Dennis Elias’s Latest Tweet :. Injustice News Twitter Feed :.Mark Bennett | February 24, 2010
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office’s form charging instrument in “weenie waggling” indecent exposure cases has, for time immemorial, read:
[Defendant], hereafter styled the Defendant, heretofore on or about [Date], did then and there unlawfully expose his GENITALS to [Cop] with intent to arouse and gratify the sexual desire of THE DEFENDANT, and the [...]
Mark Bennett | November 21, 2009
In August the Fifth Circuit decided U.S. v. Rodriguez-Parra, an illegal-reentry case in which Mr. Rodriguez argued that his fully-probated five-year sentence for marijuana trafficking should not have been used under section 2L1.2(b)(1)(B) to increase his offense level for illegal reentry by 12 points.
The court found that Mr. Rodriguez should indeed not have suffered the [...]
Mark Bennett | March 11, 2009
This, an appeal arising out of a Houston case is, as far as I can tell, the first time ever that Judge Sharon Keller has reversed a case to a defendant’s benefit.
Bailiff uses taser on man accused of photographing witness.
Johnson was watching a trial in state District Judge Ruben Guerrero’s court, officials said, then stood [...]
Mark Bennett | December 11, 2008
From Alex Bunin, Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of New York, comes “Federal Convictions Reversed,” this collection (pdf) of summaries of appellate cases reversing federal convictions (not sentences). An invaluable resource to the federal criminal defense lawyer, but that’s to be expected — the various public defenders’ offices are still and likely always [...]
Mark Bennett | November 10, 2008
It will be interesting to see the changes in the next few years. With eight courts being led by judges on a “learning curve,” watch their dockets increase. Watch the appellate courts reverse decisions, the tax dollars wasted and the criminals who are set free.
Last week I discussed the first part of this chicken-littling — [...]
Mark Bennett | October 16, 2008
Over at Women in Crime Ink, Katherine Scardino (one of Houston’s leading criminal defense lawyers) writes about the reversal of Robert Fratta’s death-penalty conviction by Judge Melinda Harmon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. (Via Grits for Breakfast.)
Guidry, Prystash, and Fratta were all charged with the murder of Fratta’s wife. [...]
