The Hired-Gun Prosecutor

Kelly Siegler, having left the Harris County DA’s Office, will be working as a special prosecutor on a capital murder case in Wharton County.
My admittedly cursory legal research on the question hasn’t revealed legal authority for anyone other than an assistant attorney general to assist in the prosecution of criminal cases, unless the district attorney [...]

Confidence-Inspiring

From the solicitation letter sent to Bennett & Bennett by Transperfect, “the leading provider of international communications services to the world’s top intellectual property practices”:

In fact, more than 25% of our revenue comes from assisting clients with international litigations.

I’m sure they do that work with honesties and integrities.

Suffering Laryngitis

I’m helping host two communicating-with-juries workshops (with Joshua Karton) and the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association annual banquet in the next two days.
Could there be a more inopportune time for me to lose my voice?
(Answer: yes, actually: in the middle of a trial.)

That’s Why Prosecutors Shouldn’t Try POM Cases

From Brian Rogers of the Houston Chronicle, Prospective juror in pot trial caught smoking marijuana (during a break, she stepped outside the building to smoke some weed, and got arrested).

Not Writing But Typing

Connecticut lawyer (and Gerry Spence chronicler) Norm Pattis, who Googles himself regularly, takes a crack at describing A Typology of Legal Blogs.
Blawgs, says Norm, come in three flavors: “prophetic” (his, Appellate Law and Practice, SCOTUSBlog), “proselytizing” (Simple Justice), and “incestuous” (Matlock).
I’m interested in the ways that blawgs fit together. I’ve written on the topic here [...]

Glen Rose, Texas, May 4, 2008


Which is Worse?

Houston criminal defense trial lawyer Sarah Wood and I have a disagreement.
She says that when I put my hand in my pants and simulated masturbation in an indecent exposure jury trial to illustrate what the police officer admitted having done to entice the accused to show his penis, it was “much worse” than Adam Reposa’s [...]

It Might Just Work

While I was contemplating the six-thousand-year-old theropod and sauropod tracks on Mr. McFall’s farm over the weekend, Dallas D.A. Craig Watkins came out in favor of summarily executing prosecutors who concealed exculpatory evidence . . . well, actually just hitting them with bar sanctions and maybe criminal prosecution. Lots of folks had something to say [...]

The Real News: AP is Clueless

The Associate Press reports (H/T Judgment Day) that the feds prosecute more Hispanics than white people for powder cocaine trafficking. In a desperate bid to get more of a reaction than “Duh!”, the writer, Laura Jakes Jordan, tries to draw a meaningful connection between the feds’ prosecution statistics and the public perception that powder cocaine [...]

Hoist With His Own Petard

Frisco, Texas DWI lawyer Hunter Biederman brings us this heartwarming story of Mike Crusee, a state rep from Williamson County, Texas illustrating the white republican hypocrisy for which that county is justly famed. Mr. Crusee, who “carried and passed legislation in 2003 that created something called the ‘driver responsibility program’ to help fund the Texas [...]