713-224-1747
Recent Blog Posts
Thoughts on a Hanging
Following are my comments delivered to an audience of criminal-defense lawyers, juvenile probation officials, two prosecutors and one judge on the occasion of the hanging of the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence in the foyer of the Harris County Juvenile Justice Center:
My friends,"Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the residents thereof." That's the inscription from Leviticus on the bell that hung in the State House in Philadelphia: the Liberty Bell.The Preamble to the Constitution, signed there in Philadelphia, talks of securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.Not "safety", but liberty.Our founders were remarkable for their zeal for liberty. Instead of building palaces or monuments of stone and brick, they enshrined liberty in words, culminating in these three simple documents.There's no mention in these documents of docket management. The words "tough on crime" nowhere appear. Yet modern public discourse is filled with such language. This is the language of fear. We face difficult times. In difficult times, people cling to stability, to safety, and to nationalism. Freedom can fall by the wayside.There are those - men and women of good intent - who would, in the name of safety, restrict the freedoms enshrined in these documents; who would, by cutting off their oxygen, kill them. Once liberty is lost, only a revolution can restore it. Only a revolution ever has.Before we reach that point, someone must proclaim liberty throughout the land.It falls to us to do so.
RTF(F)M.
I try to avoid talking about the news of the day here, but sometimes the news bumps right into the Art and Science of Criminal Defense Trial Lawyering, and I can't avoid it.
You've heard about "Matthew Alexander", who led an interrogations team assigned to a Special Operations task force in Iraq in 2006 and wrote a piece for Sunday's Washington Post about his impressions and reactions to the experience:
These interrogations were based on fear and control; they often resulted in torture and abuse. I refused to participate in such practices, and a month later, I extended that prohibition to the team of interrogators I was assigned to lead. I taught the members of my unit a new methodology - one based on building rapport with suspects, showing cultural understanding and using good old-fashioned brainpower to tease out information. I personally conducted more than 300 interrogations, and I supervised more than 1,000. The methods my team used are not classified (they're listed in the unclassified Field Manual), but the way we used them was, I like to think, unique. We got to know our enemies, we learned to negotiate with them, and we adapted criminal investigative techniques to our work (something that the Field Manual permits, under the concept of "ruses and trickery"). It worked. Our efforts started a chain of successes that ultimately led to Zarqawi.
No News is Good News
This year Harris County sent nobody to death row (Rick Casey, today's Chronicle).
Previous years:
2003 = 9
2004 = 10
2005-2007 = 7 total
all per Casey (the Death Penalty Information Center says 3 in 2005 and 3 in 2006; I couldn't find a specific number for 2007).
These numbers reflect a turn away from the death penalty in Texas generally - in the entire state, 9 people were sentenced to death in 2008, down from 14 in 2007 and a high of 48 in 1999. The option of life without parole has to be counted as a factor, as Casey notes and as Chuck Rosenthal feared when he lobbied against it, but the excellent work of Houston criminal-defense lawyers like Danalynn Recer and the appointed capital defense bar (the vast majority of people can't afford counsel on a death-penalty case) shouldn't be discounted.
Be the Best or Go Home
The Honorable Devon Anderson and the Honorable Brock Thomas will be joining the Houston criminal defense bar after their tenures end in January. I knew and had a case against each when they were prosecutors before they were judges, so it won't be the least bit weird calling them "Devon" and "Brock" again.
I hope for the sake of their clients that Devon and Brock, like those other lawyers recently separated from government service (those who didn't have a sojourn on the bench between their stints in the DA's Office and the beginning of their careers as defense lawyers) are mindful of the fact that, as criminal-defense lawyers, they are rookies. Representing a human being is fundamentally different from representing the government.
Neither the DA's office nor the bench taught these rookie criminal-defense lawyers how to manage a business, or set a fee, or choose a health insurance plan, or get a line of credit. Neither taught them how to do all of these things while providing representation to human beings in trouble.
Also, Firings Will Continue Till Morale Improves
Following the politically-motivated firing of several prosecutors perceived as dangerous to her regime, Harris County's soon-to-be District Attorney Pat Lykos has taken further steps to improve morale in the Office.
The bold steps taken were, to be honest, a surprise to me. I expected the measures to include the announcement of a barbecue, or maybe a cocktail party using forfeited assets in the style of our near northern neighbors - something that I could make fun of here. Cut-rate cigarette machines in the hallways wouldn't have surprised me. Any of these might have served to soothe the shaky nerves of prosecutors who don't know what missteps might lead to unemployment.
But no! Not big enough! Not enough change! It's all about change! Change in the Harris County DA's Office! Pat Lykos takes change seriously! Henceforth, in the Harris County District Attorney's office... wait for it... wait for it... female prosecutors will still be allowed to wear pants!!! (Meet the new boss....)
Add to List of Things That Don't Happen When You Plead Guilty
Dallas, Texas criminal-defense lawyer George Milner, Jr. IDed in trial as perpetrator by complainant in deadly conduct case (via Waco, Texas criminal-defense lawyer Walter Reaves).
The prosecutor "believes the reason the witness misidentified Milner is she saw him when she testified at a grand jury hearing." Inspires confidence in the reliability of eyewitness identifications, dunnit?
Nobody Beats Up My Brother But Me
Soon-to-be Houston criminal-defense lawyer Murray Newman (formerly AHCL) has written several times on his blog, Life at the Harris County Criminal Justice Center, about the Harris County Criminal Justice Center - not just prosecutors, but also the defense bar and the courts' staffs - as a "family". To a certain extent he is right - I'll give you "family" if you give me "intensely dysfunctional". We beat the crap out of each other in court (and the blogosphere - Murray and I have had vehement disagreements on our blogs a time or two), but when one of is us in dire straits the rest often come together to help.
Now Murray has been fired, not by a member of the family, but by an outsider - soon-to-be District Attorney Pat Lykos.
In April Lykos "said prosecutors who are passionate, ethical and work hard don't have to worry if she is elected" (Brian Rogers in the Chronicle, H/T commenter Natalie). Those of us who know Murray know that Murray is passionate, ethical, and hardworking; he was fired because he spoke out against Lykos on his blog. So in April Pat Lykos lied.
Another Great Thing About Being a Criminal Defense Lawyer
I am not subject to political hatchet jobs. (Watch the video. Then read Houston soon-to-be criminal-defense lawyer Murray Newman's (F/K/A "AHCL") posts on the firings here and here.)
The Fallacy of Godlike Wisdom
From today's mailbag (the correspondent somehow tried to post it to the version of this post that lies on my long-defunct blog on WordPress; he left the name "Michael" and an email address, but the email address failed):
From the standpoint of justice, what matters is whether the factually guilty are found legally guilty, and the factually innocent are found legally not guilty. Other things may not matter to you in your role as lawyer, but they matter in a greater sense for the system of which you are a part.
Look, I know that anyone who has ever watched a single episode of a vile Dick Wolf franchise thinks that makes him an expert on the criminal justice system, but reading the newspaper doesn't qualify you as a criminal justice expert any more than playing Operation qualifies you as a medical expert.
Non-criminal-defense-lawyer types are as welcome here as anyone else, but let's agree on these things: that all of us are human; that none of us are omniscient; and that none of us really know what any of the others ultimately deserve.
Blog Down
Lunarpages screwed up my website this morning for a few hours. Defending People first reverted back to the antique-looking version of a month ago, then was entirely unavailable.
Murphy's Law being what it is, this happened following a string of high-traffic days, courtesy of the ABA Journal.
The problem seems to be fixed now, but after spending 26 minutes on hold waiting for tech support to answer, only to be told that it wasn't their problem, I'm shopping for a new shared webhosting provider.
Do any Defending People readers have any suggestions?
Contact Us if You're
Ready for a Better Future
Schedule a consultation today by filling out the form below or calling our office at 713-224-1747. We look forward to representing you.
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
I have read and understand the Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.
From our office in Houston, we represent clients throughout Harris County and across the state of Texas. We assist with criminal cases in Conroe, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Bellaire, Friendswood, Highland Village, West University Place, Cypress, Willis, Austin, Dallas, For Worth, Arlington, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, Tyler, Plano, Spring, New Caney, Porter, Humble, Atascocita, Aldine, Cloverleaf, Pasadena, South Houston, Pearland, Fresno, Missouri City, Sugar Land, Pecan Grove, Richmond, and Katy.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
917 Franklin Street, Fourth Floor, Houston, TX 77002
713-224-1747
