Because it makes it hurt less.

I am informed by a usually reliable source that, contrary to popular perception (and my implication here), counting scalps was not a big thing in the Holmes / Rosenthal / Siegler DA's Office. Wins and losses were not a big factor. By contrast, he says, prosecutors in the Lykos DA's Office are afraid to dismiss bad cases because dismissals are counted against them. So in his view

(Thanks to the Electronic Privacy Information Center; PDF from Washington State University, see the source PDF, h/t Hit & Run. We didn't start the fire.) Assassination Attack Domestic security Drill Exercise Cops Law enforcement Authorities Disaster assistance Disaster management DNDO (Domestic Nuclear Detection Office) National preparedness Mitigation Prevention Response Recovery Dirty bomb Domestic nuclear detection HAZMAT & Nuclear Hazmat Nuclear Chemical spill Suspicious package/device Toxic National laboratory Nuclear facility Nuclear threat Cloud Plume Radiation Radioactive Health Concern + H1N1

In closing, do not confuse deception with lying during court proceedings, falsifying official documents and evidence or lying during internal investigations. No police administrator would tolerate this behavior which destroys an officer's ability to perform their official duties in a moral, ethical and just manner. That's what Daytona Beach Police Chief Michael Chitwood told the Daytona Beach News-Journal (H/T Scott Greenfield) about police officers' lies in the course

Ken at Popehat, writing about attacks on critics of Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin: This is about everybody's rights, not just the rights and interests of "conservatives" or any other political group. We need to transcend partisanship over this — conservatives need to transcend it because making this partisan will marginalize the situation, and liberals and others need to transcend it because this could happen to them. I

Ken at Popehat needs "a federal criminal practitioner in the Middle District of Florida, or admitted there and familiar with its courts….to help and advise a blogger who is being unjustly threatened with criminal consequences….because of what he has written about Brett Kimberlin and his crew…. I also need someone in the Middle District of Tennessee, or at least admitted there and familiar with its courts." If you're

Texas counties are moving toward getting blood tests for alcohol in more DWI cases. Tarrant County prosecutor (and sometime Defending People commenter) Richard Alpert likes to say, "If it bleeds, it pleads." That does not need to be true. Pre-testing issues Collection tubes and directions The laboratory Personnel Testing Specimen suitability for testing Analytical methods—calibration Validation and approaches to calibration Quality control and matrix validation Batch analysis Quality control

Not only was Pat Lykos ousted by Harris County primary voters, but John Bradley of Williamson County was as well. I don't know anything about his successor, Williamson County Attorney Jana Duty, but I hope she'll drag the county out of the ranks of hellish white-flight suburban backwaters, where Bradley fought so hard to keep it for so long. Congratulations to the voters of WIlliamson County.

Lloyd Oliver ("Ollie the Cabdrivertising Attorney," here) beat Zack Fertitta in the Democratic primary for Harris County DA. There's no chance that Harris County will elect a Democrat to that position in 2012, but I thought there was zero chance that voters would pick Oliver over Fertitta, so what the hell do I know? We could wind up with Lloyd Oliver running the Harris County DA's Office.

During Blomberg's jury selection, 64 people were summoned and were divided into four groups of 16 each. The jury panel size varies on the amount of people a judge requests. Typically, for a misdemeanor trial such as Blomberg's, approximately 100 people are summoned to jury service, Daniel said. After potential jurors are summoned, the selection process is up to the district attorney and the judge presiding over