Criminal Law

Might restorative justice principles improve drug courts?

Posted on March 23, 2009
I'm a supporter of drug court programs, but I also believe they shouldn't be immune from criticism and all such diversion programs should be constantly, rigorously tested for effectiveness. So I was interested to see a couple of recent items on the topic that collectively describe the pros and cons of this increasingly popular (even faddish) approach to adjudicating drug cases...

Blogworthy news and notes

Posted on March 23, 2009
I was out of pocket Friday, Saturday and Sunday for my job, which explains the blog's relative dormancy for the last several days. I'm too busy to write separately about all the interesting stuff that's come up since then, so here are several stories that deserve Grits readers' attention even if I don't have time to fully explore them:New jails going upBurnet County speculatively built a much larger jail than they need hoping to lease the rest as contract beds...

Delay could be chance to improve DNA database bill

Posted on March 20, 2009
While the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee voted several bills out of committee this week - including Sen. Juan Hinojosa's legislation eliminating life without parole sentences for juveniles, substituting a flat 40 year minimum - I was somewhat surprised to see Sen...

Needle exchange bill sails through Senate, headed to House

Posted on March 19, 2009
Having written earlier that it was possible to count 23 votes in the Texas Senate for a local-control bill authorizing needle exchange, I'm pleased but unsurprised to see Sen. Robert Deuell's SB 188 pass the Senate on a 23-7 vote. Writes Noelle at Sifting the Haystack:While laying out the bill Senator Deuell said that if this legislation becomes law it will save the state money without costing the state any money, and that countless studies have shown syringe exchange programs do not increase drug use...

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US media, leaders, refocusing on Mexico in wake of cartel violence

Posted on March 19, 2009
It seems like the national media is just now, finally, catching on that feuds between transnational drug cartels and the Mexican government have become a bigger, immediate security problem for America than anything happening in the Middle East. Here are several recent items that indicate the media and US leaders are thinking more seriously about the issue than at any time in recent memory:Barack Obama to visit Mexico: Drug war, immigration to be discussed, El Paso Times, March 19Drug cartels' new weaponry means war," LA Times, March 15...

Innocence News and Notes

Posted on March 18, 2009
On the Innocence Project of Texas' blog the executive director published a letter I sent to the board and IPOT supporters in my role as the group's policy director describing innocence-related legislation proposed in the 81st Texas Leglature - not a comprehensive list, but hitting the high points...

Juvie prosecutor: Felony graffiti rap a "cop out by schools and police"

Posted on March 18, 2009
Regular readers won't be surprised to learn that I completely agree with Murray from Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center in offering:Major kudos today for [Harris County District Attorney] Juvenile Division Chief Bill Moore for saying what plenty of Defense Attorneys and Prosecutors have been thinking and saying for a long time...

Coverage of American Violet premier

Posted on March 18, 2009
Speaking of informants, the feature film American Violet - which fictionally portrays a Texas case involving false allegations by an unreliable, unstable informant and the effects on an innocent accused - premiered last night in Hearne before opening nationwide in April...

Florida bill would give informants legal counsel

Posted on March 18, 2009
As Texas considers bills to corroborate and ensure reliability of jailhouse informant testimony, I was interested to see that bipartisan legislation moving in Florida takes a different tack on regulating confidential informants. Reports AP: The proposed bill would create strict standards on the use of confidential informants and give them the right to talk to an attorney before agreeing to help police...

If Andre Thomas is not insane, the insanity-defense law is

Posted on March 18, 2009
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that capital murderer Andre Thomas, who plucked out both eyes while incarcerated awaiting his death sentence - and ate one of them - "is clearly 'crazy,' but he is also 'sane' under Texas law," reports the Dallas News...

Animal House meets Mayberry

Posted on March 17, 2009
AP says "the Montague County Jail was 'Animal House' meets Mayberry," though that may put too comfortable a spin on the situation when allegations include sexual assault against an informant.See prior Grits coverage:Questions regarding a completely corrupt jailWhen did rape become just a civil rights violation?More border sheriff criminality: This time on the Red RiverMontague jail flooded with contraband, closed after FBI raid

Man bites dog: Williamson DA John Bradley says remove LWOP for juvie capital offenders

Posted on March 17, 2009
Who would have thought?The first bill up in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee today would eliminate life without parole in capital cases for juveniles, substituting a 40-year minimum.In a surreal moment, the first speaker was Williamson County DA John Bradley, an avowed death penalty proponent, who testified that he "really supported the bill," declaring that Sen...

Pretrial mediation bill implements restorative justice concepts

Posted on March 17, 2009
Given my interest on this blog with the "restorative justice" movement, I'm pleased to see HB 2139 by McLendon on Thursday's House Corrections Committee agenda, "relating to the establishment, operation, and funding of pretrial victim-offender mediation programs...

Hot-button bills highlight first Senate Criminal Justice hearing

Posted on March 17, 2009
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee has a full plate today at its first meeting of the 81st Texas Legislature. Here's a brief description of bills that are up, including several sure to generate controversy:Pardon meRoyce West has a bill (SB 233) that would allow people with deferred adjudication to receive gubernatorial pardons, though this Governor's miserly use of his pardon power makes one skeptical this would have wide application...

Few prison guards fired, prosecuted for contraband smuggling

Posted on March 16, 2009
What happens to Texas prison staff caught smuggling contraband into prisons? For the most part, nothing, says a report by the Houston Chronicle ("Illicit goods keep flowing into prisons," March 15):Texas prisons are a virtual bazaar of prohibited and illicit goods smuggled in by guards and correctional employees who have rarely faced harsh punishment when caught, according to a Houston Chronicle review...

When eyewitnesses are wrong

Posted on March 16, 2009
See two notable recent news items related to the relative unreliability of eyewitness identification:60 Minutes (3/8): Eyewitness: How Accurate is Visual Memory?Slate (3/14): Is our eyewitness identification system sending innocent people to jail?

Hollywood film focuses on false convictions based on Hearne informant

Posted on March 16, 2009
I just received a press release via email announcing the pending release of a feature film based on an incident in tiny Hearne, TX, just down the road from Bryan-College Station, though it was actually filmed in Louisiana. According to the notice:On April 17, Samuel Goldwyn Films will release AMERICAN VIOLET, a new film based on true events that occurred in a small Texas town...

Reining in asset forfeiture abuses

Posted on March 15, 2009
With so many Texas law enforcement agencies having become overly dependent on asset forfeiture income to make ends meet, last Sunday, Howard Witt the Chicago Tribune focused on an example that's almost a caricature of that trend: the East Texas town of Tenaha, where black motorists were allegedly threatened with criminal prosecution if they didn't sign over their property...

Praising Pat Lykos: Critics react well to transparency, humility from DAs

Posted on March 15, 2009
New Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has been receiving praise from unlikely quarters, recently, first for changing the office policy to allow defense counsel to receive police offense reports, then for actually apologizing over an egregious mistaken ID case prosecuted by her predecessor...

US Attorney rumors - Texas Southern District

Posted on March 14, 2009
Mary Flood at the Houston Chronicle's Legal Trade blog offers up a list of rumored candidates for the US Attorney for Texas' Southern District based in Houston.Those on the rumored short list are: * ex-prosecutor Eric Reed, who is from South Texas and may have the three Congressmen from the southern section of the district on his side * ex-prosecutor and ex-state judge John Kyles, who is of counsel at Vinson & Elkins * ex-prosecutor Susan Strawn, who ran for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals as a Democrat A fourth may have been tacked on, and that would be: * Galveston County District Judge Susan Criss, who ran for Texas Supreme Court as a DemocratSee prior speculation about Texas US Attorney candidates on Grits here and here...

Hinojosa: Corroborate jailhouse informants

Posted on March 13, 2009
Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa filed an excellent innocence-related bill this week in the Texas Legislature, SB 1681, which would require corroboration to obtain a conviction based on testimony from a jailhouse informant.Currently (besides accomplices), only informants involved in undercover drug stings must have their testimony corroborated - legislation Hinojosa also carried back in 2001 (then on the House side) in the wake of the Tulia episode and the Dallas "fake drug" scandals...

Kids do less art in school, more in street; Lege reacts with hammer

Posted on March 13, 2009
If the only tool you have is a hammer, the saying goes, then everything looks like a nail. On graffiti, apparently, the only tool the Legislature understands is the hammer, with three bills up in a House Criminal Jurisprudence subcommittee on property crimes Monday all boosting penalties for graffiti (and all backed by Democrats, incidentally)...

TDCJ officer lobby day pushed for pay hikes

Posted on March 13, 2009
Yesterday the Texas capitol was filled with grey-uniformed Texas prison guards there for a lobby day sponsored by AFSCME advocating for the 20% raise proposed by the Department of Criminal Justice. See coverage from the Austin Statesman. I chatted with several guards making the rounds who thought the event went well and everyone said they were well-received, but there's a long way to go before we'll know if their raises will make it into the budget...

Fleshing out possible juvie reform plans

Posted on March 12, 2009
The Austin Statesman has coverage ("Lawmakers eyeing Travis' plan for juveniles," March 12) of three suggested reform models proposed for Texas' juvenile justice system that were first discussed on Grits here and here. Reports the Statesman:Under the concept, only juveniles convicted of serious crimes would be sent to the agency...

Good time, reentry debated today in House corrections

Posted on March 12, 2009
Light blogging from me today, but there are several bills up in the House Corrections Committee today aimed at giving the Department of Criminal Justice more tools to manage its inmate population and facilitating reentry to reduce recidivism among ex-prisoners:HB 93 (Terri Hodge) Relating to the restoration of good conduct time forfeited during a term of imprisonment...

Why police interrogations should be recorded

Posted on March 11, 2009
For an excellent example of why all police interrogations should be recorded, check out this heartbreaking case of the wrongful conviction of a 12-year old accused of murdering a five year old girl and the herculean efforts required to hold police and prosecutors accountable for egregious misconduct...

Lege to examine Great Eldorado Polygamist Roundup

Posted on March 11, 2009
This is going to be a complete zoo!Yesterday Rep. Patrick Rose, Chair of the Texas House Human Services Committee, created a subcommittee to analyze the largest child-seizure operation in US history at a polygamist community in West Texas by the state's Department of Family Protective Services (DFPS)...

Eyewitnesses in staged test only 8% accurate

Posted on March 10, 2009
In a test performed by a Lubbock TV station, only 8% of Texas Tech students could correctly identify the perpetrator from a photo array in a staged purse snatching:The students entered the lecture hall one by one, unaware they were about to become eyewitnesses to a crime...

Time to implement written consent at traffic stop searches

Posted on March 10, 2009
Can Texas drivers really refuse "consent" to seach at traffic stops when police officers have the ability to arrest them, even for the most minor traffic violation if they refuse comply? That's the question posed by Rep. Harol Dutton's HB 917, which would require written or recorded consent for searches at traffic stops without a warrant or probable cause...

'Round the blogs

Posted on March 09, 2009
While I'm busy with other business today, check out these fine blogs which all have interesting recent posts on the topics Grits covers:Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer BlogDefending PeopleLife at the Harris County Criminal Justice CenterSimple JusticeDrug War RantThis is an open thread...

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