Criminal Law

Hinojosa: Forensic commission dragging its feet

Posted on May 12, 2010
State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa weighed in on the Forensic Science Commission controversy in a piece in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram ("Texas lawmakers say commission dragging its feet on fatal fire probe," May 11), where Yamil Berard wrote that:a state lawmaker who drafted the legislation establishing the commission said that its mission is clear: to ascertain that the science used in forensic analyses is valid...

Indigent defense, child victims up for discussion in House, Senate tomorrow

Posted on May 12, 2010
Tomorrow will be Indigent Defense Day at the Texas capitol, it appears.The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will meet at 9 a.m. to discuss two interim charges:Interim Charge 3Review the performance of the Fair Defense Act and the Task Force on Indigent Defense...

Natapoff: Snitching reforms require 'changing the culture of secrecy and deregulation' among law enforcement

Posted on May 11, 2010
Reacting to the Grits post titled "Dallas home invader snitches, walks free, then fingers competitors while starting up new crew," Loyola (CA) law professor Sasha Natapoff wrote on her Snitching Blog:By now the story of criminal informants who continue to commit crimes while working for the government is depressingly familiar news; see, for example, these posts: Killer FBI Informant, and House of Death informant and Committing Crime While Working for the Government...

Tribune Prison App 1.1

Posted on May 11, 2010
The Texas Tribune updated their Texas Prisons app, mentioned earlier here. According to Matt Stiles:We've received much feedback from readers about our Texas prisons database, which has detailed records about inmates, their crimes and the units where they're serving sentences...

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Governor releases Texas Homeland Security Strategic Plan

Posted on May 11, 2010
Here's a press release received via email from the Governor's office:Gov. Rick Perry has released the Texas Homeland Security Strategic Plan 2010-2015, a strategic plan that will guide the state?s preparation, preparedness, response and recovery efforts for all types of threats over the next five years...

Go Down Together: D Magazine takes on Bonnie & Clyde

Posted on May 11, 2010
The "Book Club" at D Magazine's Frontburner blog over the last month focused on a book by a Texas author, Go Down Together: The Untold Story of Bonnie & Clyde. "GDT is out in paperback now," Frontburner informs us, "so you can pick up a copy for $16...

Housekeeping note for Grits email subscribers

Posted on May 11, 2010
I couldn't be more pleased that Grits has 810 daily email subscribers. But I've recently realized that number could be higher except that AOL and Yahoo appear to be automatically requesting removal when their users sign up for the opt-in email subscription in Grits' sidebar...

CCA ruling let juries hear about mental impairment, but not always from the mentally impaired

Posted on May 11, 2010
A couple of notable items from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals related to mental illness:The search for diminished capacity in Texas lawFirst, from the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Martha Deller has the story, "Appellate rulings sought to set guidelines for mental impairment defenses" (May 10), which opens: No one knows for certain why a Tarrant County jury rejected a defense related to post-traumatic stress disorder in the murder trial of Marine veteran Eric Acevedo...

Levin: Incarceration alternatives for youth save money, reduce recidivism

Posted on May 10, 2010
Marc Levin from the Texas Public Policy Foundation has an op ed in the Houston Chronicle arguing that Texas can save money on juvenile justice and reduce recidivism by limiting incarceration to the most serious offenders. The article closes:Texas can continue saving money and protecting public safety by renewing support for probation departments' TYC diversion initiatives that more than pay for themselves as they enable TYC to continue downsizing...

Knitta, please cover those ugly blue signs on Lamar underpass

Posted on May 10, 2010
I'd written before about the group Knitta Please! and the challenge that knitted graffiti poses to distinctions between graffiti and art, craft, etc.. So I was pleased to drive down Lamar last week and see knitted coverings of a bunch of odd, supposedly artistic blue metal signs with no messaging that line an underpass around 5th Street...

Keller could be removed from office if criminal charges brought

Posted on May 10, 2010
Scott Cobb at Burnt Orange Report analyzes what might happen if Travis County Attorney David Escamilla files criminal charges against Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals for concealing income in required state ethics disclosures...

Former capital litigator Bob Walt passes away

Posted on May 10, 2010
A reader lets me know via email that: Regardless of your opinion of the Texas death penalty, one of the prime movers in the development of Capital punishment in Texas died on Friday. Anyone who has been involved for more than 10 years in Capital litigation in Texas can testify as to Bob?s contribution towards establishing the current system of Capital punishment...

Radnofsky: Forensic commission should resist expanding chairman's power

Posted on May 09, 2010
Democratic Texas Attorney General candidate Barabara Ann Radnofsky has a column on "Secrecy and Science" at Politics Daily focusing on the Texas Forensic Science Commission and the Todd Willingham case. She points out that Williamson County DA and Commission Chair John Bradley:claimed in a letter to the public written shortly after his appointment last October that "most state agencies with investigative and deliberative functions are protected by laws designed to keep such information confidential until a final decision is released...

Dallas home invader snitches, walks free, then fingers competitors while starting up new crew

Posted on May 09, 2010
A frequent theme on this blog has explored the risks from law enforcement tolerating crimes by informants to seek out other defendants who may or may not even be guilty. It's a slippery slope that Dallas prosecutors may soon discover isn't worth the risk when dealing with seriously dangerous criminals...

Lawmakers surpised at TX inmates receiving email

Posted on May 09, 2010
Federal inmates already had email privileges, but apparently the Texas Legislature didn't realize they'd authorized the same thing, reports Mike Ward at the Statesman ("Inmates get email? Lawmakers want details," May 8):Surprised by a revelation that Texas convicts can receive e-mails in state prisons, legislative leaders said Friday that they plan to investigate how the multimillion-dollar, no-bid deal came about and without any public debate...

News flash to schools: Possession of Jolly Ranchers violates no state rules

Posted on May 09, 2010
This headline caught my eye from Lynn Walsh at the Texas Watchdog: "Third-grader wasn't violating state rules when she accepted a Jolly Rancher at school; Brazos County girl had gotten detention for possessing candy: KHOU."So the third grader didn't violate state rules, but the real question is, "Did the school violate any?" One would hope...

ABC News investigates disputed Texas arson case

Posted on May 07, 2010
The title of this post is the headline to a piece from the Texas Observer blog informing us that:The ABC News program 20/20 will broadcast a report this Friday night about people wrongly convicted of arson.The segment?which airs at 9 p.m. central time?will feature the case of Curtis Severns, who was convicted in 2006 of starting a fire in his Plano gun shop...

Tracking Texas court races

Posted on May 07, 2010
A new-to-me website called Judgepedia has usefully compiled all the competitors in Texas judicial elections statewide at the appellate court and district court level, as well as information on county court at law and JP races by county.What an excellent resource! Very helpful...

Unmanned drones on border pure security theater

Posted on May 07, 2010
Here's another foolish, wasteful, big-brotherish idea brought to you by federal lawmakers and heartily, regrettably endorsed by the El Paso Times in a May 5 editorial uruging the feds to:Fast-track the paperwork and get drones up and scanning the Texas-Mexico border...

Breakup of contraband smuggling ring implicates prison guards

Posted on May 06, 2010
A contraband ring broken up at the Coffield Unit in Palestine shows how inmates, prison staff and family members on the outside combine to engage in illicit smuggling, reports Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman:Troubling new details surfaced Wednesday about the depth of illegal smuggling inside Texas' massive prison system, including revealing glimpses into how convicts may be operating drug- and money-laundering rackets with the help of guards and family members...

Eroding the criminal intent requirement in criminal law

Posted on May 06, 2010
Via Sentencing Law & Policy, I'm pleased if surprised to learn that Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert was among those participating when a report was jointly released by the unlikely duo of the Heritage Foundation and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers...

Waco taxpayers likely on the hook for debt on jail they were promised would pay for itself

Posted on May 06, 2010
Whenever private prison companies and their governmental champions try to convince the public it's possible to build a jail at no cost to the taxpayers by making it bigger and leasing out space, taxpayers need only point to the McLennan County Jail in Waco as a cautionary tale...

Dallas commissioners to deputy constables: No lights, sirens in personal cars w/o permission, insurance

Posted on May 05, 2010
Here's another example how a relative lack of professionalism among constables and other peripheral law enforcement agencies creates liability for county taxpayers ("Dallas County deputies must get OK to put emergency police gear on personal vehicles, commissioners say," May 5):Dallas County commissioners voted Tuesday to ban deputies and other employees from installing emergency police equipment such as lights and sirens on their personal vehicles without the court's permission...

Dallas County won't defend four deputies involved in shady jail death

Posted on May 05, 2010
The Dallas News' Kevin Krause reported yesterday that:There was an interesting development this morning in the case of former Dallas County inmate Corey Bailey, who died in 2008 after a violent confrontation with sheriff's guards. Bailey's mother, Cathy, is suing the county and five jail guards in a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed last year...

Op/ed: Constables redundant, expensive liability for communities

Posted on May 04, 2010
On the question of whether elected constables are still necessary in the 21st century, the Amarillo Globe-News published an op ed by an Amarillo police captain Jeff Lester, a 34-year veteran officer who was elected a Randall County Constable on a platform (which he fulfilled) that he would take no salary and shut down the office: Each time a constable is elected to what was once a vacant office, voters have created another law enforcement agency that requires county commissioners to provide a reasonable salary, benefits, vehicle and training costs...

Defense lawyers: Forensic commission committee meetings should be open

Posted on May 04, 2010
The criminal defense bar wants to pick a fight with Forensic Science Commission Chairman John Bradley over his new committee system conducting the commission's business in secret, reports the Houston Chronicle ("Defense lawyers rip Texas forensic panel," May 4)...

Keller may face criminal prosecution over ethics disclosure violations

Posted on May 04, 2010
Having now had an opportunity to read the Ethics Commission's ruling where they fined Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals $100,000 for failing to disclose a vast web of financial entanglements. See the ruling (pdf). Several items in particular stood out...

Austin's Biggest Water Wasting Outlaw

Posted on May 03, 2010
BTW, I'm doing some public policy research for the Save Our Springs Alliance and have begun a little related blogging over at their Save Water Save Money site. Today's subject: Who's the Real 'Water Wasting Outlaw' in Austin?

Justice system takes biggest hit when budget crunch gets local

Posted on May 03, 2010
I'm not surprised by news that Houston may be slashing overtime for police and firefighters in response to a budget crunch that's even been receiving international attention.There are ways to reduce staffing costs without reducing police coverage, but I'm less than sanguine anyone in Houston will seriously consider them...

Report: New Options Increase Treatment, Reduce Recidivism for Defendants with Mental Illness

Posted on May 03, 2010
Here's a press release received today from the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense:New Options Increase Treatment, Reduce Recidivism for Defendants with Mental IllnessAUSTIN ?The Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense released a study today showing that criminal offenders with mental impairments who are treated for their illness instead of being jailed are less likely to commit crimes again for up to eighteen months...

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