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'Mineola Swingers Club': Emotion guides decisions when probative evidence excluded from jurors

At Texas Monthly, Michael Hall is continuing his excellent coverage of the so-called Mineola Swingers Club cases with a description of the most recent trial and conviction of another of the adults alleged to have sexually molested kids. The Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston recently threw out the two earlier convictions , reports Hall:On June 17 the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, in Houston, overturned the convictions of Kelly and Jamie Pittman. Kelly, the judges said, deserved a new trial because he hadn?t been allowed to present a defense and because Judge Skeen had ?adopted ad hoc evidentiary rules that operated to assist the state in proving its case, while impeding appellant?s ability to defend himself.? (Jamie Pittman?s conviction was overturned on different grounds; Mayo?s was upheld, likely because her appellate lawyer cited none of the evidentiary issues that Kelly?s lawyers had raised...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on August 21, 2010 (boomark / email).