Jan 12th, 2008
Twice recently I’ve had people — potential witnesses in criminal cases — tell me, “the prosecutor said I couldn’t take the Fifth because I’m not testifying to anything incriminating.” One of them, an alleged complaining witness, even told me, “the prosecutor said I didn’t need a lawyer because he’s my lawyer.”
Hogwash.
First, the prosecutor isn’t the [...]
More news from the Chuck Rosenthal / Kelly Siegler DA’s office: a 2003 email has surfaced, from one ADA to the rest of the prosecutors and the investigators, congratulating a prosecutor on convicting a guy while overcoming “a subversively good defense by Matt Hennessey that had some Canadians on the jury feeling sorry for the [...]
Jan 11th, 2008
I’m declaring Chuck Rosenthal “done”.
Sure, he can hold on to his office and his salary for a while. But the Texas Attorney General has opened an investigation into Chuck’s alleged misuse of county property, and that sort of thing is seldom good for one’s career in public service. At some point soon he’s going to [...]
Jan 9th, 2008
Harris County Judge Ed Emmett (not a real judge, but the county’s chief officer) has called for the Texas Attorney General to investigate Harris County D.A. Chuck Rosenthal. Chuck can, of course, rest assured that the investigation will be wholly apolitical and that his prosecution (if there is one — here at Defending People we [...]
A little peek into a world that most of us never get to see. Channel 11 got more of Harris County DA Chuck Rosenthal’s emails, including some between Chuck and the husband of a Republican candidate for D.A. (how cozy!).
Ever wonder why Bill Clinton was “the closest thing to having a black man as president”? [...]
Jan 8th, 2008
Robert Guest writes about the Dallas Police Department’s response to his Texas Public Information Act request about incidents in which the DPD has entered the wrong house while serving a warrant since 2002. Danny Williams, a Lieutenant with the city’s “Homeland Security and Special Operations Division”, responded that there had been two such incidents, both [...]
Ken Lammers notes that miscreants in Houston County, Georgia, might find themselves, like Romeo, banished from the county.
In Virginia, Ken found, banishment is legal: in Loving v. Commonwealth, Mildred and Richard were forced to leave Virginia for 25 years for miscegenation; the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the banishment. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision [...]
Here’s mine: Judge Enters Gag Order in Cannibalism Case.
Jan 4th, 2008
Gideon wrote today about the cost of jury trial, noting that many citizens-accused with retained counsel can’t afford to pay for a jury trial. He asked,
Who can do something to avoid this? Should clients always assume they will go to trial and hire only attorneys they can afford? Should attorneys not charge a subsequent trial [...]
. . . and is therefore wrong. Never go in against Troy McKinney when an election is on the line!
Channel 2 News picked up the story of Chuck Rosenthal’s defective withdrawal from the Republican primary for Harris County District Attorney, but the other local news venues showed little interest; a reporter told me, “Party leaders [...]