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Recent Blog Posts
HCCLA Reasonable Doubt August 7, 2008
Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association's "Reasonable Doubt" television show. August 7, 2008 episode with Houston criminal-defense lawyers Tate Williams and Sean Buckley.
HCCLA Reasonable Doubt July 31, 2008
Harris County CriminalLawyers Association's "Reasonable Doubt" television show. July 31, 2008episode, with hosts Houston criminal-defense lawyers Todd Dupont andTate Williams, and guest Houston criminal lawyer Doug Murphy.
HCCLA Reasonable Doubt March 12, 2009
The March 12, 2009 episode of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association's Reasonable Doubt television show. Hosts: Houston criminal lawyer Todd Dupont and me; Guest: top Houston criminal-defense lawyer Vivian R. King.
HCCLA Reasonable Doubt March 5, 2009
Here's last week's Reasonable Doubt, with Houston criminal-defense lawyers Neal Davis, Todd Dupont, and me. It's sure to give any true-believer prosecutor hives.
HCCLA Reasonable Doubt
I'll be cohosting Reasonable Doubt tonight with Houston criminal-defense lawyer T.B. "Todd" Dupont. Our guest will be top Houston criminal lawyer Vivian King. We'll be streaming from 8pm CDT on HMSTV.org. Tune in and call in.
Next week's guest will be Richard "Racehorse" Haynes (Thursday, March 19, 2009).
The following week (March 26) First Assistant District Attorney Jim Leitner will be HCCLA's guest on the show.
I've ripped last week's episode. I'll get it up on Google Video in a little while.
Criminal Law Band-Aids
Houston DWI lawyer Paul Kennedy notes that Harris County DA Pat Lykos has ordered DNA testing in every case in which testing is available and relevant.
The Chronicle says:
Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos will require prosecutors to test DNA evidence in every case where it is available and relevant to prevent miscarriages of justice such as that which led to an innocent man spending more than five years in prison.
Okay, it'll help prevent miscarriages of justice like the one that put RR in prison for five years (RR, you'll recall, was the distinctive-looking guy who got convicted of a child rape that - DNA evidence proved six years later - he didn't commit). If the DNA in that case had been tested, Mr. Rachell would not have spent six years behind bars.
Today's Houston Criminal Law News
This, an appeal arising out of a Houston case is, as far as I can tell, the first time ever that Judge Sharon Keller has reversed a case to a defendant's benefit.
Bailiff uses taser on man accused of photographing witness.
Johnson was watching a trial in state District Judge Ruben Guerrero's court, officials said, then stood up in the gallery and took a picture with his cell phone.Because a witness whose identity was being protected was testifying, a bailiff escorted the man out and tried to confiscate the phone, Harris County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Susan Card said. The two struggled and the bailiff shocked the man with the Taser, Card said.
Alternate story:
Darrell Jordan, a defense attorney, said he was an observer in the murder trial when the incident occurred. Jordan, who is not connected to the trial, said the man protested that he didn't take a picture of the witness. He told to bailiffs and Precinct 1 constable's deputies that he took a picture of his younger brother, the victim in the case.Jordan said a bailiff escorted the man out of the courtroom and told him not to come back. Cussing the bailiff, Jordan said, the man tried to go back in and was brought out again.
Praise Where Due
If you come here for the snark, please avert your eyes. I'm about to be nice. The blogosphere thrives on conflict, rather than niceness, so this post is not going to win me any readers. But I spend a bit of space here critical of public servants' failure to serve the public. Rest assured that I will continue to do so. It's fair, though, that I should occasionally shine some light on people who are trying to make life fairer and more pleasant for those involved in the criminal litigation system.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office has started providing defense lawyers with copies of offense reports, as Pat Lykos promised in her campaign. Kudos to Pat, as well as to her First Assistant, Jim Leitner and the rest of their management staff, for taking this step toward ensuring more open, transparent, and equal protection of the laws. (To satisfy concerns about witnesses' private information winding up in the hands of those who would do them harm, the Office wrote this letter and agreement.)
Convergence
In Zen, if asked, "What is the Buddha?" one should raise a clenched fist. If asked, "What is the ultimate meaning of the Buddhist Law?" before the words have died away, one should respond, "A single branch of the flowering plum" or "The cypress in the garden."It is not a matter of selecting an answer either good or bad. We respect the mind that does not stop.....Although there are many ways-the Way of the Gods, the Way of Poetry, the Way of Confucius-they all share the clarity of this one mind.
Takuan Soho, The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman
Once a sword fight has started, the thing is not to let your opponent raise his hands. Once the fight has started, if you get involved in thinking about what to do, you will be cut down by your opponent with the very next sword blow.
Yagyu Munenori, The Book of Family Traditions / The Killing Sword, in The Book of Five Rings
An Apology
Clearly (since he's now mentioned it three times in three different contexts), I hurt my friend Murray's feelings by saying that he was, in this post, failing to think like a criminal-defense lawyer.
Murray, I assumed that how you wrote accurately reflected how you thought. I won't make that mistake again. I am sorry.
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