I, [name of prosecutor], the undersigned Assistant District Attroney, do hereby certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing document was served on the attorney for the Defendant by certified mail on 11/10/09.

[signed]

When you sign a certificate of service it is supposed to be true. If you file a document with a false certificate of service, that’s a class A misdemeanor. (We’ve covered this before. Every year or so.)

When I sign a certificate of service, I make damn sure I’ve done what the certificate says I’ve done before filing the document, not only because it’s right, but also because I’m not laboring under the delusive belief that your boss won’t file charges against me.

Are you laboring under the delusive belief that she won’t file charges against you?

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4 Comments

  1. Brendan Kelly November 13, 2009 at 5:30 pm - Reply

    OOhhh… somebody’s gonnah get a whippin!!

    BTW I had jury duty Tuesday, saw you at the court but you were going out and I was putting on my belt and shoes after having gone through the metal detector, so we missed each other.

    Take care!

  2. Thomas R. Griffith November 16, 2009 at 3:34 pm - Reply

    Mr. B.,

    Q. In regards to Cert. of Service.

    If an attorney files a Motion for (Not tried in jail issue clothes), Motion for (Discovery & Inspections), Motion for (Disclosure of Favorable Evidence), Motion for (Discovery of Agreement w/ witness), and the Cert of Service(s) are filled out and file date stamped but the ORDER form pages are not filled out & signed by presiding judge, what is the problem? crime? etc… Thanks.

    • Mark Bennett November 16, 2009 at 3:46 pm - Reply

      No crime. We file motions with orders attached, and later present them to the judge for signature . . . or not, as the case may be. The motions you describe sound like boilerplate motions, often filed without much thought. Nobody is tried in jail clothes, the State is obligated to provide disclosure of favorable (Brady) evidence, including agreements with witnesses, and for at least 15 years Harris County has, through its open-file policy, given the defense more discovery than the law, strictly speaking, entitles it to in the vast majority of criminal cases.

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