Hit & Run, Did George Zimmerman Ignore the Police Dispatcher, and Why Did He Have a Gun? Newman, Leapin' Lloyd Oliver on Reasonable Doubt Cernovich, White Knights, Dark Prisons Rushie, The Evolution of Crystal Cox: Anatomy of a Scammer Popehat, Yes, The New York City Department of Education "Banned Words" List Is As Bad As Reported Kennedy, DA drops case against blogger Greenfield, Doomed to Squat Yes,

…at Declarations and Exclusions. Future Blawg Reviews here. If you have a blawg, sign up to do one. I've done two—#199 and #282—and will do more.

A judge shall abstain from public comment about a pending or impending proceeding which may come before the judge's court in a manner which suggests to a reasonable person the judge's probable decision on any particular case. This prohibition applies to any candidate for judicial office, with respect to judicial proceedings pending or impending in the court on which the candidate would serve if elected.… Texas Code

Anyone who reads this blog knows how I feel about anonymous commenters. People who spew their garbage on the internet from behind masks don't have any motivation to be truthful, much less logical, even less civil. Raising the barriers to entry for online communication would improve online discussions all around; I can do it here, but that's the extent of my influence. I learned today (h/t Brian Cuban, who's

Back in December (ahem: three days before Carr's article) I was unimpressed with the stir over the $2.5 million dollar libel judgment against Crystal Cox: A non-journalist like Cox is not allowed to defame a person. But—and this is crucial to an understanding of this case—a journalist is also not allowed to defame a person. . . . . If Cox had been a journalist, Padrick would

776.032?Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force.— (1)?A person who uses force as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s. 943.10(14), who

Imagine that you are attacked. Someone punches you, knocks you to the ground, and starts banging your head against the ground. You are in fear for your life. You use deadly force to defend yourself. You call the police. The police interview you, and you tell them your story. A witness corroborates your story. The police take pictures of your injuries, take your fingerprints, swab your hands for

There is a leadership vacuum in the Harris County District Attorney's Office. At the top is the elected DA, Pat Lykos, and her immediate assistants, dictating office policy. Dictating policy is not leadership. At the bottom are the new assistant DAs—lawyers, generally 25-30 years old, who have joined the DA's Office in the last three years or who were young prosecutors under Lykos's predecessor, Chuck Rosenthal. They

Hi, I am sending this to all the defense attorneys in the Houston area. Do you know who David [rest of name redacted] on Main Street is? Well, I made this short video to show you why a lot of people in town think David [redacted] is the #1 defense attorney in Houston. Here is the video: [link] If you are thinking, why should I care who

Mike Anderson: Is a small amount of cocaine, heroin, of methamphetamine against—is possession of it against the law, as written in Austin? Pat Lykos: No. Murray Newman, who published the snippet with no context, says the answer "seems to be in direct contrast to Sec. 481.115 under the Controlled Substances Act." It is not. It's not the best answer, perhaps, but it's not wrong, and it may,