How many legs does a dog have, if you call a tail a leg? On two criminal-defense lawyers' email discussion lists, the topic of balisong or butterfly knives came up recently. The consensus on both occasions was that such knives are outlawed by section 46.05 of the Texas Penal Code, which makes it an offense to possess a "switchblade knife." "Switchblade knife" is defined by section 46.01

I've added Stephen Gustitis's blawg, The Defense Perspective, to my blawgroll. Stephen is an excellent defender in Bryan/College Station, Texas; I know him from the TCDLA Capital Resource Group email discussion group. I've also added Robert Guest's blawg, I Was the State. Today both Stephen and Robert commented on University of Florida research suggesting that tougher DWI laws have little or no deterrent effect on drunk driving

Something only your fellow defenders will understand: Buy 'em here.

I posted here about the "VI -- The Amendment" stickers I designed for HCCLA: Scott Henson of Grits for Breakfast saw that post (probably via Luke Gilman's post) and commented that he would be interested in "IV -- The Amendment" t-shirts. So I created one: (Buy them here.) I emailed Scott the link, and he

Anne Reed writes at Deliberations about The Dysfunctional Jury. She asks, "what can you do about it?" and suggests: 1. Watch them . . . 2. Teach them. If you need consensus and unanimity, use your closing to offer the group tools to get there. . . . 3. Coach them. On the other hand, if you know you may need a holdout to hold out no

A guy called me the other day wanting me to represent his 17-year-old daughter "Shelly" in a theft case. Shelly had stolen some money from her aunt (the guy's sister). She had been stealing stuff for some time, but had never been charged. After the latest incident the family had made a police report, causing criminal charges (misdemeanor theft) to be filed against the child. I had

Ex parte refers to contact between a party to litigation (including the party's counsel) and the court without notice to the other parties to the litigation. In Texas, Ex parte can act as an adjective, an adverb, and a verb depending on the context: Adjective: "Prosecutors have ex parte communications with judges all the time." Adverb: "Prosecutors discuss cases with judges ex parte all the time." Verb:

From the "don't they have anything better to do?" file: A crook calls up a couple of friends. "I got a lick," he says. "There's this cocaine dealer. I know where he stays. Help me jack him." The friends agree -- where's the harm in jacking a dealer? But there is no dealer. The crook is a government informant, and he's prepared to swear that the plan

From Jamie Spencer's Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer blog, here are The Top 11 Criminal Defense Blogs.

Judges lie to juries every day about juries' nullification power. "You must follow the law," they say. The truth is that jurors have the right not to follow the law in a criminal case. If they think the law is wrong (that the conduct shouldn't be illegal, or that the law's punishment is too harsh) they can acquit the accused and there is nothing the government can