Criminal Law

Border pols to Governor: Tone down rhetoric, keep us in loop

Posted on March 22, 2010
Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune reports that:Leaders from one end of the Texas-Mexico border to the other said Friday they want Gov. Rick Perry to tone down the scary rhetoric and to get real about solving problems in their hometowns. And, by the way, they would also like to be consulted about security plans that affect the communities where they live...

Communing with the angels in the Dallas jail

Posted on March 22, 2010
If you need evidence that the legal system doesn't really know how to accommodate voice hearing defendants, look no further than delays in a routine misdemeanor case that have stranded a mentally ill inmate for months in the Dallas County Jail on minor charges, as reported in the Dallas News ("For mentally ill man, 45 days stretches into 6 months," March 20): Nicholas Sauve says he talks to angels in his Dallas County Jail cell...

Bill author says "overly punitive" Driver Responsibility surcharge a "mistake"

Posted on March 21, 2010
Houston Chronicle coverage of proposed changes to the so-called Driver Responsibility surcharge rules included a couple of notable quotes ("Critics: Law puts drivers on road to ruin," March 21):Mothers Against Drunk Driving supports the law but did not lobby against last year's attempts to repeal the program, said Bill Lewis, public policy liaison for MADD's Texas office...

Hearing voices: Listening to voice hearers outside the justice system

Posted on March 21, 2010
I read a book last weekend on the subject of hearing voices, titled "Muses, Madmen, and Prophets: Rethinking the History, Science and Meaning of Auditory Hallucination," by Daniel Smith. Anybody who pays much attention to the justice system sees stories all the time, sometimes tragic, of people hearing voices, and this book offered a fresh, sympathetic perspective...

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How effective are juvenile drug courts?

Posted on March 20, 2010
Having recently mentioned a report from the federal Government Accounting Office that called into question whether there's evidence-based support for juvenile drug courts, my interest was piqued when a commenter pointed out the subject is addressed more favorably in Marc Levin's recent report on cost saving juvenile justice programs from the Texas Public Policy Foundation...

Are TDCJ staffing gains partly illusion?

Posted on March 19, 2010
While TDCJ reports that the number of vacant correctional officer slots in Texas prisons is down to just over 500, from a crisis-level high of around 4,000 not long ago, The Back Gate website says that's partly an illusion:In a report obtained from the Texas Board of Criminal Justice ...

'Getting More for Less in Juvenile Justice'

Posted on March 19, 2010
Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation just published a new 44-page public policy report (complete with 232 footnotes) with the pithy title "Getting More for Less in Juvenile Justice: Innovative and Cost-Effective Approaches to Reduce Crime, Restore Victims and Preserve Families" (pdf)...

US House should eliminate crack/powder disparities for cocaine sentencing

Posted on March 19, 2010
It's been a while since I've written to my Congressman under my own steam, as opposed to in response to some organization's action alert showing up in my email box, but the chance to reduce or eliminate the federal crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity (discussed by Doug Berman at Sentencing Law & Policy here, here, and here) inspired me to send this brief message over Rep...

Casting light on Texas clemency decisions

Posted on March 19, 2010
I've not followed the Hank Skinner case on Grits; the blow-by-blow has been covered well elsewhere and I've had nothing in particular to add to the conversation. (Sam Millsap's recent column in the Houston Chronicle largely reflects my views.) Certainly I think any potentially exonerating forensic tests should be performed before his execution date, currently scheduled for March 24; you don't want such inconvenient truths coming out after the fact...

TDCJ needs 'Plan B' to rescue successful community corrections investments

Posted on March 18, 2010
I attended the first half of the House Corrections Committee hearing Tuesday on probation and community corrections (video available here), one of the interim charges issued to the committee from the Speaker. Only four legislators were there - Chairman Jim McReynolds, Jerry Madden, Marrissa Marquez, and a particularly glum and silent Solomon Ortiz, Jr...

Is drug treatment working for incarcerated juveniles?

Posted on March 18, 2010
A couple of months back I puzzled at the fact that, according to the evidence, the Texas Youth Commission's substance abuse treatment programs actually increase recidivism among participants compared to control groups that didn't go through the program...

Dallas DA reviewing cases from 'quarterback' of Garland drug cops

Posted on March 18, 2010
Tanya Eiserer at the Dallas News has the story of court testimony by fellow officers that an 18-year veteran narcotics detective, described as the "quarterback" of Garland PD's drug unit, allegedly lied to support an informant's story and implicate a defenant ("Garland drug officer's cases re-examined after credibility questioned," March 18):An undercover informant opened the motel room door, letting four police officers rush in for the drug bust...

Big D: Shopping Mecca

Posted on March 18, 2010
Reports Scott Goldstein at the Dallas News: At the Dallas CityStore, customers can find affordable furniture, bikes, electronics and other merchandise from the police property room and other city departments. But a city employee was recently surprised to stumble upon a different product: 123 bags of illegal drugs mistakenly shipped over in a file cabinet by the Dallas Police Department Property Unit...

Panhandle jail overcrowding all about pretrial detention

Posted on March 18, 2010
According to NewChanel 10-Amarillo, the explanation for jail overcrowding in 5 thinly populated Panhandle counties is simple: "The reason why is many people do not have the money to bond out." That is a soluble problem that doesn't require jail building.

Fort Worth justice says traffic stop video too often missing, ignored in DWI cases

Posted on March 18, 2010
Last week I praised the notion of police headset cams and said that dashcams required in Texas' racial profiling law, where they had been installed, were generally well received. In response, commenter "Old Cop" immediately chided my naivete:It's amazing how many officers modern dash-cams "malfunction" when the facts surrounding the contact are in question and may not be favorable to the agency or the case at hand...

Tarrant electronic discovery seen as gold standard

Posted on March 18, 2010
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:A state panel studying ways to reduce wrongful convictions in Texas seemed to find what it was looking for during a visit to Tarrant County this year.After reviewing the district attorney's open-file and electronic discovery system, Mary Anne Wiley, deputy general counsel for Gov...

Perry bizarrely still claiming 60% drop in border crime

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Austin Statesman on it's "Truth-O-Meter" page, which fact checks statements by politicians in Texas political races, gave Gov. Rick Perry a "Pants on Fire" rating for saying that crime dropped 60% along the border because of his much-ballyhooed pork-barrel grants (with tough sounding names like "Operation Linebacker" and "Operation Wrangler") to Sheriffs...

Reversing overincarceration trends: A national perspective

Posted on March 17, 2010
A reversal of trends in Texas, reports the Pew Center on the States, contributed to the first recorded decline in the national prison population since The Godfather won Oscar for best picture. Here's why:Texas: In January 2007, Texas faced a projected prison population increase of up to 17,000 inmates in just five years...

Texas Tribune tackles Driver Responsibility surcharge

Posted on March 15, 2010
Brandi Grissom at the Texas Tribune has a piece up this morning on proposed revisions to DPS rules surrounding the oxymoronically named "Driver Responsibility" surcharge. Here's how the article opens:The tales told by Texas drivers are eerily similar...

Auditor: TDCJ not maintaining documentation to justify renewing private prison contracts

Posted on March 15, 2010
According to a new state auditor's report (pdf), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's "contracts with [private prison and treatment contractors] do not consistently include the contract requirements necessary to assess the quality of the services its providers deliver...

Challenges outlined for next Harris County juvie probation director

Posted on March 15, 2010
A Houston Chronicle op ed by Emilie Farenthold, an attorney with a doctorate in public health, identifies the challenges facing whoever is hired as Harris County's juvenile probation director after the last one was fired last fall over a highly publicized security breach...

Death penalty abolitionist cause harmed by lawyer leadership

Posted on March 15, 2010
A student conference in Austin this week dubbed the "Anti-death penalty alternative spring break" may interest Grits readers. It includes several events open to the public that may be worth attending, particularly on Thursday, when they'll hear a panel of exonerated men who'd been sentenced to death row...

Whitmire: Trusties a weak link in contraband intake

Posted on March 15, 2010
It turns out the incident with the Sugar Land trusty making shopping runs to the Walmart wasn't an isolated incident. According to the Houston Chronicle ("Trust in prison trusties shaky," March 8):Days after a Texas prison trusty sneaked into a Sugar Land Walmart to buy cigarettes, contraband-sniffing dogs outside Beaumont's Stiles Unit pinpointed a cache of tobacco, 19 cell phones and 18 phone chargers hidden behind a prison food barn...

On biometrics and the politics of a national ID card

Posted on March 14, 2010
I find myself in total agreement with Bert Knab at the Glass Houses blog on why a national ID card is a bad idea and biometric identification won't stop employers from hiring illegal immigrants. Go read what he has to say.I'd add an observation I've been stressing for many years on Grits: that biometrics are generally bad identifiers for ID purposes, precisely because they can't be altered if a thief gets hold of them...

Details emerge of new Texas Office of Capital Writs

Posted on March 14, 2010
I received a press release notifying me of this interview with one of the organizers of Texas' Office of Capital Writs which is scheduled to launch later this year:Details emerge of new Texas Office of Capital WritsHOUSTON -- A new office designed to provide qualified legal assistance to people who receive the death penalty in Texas was the focus of an interview on the Prison Show Friday with attorney Philip Wischkaemper that is available on the website of KPFT FM...

Dallas DA should pursue removal petition against allegedly corrupt constable

Posted on March 14, 2010
I'd written earlier that the US Attorney should step in to prosecute allegations of wrongdoing by Dallas County constables if District Attorney Craig Watkins won't do so. But recent events have given Watkins a fresh opportunity (which I hope he takes) to take a stand against corruption and mitigate the impression that he's ignoring alleged crimes committed by Democratic elected officials...

New strategies needed to protect journalists in Mexican drug war

Posted on March 14, 2010
The New York Times yesterday ran an article on widespread drug cartel intimidation and assassination of reporters covering Mexico's drug war, which has resulted in many murders and other major, criminal events going uncovered in the MSM ("Fearing drug cartels, reporters in Mexico retreat," March 13)...

TDCJ preparing to use regional release facilities

Posted on March 13, 2010
The Texas Legislature last year passed a statute requiring TDCJ to stop sending all prisoners back to Huntsville for release, but instead to release them either from the unit where they're housed or "regional release facilities." Judging from this article in the Beeville Bee-Picayune, the agency has opted for the latter approach:The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has confirmed that prison inmates could soon be released in Beeville and other regional sites around the state after they have served their time...

Liberty and Justice for Y'all: Kicking ass, taking names

Posted on March 12, 2010
The blog Liberty and Justice for Y'all has several notable posts which will interest Grits readers, particularly related to Fourth Amendment topics.LJY points us to an article discussing the "burgeoning jurisprudence of placing a premium on citizens? ignorance of their Fourth Amendment rights," and another on the question of whether copying computer data constitutes a seizure...

Told ya so: Massive expansion of customs agents invited increased border corruption

Posted on March 12, 2010
The problem was not only inevitable as the sunrise, this blog specifically predicted it on the front end. Via AP ("Cartels trying to infiltrate border agencies," March 12):Mexican drug cartels are infiltrating federal law enforcement agencies along the southwest border and those charged with weeding them out say they don't have the money to catch all the corrupt agents, homeland security officials told a U...

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