criminal law
More on the Proposed Public Defender Office in Harris County, Texas
Interested parties are swallowing this news with a healthy dose of skepticism, but the County Commissioners Court took a step closer to the creation of a Public Defender Office in Harris County by approving the commission of a study on the financial impact of establishing a PD office. The report is expected in September.
Houston Chronicle, […]
Involuntary Public Intoxication, Good Facts Make Funny Law
Kevin Underhill’s Lowering the Bar brought this gem of a case in Court of Appeal Upholds Right to Private Drunkenness.
Like my former favorite involuntary intoxication case, Martin v. State, 31 Ala.App. 334, 17 So.2d 427 (1944), the case of In re R.K. involves officers of the law in a podunk town that can’t help but […]
Texas Man Successfully Asserts Necessity Defense in Medical Marijuana Possession Case
From Reason Magazine, via Boing Boing, comes the interesting news that…
Tim Stevens, a 53-year-old Amarillo man who smokes marijuana to relieve the cyclical vomiting syndrome associated with HIV infection, used a necessity defense to win an acquittal on a possession charge.
A little Ragazzo-esque voice in Bennett’s head demands “What’s your authority for that?” to […]
Reasonable Doubt TV: Todd Dupont, Pat McCann, and Mark Bennett
Glory be, I fall off the blawg-wagon for a month or so and Bennett goes and gets himself messed up in public access television. Watch your back Charlie Rose. More to come.
Harris County Criminal Lawyers’ Association’s Reasonable Doubt television show with Todd Dupont, Pat McCann, and Mark Bennett. Discussing Houston, Harris County, Texas criminal justice […]
Houston Chronicle features Local Legal Icons Racehorse Haynes, Joe Jamail
The Houston Chronicle’s Mary Flood did a great story about local lawyers Richard “Racehorse” Haynes and Joe Jamail in Legendary lawyers show no signs of slowing downThe conversation is worthy of her subjects:
Haynes, the witty and gentlemanly criminal defense lawyer, recalls the prior generation’s legal master Percy Foreman warning him that the law is a […]
Jurors on Trial in Pre-trial Questionnaires, KCF Murders, Enron
A murder trial in Bowie County has gained some notoriety for a voluminous questionaire used to question potential jurors. Romeo Pinkerton is the first of two defendants being tried in a case involving the kidnap and murder of five people taken from a KFC Restaurant in Kilgore in 1983. 350 potential jurors were summoned, a […]
Inmate offers Judge who sentenced him 5k to kill Prosecutor
My goodness…
Bryan Connelly, convicted of forgery charges, is accused of making an unusual choice in seeking a hit man to kill the prosecutor: the judge who sentenced him.
… and as if that weren’t dumb enough -
Connelly wrote a second letter to his defense attorney, Houston lawyer Jonathan Cox, offering him $5,000 to kill Garner, […]
Filipino Prison-Yard Thriller, Prisoners Unlikely Youtube Celebrities
Let’s choose to overlook for a moment some of the more disturbing implications we might draw from this video and instead revel in the strange beauty of its existence. The Houston Chronicle has a story on the latest Youtube phenomenon, video reenactments of 80’s pop songs by Filipino prisoners.
Their version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller had […]
Racehorse Haynes
Legendary trial lawyer and Houston Law alumnus Richard ‘Racehorse’ Haynes was in action at the Williamson County courthouse outside of Austin last week defending a 41-year-old mother of two accused of sexual contact with a minor, a 16-year old boy who has already testified that they had a sexual relationship.
There’s some video from local station […]
So Far from Heaven, So Close to Texas - Two Great New Blawgs from New Mexico
Mark Bennett at Defending People turned me on to Issues and Holdings, a blog by New Mexico prosecutor Kirk Chavez, who in turn lead me to Judging Crimes, by Joel Jacobsen, Assistant Attorney General in New Mexico representing the prosecution in appellate courts. Bennett linking to a prosecutor’s blog? Now that’s saying something.
Issues and Holdings […]