In support of my local newspaper, I've started blogging on Chron.commons. My idea is to put posts of interest to the general public there, and posts of interest to the criminal defense bar here.My first post on Chron.commons: Smoke. AND Mirrors.

Gerry Spence spoke today at the end of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association’s annual Rusty Duncan Seminar. I could see why they put Gerry last—if he spoke first, most of the lawyers talking about lawyer stuff would seem largely irrelevant or quaintly unself-aware.One speaker, for example, advocated telling jurors who gave “good” answers on voir dire: “Have you served on a jury before? Because most people

My old friend Mr. X, the Deep Throat of the DA's Office, does not like DA Lykos's proposal to offer pretrial diversion to people charged with first DWIs. He writes:Let's assume the pretrial diversions will be expungeable because the way that Lykos has talked about them they'll be more like pretrial interventions where charges are not formally filed (like the current juvenile system). Why is no one

In Harris County, Texas, between January 1, 2009 and May 31, 2009:3,166 DWI defendants pled guilty or no contest.1 defendant pled not guilty to the judge and was convicted.38 people pled not guilty to juries and were convicted.22 people pled not guilty to juries and were acquitted by jury verdict.6 people pled not guilty to juries and were acquitted by directed verdict.646 cases were dismissed.Of those who

There’s an interesting online discussion between late-Gen-X Adrian Dayton and Boomer Scott Greenfield. Adrian, in Get Out of My Face, says, “Generation Y wants their life to mean something. They want to handle work that is significant, and they certainly don’t want to crank out the billable hours reviewing non-urgent documents on a Saturday afternoon just to line the pockets of the otherwise wealthy partners.” Scott, in

From this thread on the TDCAA forums (for which the hat tip goes to Dallas criminal-defense lawyer Robert Guest. Robert is having computer problems, so he gave me the lead): Lisa TannerMember posted 05-29-09 Disciplinary Rules interplay? So here is a question that's come up among lawyers and officers from other states on a listserve I'm on.Near as I can tell, it looks like SCOTUS has said

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 not sure which of these (aggressive!) guys is Darrell. [EDIT: Darrell is

From the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association:The Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and Fort Bend County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association announce that they are beginning an immediate investigation into whether members of the Harris County District Attorneys Office committed constitutional violations of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, committed the crime of official oppression, violated the special ethical duties applicable to prosecutors, and-or violated the mandatory

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 that there is no follow-up question? This is because no one knows

“There is no comparison between the crimes and the sentence,” said Sheik Fadhil al-Janabi, a Sunni tribal leader in Anbar Province. “That soldier entered an Iraqi house, raped their underage daughter and burned her with her family, so this sentence is not enough, and it is insulting for Iraqis’ honor.” (NYTimes.com)When I read that Iraqi tribal leaders are upset and insulted that an American jury spared Steven