Archive for June, 2010


June 30th, 2010

McAllen Judge Arrested 4 Paying Off Credit Cards With Traffic Fine Money

The hurricane hitting South Texas today is the least of La Joya Municipal Court Judge Joe Henry Garza’s problems. At 55 years old, he’s been busted. Arrested, arraigned, the whole nines yards when you’re charged with a felony.

And, yes, this South Texas municipal judge is facing felony theft charges. Judge Garza stands accused of putting his hand in the traffic fine till — the moneys collected as traffic fines from those who appeared before him for traffic violations — and using the fine money to pay off his personal credit card.

McAllen Judge Garza Has Pled Not Guilty to Theft of Traffic Fines

The La Joya Municipal Court is about 15 minutes drive from downtown McAllen, very close to the Texas-Mexico border. Judge Joe Henry Garza lives in the area, and today he’s out on a $10,000 bond.  He’s pled not guilty to a third-degree felony charge of theft by a public servant.

His position? He isn’t the one wo receives the money that comes into the city coffers.

Evidence Against Judge Garza

According to the probable cause documentation on file, the sheriff investigated and found three (3) separate examples of people (Mexican nationals) paying their traffic fines with money orders in Garza’s court, and this money then being used to pay Judge Garza’s personal credit card.  The Sheriff’s office became involved after an internal audit discovered $6500 missing from the municipal accounts.  Sheriff’s investigators purportedly traced the stubs from the money orders to Judge Garza. 

Wonder what happened when they paid their traffic fines in cash?

Posted by Michael Lowe at 8:36 pm

2 Comments
Labels: Judge Watch


June 23rd, 2010

Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s Son Kills 1 Cop and 1 Passerby, Will Lancaster Cops Be Investigated?

On Sunday morning, life changed forever for Dallas Police Chief David Brown.  Understandably, both Chief Brown and the entire Dallas metropolitan area are still reeling about what happened, amazingly, just three days ago. 

Police Chief Son’s Known Mental Illness Issues

The police chief’s son was known to have mental health issues.  His live-in girlfriend (and the mother of the Chief’s grandson), Misti Conaway, told Lancaster cops when they responded to her domestic dispute call earlier in the day that David Brown Jr., 27, was bipolar.  (She also told them that he had taken drugs that day, and was acting as if he were on PCP.)

School authorities already knew that David Brown Jr. had hit his 10-year-old son, and the local authorities were investigating the boy’s black eye as suspected child abuse. 

Seven hours before the tragedy, David Brown Jr. was seen brandishing a gun at the apartment complex swimming pool as he danced around, humming to himself, wearing only boxer shorts and sunglasses. 

Lancaster Cops Interviewed David Brown Jr. and Left Him There

When Misti Conaway called the cops, they went to the scene and left with Conaway and her two sons. 

They interviewed David Brown Jr., and they checked the apartment.  Today, these cops stand by their story that he seemed fine to them, not a danger to himself or others at the time.  He wasn’t arrested.  He wasn’t taken in as an involuntary commitment.   

Their actions are recorded on a dash cam video.  Reportedly, you can hear Brown yelling about the kids not reading their Bible …. One last thing before they left: they left a voice mail message for Chief Brown, telling him they’d stopped by his son’s place and everything was fine. 

David Brown Jr. Shot and Killed Two Before Dying in Gun Battle with Police

Within hours, David Brown Jr. took a handgun (assumedly the same one he’d been threatening folk with at the pool) and grabbed a rifle, and shot and killed a man driving into the complex with his girlfriend and two young kids, Jeremy Jontae McMillian, 23.

Brown Jr. then fatally shot Lancaster Police Officer Craig Shaw, 37. It’s no surprise that the next thing to happen in this sequence of events was David Brown Jr. dying in a shootout with police in the parking lot of the apartment complex.

It was Father’s Day.  Chief Brown had been on the job for 2 months.

Today, it’s still national news that the Dallas Police Chief’s son was killed in a gun battle with local police, after killing two men.  Chief Brown issued a statement on Tuesday.  It was gracious and expressed sincere condolences to both of the victim’s families.

Should Chief Brown Resign?

There’s lots of talk that Chief Brown will resign.  However, many see that as the wrong response.  Even the girlfriend of slain Jeremy McMillian doesn’t want this: she’s quoted as saying that Brown Jr.’s actions were those of an independent adult, and not to be attributed to the Police Chief. 

What About those Lancaster Cops?

Meanwhile, what about those Lancaster cops?  One has to wonder why Brown Jr. was left there that day, obviously suffering from some type of mental break — he’d been acting strangely all day. 

  • Why didn’t they learn about Brown Jr.’s antics at the pool? 
  • Why didn’t they find the handgun (the girlfriend told them one was there)?
  • Why didn’t they take Brown Jr. in for evaluation?
  • Was it because they were afraid that Chief Brown would be upset with them? 
  • They made sure to touch base with the Police Chief by calling him on the phone to tell him about their visit.  Why do that?

You gotta wonder if David Brown Jr. would have been left there on Sunday if those two patrolmen weren’t so impressed with his dad being the Top Dog of Dallas Cops. 

Let’s hope their actions are fully investigated.

Sincerely condolences to the families of all those who died in this horrible tragedy.  Including especially Dallas Police Chief Brown.  

Posted by Michael Lowe at 3:34 pm

2 Comments
Labels: Cop Watch


June 16th, 2010

Showdown in Austin This Friday for CCA Chief Justice Sharon Keller

Set back in March, the time has come. This Friday, June 18, 2010, in Austin, Texas, the hearing begins for Chief Justice Sharon Keller before the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct.

Sharon Keller Following the Best Defense is a Good Offense Approach

Keller’s response can be read online in two parts (Part One; Part Two) thanks to the Texas Lawyer.  Her latest salvo? A request that the Commission dismiss the matter in its entirety.

Immediately. The whole thing. That’s right. (She’s also appealing that $100,000 ethics fine that she’s been told to pay – the highest ethics fine in the State’s history).

Justice Keller: Allegations are Fiction

Apparently, Justice Keller believes that the charges she will be facing on Friday are “fiction” and that we should all just pooh-pooh everything that’s been filed thus far.

Even Judge David Berchelmann didn’t go so far as to write that the allegations were fictional when he basically let the Chief Justice off the hook in his findings from his fact-finding hearing last August.

Public Hearing – Standing Room Only

So, the hearing on Friday should be very, very interesting. It will be public. The examiners and Justice Keller’s attorney will present oral argument. We can bet it will be to a packed house.

After the argument, the 13 Commissioners will go behind doors to discuss and decide their decision. They will have three options: (1) remove her from elected office; (2) dismiss the charges against her; or (3) reprimand her (she gets cited as doing something bad, but keeps her job).

It’s Only the Most Powerful Criminal Judge in Texas, After All

Think of it. We’re only talking about the Chief Justice of the state’s highest criminal court here.  Is anyone else out there thinking Lady MacBeth (although the line’s really from Hamlet)?

“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
–W. Shakespeare, Hamlet (III, ii, 239)

Posted by Michael Lowe at 3:58 pm

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Labels: Judge Watch


June 9th, 2010

Prosecutor Caught Withholding Evidence from Defense – AGAIN

Last week, Assistant District Attorney Stephanie McFarland stood before a Texas district court judge for the second time in 15 months to hear the court’s findings that she had illegally and improperly withheld evidence from the defense. 

That’s right.  A prosecutor in front of the bench being told she’s done something wrong.  The same thing, for a second time.

In 2007 DA McFarland Withheld Info of Two Witnesses in the Laura Ashley Hall  Trial

Stephanie McFarland did not prosecute the trial of Laura Ashley Hall all by herself, but  the 3d Circuit Court of Appeals did rule she ”acted willfully” when the prosecution did not disclose statements made by a witness that implicated the defendant — and in doing so, violated the trial judge’s orders.   She was also found to have held back evidence regarding a witness named Doug Conley during the sentencing part of the case (after the defendant had already been found guilty of the crime). 

Interesting that Stephanie McFarland was the attorney who interviewed the witness who gave the witness statement.  Still, way back then, records show that McFarland said it was just a mistake: nothing intentional.  Oops!

In 2006, McFarland Failed to Provide Resume of State’s Witness – Which Would Reveal Expert Lied

Austin district attorney McFarland has also been found to have hidden the CV (curriculum vitae) of a physician that was a witness in a felony case — doesn’t sound like a big deal, until you learn that the resume showed that the doctor had fudged on his credentials.  And by fudged, of course we mean LIED.

Texas Judge Charlie Baird ruled last week that because DA McFarland kept back the doctor’s resume, the defense did not have the opportunity to cross-examine this sneaky expert on his inflated resume and impeach his credibility.  And by cross-examine, of course we mean put the doctor who had the arrogance to lie about his background and experience in a criminal trial on the stand and “rip him a new one.”

In this case, a UT student name Danish Sheikh was charged and brought to trial by McFarland for choking his ex-girlfriend.  It was a very serious charge for a young man just starting out in life — and no matter what level of charge that is made by the state, citizens are supposed to get due process and a fair trial. 

Oh – and what did McFarland give as the reason that the defense team didn’t get the resume?  Well, she thought she did.  Oops!!  Right.  The Judge didn’t believe her. 

What Happened to the Defendants?

For Defendant Hall, the appellate court decided that hiding the witness statement (which dealt with the issue of who had dismembered the victim’s body) did not change the outcome of the trial.  So, no new trial on guilt versus innocence.  However, 3rd Court of Appeals did order a new sentencing hearing in the case on a finding that Stephanie McFarland and the other prosecutor in the case unfairly kept information about another witness in the punishment phase.

For Defendant Sheikh, the Judge has vacated Sheikh’s aggravated assault conviction and his five-year probation sentence.

What Happens to Stephanie McFarland?

So far, not much.  Apparently, she’s still working for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office and she’s still trying cases.  Of course, things may change soon.  For one thing, the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association may be getting involved.  And defense attorneys will be asking that McFarland be recused from Hall’s new sentencing trial (duh). 

Fair Trial.  Due Process.  How can prosecutors disregard them?

Seems that someone might be wanting to look through other cases that this prosecutor has tried.  You gotta wonder what other evidence might be stuffed in boxes that defense teams and juries never saw.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 6:20 pm

1 Comment
Labels: DA Watch, Uncategorized