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Recent Blog Posts
Morons.
Kelly Siegler, playing catch-up to Jim Leitner, has called for her boss's, Chuck Rosenthal's resignation.
Better a month late than never, I always say. But Jim and Kelly are not the subjects of this post.
The subjects of this post, referenced in the title, are DA candidates Doug Perry and Pat Lykos, who "said they were neutral on whether Rosenthal should remain in office."
How can a candidate for DA, aware of the situation in the DA's office and the CJC, be "neutral" on whether Rosenthal should resign? Suddenly both Lykos and Perry seem irredeemably unqualified for the post they seek.
Is the fix in? Did Kelly get word that Chuck's resignation is in the cards? Has a back-room deal been cut for Governor Perry to place Kelly at the helm of the Office before the primary (one of the few things that might secure her the nomination)? All questions above my pay grade. Safe to say, though, that this will be an interesting week.
Compassion and Sociopathy
There's an interesting argument discussion at Life at the Harris County CJC about the role of compassion in prosecution. Commenter PJ says:
We don't need righteous DA's doing "battle" with "criminals." We need people serving the public fairly, with at least some degree of understanding and compassion from whence "criminals" come.
Commenter anonymous c responds:
You think that we need ADAs who have "understanding and compassion" for the criminals. That's utterly absurd!It would totally upset the whole idea of true Justice, which is that the ADAs, with compassion and understanding towards the victims, fight vigourously and tirelessly to convict and that the DEFENSE lawyers, with the understanding and compassion towards the criminals that you speak of, fight vigorously and tirelessly to acquit. In the middle of that battle is where, ideally, Justice is born. That's how it works.I don't want to live in a county with touchy-feely, peace and love ADAs and I highly doubt that you would, either. It's just not reality.
A Lesson in Federal Contempt
Here is a thought-provoking little piece on Tom Kirkendall's Houston's Clear Thinkers blog about whether Chuck Rosenthal is in fact facing jail time for contempt in Judge Hoyt's court.
The contempt proceeding is for indirect criminal contempt. It's "indirect" because Chuck didn't commit contempt right in front of Judge Hoyt, and it's "criminal" because the contempt is completed - Judge Hoyt can't hold Chuck in jail until he complies with the order. Tom's argument is that Chuck can't legally be held in contempt because he
has been provided none of the protections that due process of law requires for a criminal defendant. Inasmuch as Rosenthal's allegedly contemptuous conduct did not take place in the courtroom, the trial judge does not have the power to hold him in criminal contempt without a full-blown trial on the criminal contempt charges. Indeed, the trial judge cannot even be the judge in Rosenthal's criminal contempt trial because the judge is a potential witness in that trial.
Anonymous Commenters
I've changed my settings to disallow comments from anonymous commenters. If you want to comment, you'll have to have at least a pseudonym.
Expert Needed
The Harris County District Judges are trying to avoid answering my Rule 12 open-records request.
I need an expert on Microsoft Exchange Server. Specifically, I need someone to tell me (a) how difficult it would be to restore the server contents as of a specific date and search for emails from 22 individual mailboxes; (b) whether the judges' objection to doing so is reasonable; and (c) if the objection is reasonable, how I might make the request to make production less onerous.
If you know of someone familiar with this system, please have him or her drop me a line.
Thanks.
Don't Contact Channel 11 About the Debate
To give Channel 11 your thoughts about the February 19th DA debate (including whether the debate should be televised), email xxxxx@khou.com.
Edit: Don't give KHOU your opinion on whether the debate should be televised. They get it.
Harris County Sheriff's Email Retention Policy
Here, for the open records fans, are the Harris County Sheriff's recent email retention policy change memo and a flowchart showing how HCSO emails are handled.
TBI and Depression
A Canadian study of athletes who have suffered "mild" traumatic brain injuries "suggests depression is actually a physical outcome of such head injuries." Read this in conjunction with the American troop study suggesting that post-traumatic stress disorder also is an outcome of TBIs.
Why does it matter to us? Because the more people understand how incidents that are not even remotely the accused's "fault" (car crashes, IEDs, football tackles) can affect his outlook, his judgment - indeed, his personality - the better they will comprehend how unfair it is to punish people without considering everything that might have influenced that conduct.
TBI, PTSD, and Depression
Interesting article in yesterday's New England Journal of Medicine about new research into PTSD, depression, and physical health problems in U.S. troops who have suffered "mild" traumatic brain injuries. ("Mild traumatic brain injury" sounds benign, but MTBIs are "mild" only in comparison with more severe brain injuries.)
In this study, mild traumatic brain injury was significantly associated with psychiatric symptoms, notably PTSD, and the association remained significant after combat experiences had been controlled for. More than 40% of soldiers with injuries associated with loss of consciousness met the criteria for PTSD. The data indicate that a history of mild traumatic brain injury in the combat environment, particularly when associated with loss of consciousness, reflects exposure to a very intense traumatic event that threatens loss of life and significantly increases the risk of PTSD.
This is apparently the first such epidemiological study of TBI in soldiers.
Chuck's Very Bad Day?
This came after I shut my laptop because of low battery power:
Judge Hoyt: Aren't there rules about preservation of documents at the state level?Chuck Rosenthal: Yes.Hoyt: In fact it can be a crime. It's called obstruction of justice at the federal level. What do you call it at the state level?Rosenthal: Tampering with evidence.Hoyt: And you've prosecuted people for that. Your office has prosecuted people for that.Rosenthal: Yes.
The line between ordinary citizen and felony indictee is grey and exceedingly fine. None of us - no matter how law-abiding - are more than one Very Bad Day from being charged with a felony. Chuck would probably have done well during his career in the DA's office to remember this, and to treat every person whose life or future was in his hands with the compassion and fairness that he would want if he were in their shoes.
For the universe is implacable in its settling of scores, and today may well have been Chuck's Very Bad Day.
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