Criminal Law

"Writ Writer" documentary screened at capitol today

Posted on February 27, 2009

Rumor: Some CCA judges want Keller to resign, worry about future investigations, elections

Posted on February 27, 2009

Nomination of anti-sex toy activist to parole board draws more criticism

Posted on February 26, 2009
Houston Chronicle columnist Lisa Falkenberg says that, with the appointment of anti-sex toy activist Shanda Perkins to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, Governor Rick Perry?s "shameless pandering to the fire-and-brimstone fringes of his party crossed a line into absurdity...

More TYC Layoffs, Reorg

Posted on February 26, 2009
The Texas Youth Commission's Mart unit will lose 130 jobs, but only 13 of those are lyoffs while the rest comes from eliminating unfilled positions. According to the Waco Tribune Herald:About 130 jobs will be eliminated from the McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mart after the Texas Youth Commission has a third round of staff reductions to respond to a drop in the number of youths incarcerated...

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Open Thread - Crimjust committees meet in Texas House

Posted on February 26, 2009
I'm out for at least half the day to spend three hours in a dentist's chair.In the meantime, I'm disappointed I'll have to miss the House Corrections Committee's organizational meeting this morning at 8 a.m., (live video link should be here, but isn't presently posted), for those who are interested...

Drug interruptions upon leaving prison could create drug-resistant HIV strains

Posted on February 26, 2009
HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of Texas prison inmates, and TDCJ spends about half its pharmacy budget on HIV medications, but many ex-prisoners don't keep taking the drugs once they get out, according to a new study from UTMB. Reported Reuters:Results of a new study show that major interruptions in HIV drug treatment occur after release from prison...

Waiting on the Lege to solve county jail overcrowding?

Posted on February 25, 2009
McLennan County officials say they need "help from Austin" to solve their jail overcrowding problem, but don't own up to the role of their own local decisionmakers in causing and continuing the situation. An editorial from the Waco Tribune Herald ("State lawmakers need to help county jails with overcrowding," Feb...

'Prosecutors Are So Dreeeeeeamy!'

Posted on February 24, 2009
Houston attorney and renowned blawgger Mark Bennett says the state bar disciplinary counsel thinks "Prosecutors are so Dreeeeeamy." But when the state bar's disciplinary apparatus expresses such views, Scott Greenfield says forebodingly, it implies "that when one side is ascribed righteousness, the other is doomed...

Private prison news and notes

Posted on February 24, 2009
Several informative, recent private prison stories caught my eye and deserve Grits readers attention:Do private prisons save money?While I agree most of his suggestions for saving money on state corrections costs, I dispute the final contention in a column by Marc Levin from the Texas Public Policy Foundation that greater reliance on private prisons would save the state money...

Whitmire: Don't change TYC policy on 19-20 year olds for now

Posted on February 24, 2009
Despite a recent analysis by TYC's Ombudsman saying changes from 2007 resulted in more Texas youth being certified as adults for crimes committed as juveniles, Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire says the policy is unlikely to change this session, the San Antonio Express News reported yesterday ("More juvenile offenders landing in actual prison," Feb...

Austin PD finally will implement citations for petty misdemeanors

Posted on February 24, 2009
After a year and a half of delay, the Austin Chronicle reports the Austin Police Department will finally begin using new authority granted to them by the Lege to issue citations instead of arresting, at the officers' discretion, for certain low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors...

Galveston federal judge pleads guilty, retires in disgrace

Posted on February 23, 2009
I've not been tracking the downfall of allegedly lecherous federal district Judge Samuel Kent of Galveston, who today pled guilty to obstruction of justice charges and announced his retirement. But Mary Flood at the Houston Chronicle brings the news that:U...

Why would a county Sheriff need a 'sales' department?

Posted on February 23, 2009
Have you ever heard of a county Sheriff's department with a "sales" division? That's what's needed in Garza County, reports the Lubbock Avalanche Journal ("New jail brings law enforcement closer," Feb. 22), to fill beds in a new jail aimed at profiteering from overcrowding in other counties:"Our main thing is to get out and be a sales type department to get people to bring us inmate for us to house," [Garza County Sheriff Cliff] Laws said...

Pyote facility will downsize, TYC population will 'flat-line'

Posted on February 23, 2009
A couple of recent Texas Youth Commission stories deserve Grits readers attention. First, administrators plan to downsize, but not close the West Texas State School in Pyote, AP reports:The West Texas State School in Pyote will likely downsize and focus on treatment...

Keller must pay for her own lawyer on judicial misconduct charges

Posted on February 23, 2009
The Houston Chronicle's Clay Robison says the Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge, Sharon Keller, may have to dig into her own pocket to defend against charges from the Judicial Conduct Commission:I doubt that many people will shed tears, but Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller may have to pay her own legal expenses to defend herself against charges she improperly shut the door on a condemned inmate's last-gasp appeal...

House criminal justice committees starting to meet

Posted on February 23, 2009
While the first meeting of the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee hasn't been scheduled yet, in the House of Representatives, beginning tomorrow, criminal justice committees will begin their organizational meetings and likely start hearing bills next week:House Appropriations, Criminal Justice Subcommittee (Debbie Riddle, chair)February 23 , 2009 @ 8:00 A...

Innocence cases demand legislative reforms

Posted on February 23, 2009
Author Joyce King, a boardmember of the Innocence Project of Texas, had an op ed in yesterday's Austin Statesman calling for legislative reforms to prevent false convictions and adequately compensate those who've been cleared by DNA evidence:Now that DNA evidence has posthumously exonerated [Timothy] Cole, he is the first wrongfully convicted man in Texas to have his good name restored to surviving family...

Helping Pat Crow

Posted on February 23, 2009
This is off topic, but call it a point of personal privilege. I'm about to head out to a benefit for a dear friend, mentor and long-time Austin-based campaign manager Pat Crow, who suffered a stroke last year during heart surgery. Her friends and supporters (she managed 22 political campaigns over the years, including a slew of judicial candidates) are hosting a benefit tonight...

CCA Integrity Unit: Eyewitness ID legislation should be highest innocence priority

Posted on February 23, 2009
With all the recent bad publicity surrounding the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals and its presiding judge, it's nice to find cause to mention them in a positive light, merited in this case by the release of a new report by the CCA's Criminal Justice Integrity Unit dubbed its 2008 Annual Report of Activities...

Debunking myths about incarceration, and promoting some

Posted on February 22, 2009
Doc Berman points us to an article in Slate by Prof. John Pfaff of Fordham University law school identifying what he says are "Five Myths About Prison Growth Dispelled." The piece makes for an interesting starting point for discussion, but also promotes some mythology of its own...

Polygraphs are junk science no matter who uses them, or why

Posted on February 21, 2009
If polygraphs are so unreliable they're not admissible in court, are they really a good tool for pre-employment screenings for law enforcement? The Austin Statesman offered up an alarmist report this week ("Admitted scofflaws, poly flunkers among DPS recruits," Feb...

Prosecutor who withheld Brady material will run for judge

Posted on February 20, 2009
Yesterday I noted that Third Court of Appeals ruled that Travis County prosecutors in a case against alleged murder accomplice Laura Hall acted "wilfully in failing to disclose [exculpatory] statements" to Hall's defense team, but neither the opinion nor the media coverage informed us which prosecutor was responsible for the violation...

Ogden: DPS must do more about officer misconduct

Posted on February 20, 2009
There's an odd zeitgeist developing at the Texas capitol making me think the Lege may be more interested in preventing and investigating police misconduct than at any time in recent memory. I was already surprised when Governor Perry's homeland security chief this week backed Sen...

The beginning of the end for Judge Sharon Keller?

Posted on February 20, 2009
Analyzing the charging document against Sharon Keller from the state Commission on Judicial Conduct, Paul Burka predicts that the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, is "Gone Baby, Gone." After analyzing the details of charges against here, he writes:Stick a fork in her: She?s done...

Governor appoints anti-sex toy crusader to parole board

Posted on February 19, 2009
Normally, the Texas Senate rubber stamps the Governor's appointments to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, but one of Rick Perry's three appointees announced last week perhaps deserves closer vetting by the Senate. According to the Governor's press release:Shanda G...

New York Times: Keller be gone

Posted on February 19, 2009
Reacting to the recent suggestion that Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller should be impeached for ordering a clerk not to accept a tardy, last-minute death penalty appeal in 2007, the New York Times editorialized this morning that, "If the facts are as reported, Judge Keller should be removed from the bench...

Will state bar discipline prosecutor who withheld Brady material in Austin murder case?

Posted on February 19, 2009
I'm amazed to see yet another gruesome murder case in Austin tainted by apparent prosecutorial misconduct. The Texas Cable News Network reports that "The 3rd Court of Appeals upheld Laura Hall's conviction but threw out her five-year sentence it said prosecutors withheld material evidence in the case...

DPS wants cell phone ban, expand "driver responsibility fee"

Posted on February 19, 2009
The Department of Public Safety at a Senate Finance Committee meeting this morning said they not only want to ban Texas drivers from using wireless communications in their vehicles - including both cell phones and hands-free devices - the agency hopes to subject cell phone using drivers to massive civil fines in addition to the cost of a ticket...

NAS report: Many forensic disciplines prone to error

Posted on February 18, 2009
The National Academy of Sciences has published its long-awaited report critiquing forensic science titled "Strengthening forensic science in the United States: A path forward." Go here for a preview and ordering information. According to the accompanying press release:Rigorous and mandatory certification programs for forensic scientists are currently lacking, the report says, as are strong standards and protocols for analyzing and reporting on evidence...

Gov's homeland security chief backs law enforcement integrity unit

Posted on February 18, 2009
Drug "cartels increasingly recruit law enforcement officers on both sides of the border," said the Governor's homeland security chief Steve McCraw at a meeting this morning of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee. Official corruption, including on the US side, is a "pervasive problem at all levels," he said; "it's not just a Mexican problem...

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