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May 16th, 2012

Eyewitness Testimony and Prosecutorial Misconduct Spotlighted Again as Texas Executed Another Innocent Man: the Wrongful Prosecution of Carlos DeLuna

In what universe does anyone really believe that eyewitness testimony is reliable?  Really?  We’ve written before about how criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors alike are well aware that witnesses are notoriously unreliable in giving accurate information about a crime. For example, read our earlier post discussing a Dallas Morning News expose where the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office routinely convicted innocent men with eyewitness testimony known to be faulty.

Heck, there are lots of psychological studies done on this, and why human beings just can’t give accounts about what happened at a certain date and time as if they were video recorders or dashcams.  Because they’re not.  Still, the system allows people to take the stand and give eyewitness testimony about serious crimes, finger pointing at defendants and crying out “yes, that’s the man I saw.”

Eyewitness Testimony, Mistaken Identity, and the Execution Killing of Carlos DeLuna, an Innocent Man

Perhaps the grisly reality that this practice has resulted in the State of Texas sending an innocent man to his execution in 1989 will change things: if so, then the mistaken identity case of Carlos DeLuna may bring with it some good.  Because there’s nothing good to say about it right now.

Long ago, a woman was murdered, and we know who did it and we know who was convicted of her murder and sentenced to death for it. The only evidence that supported Carlos DeLuna’s conviction?  Eyewitness testimony.   People took the witness stand, and under oath, told that jury that Carlos DeLuna was the man that stabbed Wanda Lopez to death that day while she worked at a Corpus Christi gas station’s convenience store.

That was all it took.  A little finger-pointing.   Too bad they had the wrong guy:  Carlos Hernandez, not Carlos DeLuna, killed Wanda Lopez.

Now, Columbia Law School has set up a website and is offering a free ebook that provides details on the 5 year research project undertaken by Columbia Law Professor James Liebman and his team of students.   You can check out their website here.  There are lots of very interesting interviews to watch on the site, including:

Eddie Garza, Corpus Christi Police Detective: While the prosecutor in DeLuna’s case said that Carlos Hernandez—the man DeLuna said was the actual killer—was a “phantom,” evidence uncovered years later shows not only that he existed, but that he was well-known to police and prosecutors at the time and had a long history of violent crimes.
Carroll Pickett, Texas Death House Chaplain: Even at the midnight hour, when there was nothing left to lose and the Death House Chaplain heard confessions from most of the other 95 inmates he ushered to their deaths, DeLuna said, “I didn’t do it.”

You can read their free ebook here. Or download it in pdf format or order a hard print copy, if you prefer. Columbia Law is making every effort to get this research circulated to as many folk as possible – and that is great.  Lawyers please note that this ebook is also Issue 3 of Volume 43 of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, entitled “Los Tocayos Carlos,” by James S. Liebman, Shawn Crowley, Andrew Markquart, Lauren Rosenberg, Lauren Gallo White, and Daniel Zharkovsky (43 Colum. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 711 (2012)).

Prosecutorial Misconduct?  You Betcha.

Reading through the compilation of the Columbia research team and you’ll find not only a reliance on obviously untrustworthy eyewitness testimony (witnesses who point the finger only after they’ve seen DeLuna cuffed and setting in the back of a police car shouldn’t be relied upon for accuracy here), but you’ll also find police looking the other way when evidence pointed away from DeLuna being their man as well as, surprise surprise, prosecutorial misconduct in the matter.

Prosecutors did many bad things in the Carlos DeLuna case. Things like not turning over evidence to the defense that would clear him (exonerating evidence).  Things like telling the jury that  Carlos Hernandez, was just a ghost (“phantom”) of Carlos DeLuna’s imagination when DeLuna said that he knew Carlos Hernandez to be the true killer (having seen Hernandez go into the store that night) — all while the prosecutors not only knew that Carlos Hernandez was a real man and no ghost, but that he had a history of being violent and using a knife in assaults on people.  (Hernandez was later convicted for murdering another woman and repeatedly confessed that he was the man who had killed Wanda Lopez.)

So, what happens now?  Bet that not too many Texas prosecutors are losing sleep over this – with the way things are right now, they must feel very, very safe from accountability.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 12:44 pm

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Labels: Cop Watch, Corrupt Cops, Death Row, Orwellian Threats to Rights


May 9th, 2012

Prosecutor Arrested for Corruption: DA Alleged to Have Taken Over $100,000 in Bribes and Kickbacks – Looks Like Prosecutorial Misconduct Pays Pretty Good Here in Texas.

This Monday, Cameron County District Attorney Armando Villalobos was in a courtroom, standing before a judge - which isn’t anything new for him: however, this time he was in a federal courtroom not a state one, and Villalobos was there as an indicted defendant, facing federal charges of massive corruption while acting as the head prosecutor for Cameron County, Texas.

Seems that the Texas D.A. along with his former law partner Eddie Lucio are alleged to have make a tidy profit off Villalobos’ position as district attorney. (Lucio was also indicted Monday.) The indictment is thick with allegations of wrongdoing. It’s a bonanza of criminal charges: there’s racketeering involved.  Taking bribes.  Handing out bribes.  Also: extortion, improper influence, concealment, and conflict of interest.

And yes, you’ve read this right:  all these crimes are alleged to have been done by the top prosecutor for Cameron County.  The Top Dog for the area in making sure that criminal laws are respected and the public at large is protected and safe from those who violate the law.

Now, about the money.

There’s an allegation that the prosecutor took $80,000 to make a nice plea deal (that’s bribery). There’s also an allegation that Villalobos agreed to pay former Texas district court judge Abel Limas a chunk of cash so Limas would approve the plea agreement and enter the sentence.  That was key, apparently:  according to the 34 page indictment, the judge needed to enter a sentence so that the bond money would be available to fund the bribes.

This sweet deal? It let a murderer have two months (60 days) before he had to report to prison. Guess what? That convicted murderer, a man by the name of Amit Livingston, has never shown up for his appointment to be incarcerated and he’s free right now, as this post is being typed.   Out there, somewhere….

You may remember Judge Limas.

We’ve been monitoring his case for awhile now. Seems Judge Limas – who sat on a Texas judicial bench for around 7 years down in Brownsville – got busted for his own evildoing last year and copped his own plea: now, as part of ex-Judge Limas’ plea deal, he’s been spilling the beans on other bad actors down in South Texas.

Like the Cameron County District Attorney, it looks like ….

Meanwhile, it just keeps getting more zany.  Villalobos took no time in getting himself a good lawyer and getting himself out on bail (betcha he’s had that lawyer on retainer and that bail strategy set up for awhile now, probably since the news got out that Lima was singing like a canary to the feds).

Then, Cameron County District Attorney Villalobos did one thing more:  he held a press conference to let everyone know that, yes, he was still running for  Congress. That’s right:  the guy has been indicted for a kitchen sink of felonies and he’s still in the race for Congressional seat 34.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 1:54 pm

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Labels: DA Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


April 25th, 2012

Texas Police Surveillance: Cameras Are Watching You While Police DashCams Aren’t Watching the Police As Much (Because the Cops Don’t Like the Discipline Results)

Technological advances are being used by law enforcement, they always have been.  Watch old movies or classic television shows and you can see innovations in communications and monitoring devices making their way into police departments and law enforcement agencies.  It’s to be expected, right?

So, no one should be very surprised to learn that lots of surveillance gizmos are going to be watching people without their knowledge at the Main St. Fort Worth Arts Festival this month. They’ve got cameras operated by the police department, the water utility, and  the public works department along with other branches of law enforcement. They even have police officers on the ground wired with their own little surveillance devices.

In fact, reports are that the City of Fort Worth alone has spent over $30 million in the past seven years on surveillance stuff.  Thirty Million Dollars.

There are plans for Fort Worth (and this goes for other law enforcement agencies, too – Fort Worth isn’t a maverick here) to connect its camera network with other surveillance networks.  Places like hospitals, campuses, and the like will soon all web together so that you and other members of the public can all be monitored.

Without your being aware of being watched.  Feel safer?

Of course, Fort Worth police are not taking any bows: they claim they’re just doing what most every metropolitan police department is doing – pointing to surveillance monitoring already in use at the Texas Motor Speedway and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium.  Surveillance is just the next step in crime fighting.

Don’t worry about your civil rights, they say.  The police just want to keep everyone safe.

Camera Monitoring of Police Officers Is Halted:  Dallas Cops Being Disciplined Too Much

Meanwhile, over at the Dallas Police Department, there’s been some changes to their camera surveillance too:  seems that Dallas police officers complained so much about having the cameras on them that the Dallas Police Department have STOPPED MONITORING OF the videocams that have been recording the actions of police officers on the job.

You know, police videocams that catch bad acts like this one.

Seems that the police officers have won their argument that these pesky dash-cams in their patrol cars are resulting in too many disciplinary actions being filed against them.

The Irony in Texas:  Public Gets Watched More While the Police Get Watched Less

So, here in Texas right now we’ve got more cameras being put up everywhere — without the public being informed where the cameras are located or who is watching them through those cameras (and for what reason) — at the same time that cameras placed in police cars are being slammed as capturing too much bad stuff and cops aren’t happy at being disciplined for things like speeding or turning off their video cams during pursuits or officer-assist calls.

Ironic, isn’t it?  There’s more.

Austin Audio Captures Cop Killing Cisco the Dog

Consider this:  in Austin there was a recent incident where an Austin Police Department squad car pulled up to a man’s home while the man was in his backyard, playing Frisbee with his dog, a blue heeler named Cisco.  The police officer got out of his car, and when he approached the man, Cisco – as any good dog would – ran to bark at the stranger.

The cop shot the dog.  That’s right.  Shot Cisco. It was caught on audiotape (don’t know if there is a video).  The man can be heard crying out, “why have you shot my dog?”  to which the cop continued to point his gun at the man.

Now, problems abound here not the least of which is that the cop HAD THE WRONG ADDRESS. He was trying to track down a suspect but the man in this story was a total innocent.

Think about this story the next time you’re out in your back yard, playing with your kids or your pets.  Think about the audio-cam being the only thing in the Austin story to support the innocent citizen’s claims of what the heck happened that afternoon.

Read the comments to this newstory of the event and learn what other Austinites think about their law enforcement – how much they trust their police officers.   (Not much.) Or just join the growing number of folk who are demanding Justice for Cisco.

>And then think some more about the irony that while they are aiming more camera lens at you, they’re not watching the cops as much now, because the cops don’t like it.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 11:34 am

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Labels: Cop Watch, Crime News, Orwellian Threats to Rights


April 18th, 2012

For Decades, Feds (DOJ, FBI) Knew Forensic Evidence Was Unreliable But Said Nothing to Defense: How Many Innocents Behind Bars, How Many Have Been Wrongfully Executed?

This week, a Washington Post investigation is spreading like wildfire over the web and it’s getting lots of people talking.  People like Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins, who was on television this week here in Dallas to answer some questions about what the Post has revealed (watch him on video here).

You can read the expose for yourself, entitled “Convicted defendants left uninformed of forensic flaws found by Justice Dept.” and written by Spenser S. Hsu online here.

What’s the big deal?

Seems the U.S. Department of Justice has known for a long, long time that FBI Lab forensics were not to be trusted, but DOJ higher-ups as well as U.S. Attorneys and federal prosecutors didn’t bother to let anyone know that forensic evidence wasn’t trustworthy — leaving who knows how many innocent people convicted and imprisoned in this country.

That’s right.  The federal government through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been handing out bad forensic evidence for years, and the federal government, through the Department of Justice, has seen fit to let that bad evidence be used to convict folk. Mum was the word, apparently, when dealing with this faulty forensic testing and trying criminal cases: no one bothered to let the defendants in on the forensic evidence having problems and for sure, no one told the defense attorneys.

What Hsu has reported is based upon a report by the Inspector General which summarizes findings of a 9 year investigation into misconduct by the FBI Crime Lab and complaints that the FBI Crime Lab was sending out flawed and faulty lab results.  The IG report was completed in 2004, and it was bad — but instead of letting everyone impacted by the findings know about it, the results were only shared among U.S. prosecutors.

The Washington Post is reporting that there are literally 100s of people setting in prison or living on parole right now, as this is being typed, that were wrongfully convicted in the first place because the FBI Crime Lab provided hair and fiber evidence that was just plain WRONG.

This has gone on for years and years and years.

Of course this means that innocent people have been wrongfully convicted of crimes all over the country.  And yes, some may have been executed for crimes they did not commit: according to Hsu’s investigation in the Post,  back in 1997 — a year into the DOJ’s investigation into bad forensics, so the problem was known already — the State of Texas may have executed Benjamin Herbert Boyle based upon evidence that was inaccurate.

Was There a Knowing, Wrongful Execution of Benjamin Herbert Boyle?

That’s right.  Mr. Boyle would not have been eligible for the death penalty without the use of this flawed forensic evidence, the federal government already knew the forensics were questionable, and not one government employee stepped up to stop Boyle from being killed.  And, how do we know that this was known back then, in 1997?  It’s information found in a prosecutor’s memo.

Forensic Evidence Is Not 100% Trustworthy – Ask Any Criminal Defense Attorney

We’ve posted here already about how television shows aren’t reality – and lab results are not to be considered as iron-clad evidence of anything.  So, for the defense bar, the news that the lab results weren’t accurate is just one issue.  However, there’s another issue here, as well.  The continuing problem of prosecutorial misconduct – when attorneys for the government are aware that evidence exists that may support the defense, they are required to share that information with the defense team.  It’s a pursuit of justice that is mandated for them, not how many wins they can tally on their career scorecard.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 12:31 pm

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Labels: DA Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


April 11th, 2012

Bait Cars Okayed by Dallas City Council, Dallas Police Chief Gets $3 Million to Trap Thieves: Who’s Creating the Crime Here? Aren’t Bait Cars Entrapment And Illegal Under Texas Penal Code?

Dallas Police Chief David Brown went before the Dallas City Council last week and got the City Council’s okay to spend lots of money to buy things for the Dallas Police Department: items Chief Brown labels necessities in crime fighting but what many are concerned amount to Big Brother activities that will result in illegal entrapment under state and federal law.

Here’s what is happening in Dallas: the Dallas Police Department is going to spend $3,000,000.00 (that’s big money, right?) to buy lots of stuff like hidden cameras, global positioning system (GPS) trackers, license plate readers, and even cars which will be used as bait to entice individuals to steal the tempting toys like laptops (also purchased in the budget) from inside these vehicles.  You may have heard about this new police tactic or seen it on television.

It’s commonly referred to as using “bait cars” to fight crime.  Bait Cars.  Think about it.

Here’s the entrapment statute as it appears in the Texas Penal Code:

Sec. 8.06. ENTRAPMENT. (a) It is a defense to prosecution that the actor engaged in the conduct charged because he was induced to do so by a law enforcement agent using persuasion or other means likely to cause persons to commit the offense. Conduct merely affording a person an opportunity to commit an offense does not constitute entrapment.

(b) In this section “law enforcement agent” includes personnel of the state and local law enforcement agencies as well as of the United States and any person acting in accordance with instructions from such agents.

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, Sec. 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, Sec. 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994.

Dallas Police Chief Brown Plans To Send Bait Cars Into Southern Dallas Communities and Targeted Areas

You can almost feel the glee as the Dallas Police implement their Big Plan, spending the $3 million to target not just any part of Dallas, but specific areas:  27 locations that the police consider to be high crime areas as well as 8 specific parts of south Dallas (which have been flagged by the City of Dallas for economic redevelopment campaigns).

Right now, it’s reported that the police will be placing 16 bait cars around these specific geographic locations, filled with goodies, and monitored by cameras which will videotape those trying to grab the goodies, i.e., future car thieves.

Let’s read part of that Texas Penal Code statute again:

It is a defense to prosecution that the actor engaged in the conduct charged because he was induced to do so by a law enforcement agent using persuasion or other means likely to cause persons to commit the offense.


Dallas Police Chief Wants to Do Even More Baiting

You’d think that the millions of dollars being spent here would be a big deal – but it’s not enough for the Dallas Police Chief.  He wants even more money because he wants to bait traps not just in his current targeted areas (which number around 10) but throughout the city, in around 35 different targeted locations.

And he’s looking around for private money to help him buy more technology, more temptations, and more cars from private donations.

Now, all this is being done under the big banner of making Dallas Safer. However, if you’ve got the police power being used to set up crimes just so they can go in and bust folk, then how safe are you really?

Consider the following from the United States Supreme Court in Sherman v. United States, 356 US 369, 380 (1958)(highlighting added):

The courts refuse to convict an entrapped defendant, not because his conduct falls outside the proscription of the statute, but because, even if his guilt be admitted, the methods employed on behalf of the Government to bring about conviction cannot be countenanced.

As Mr. Justice Holmes said in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438, 470 (dissenting), in another connection, “It is desirable that criminals should be detected, and to that end that all available evidence should be used. It also is desirable that the Government should not itself foster and pay for other crimes, when they are the means by which the evidence is to be obtained. . . . [F]or my part I think it a less evil that some criminals should escape than that the Government should play an ignoble part.”

Insofar as they are used as instrumentalities in the administration of criminal justice, the federal courts have an obligation to set their face against enforcement of the law by lawless means or means that violate rationally vindicated standards of justice, and to refuse to sustain such methods by effectuating them. They do this in the exercise of a recognized jurisdiction to formulate and apply “proper standards for the enforcement of the federal criminal law in the federal courts,” McNabb v. United States, 318 U. S. 332, 341, an obligation that goes beyond the conviction of the particular defendant before the court.

Public confidence in the fair and honorable administration of justice, upon which ultimately depends the rule of law, is the transcending value at stake.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 12:07 pm

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Labels: Cop Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


March 28th, 2012

Longstanding Problem of Rogue Prosecutors Exposed as Texas Court of Injury in Morton Case and Federal Inquiry in Stevens Matter Move Forward

District attorneys are responsible for seeking justice on behalf of the people, but that’s a joke when rogue prosecutors are involved.  We keep track of Texas prosecutors doing bad things here in the Lone Star State (check out the “DA Watch” link there in the right sidebar and here) with a careful eye on prosecutorial misconduct.

Something that seems to run rampant in Texas.

For a few prime examples, check out our November 2011 list in “Prosecutorial Misconduct is a Big, Big Problem in Texas – Here Are Just a Few Examples” and our post from earlier this month, which shows this problem has been around for a very long time, “Former Texas Death Row Inmate Kerry Max Cook’s Case Continues to Expose Texas Prosecutors Gone Wild (In a Bad, Bad Way).”

All too often, it takes the voice of outsiders as well as the continued fight of the innocent victims of prosecutorial misconduct to expose and remedy a district attorney that has gone power-mad, forgetting his or her duties to the people and to justice as evidence is hidden or cases are twisted in charges, procedure, etc.  However, sometimes the system itself does take heed of these rogue prosecutors and suddenly, investigations begin into what the state’s lawyer has done in a particular case.

Like the federal investigation into the prosecution of the Ted Stevens case and the state investigation into the prosecution of the Michael Morton matter.

Federal Inquiry Into Rogue Prosecutor In Ted Stevens Case

Back in 2008, there was a federal jury trial where Ted Stevens was convicted of lying on financial disclosure statements.  Now, all these years later, a 525 page report has been released this month by those investigating the bad actions of the prosecutors in that case.  (The Stevens conviction got overturned in 2009.)

You can read that big, fat report detailing what the rogue prosecutors did by reviewing or downloading it online here.

It’s too late for Ted Stevens to know that the Inquiry into the prosecutors bad acts has vindicated him:  Stevens died in 2010.  However, it’s not too late for the rest of us to read and learn how these prosecutors acted and what they did, which included:

  • lying (the report calls this making “astonishing misstatements”) to the defense attorneys about evidence and
  • keeping quiet and allowing perjury on the witness stand, perjured testimony that helped the state’s case.

Texas Court of Inquiry Into Prosecutorial Misconduct in Michael Morton Murder Trial

Meanwhile, here in Texas, the investigation into prosecutorial misconduct in the Morton case is still going on – no reports to read as yet.  The latest?

Posted by Michael Lowe at 12:25 pm

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Labels: DA Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


March 21st, 2012

Texas Jails Recording Attorney – Client Communications: Defense Bar’s Assumptions About Jail Privacy Proven True With Houston and Galveston Jail Revelations

Here in Texas, just like the rest of the country, it’s assumed by most people that communications between lawyers and clients are protected – they’re top secret stuff, safe from anyone else because of the U.S. Constitution.  Right? That’s what you see on all the TV shows, isn’t it … defense lawyers and inmates talking about the defense case, safe from anyone’s prying eyes or ears?

Well, surprise.  If you are arrested and in a Texas jail then you better not assume that your chats with your attorney are protected.  Because they’re not.

Most criminal defense attorneys here in the Lone Star State don’t trust the confidentiality of Texas jail communications with their clients. (Just read some of our posts about Texas jailers and Texas prosecutors to learn why.)  However, it’s interesting to see that defense counsel are becoming publicly vindicated in their distrust.

Galveston Jail:  Changing Things to Stop Recordings of Lawyer – Client Conversations

How?  Seems that over in Galveston, they’ve been routinely recording conversations between people being held in their jail and their lawyers for many, many years.   No one bothered to tell the inmates or their attorneys, of course.  However, recently the Galveston County Sheriff’s Department instituted a new jail policy to stop it.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Galveston County Sheriff Freddie Poor has explained that a Galveston County District Judge complained about things, and now the Sheriff’s Department is doing things differently.  They’ve put all the criminal defense bar’s phone numbers into their computer and now, the recording devices in the jail automatically stop when that number is involved in an inmate’s phone call.

Houston Still Recording Attorney-Client Communications and Admits It

And Galveston isn’t a fluke.  In his story, investigative reporter Harvey Rice includes a quote from Harris County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Alan Bernstein that confirms the Harris County Jail in Houston also records conversations between attorneys and clients, right along with everyone else, and that’s still going on.

Though the story reports that Houston is trying to change this.  (Of course they are.)

Privacy Problems and More Here, and No Solution In Sight

When someone is arrested in this country, that does not mean that they did anything wrong.  Innocent until proven guilty is a cornerstone of our system of justice.  And if you are wondering if innocent people get arrested by police, just ask anyone at your local chapter of The Innocence Project.

Jails don’t consider this, however.  Anyone arrested should know that they will have less rights under the law until they are cleared of the charges.  After all, their privacy has already been taken from them, along with their freedom of movement.

Still, every inmate should be able to freely confer with his counsel.  Jailers should presume these people are innocent and respect their rights, especially their right to talk freely with their lawyer.  That right should not be altered by arrest or incarceration.  Nevertheless, most Texas criminal defense attorneys don’t trust jail communications in the first place – we know who we’re dealing with, jailers and prosecutors can be sneaky.  We understand that the reality is that in jails, inmates are simply presumed to be guilty by their jailers.

Which means that our communications must be carefully handled.  We have to get the job done with one arm tied behind our backs, because we must operate under the assumption that the prosecution is hearing everything that is being said.  It would be foolish to do otherwise.

(If you think this sounds paranoid, then think again.  As an example, read this ABA Journal story about a Tennessee case where this happened, or read more of the Houston Chronicle expose to learn about the Baby Grace case.)

Posted by Michael Lowe at 12:15 pm

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Labels: DA Watch, Jail Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


March 14th, 2012

Texas Police Corruption: Texas Rangers Arrest Chief of Police, Rest of Police Department Out the Door But Covington Still Very Afraid

A stone’s throw as the crow flies from Fort Worth is the tiny Texas town of Covington, and if you follow along Interstate 35 from downtown CowTown you’ll be in the heart of Covington in around 45 minutes.  So, this story isn’t coming out of some backwoods, rural spot that’s living without the knowledge or influence of modern culture and its conveniences … and its laws.

Covington Police Chief Arrested by Texas Rangers Last Friday

On March 9, 2012, (just last Friday) the Texas Rangers swooped into Covington and arrested its Chief of Police, Wade Laurence, on a felony charge under the Texas Controlled Substances Act Section 481.129, for using a fraudulent prescription to obtain controlled substances.  He was handcuffed, taken to jail, had his mugshot taken, and then placed under a $20,000 bond.

The same day, the Covington City Council held a meeting and fired Wade Laurence as their Chief of Police.

Wickedness in High Places: Rogue Police in Covington, Texas

Covington is a small town, officially only around 250 people live there.  So most everyone knows what’s up … but the official allegations have sprouted not from back-fence gossip but from accusations coming from Laurence’s fellow police officers.  Like former Police Chief Dowell Missildine and former Police Officer Kayla Richardson, who is being heralded as a whistle-blower for bringing some bad things to the attention of authorities, as well as telling Missildine things were becoming so serious that she was afraid for her life in some kind of retaliation.

Kayla Richardson is the brave soul who took this situation to the Texas Rangers, after she learned that the police evidence locker had drugs missing from its inventory and the only Covington Police Department member who wouldn’t take a lie detector test was its Chief of Police, Wade Laurence.  Richardson saw that nothing was going to happen even after it was known that drugs had disappeared from the police department’s drug locker, and this riled her up enough that she went to the Texas Rangers for help.

Covington Is Afraid Now That Bad Cop is Free on Bond

Meanwhile, with a low bond, it didn’t take long for Wade Laurence to get released.  So, this week, he’s free as a bird while he awaits trial on the felony charge (and maybe other investigations, too).

Covington City Council member Marty Smith has told the media that the community is terrified of these rogue police — which include not only ex-Chief Laurence but a hand full of men who worked as cops alongside him. People in the town are scared of what felonies are yet to be committed in their community by these evildoers.

According to reports of the Texas Rangers as well as media coverage, Laurence has had such an iron hand on this small Texas town that people were afraid of their own police force.  Individuals are coming forward telling of things like being threatened with arrest on trumped-up charges as well as having their property destroyed (windshields busted, etc.) in a textbook tale of bullying techniques by out of control Powers that Be.

Texas Police Out of Control: Is Covington All That Unique? Nope.

The ability of a small Texas community’s police force to become corrupt and exceed the police powers entrusted to it seems to be not only readily available to towns and hamlets across the state …  all too often, it’s become obvious that ne’er do wells are taking advantage of this chance to rule and reign as they wish, despite the laws they are sworn to uphold.

Behind the badges of places like Covington are other locales we’ve monitored here – like police departments in Aransas Pass, Rosebud, and Cleveland, among others – it’s not just a Bad Apple but an entire system that has broken down as officers entrusted with the public good fall prey to the profits to be made from guns and drugs.

In covering the Covington story, Republic magazine is also reporting on abuses in the Texas town of Tenaha and Shelby County, as well.  Seems bad things are happening there almost simultaneously with the bad stuff up near Fort Worth.

The reality of criminal justice in the State of Texas today is that a police uniform does not necessarily carry with it the guarantee of integrity and honesty that many members of the public assume it does.   Corruption exists, and it is wise to be wary.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 1:21 pm

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Labels: Cop Watch, Corrupt Cops, Orwellian Threats to Rights


February 29th, 2012

Fort Worth Police Department Cellphone Tracking to Create Probable Cause? Cops Promise They Won’t Do It, Many are Skeptical

Police departments are supposed to get search warrants, and therefore a judge’s review and approval of their actions, before they start tracking the actions of a citizen in this country. (For details, read our website resource article on search and seizure.) However, technology has advanced to the point where it is darn easy to track someone via their cellphone, and now a Texas Police Department has purchased a cellphone tracking system.

It seems the Fort Worth Police Department bought a KingFish System awhile back, which is a cellphone tracking system that you can tote around. They spent around $184,000 for the thing.

With this gizmo, Fort Worth cops can take this KingFish to wherever they want and use it to monitor folk without their knowledge. Key: they can do this without the inconvenience of that judge and his review of things before someone’s privacy is invaded. Judges can be so picky, after all.

Paranoia? Nope. The suggestion is that the Fort Worth cops intend on doing exact that — track you or your kid or your friend with their KingFish System without anyone’s knowledge or approval comes from a City of Fort Worth Internal Memo itself.

Read the language of that memorandum and it sure sounds like Fort Worth police are planning on circumventing the search warrant (which is a constitutionally protected requirement) as they track people via their cellphones:

The police department will use the KingFish System, a portable cellphone tracking system, to assist in locating, identifying, developing probable cause and apprehending priority offenders….

Probable Cause Comes First, Not As an Afterthought

Here’s the thing: that language about the police using this gizmo in “… developing probable cause….” is scary, scary stuff. Big Brother kind of scary stuff.

Legally, we are all protected under state and federal law from the police power being exercised as it wishes. Police must act within specifically defined boundaries, and respect our freedom.

That’s why judges okay the police tracking an individual’s actions in a search warrant: the police are already supposed to have “probable cause” that evildoing is going on in order to support their request to step over that legally protected privacy right of the targeted person.

Many Are Questioning What the Fort Worth Police Department is Doing with Their Cellphone Tracking System

Already, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Texas is checking out what is going on here.  Expect them to file a lawsuit if need be.

News media are investigating the situation, as well.  It’s a big deal when law enforcement decides to dance around probable cause, after all.  Bloggers are watching, too.  Like us.  Like Grits for Breakfast.

Meanwhile, individuals should be wary if they are being investigated or are arrested in the Fort Worth area:  have they been a victim of the KingFish version of “probable cause”?

It’s a valid question for everyone in Fort Worth with a cellphone to ask.  Problem is: how would you know, until the cops had built their sandcastle of a case around you?  If you are reading this in the Fort Worth area,  via your cellphone  — does the Fort Worth Police Department know where you are, what you’re doing? How would you know?

Posted by Michael Lowe at 11:14 am

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Labels: Cop Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


January 18th, 2012

Houston District Attorney Faces Grand Jury As Truth About Inaccuracy in Tests for Drunk Driving Is Exposed in BAT Van Scandal

Here in Texas, law enforcement’s excitement over their Drunk Driving campaigns has already become pretty darn scary what with the threat to due process rights of every citizen on the road with the current 24/7 No Refusal campaigns.  To read more about them, and growing national concern over their threats to our constitutional rights, check out our earlier post for details.

Breath Tests for DWI Aren’t Reliable; BAT Vans Compound the Likelihood of Error

However, the use of roaming mobile breath test labs on Texas roadways is taking things to a higher level of threat.  These “BAT Vans” look like recreational vehicles with police department logos on the outside; on the inside, they are set up as laboratories with seats for medical technicians, cops, or nurses – as well as the lab equipment to perform drunk driving tests on the road.  To learn all about these vehicles, just visit the website for Brown Specialty Vehicles which makes and sells these things around the country.

It’s well known that these vans are conducting tests that can be flat out wrong.  Breath tests aren’t all that reliable, no matter how law enforcement pretends that they are.  However, the BAT Vans add another level of error to the whole thing:  seems the vans themselves can mess with the test results, because of electrical issues and such.  For more on how these BAT Vans can taint test results, read this post by Grits for Breakfast.

HPD Crime Lab Tech Supervisors Quit Over BAT Van Problems

Or read the testimony from this past summer, when former Houston Police Department Crime Lab worker Amanda Culbertson testified under oath that she – along with TWO OTHER technical supervisors quit their jobs (in THIS ECONOMY) because no one was respecting their complaints about serious problems with the BAT vans and their Breathalyzer results.  Culbertson explained that there were electrical, mechanical and temperature issues which might influence the test results.

Back then, Harris County District Attorney Patricia Lykos issued a media statement in response to Culbertson’s testimony: “We sponsor the crime laboratory’s scientific evidence in our prosecutions. Accordingly, we have a responsibility to ensure that the evidence was collected and analyzed properly.”

So did the Houston Police Department: “At this time, HPD is not aware of any tests being compromised due to temperatures within the BAT vans. We were alerted to past air conditioning problems within the BAT vans and have worked to correct the issue by installing rear air conditioning units in the vans. Additionally, all officers operating the BAT vans have been trained on the proper procedures to allow for air conditioners to work properly. Vans not kept at the proper temperature settings do not cause the instruments to give false readings. Instead, the instruments would not give a reading at all, thus preventing any invalid tests.”

The BAT Vans Controversy in DWI Cases – Harris County District Attorney in the Hot Seat as DA’s Office May Face Criminal Charges

Those statements may come back to haunt them now.  First, a Harris County judge heard a challenge to a Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) conviction and agreed with the defense attorney.  The judge overturned the DWI conviction because it had been based upon a BAT van lab result – and the judge found that both the Houston Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney did not reveal information about these BAT Vans to the defense.

Seems that the District Attorney’s Office and the Houston cops knew about the problems with these BAT vans and they didn’t bother telling anyone.  Like the defendant in the drunk driving case where the BAT Van was being used to convict him of driving drunk.

What made the Houston criminal court judge think there was a secret about the BAT Vans that the police and the prosecutors both knew about?  Well, seems there were emails.  And apparently other legal documents.

Grand Jury Probe Into Harris County District Attorney and HPD

A grand jury investigation began.  A special prosecutor was appointed.  And yes, the grand jury is investigating possible criminal acts by the District Attorney’s Office of Harris County.

Things got messy fast.  By November, two of the top deputies in the DA’s Office and two court reporters were subpoenaed before the Grand Jury to explain how secret grand jury testimony transcripts somehow got into their hands.

Here’s the deal: instead of hiding all this stuff, if there is a problem with the BAT Vans then the District Attorney’s Office is legally required to reveal the problem.  Their goal is suppose to be justice after all, not a winning conviction record.

The question soon became not IF there was a shared secret, but when did the police and the DA know about the BAT Van problems.  Which is why this week, Houston District Attorney Pat Lycos had to appear before the Harris County Grand Jury to testify about when she knew and what she knew about these BAT vans.

There’s more than one serious issue here.  Sneaky circumvention of a defendant’s right to a fair trial, sure.  Ignoring the oath to seek justice, sure.  However, there’s one more thing that should be important to all of us:  law enforcement has RVs roaming around, pulling people over for breath tests that are known to give flaky results … and that’s been okay over in Houston, apparently.  Couple that with the growing popularity of the 24/7 No Refusal campaigns, and you have to wonder about how endangered our due process rights are these days.

Posted by Michael Lowe at 3:01 pm

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Labels: Cop Watch, DA Watch, Orwellian Threats to Rights


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