimes even "purists" advocate civil liberties for me but not for thee, and that's even more often true of the Second Amendment, the always controversial "right to bear arms."The NRA calls itself "the oldest civil rights organization in America," but Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy calls a spade a spade in assessing the purity of the National Rifle Association's Second Amendment stance when it comes to felons: They're "sell outs...

Fabelo: Texas jail growth outstripping prisons

Posted on February 08, 2008
Dr. Tony Fabelo, Texas' premier criminal justice statistician, has been a busy man lately, including serving yesterday as the featured speaker at the Bexar County jail overcrowding symposium. He's put a copy of his presentation online, entitled Managing Jail Population Growth in Texas: The State and Local Challenges...

Not the preferred solution to jail overcrowding

Posted on February 08, 2008
The Jim Hogg County Jail in Hebronville has room for 18 people in it, though there were only 10 as of January 1, 2008. One of them, though, was 24-year old convicted rapist Abel Morin, who escaped out an unlocked door while being transferred between cells less than 24 hours after he was sentenced to life in prison...

Pretrial detention, unnecessary incarceration driving Texas jail overcrowding

Posted on February 08, 2008
The topic of the panel I presented on at yesterday's jail overcrowding symposium in San Antonio was "Who are in county jails and why?," and a significant part of my own presentation focused on excessive pretrial detention. I'm in the process of expanding this research into a longer, footnoted paper, but for now here are some excerpts on the subject:The biggest single reason for jail overcrowding: Put simply, more Texans are incarcerated pending trial, i...

Acting E.D. Dimitria Pope one "push" away from leaving TYC

Posted on February 08, 2008
After Texas Youth Commission conservator Richard Nedelkoff deflected questions over the fate of acting executive director Dimitria Pope on Wednesday (I had to leave before this point in the hearing), Pope herself told the House Appropriations Criminal Justice Subcommittee that she was not under consideration for the permanent position...

Transportation, Employment and Re-Entry

Posted on February 07, 2008
I'm back home from a symposium in San Antonio with lots of thoughts running through my head (even more than usual) about jail overcrowding problems and solutions that will likely play out on the blog in the coming days and weeks.First off, thanks to Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson for inviting me and many kudos everyone involved in putting on such a useful colloquium - it was really an impressive, educational event, and a lot topics and solutions were discussed that rarely receive such particular attention...

I'm outta here: Grits to speak at SA panel on jail overcrowding

Posted on February 06, 2008
I've got to leave soon for San Antonio where I'll be participating on a panel discussion tomorrow on the subject of who is in county jails and why, a frequent topic of discussion on this blog. I'm excited about the chance to speak to a couple hundred practitioners on the subject...

Pope tells Lege Will Harrell's solitary confinement criticisms ill-informed

Posted on February 06, 2008
TYC acting executive director Dimitria Pope claimed today at a legislative hearing that allegations by TYC Ombudsman Will Harrell about overuse of solitary confinement at the agency were simply erroneous, and implied he might have even lied about visiting the Mart facility (he "supposedly" visited the unit, she said)...

By the Numbers: LBB gives budget overview of TYC's difficulties

Posted on February 06, 2008
Here are some notes from the presentation to the House Appropriations Subcommitee on Crimional Justice by Angela Isaac, an LBB Analyst for TYC and juvenile probation. (She had a handout of which I'll try to get a copy.)TYC has a budget of $452.7 million for the biennium, she said, and $450...

Sheriff disingenuous to claim no cost for jailing immigrants

Posted on February 06, 2008
County jail overcrowding, meet immigration hysteria.Even though Harris County Sheriff Tommy Thomas' jail is so overcrowded they must ship 600 inmates at a time to Louisiana to meet staffing requirements, he's proposing that his deputies be trained to use federal "287g" authority to identify and detain illegal immigrants in the county jail until they're picked up by ICE...

Youth Commission Roundup

Posted on February 06, 2008
Lots of action today on the TYC front:Appropriations Hearing Reviews TYC SpendingThe House Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal Justice today at noon will hold a hearing to examine "implementation" of appropriations to the Texas Youth Commission. (Go here to watch the video live online at noon...

Feds sue Youth Commission over Evins unit; Proposed agreed order would affect every TYC facility

Posted on February 05, 2008
From the "It's About Damn Time" Department, an alert reader emails to tell me that the feds have finally filed suit against the Texas Youth Commission in the Southern District. Judge Ricardo Hinojosa will preside in the case, which centers on the Evins Unit...

Posner gives conservative case for amnesty - it's just like snitching!

Posted on February 05, 2008
I don't say this often, but thank heavens for Federal Circuit Judge Richard Posner.While in general I find Judge Posner's quirky economics in the "law and economics" field he helped establish a bit ham-handed and supply-sided for my own tastes, for good or ill he's an unabashed conservative, and on debates about immigration these days it's difficult to find actual conservative opinions because of so many nativist ones masquerading in conservatives' garb...

DA who failed to prosecute TYC sex abuse cases running for re-election

Posted on February 04, 2008
I've been focused elswhere besides the blog, or I would have mentioned sooner this Dallas News story about the Pecos County District Attorney's race ("Pecos DA criticized in youth jail sex scandal seeking re-election," Feb. 2), notable in particular because the incumbent running for re-election is the prosecutor who refused to pursue child molestation charges against Texas Youth Commission administrators at the West Texas State School, launching a crisis that ultimately led to the agency entering conservatorship...

Legislature's underinvestment in competency restoration beds creates havoc for mentally ill jail inmates, county jails

Posted on February 04, 2008
The 80th Texas Legislature failed to fix the crisis, so mentally ill defendants who're declared incompetent to stand trial are still locked up in county jails in record numbers.Por ejemplo, the Austin Statesman's Andrea Ball has a fine piece profiling the case of Daniel Whitehead, a schizophrenic/bipolar defendant arrested for allegedly forging a check...

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