If anyone has a copy of the motion I would dearly love to see it. My friend Josh Zientek points out that the orders are available in all their glory on the recently revamped Harris County District Clerk website – see The State of Texas vs. GREEN, JOHN EDWARD JR.. It’s 10 cents a page, which I might find objectionable if the Clerk, Loren Jackson, hadn’t done such an amazing job bringing that system into the 21st century.

Update:

Ah, now I get it. Mark Bennett does a typically thorough job in clarifying the situation.

Today Judge Fine denied the defendant’s Motion to Declare Death Penalty Unconstitutional Based on Texas’ Lethal Injection Protocol (Scribd) and his Motion to Declare Texas Death Penalty Statute to be Unconstitutional (Jurors’ Inability to Predict Future Dangerousness) (Scribd). The motion that Judge fine did grant was the defendant’s Motion to Hold that Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.071 is Unconstitutional: Motion to Hold that Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.01 is Unconstitutional.

Collected Commentary:

• Paul Kennedy, The Defense Rests, More on Judge Fine’s ruling (Mar. 5, 2010)
• Mark Bennett, Defending People, Even in Texas, Death Penalty Still Constitutional (Mar. 4, 2010)
• Brenda Sapino Jeffreys, Texas Lawyer, Houston judge declares death penalty unconstitutional (Mar. 4, 2010)
• Chris Vogel, Houston Press, Harris County Judge Declares Death Penalty Unconstitutional; We’re Guessing There Will Be An Appeal (Updated) (Mar. 4, 2010)

Related posts:

1. 1910 Harris County Courthouse: Restoration Update? The restoration work is apparently well under way at the...
2. David Dow on 20 Years Of Defending Death Row Inmates David Dow is a law professor at the University...
3. Rudy Giuliani to Speak at University of Houston Law Commencement Photoshoped Rudy flashesthe ‘Coog’ hand sign University of Houston Law...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

University of Houston Law Dean Ray Nimmer announced today that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now a partner in the New York office of Houston-based Bracewell and Giuliani, will deliver the commencement address at our law school commencement.

Although a commencement speaker doesn’t substantively add to the education you just received, it’s one of the few opportunities to celebrate your accomplishments with your family and it’s nice when it’s somebody your grandma can recognize.

Update:

Commencement speakers seem, for some reason, to have become magnets for controversy in recent years. One UHLC alum has declared herself ‘humiliated’ by the choice of Giuliani as commencement speaker, citing a litany of personal and professional failings. Now I wouldn’t nominate Mr. Giuliani for sainthood, but nor would I construe his failings – whatever they might be – as a reflection on the law school. I simply don’t think that selecting someone as a commencement speaker is an institutional ratification of everything they’ve done or said. I honestly don’t think it reflects on the institution at all. Some could fairly disagree with me on that I’m sure. I’ll be sitting in that audience, so I’m mostly hopeful that he will have something interesting and/or useful to communicate. I’ve found that people who have experienced failure often have more interesting and useful things to say than those who haven’t. I remain enthused.

So what should be the criteria of a commencement speaker? As I stated above, recognition by my grandmother is necessary but not entirely sufficient criteria. For a law school I would suggest a commencement speaker be (a) recognized for their career as an attorney, (b) distinguished for leadership and service in government and/or community, with (c) something valuable or useful to say to a group of graduating law students and their families. Giuliani clerked for a federal judge, served as Associate Attorney General in the Justice Dept. and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Mayor of New York City and a Presidential candidate. His legal and political career is as active and varied as they come. Will he have something valuable to say? We’ll see.

It also got me wondering what other schools have lined up for commencement day. It’s not entirely clear which law schools have separate ceremonies as they are with us, but here’s what I could track down:

• Michigan: President Obama (A sitting President, OK, so that’s impressive, though I’m sure the birthers will have a lot to say about that one.)
• Harvard: Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter
• Yale Class Day: Former President Bill Clinton (yeah, no personal failings there)
• Seton Hall Law: Chris Christie
• Penn Law: CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin (referred to on Above the Law as the Tiger Woods of journalism)
• William & Mary: Christina Romer
• Santa Clara University School of Law: Miguel S. Demapan, the chief justice of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
• Vermont Law: Howard Dean (Yeeeeeeeea–haaaaaaaa)

Related posts:

1. Jackson’s Three Arguments in Moot Court Jim Hoerricks of the Forensic Photoshop Blog reminded me of...
2. Houston Judge grants motion declaring death penalty (process in Texas) unconstitutional I thought surely there was a little more to it...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

David Dow is a law professor at the University of Houston Law Center and Litigation Director of the Texas Defender Service. His latest book The Autobiography of an Execution (Amazon) was just published last week.

He had a very interesting interview on Fresh Air on NPR 20 Years Of Defending Death Row Inmates (embedded below) Hat tip to Nancy Rapoport

Prof. Dow also had an excellent article in the Houston Law Review: The Last Execution: Rethinking the Fundamentals of Death Penalty Law, 45 Hous. L. Rev. 963 (2008) (pdf).

Related posts:

1. Houston Judge grants motion declaring death penalty (process in Texas) unconstitutional I thought surely there was a little more to it...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Order Cont. Trial 1-27-10

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“Walser Chrysler says it made an “administrative error” when it sold the crossover wagon to Townsend for less than what the dealership thinks it’s worth. Instead of accepting the loss, the dealership blames Townsend, saying she should have spoken up before accepting an unintentional discount on the car she’d been leasing for two years.”

I couldn’t find the claim posted anywhere so I got curious about the law underlying the dealer’s legal justification of “too good to be true” mentioned in the article. That turns out to be exactly the standard in Minnesota – “[An] offeree will not be permitted to snap up an offer that is too good to be true.” A.A. Metcalf Moving & Storage Co., Inc. v. North St. Paul-Maplewood, 587 N.W.2d 311 (Minn.App., 1998). Unfortunately for the dealership, the courts set that bar pretty high. In Metcalf and Riley Bros. Constr., Inc. v. Shuck, 704 N.W.2d 197 (Minn.App. 2005), the plaintiff companies that priced their services at less than half of what the should have charged were SOL in the eyes of the law. Where the seller is a sophisticated party, as we might assume a car dealer to be, and the mistake was not somehow caused by or known to the buyer, it would be reasonable for a court to allocate the risk of knowing its own pricing to the dealer rather than the buyer, as the dealer is in the best position to know if its pricing is reasonable or not. Restatement 2d Contracts § 154(c). I’ll be interested to see how this one turns out.

In the meantime, I leave you with this gem.

How long did it take you to decide if it was real or fake? The amount of time it took me says a lot about the car dealing business.

• Carla Baranauckas, Dealer Sues Woman to Cancel ‘Good Deal’, New York Times (January 19, 2010)
• James Eli Shiffer, “Error” accelerates bad blood, brings lawsuit between Walser Chrysler of Hopkins and long-time customer Tammie Townsend, Minneapolis Star Tribune (January 18, 2010)

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

“I used to say that, as Solicitor General, I made three arguments in every case. First came the one I had planned — as I thought, logical, coherent, complete. Second was the one I actually presented — interrupted, incoherent, disjointed, disappointing. The third was the utterly devastating argument that I thought of after going to bed that night.”

It comes from an article by UH law alum Brian Wice in the Texas Bar Journal, Oral Argument in Criminal Cases: 10 Tips for Winning The Moot Court Round.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I’m starting to dream of Aaland Island sheep. The work on the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition is well underway, with briefs due next week and oral arguments in regional national competitions in a little over a month. One of the principle cases in this year’s case concerns Aaland Islands from 1921, so I got interested in how things turned out. The Aaland Islands appear to be a thriving island community, albeit with some odd sheep.

PHOTO: Stefan Soderstrom

According to Soderstrom:

“During a project on Aaland Islands I lived in a small cottage in the woods. Every night these creatures came streaking around the house making strange noise. Scary to some…the story tells, that in the glowing eyes of these beasts, your future can be seen.”

More photos of the Aaland Islands below.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

As noted in a Texas Monthly article a few months back, Mike Leach has been working on an article for the Texas Tech Law Review about ‘the relationship between practicing law and coaching football.’ He looks as prescient as ever. Who knew he would put it into practice so soon?

On Monday Texas Tech suspended Leach after allegations that earlier in the month he had made Adam James, son of ESPN analyst Craig James, stand in a dark shed for up to three hours at a time on two separate occasions during practice, apparently because he thought James was faking a concussion. According to former players, Leach has a policy requiring some sort of activity during practice, even from injured players, so that there’s no incentive to inflate the status of an injury.

Leach’s attorney, Ted Liggett (Tech JD ‘94), contends that Leach was simply ‘trying to protect James by placing him somewhere that was darker and cooler than the practice facility’ and had a sign off from the team doctor. According to the Lubbock Avalanche Journal, Tech completed an initial investigation before the suspension, in which Leach did not dispute the facts but did not believe he had done anything wrong. Leach supposedly had until Monday to provide a written apology and when he refused, was suspended indefinitely with pay.

Liggett filed a motion for a temporary restraining order in Lubbock court, to allow Leach to coach in the bowl game. Judge Bill Sowder set a hearing for Wednesday, ordered the hearing open to the public. Tech handed Liggett a termination letter from TTU President Guy Bailey just before the two sides were to appear in court on the motion.

Legal Filings

• Leach’s Motion on Suspension: Mike Leach’s Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Temporary Injunction (.pdf)
• Tech’s Response: Texas Tech Response to Restraining Order (.pdf)

News Reports

• Betsy BlaneyLeach accuses Texas Tech of slander, libel (Jan. 8, 2010)
• AP Press, Fired coach Leach asks for speedy trial (Jan. 7, 2010)
• New York Times: Leach Speaks Out
• KCBD Lubbock; Leach hearing canceled, Mike Leach has been fired
• Texas Tech fires football coach Mike Leach, two days after suspension
• Above the Law: Lawsuit of the Day: Mike Leach v. Texas Tech University
• ESPN: Sources: Leach anticipates firing soon
• RedRaiders.com: Former Tech players support suspended Leach
• Lubbock Online: Morning hearing could determine who coaches Alamo Bowl
• WSJ: Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach Heads To Court To Battle Suspension
• CBS Sports: E-mails dispute James’ claims of mistreatment (text of emails)
• Texas Monthly: Mike Leach Is Thinking …

Commentary

• Twitter: ‘Mike Leach’ a trending topic
• Houston’s Clear Thinkers: The Mike Leach Train Wreck
• Sports by Brooks: Texas Tech Player: Team ‘Excited’ Leach Is Gone
• Bleacher Report: Daddy’s Little Girl: Adam James and The Mike Leach Firing
• ESPN: Joe Schad on the firing of Texas Tech coach Mike Leach
• ESPN: Craig James Addresses the Texas Tech Situation

KCBD: Comments line the Facebook Wall at KCBD Channel 11 in Lubbock

Video

KCBD Lubbock (YouTube): Leach’s Attorney Ted Liggett guides tour of facilities in question

Twitter

Related posts:

1. Houston Judge grants motion declaring death penalty (process in Texas) unconstitutional I thought surely there was a little more to it...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

For all that we learn in law school about the craft of legislative construction, judicial opinions, appellate briefs, orders and even jury instructions, there is ample evidence to expect that many of us will have written our last appellate brief in 1L year. But we will spend an inordinate amount of time writing letters on behalf of our clients. We may console ourselves that it’s every bit as artful, though less impressive at cocktail parties….as if any of the other stuff is impressive at cocktail parties…

It’s not easy to appreciate the art of letter writing until you’ve had to write a hard one. Law school of course, ignores letter writing entirely. It is one of the many minor arts we will learn on the job, from masters whose occasional artistry is sublimated to the functionality of the task. Don Looper is one of those masters, in my humble estimation, should anyone need a cyrano for a merger or acquisition. From him I learned that there is just as much art in what remains unsaid, and it’s also the most entertaining.

Lawyer letters, unfortunately, very rarely see the light of day. In this case, however, Xeni Jardin at Boing Boing had the temerity to quote a photographer who suspected that a photoshop gnome at a fashion magazine might have taken a chunk out of Demi Moore’s thigh for their cover. The gist of the story is that such image manipulation is unfortunately easy and fashion publications cannot resist working over an image even as comely as hers.

Enter the lawyers: Martin Singer asked Boing Boing on behalf of Mrs. Kutcher to remove the post in this letter and Boing Boing’s
Marc E. Mayer responded with a letter of his own. They’re really worth reading.

• Boing Boing: Demi Moore’s lawyers threaten Boing Boing over photo analysis blog post

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.