criminal law
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 [...]
Interns in Harris County Prosecutor’s Office Name That Tune to Help Dog Fighting Case
Houston Chronicle: Law interns use ingenuity in dog case
When Harris County Assistant District Attorney Belinda Smith needed to determine the date of a dogfighting video, she turned to interns to ensure that the incident happened within the two-year statute of limitations for a misdemeanor charge.
The 35-minute video shows fights between pit bull-type dogs. Interns studied [...]
Some Thoughts on Reforming the American Criminal Justice System
From Tom Kirkendall, One of Houston’s Clear Thinkers comes an interesting post on reforming the criminal justice system, inspired by this post from Mark Steyn who has been live-blogging the Conrad Black trial.
I’ve summarized the list of suggestions. See both Tom and Mark’s posts for further commentary.
End universal reliance on plea bargains
End reliance on technical [...]
Study Cites Economic Efficiency, Better Outcomes for Federal Public Defenders
Adam Liptak picked up on a recent study of federal public defender programs for the NY Times, Public Defenders Get Better Marks on Salary. In An Analysisof the Performance of Federal Indigent Defense Counsel (.pdf), Harvard economist Radha Iyengar studied the the performance of Public Defenders and Court-appointed attorneys in federal cases. From the abstract:
Exploiting [...]
Ruben Cantu continues to Haunt Bexar County
Ruben Cantu has become a flash point on the touchy subject of capital punishment in Texas after being executed for crimes many have concluded he did not commit. As reported in the Houston Chronicle yesterday in Bexar DA calls execution justified, Bexar County DA Susan Reed has issued a report finding no merit in the [...]
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey interview in the San Antonio Express News
Via Grits for Breakfast and the Off the Kuff comes an interview with Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey in the San Antonio Express News.
Grits sees reason for optimism in a comment made on the state of Public Defenders in Texas.
Judge Hervey also predicted the rise of more public defender offices in Texas [...]
Texas Attorney General Arrests Convicted Sex Offenders with MySpace Accounts
The Houston Chronicle reports today in MySpace profiles lead to sex-offender arrests that Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has ordered the arrest of convicted sex offenders accused of violating their parole by posting profiles on MySpace. More details on this Houstonist post.
Abbott could not say whether any of the men had actually approached, or tried [...]
VI, The Amendment
I’m typically loathe to put anything on my car, but this was bumper-worthy. From the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, courtesy of Mark Bennett. Email sales at hccla dot org $5, it goes to a good cause.
The VI Amendment to the United States Constitution
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a [...]