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Recent Blog Posts
For a Public Information Office
Napoleon's Third Rule of Infantry Combat, per Terry MacCarthy:
When your enemy is in the process of destroying himself, do not interfere!
In light of that, I'm tempted not to comment on the Harris County DA's proposed creation of a Public Information Office to serve as the "face and voice" of the Office.
The Chronicle doesn't like the idea:
But what often happens is that reporters are routed to the press officer, who cannot answer their questions because they have no direct knowledge of the matter at hand. A communications professional usually is adept at finding out the information, but if the answers generate additional questions, the "flaks," as they are known, have to go back for further information. It's inefficient, time-consuming and frustrating for reporters trying to learn important and sensitive government information.
The Hired-Gun Prosecutor
Kelly Siegler, having left the Harris County DA's Office, will be working as a special prosecutor on a capital murder case in Wharton County.
My admittedly cursory legal research on the question hasn't revealed legal authority for anyone other than an assistant attorney general to assist in the prosecution of criminal cases, unless the district attorney is unable to perform his duties.
I suppose the supporting theory would be that the elected DA can hire whomever he wants to prosecute criminal cases, on whatever terms they agree to. So if Wharton County D.A. Josh McCown feels that he is outclassed by the defense team of Houston criminal-defense lawyer (and former HCCLA president) Stanley Schneider and Richmond criminal-defense lawyer Lee Cox, he can hire Kelly Siegler just to try the case on which they oppose him.
Confidence-Inspiring
From the solicitation letter sent to Bennett & Bennett by Transperfect, "the leading provider of international communications services to the world's top intellectual property practices":
In fact, more than 25% of our revenue comes from assisting clients with international litigations.
I'm sure they do that work with honesties and integrities.
Suffering Laryngitis
I'm helping host two communicating-with-juries workshops (with Joshua Karton) and the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association annual banquet in the next two days.
Could there be a more inopportune time for me to lose my voice?
(Answer: yes, actually: in the middle of a trial.)
That's Why Prosecutors Shouldn't Try POM Cases
From Brian Rogers of the Houston Chronicle, Prospective juror in pot trial caught smoking marijuana (during a break, she stepped outside the building to smoke some weed, and got arrested).
Not Writing But Typing
Connecticut lawyer (and Gerry Spence chronicler) Norm Pattis, who Googles himself regularly, takes a crack at describing A Typology of Legal Blogs.
Blawgs, says Norm, come in three flavors: "prophetic" (his, Appellate Law and Practice, SCOTUSBlog), "proselytizing" (Simple Justice), and "incestuous" (Matlock).
I'm interested in the ways that blawgs fit together. I've written on the topic here and described a method for mapping the blawgosphere here. I've given the different types of blawgs some thought.
Norm's a smart guy - by some accounts brilliant - but his typology strikes me as forced. Is it either accurate or fair to call Shawn's blog "incestuous"? Is Shawn's blog really any more resistant to outside influence than Scott's... or yours, Norm? Why the disapprobation for a blawg that you read and on which you comment?
Which is Worse?
Houston criminal defense trial lawyer Sarah Wood and I have a disagreement.
She says that when I put my hand in my pants and simulated masturbation in an indecent exposure jury trial to illustrate what the police officer admitted having done to entice the accused to show his penis, it was "much worse" than Adam Reposa's conduct that netted him 90 days in The Reposa Affair.
I contend that my demonstration for the jury was entirely appropriate.
It Might Just Work
While I was contemplating the six-thousand-year-old theropod and sauropod tracks on Mr. McFall's farm over the weekend, Dallas D.A. Craig Watkins came out in favor of summarily executing prosecutors who concealed exculpatory evidence... well, actually just hitting them with bar sanctions and maybe criminal prosecution. Lots of folks had something to say about this:
Grits, Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Robert Guest, Fort Worth criminal-defense lawyer Shawn Matlock, Connecticut public defender Gideon, and New York criminal-defense lawyer Scott Greenfield.
The Real News: AP is Clueless
The Associate Press reports (H/T Judgment Day) that the feds prosecute more Hispanics than white people for powder cocaine trafficking. In a desperate bid to get more of a reaction than "Duh!", the writer, Laura Jakes Jordan, tries to draw a meaningful connection between the feds' prosecution statistics and the public perception that powder cocaine is a white man's drug; here's the lede:
They were indelible images of the cocaine world of the 1970s and '80s: Rich yuppies and white suburbanites partying down with a couple of lines of "blow." Stockbroker Charlie Sheen snorting up in the limo in "Wall Street." Woody Allen's sneeze in "Annie Hall."More than 30 years later, the image remains but the reality of coke in the United States has shifted significantly. Long portrayed as a white crime, Hispanics now make up the overwhelming majority – 60 percent – of federal offenders facing powder cocaine charges.
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