Dennis Elias’s Latest Tweet :. Injustice News Twitter Feed :.Mark Bennett | February 17, 2010
I may build up more interest in this year’s criminal court elections in Harris County, but for right now, this is what irks me:
Sharolyn Wood, who claimed after the election in 2008 that an “unspoken agreement” that experienced judges not be challenged was “tossed out,” is now running for County Criminal Court At Law Number [...]
Mark Bennett | December 21, 2009
Harris County Civil Court at Law Number 1 Judge R. Jack Cagle sent out this Christmas card, paid for with campaign funds:I’m not on Cagle’s Christmas list, but a civil-lawyer friend passed the card on to me, commenting, “Usually when a judge thinks I’m unwise, it’s because of my lack of legal skills, not because [...]
Mark Bennett | October 30, 2009
The Harris County District Attorney’s office has asked criminal Court-at-Law Judge Reagan Helm to remove himself from two family violence cases because of “deep-seated bias and prejudice.”
In motions filed Thursday, prosecutors said Helm has a history of making inappropriate comments to assistant district attorneys, victims and defendants.
“These comments also signal to the victims and the [...]
Mark Bennett | September 1, 2009
The Pat Lykos DA’s Office has, in the last eight months, shown a marked tendency to act without calm deliberation. See the whale policy, the no-probation-for-illegal immigrants policy, the premature announcement of DIVERT, Pat Lykos calling two of her prosecutors “incompetent”, and just about every story on Murray’s blog.
I wrote here about the Office’s [...]
Mark Bennett | August 29, 2009
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office is looking for other people who allegedly may have been involved with Judge Donald Jackson.
Donna Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said investigators in the public integrity division want to know whether there are other people who have any knowledge of similar behavior in Jackson’s [...]
Mark Bennett | June 19, 2009
I’ve watched the video, and I don’t know if he did it. Maybe he, like so many of my clients, is the victim of a false accusation, betrayed by the criminal justice system. Maybe he was just running his hand along the side of the car feeling the damage that someone else had done.But (please [...]
Mark Bennett | May 29, 2009
The Harris County Democratic Party has announced its slate of candidates for criminal courts for the 2010 elections. First the District Court (felony) benches:
Darrell Jordan, opposing Debbie Mantooth-Stricklin (whose husband Don lost to Herb Ritchie last year) for the 180th District Court, is a lawyer with three years of experience in a general practice. I’m [...]
Mark Bennett | May 27, 2009
Brian Tannebaum takes on the idea that judges shouldn’t “legislate from the bench:”
That is what extreme conservatives say when they are asked what type of judge they want on the Supreme Court. They all answer in the negative, like a church choir – ‘we don’t want a judge who ‘legislates from the bench.” Ever notice [...]
Mark Bennett | May 19, 2009
In Texas, a lawyer is responsible for her client until she is removed from the case by the judge. If something goes undone while the lawyer is responsible, she can be grieved and (in certain narrow circumstances) sued.
So when (for example) a defendant makes bail, appointed counsel remains legally on the hook until new counsel [...]
Mark Bennett | May 19, 2009
Today I talked with a guy named Fred.
Fred had been appointed counsel (Mr. Lawrence) in January before bonding out, and had been appointed other counsel (Ms. Morris) in April, 10 weeks after bonding out.
Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Morris, along with Ms. Curley, handle virtually all of the indigent representation in the 624th District [...]
