This week, law enforcement officers in Paris, Texas, were videotaped in a prime example of police brutality after stopping Cornelius Gill and his friend. The video has received national coverage online (HuffPo) and on television (CBS News), which provides us all with this telling, and disturbing tale:

As Whitmire explained to the media, “You need to be selective about where you want to get caught drinking, I guess.”

Driving Drunk? Better to Get Caught in Houston than New Braunfels

State Senator Whitmire is pointing the finger at how nonsensical the current DUI system is, telling the media,  “Why would the state of Texas have a criminal-justice system in Houston that will completely allow you to have no record, and in the New Braunfels experience, you do (have a record), and then you go to Bexar County and they don’t even file on you (for) DWI the first time?”

Houston DWI Practices

Over in Houston, the Harris County District Attorney has established a DWI program where first-timers pleading guilty to a DWI offense will be given a probated sentence, as well as mandatory alcohol treatment, community service, and one of those alcohol-testing ignition lock gizmos.  Do everything right, and the first timer’s conviction disappears.  Nothing on their driving record.   

Skip over to New Braunfels, Different Story

That’s the truth of it:  drive under the influence in Harris County, and you’ll walk away with zip on your record.  Do the exact same thing in New Braunfels, about 20 miles north of San Antonio on IH 35, and you’ll have a blight on your driving record for years to come. 

You get pulled over in New Braunfels for driving while intoxicated, and you’re gonna get a DWI on your record.  Which is a big deal, of course.  (Remember this at Wurstfest in November, the huge German sausage festival held in New Braunfels every year.)  

Whitmore points to unfairness of “checkerboard” DUI system coupled with the current legal surcharges.

Whitmire’s doing two things.  He’s blowing the lid off the various DUI prosecutorial treatments that exist in different parts of the state.  And, he’s calling for the Texas Legislature to repeal the Driver Responsibility Program.

We’ve written about these surcharges before.  There not cheap, and they’re not getting paid.  Currently, for a DWI conviction, the surcharge is $1,000 a year for three years for a first conviction; $1,500 a year for the second; and $2,000 a year for any conviction with a blood-alcohol content of 0.16 or greater.  You don’t pay, and your license gets suspended. 

All that means, of course, is that people who can’t afford to pay the surcharge just drive anyway – with a suspended license – hoping they won’t get caught. 

Can Whitmire Really Change Things from the Current DWI Unfairness?

John Whitmire is trying to change things.  Can he?  Well, Whitmire is becoming a congressional spokesperson for the blatant injustices that exist in the DWI / DUI system in Texas today.  He’s also using his position as Committee Chairman to create a group of experts to come up with recommendations for a truly uniform way of dealing with suspected drunk drivers in all the various 200+ Texas Counties.

What’s really going on here is District Attorneys trying to find creative ways to deal with budget problems and a huge backlog of drunk driving cases on their books.  So, it’s really about money.  Surprise. 

Will Whitmire be bold enough to address THAT elephant in the room?  We’ll see ….

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.

So, the goat decided to get out there, and have an adventure.  It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and he’d heard wonderful things about something called a CrunchWrap Supreme.   The goat told his buddies “adios” and ventured forth.

Now, here’s what happened according to hundreds of media reports, coming from all around the world ….

The citizens of Odessa first spotted the Adventurous Goat on 42nd Street, as he headed into the Taco Bell parking lot.  Terrified, someone called the cops and soon, four (yes, 4) Odessa law enforcement officers, two animal control officers, and one off-duty cop on a motorcycle were all rallying to action.  They would catch the fiendish goat.

Media reports are that the Adventurous Goat led the 4 on-duty cops, the motorcycle cop, and the 2 animal control guys (that’s 7 men, if you’re counting) from 42nd Street, through the Taco Bell parking lot, thru Memorial Gardens Park, into the UT-Permian Basin campus over to where the dorms are located.  There were no confirmations of any goat-led panty raids going on.  Traffic control was on the alert, and the Adventurous Goat was nearly corraled by brave Texas cop Randy Vest, who told reporters that he and A.G. had a standoff in a campus alley, but the wiley goat got away.

Finally, as all stories must, the Adventurous Goat’s Big Adventure came to an end.   Spotted near the intersection of JBS Parkway and Highway 80, animal control brought him down with a tranquilizer gun, and took the unconscious goat into their custody. 

We do not know when the owner came to claim his goat, but we do know that the infamous Texas Criminal Justice System has one more international story now, upon which to build its reputation.  Zowie.

All that bad, bad “Public Humiliation”

Well, last week Judge Berchelmann issued his ruling and you can read about it online at the Judicial Commission site (or download it as a pdf). And, boy howdy.  Judge Keller wins the round.

According to Judge Berchelmann, “Although Judge Keller’s conduct on that day was not exemplary, she did not engage in conduct so egregious that she should be removed from office, …[and should not receive] …. further reprimand beyond the public humiliation she has surely suffered.”

All those “Unwritten Rules”

Judge Berchelmann writes that Justice Keller did not violate any written or “unwritten” rule of procedure for this high court.  Then he discusses the rotation of the judge on duty for after-hours communications with the Court of Criminal Appeals.  Which we all know is important since they deal with last minute Death Row motions — like the one that caused all this controversy in the first place.  The duty judge business should looks like an “unwritten rule” ….

Read Page 7 of Berchelmann’s Opinion - Waffle, Waffle

It sure looks like Berchelmann found an “unwritten rule” here, too, though he fails to acknowledge it.  On page 7, (in section IV) he’s talking about the “oral tradition” that one justice would be the “point person for anything related to the case.”  Oral tradition, unwritten rule.  Potato, po-tah-toe.

And get this — in the very same paragraph where he’s discussing this “oral tradition” and how Justice Cheryl Johnson had been assigned as the point person for the Richard case, he uses the word “rule” to describe this internal court procedure.  Duoh.

Judge Berchelmann – Opinion or Argument?

Read Berchelmann’s product for yourself, and form your own conclusions.  See if you agree that what you’ve read is not a judicial determination of the facts surrounding these events, but instead a judge’s own argument to the Judicial Commission as to how it should rule.  The “factfinding” found in Section IV on page 7 does not comport with his determination that Justice Keller has done nothing wrong by his own standard of obedience to the “unwritten rules” of the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Public Humiliation, Indeed

One thing he’s got right here, and that this circumstance reeks of public humiliation.  Public humiliation on the national front of our state’s criminal justice system, and now our internal attempts to bring our judiciary to task, as well.

What is “psychological violence” for the French?

It’s pretty much everything you’d think might happen during a domestic dispute.  Runs the gamut between threats of physical violence, all the way over to repetitively being rude about a partner’s appearance. 

Yes, this does mean that it will be a crime in France to tell your wife that she DOES look fat in those jeans, if you say it more than once.  It’s considered verbally abusive, it’s illegal.   

The law goes into effect later this year.  No news on how the heck the French plan on enforcing this law, nor how they plan on insuring that a spouse doesn’t lie just to get their partner in trouble.  Imagine this at the crime scene:

“Officer, he said I looked fat in these jeans over and over again.  Sniff, sniff.”

“I did not.”

“Mais oui, you did.”

“Did not!”

“Oui!”

“Non!”

Yeah, those French.  They’ve got some serious criminal crises to deal with over there.

There are two newstories JUST THIS WEEK about drunk cops in car crashes, one out of Fort Worth and one from San Antonio. 

In Fort Worth, a woman was killed shortly after 2 o’clock in the morning when she pulled in front of an oncoming patrol car on a street with a designated 35 mph speed limit.  Guess this poor woman didn’t think that some intoxicated police officer would be hauling down the road at twice the legal speed limit…. The victim of the crash, Sonia Baker, was only 27 years old.  The cop, Jesus Cisneros, was ten years older and had a blood alcohol count of 0.17% — over TWICE the legal limit of 0.08%.  Wow.

This week in San Antonio, at 8:45 pm in the evening, a pickup truck careened across highway US 90 West, narrowly missing 4 cars of oncoming eastbound traffic, and slammed into the Blue Ribbon Housing-Fleetwood manufactured home fenced sales lot.   Driven by Sargeant Tom Alonzo of the San Antonio Police Department, there were no human injuries in this accident other than the ones that the driver himself sustained.  Riding in the truck’s cab with Sgt. Alonzo was his pal Joe Gonzalez. 

And while the eyewitness — Jason Costo of Blue Ribbon — reports that both were acting drunk (unsteady on their feet, reeking of alcohol), no charges have been pressed so far against Sgt. Alonzo for driving drunk.  Interestingly, Alonzo had a friend pick him up from the scene before any law enforcement could get there.  (Costo called the cops.)

Homicide detective Jose Trevino of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department has told the media that their offices will not charge Alonzo because no one was hurt and the truck’s passenger — pal Joe — says that the driver wasn’t doing anything wrong, and they’re assuming it could be a mechanical malfunction that caused the pickup to veer over the highway ….

And here’s where things veer off. 

In Fort Worth, officer Cisneros not only quit his job, he has been charged with intoxication manslaughter with bond set at $25,000 (he’s free on bond right now). 

In San Antonio, nothing’s happened to officer Alonzo.  Smart enough to leave the scene before the cops could get there (isn’t there something wrong with that?), and lucky enough that those 4 cars got out of his way as he crossed over their eastbound lanes on US90West, Alonzo’s BAC wasn’t tested and isn’t known. Bexar County Sheriffs aren’t doing any investigation.  The San Antonio Police Department is reporting that they are double-checking things out, tho.  Well, hooray for that, right? 

Oh, and by the way, Alonzo is the second officer within the past 30 days – out of the same unit in the department, the SAPD’s Tactical Response Unit – to face allegations of driving drunk and crashing.  Fellow SAPD Officer Winder Morales was charged with DUI right before Thanksgiving after crashing a car, yes, on that same highway: U.S. 90 West.

Be careful out there.

Huntsville Inmate Arcade Joseph Comeaux Escaped Last Week

Last week, Comeaux escaped as he was being transported by bus from the Huntsville prison to Beaumont, where he would be near to medical treatment facilities in Galveston for his purported stroke that had left him paralyzed. Comeaux – despite being handcuffed and shackled to his wheelchair – pulled a pistol on the two guards accompanying him, and after firing a warning shot, successfully ordered the two guards to handcuff themselves together, in the back of the bus.  Comeaux took their guns (he now had three), dressed himself in one of their uniforms, and walked away.  That’s right – walked.  He’d been conning everyone that he couldn’t use his legs, apparently pretty convincingly. 

National Media Coverage of The Big Bus Escape

Combine a record like Comeaux’s and the circumstances of his escape, and sure ’nuff you’ve got the national media hounds pouring into the state.  CNN detailed Comeaux’s 30 year prison record.  America’s Most Wanted acted fast, with Comeaux being a focus of their December 5th episode — six days after his escape.  Lots of questions were being asked about how this guy could free himself from the clutches of the Texas Department of Corrections. 

Comeaux got caught and now he’s squealing.

Freedom didn’t last long for Arcade Comeaux.  He was caught within two weeks of running – a salesman called in a tip to 911 about a strange man loitering in the lobby of a Houston business.  The Houston cops responded, and Comeaux was arrested and taken into custody without incident. 

According to media reports Comeaux was cold, wet, tired, hungry — and barefoot.  There were reports he was still wearing the duds he’d taken from the bus guard when he walked away on November 30th.  Even the New York Times reported on the capture.

After Capture, Comeaux Starts An Even Bigger NewsStory – He Had Help From the Inside

Lots of folk probably thought that the story ended in Houston when the manhunt was over.  Sounds reasonable, right?  But noooo.  Arcade had just began earning his plug (with a tip of the hat to Jay Leno). 

Comeaux met with a local community activist, Quanell X at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office and here’s where the Big Story begins. According to Arcade Comeaux, staff of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice got the gun to him that he used on the bus.  (Someone on the inside sold it to him, but the price hasn’t been reported.)  They helped Comeaux hide it there in his Huntsville cell until he got an opportunity to use it.  And, once he was on the lam, he got help from a criminal network connected to the prison system – staying in safehouses and the like. 

Comeaux told the activist that he was part of a group planning a larger escape, but he got antsy and decided to make a break for it himself.  (Riding that bus and getting nearer to a hospital team that might blow the whistle on his fake paralysis might have been a factor — but that hasn’t been substantiated.)

Oh, and Comeaux gave Quanell X names of those who helped him — identifying members of this Secret Network inside the TDCJ. 

Texas Department of Criminal Justice Responds – Comeaux Just Pulling Another Con

At the get-go, the  TDCJ Inspector General John Moriarty has stepped up to the plate and said that while all of this will be investigated,  it is his opinion that Comeaux is a liar.  Moriarty points to how he was wearing the same clothes for eight days as belaying the existence of any criminal network. 

But that doesn’t explain the gun that an inmate had on a prison bus.  It doesn’t explain how he faked being handicapped for all that time while in lock up, either. 

Enter the Texas Rangers, the Texas Legislature, and the Lt. Governor

This week, two Texas Rangers met with Arcade Comeaux.  So did State Senator John Whitmire (D-Houston), chairman of the Texas Senate’s Criminal Justice Committee.  

Senator Whitmire should be pretty interested in a full investigation of prison smuggling — as you’ll recall, it was State Senator John Whitmire who was threatened last year by a Texas Death Row inmate who was using a smuggled cellphone. 

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has formally requested that Whitmire’s committee hold hearings investigating how various items of contraband (including Arcade’s gun) get smuggled into these lock-down facilities.  Dewhurst has also requested legislative investigation into how Comeaux could con so many law enforcement officials that he was an invalid, needing a wheelchair.  (This is especially interesting since Dewhurst already has two year old video from the prison showing Comeaux could walk.)

Let’s all watch this story and see what happens.  Looks like this is just beginning and who knows how big this story may get ….

The DA’s wife is a paid political consultant for 7 criminal court judges and the media is asking questions

However, the Dallas Morning News is disturbed because the wife of our current District Attorney is acting as a paid political consultant - i.e., working on the election campaigns – for seven judges who hear criminal cases in Dallas County.  Since Craig Watkins is the head prosecutor in Dallas, even if he isn’t personally in a courtroom on a particular day in front of one of these judges, one of his underlings is. 

And the media is suspicious about Tanya Watkins being involved in campaigning for folk who rule on cases her husband is prosecuting.  They’re wondering about it… as are others. 

Picture it. 

There’s the judge.  He’s paying a nice chunk of change to the wife of the attorney setting in front of him, arguing for a conviction on behalf of the state, so that the wife can get him re-elected.  Does that judge hypothetically have a reason to favor the prosecution? 

Now, Tanya’s campaign work for these judges has been okayed by the Texas Commission for Judicial Conduct. 

In an email that DA Watkins sent to his Republican opponent –not Gromer Jeffers and Jennifer Emily of the Dallas Morning News who are covering this story and bringing it to the public’s attention — Watkins points out that his wife has the okey-dokey of the TCJC.  Nuff said, right?

Well, maybe not.  Long ago in this state we had something we took seriously:  the idea that lawyers and judges both should avoid even the appearance of impropriety in order to keep up public respect and confidence in our efforts. 

Does the above scenario comport with avoiding the appearance of impropriety?  Many are arguing it does not. 

Perhaps Mrs. Watkins would have been wise to take her honed campaigning skills – learned from her husband’s own winning political runs – and used them in legislative and executive races.  Anything but the judiciary that has direct contact with her husband.  

Because by not doing so, this may well become a true Pandora’s box ….

For years and years, Michael Toney — who had no connection with the victims that was ever found, and who had no physical evidence connecting him to the crime – wrote everyone he could about his innocence.  He didn’t know who put a briefcase with a bomb inside on the Blount’s front stoop, but Michael Toney knew he hadn’t done it. 

Dead Man Walking on Texas Death Row

Few listened, few believed him.  He was the proverbial dead man walking as he spent his days awaiting execution on Texas’ Death Row. 

Amazing Revelation: Prosecutors Withheld Critical Evidence

And then an amazing thing happened.  It was revealed that the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office had withheld 14 pieces of evidence during Toney’s trial that were key to his defense.  They just didn’t share them with the other side.

With obvious chagrin, Tarrant County prosecutors turned the case over to the Attorney General for the State of Texas.  Suddenly, Michael Toney had hope.

Toney’s Case is Overturned – Michael Toney is a Free Man

And then, just last December it happened.  Michael Toney’s execution was overturned.  After some legal wrangling by the AG’s office, Michael Toney walked out of prison a free man on September 2, 2009.

Within One Month of His Release, Toney Is Dead

No one knows much about what happened between September 2nd and October 3rd.  Michael Toney took up residence in Jacksonville.  What we do know is that it was foggy that Saturday morning.  Michael Toney was out driving his pick up truck on a Texas farm to market road near to Jacksonville, when something happened.  The pickup went off the road and rolled over, throwing Toney from the vehicle.  There are rumors of alcohol being involved, but nothing is certain.   

Michael Toney’s Dies One Month After He’s Freed

So, just one month after Michael Toney walked from Texas Death Row into a second chance at life, he died on a foggy October morning all alone, in car crash.  Sure does make you wonder.

There are reports that the bombing victims’ family opine that Toney may not have died in the wreck, though the Texas Department of Public Safety seems pretty sure that Toney is indeed the one who died that day. 

Is Anyone Else Thinking that Michael Toney’s Death is Suspicious?

What hasn’t been reported yet is the possibility that Toney might have been a victim of someone’s thwarted vengence.  There were a great many folk who refused to believe in Michael Toney’s innocence, and this foggy single car motor vehicle accident should get more than its fair share of CSI treatment. 

Criminal law may make one suspicious, but surely there are some folk out there wondering if there is something rotten in Denmark about this accidental death ….