Archive for September, 2010


September 29th, 2010

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Doesn’t Trust Dogs – or at least, Dog Scent Evidence

James Bond, Quincy, and Clue are three bloodhounds, reportedly trained by now-retired Texas cop Keith Pikett, who retired this year. You remember bloodhounds — they all look just like Jed Clampett’s dog Duke on the old “Beverly Hillbillies” TV show.  Cute, right?

Well, retired law enforcement officer and dog trainer Pikett has been sued in three lawsuits (reports are there may be more) where the convicted men are alleging that Pikett’s professional sniffing dogs made a mistake, sniffing a link between each of the accused and crimes for which they are innocent.  The reputation of James Bond, Quincy, and Clue have therefore been called into question by these law suits against their trainer.

In fact, James Bond, Quincy, and Clue have lost so much credibility at this point that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — you know, the one where Chief Justice Sharon Keller presides — has just ruled that convicted murderer Richard Winfrey Sr., wins his appeal.

It seems that Mr. Winfrey was sentenced to 75 years in prison for stabbing someone to death (the victim was found to have 28 stab wounds), and back in 2004, the key evidence against Mr. Winfrey were the noses of James Bond, Quincy, and Clue — who sniffed Winfrey’s smell on the stabbing victim’s clothes.

According to the Keller Court, the most that the bloodhounds could do was provide “suspicion of guilt,” but the conclusion of dog noses alone isn’t enough to convict a man of murder.  

Geez, wonder why it took until now, after investigation and trial and appeals all the way to the highest criminal court in the state, for someone to ponder whether the State of Texas had met its burden of proof in this case?  (Read more about the scant evidence here.)

Is the entire Texas Criminal Justice System just going to the dogs?

Posted by Michael Lowe at 3:30 pm

1 Comment
Labels: Court Opinions


September 22nd, 2010

Another Texas Police Beating Caught by Video Dashcam

Technology serves justice this go-round, as another dashcam has provided eyeball testimony of Texas law enforcement using excessive force on a citizen. 

However, this time there’s a twist:  the Dallas Police Chief has already fired one of the police officers on the video, and it’s reported that there will be a recommendation to the D.A. that police officers Kevin Ray Randolph, Paul Gregory Bauer and Henry Walter Duetsch be charged with a felony:  either (1) felony tampering or (2) fabricating physical evidence, as well as charging Randolph and Bauer with misdemeanor assault and oppression. 

One Dallas Cop Has Been Fired; The Other Two are Under Investigation By Internal Affairs

Newbie officer Randolph was the cop who was terminated as a result of the incident.  The other two, Bauer and Duetsch,  are under disciplinary review by Internal Affairs – which could still result in their being fired, too.

Watch Andrew Joseph Collins, 28, Being Victimized by Violence on Video From Dashcam

To see the video of these three cops chasing down Andrew Joseph Collins. 28, in South Dallas on September 4, 2010, and then beat the man with their fists as well as their batons, thank the Dallas Morning News who used the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to this Police Department dashcam video:

Posted by Michael Lowe at 3:35 pm

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Labels: Cop Watch, Uncategorized


September 15th, 2010

Texas Cops Kill Another Suspect with Taser Stun Gun

Within months of Fort Worth offering up $2 million settlement in the Cop-Taser death of Michael Jacobs, a Dallas police officer repeatedly used a stun gun to stop a man running away from the cops last Sunday morning — and that man, identified as Freddie Lee Lockett of Irving, has died.  

From media reports, we know that the Dallas cops were called into the South Oak Cliff area of South Dallas to investigate a possible robbery.  It was around noon when they arrived and stopped Freddie Lockett. 

Cops Use Stun Gun on Suspect After Warned That He Was High on PCP

While the first news stories don’t reference any communication between the citizen and law enforcement, investigation by the Dallas Morning News has since revealed that there was some chatter between them:  Mr. Lockett told the police he had taken “wet,” street lingo for PCP, and he was high at the time.  It’s not controverted that Freddie Lockett was a drug addict: he has a longstanding criminal record of drug convictions (something obvious to the officers if they bothered to check). 

From what we know right now, the cops thought Freddie Lockett matched the description of an individual who might have robbed someone in the area.  Freddie Lockett was not cooperative with the police, other than explaining he was high on PCP. 

Which the cops should know was enough of a communication right there — PCP is a powerful, controlling drug; the fact that Lockett attempted to run from them isn’t surprising.  Law enforcement is presumed to know that PCP is an hallucinogen, causing delusions, agitation, and paranoia.  Who knows what was in Lockett’s mind then, other than he was obviously terrified?

Tasered Several Times, Freddie Lockett Dies

Preliminary reporting is that Lockett was zapped with a stun gun several times.  It’s not clear how many cops ended up here, to corral this guy.  We know more  cops were called in.  We also know that Lockett’s physical condition was a cause for concern there at the scene; the cops called EMS. 

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Lockett may have experienced “excited delirium,” a recognized medical condition where drugs interact with adrenaline badly, and death results.   Nice – not even a reference to the possibility that electrical volts were pulsated through his body, known to have PCP within it, on several different occasions, assumedly in rapid succession. 

Are we really suspose to ignore the Taser stun gun here?  Are the police not apprised of the possible dangers involved in sending electrical current through folk that are agitated or under medication? 

 Isn’t that just the scenario that the Fort Worth cops faced with Michael Jacobs? 

The press conference on this matter has been cancelled by the Dallas Police Department.  We do know that an internal investigation has begun.  Wonder if they’ve figured out who the individual was who was the robber that they were looking for in the first place — because in all this, there’s nothing proving Mr. Lockett was anything but innocent here.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 5:03 pm

6 Comments
Labels: Cop Watch


September 8th, 2010

Paris Hilton – Special Treatment During Cocaine Bust or At the Station? Sure. You Betcha.

Usually, this blog serves as a record of bad acts by Texas law enforcement, prosecutors, judges, or other members of the local criminal justice system. 

However, it’s just too tempting to ponder the latest antics of Paris Hilton, after reading that long before her recent felony arrest, Ms. Hilton tweeted a photo of the identical purse she initially denied was her property at the scene.   You almost want to send a big, big bottle of Excedrin to her defense attorney, right?  (Check out the pretty little purse here from Paris Hilton’s twitter feed.)

Paris Hilton – an Exception to the Rule

The short version of the story, which you’ve probably heard by now – on Letterman or Leno, if not in the local news – is that Paris was pulled over in Las Vegas and somehow (D’oh!) what appeared to be cocaine was discovered in a purse — yep, the one that is the subject of all the tabloid photographs.  Paris initially said it wasn’t hers, of course. 

Paris Hilton was subsequently arrested by Las Vegas law enforcment for felony possession of cocaine.

Taken down to Las Vegas’ Clark County Detention Center by the arresting officer, Paris Hilton was booked in record time.  In fact, she was in and out of the jail so fast that there’s been suspicion that Paris got special treatment because she was a celebrity. 

Special Treatment? At the Station….

Nope, says the guy that runs the detention center.  Well, no – they didn’t treat Paris special because she’s a tabloid star and she’s blonde and sells lots of perfume (her tenth scent just debuted in stores). No, it’s because of the chaos that having someone who guards and inmates and everyone else apparently wants to gawk at can disturb the internal operations of the Clark County Detention Center. 

Apparently, Paris was back on the streets in 3 hours because her presence was inherently disruptive, not because she’s the grand-niece to Elizabeth Taylor’s first husband or the frienemy of Kim Kardashian.   Paris Hilton: jail troublemaker, right?

Sure, Paris probably helped expedite things because she’s sorta experienced at getting booked.  There in Vegas, she posed for her third mugshot, after all.  And, it’s also true that having anyone around at any level of fame can be a hinderance — whether at the jail, or a restaurant, or in the mall. 

Special Treatment? At the Bust ….

However, it’s less clear that Paris got any special treatment at the scene of the bust.  Looks like the Vegas cops did their thing, and the heiress didn’t get to scoot away with a warning after signing a few autographs. 

CNN’s Nancy Grace has all the details of the bust: Paris opened the purse in front of a police officer, wanting some lip balm, and the alleged coke falls out in front of the cop.  Falls out.  You can’t make this stuff up. 

What’s interesting to ponder now are the media stories suggesting this is a publicity tactic to get Paris some of the tabloid territory that Lindsay Lohan and Kim Kardashian have had staked out for awhile now. 

People suggests that her mugshots might be “sarcastic”.  MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski’s just flat out opines that this arrest was planned in advance so Paris could get lots of publicity. 

A felony drug arrest?  Really?

So, let’s ponder what Nevada law enforcement’s gonna do here.  Felony cocaine possession is a serious crime.  Nevada will probably dot its i’s and cross its t’s to insure that there no future criticism of elected officials for treating Paris Hilton like she’s oh so special. 

Meanwhile, Paris is already demonstrating the defense made famous back in the 1970s by Texas legend Racehorse Haines: 

“Say you sue me because you say my dog bit you. Well, now this is my defense:

  • My dog doesn’t bite.  ["...that's not my purse"]
  • And second, in the alternative, my dog was tied up that night. ["...the contents of the purse aren't mine"]
  • And third, I don’t believe you really got bit. [you get the idea ....]
  • And fourth, I don’t have a dog.

Yeah. watching this story play out is gonna be fun.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 7:26 pm

3 Comments
Labels: Cop Watch, Crime News