Category Archives: Orwellian Threats to Rights
Do You Have Any Privacy From the Police in Texas? Laredo vs. Dallas
If you watched the CBS crime show “Hawaii Five-O” last week, you saw the elite police squad use a device that allowed them to see through the walls of a building and view not only the location of the kidnapping victim but also the location and movements of her captors. The gizmo read the heat…
Forfeiture Funds are Back as Equitable Sharing Program Gears Up in Dallas County and State of Texas
Back in March, the Department of Justice issued a news release that had to have been met with lots of joy in law enforcement offices all over the State of Texas: the “Equitable Sharing Program” was back, effective immediately! Both the March 28, 2016 Letter Sent by the Department of Justice to State, Local, and…
Privacy of Your Smart Phone: Police Search and Seizure and Apple’s Fight Against the FBI
There is a huge privacy fight going on this month up in Washington regarding privacy and your smart phone, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wants access to all the data that is setting encrypted on the iPhone taken by the local police in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shootings. Some may argue…
Prosecutorial Misconduct in Texas Murder Trials: Prosecutors Fighting Against Misconduct Allegations
Prosecutors in Texas doing bad things is a serious problem – and one that is slow to be corrected. We’ve discussed this issue in case after case, coming from all parts of the state, for several years now. For past examples, read our posts including: August 2015: District Attorneys Keep Doing Bad Things: More Texas…
Grand Jury in Texas: Defending Witnesses and Targets of Grand Jury Investigations
You read about grand juries all the time: just this month, there was national news coverage in the Tamir Rice case, because there was no indictment; the grand jury voted against it. Another example: in the Sandra Bland case, there was an indictment because the grand jury voted for it – after the grand jury…
Prosecutorial Misconduct in Texas Alert: Ethical Rules Held to Have Broader Duty Than Brady to Turn Over Exculpatory Evidence to the Defense
Back in November 2014, a State Bar of Texas Grievance Committee ruled that a Denton County assistant district attorney named William (”Bill”) Schultz had violated the ethical rules that all Texas attorneys are sworn to uphold. Not only that, but more: he had committed a serious ethics violation and his unethical conduct deserved suspension from…
Former Dallas Criminal Judge Etta Mullin Gets Bigger Discipline After She Appeals Public Admonition by Judicial Commission
Around the hallways of the Dallas County Courthouse, you can hear many a war story about appearing in the courtroom of Dallas County Criminal Court No. 5 when the Honorable Etta Mullin presided on its bench. If you didn’t have your own personal experience to share, there were lots of criminal defense lawyers (and other…
Waco Justice? 100 Days After Twin Peaks Biker Arrests, Things Look Fishy to Criminal Defense
Today, the Dallas Morning News published an editorial calling for the end of the gag order down in Waco which prevents law enforcement and state authorities — much less anyone else — from revealing information about the May 17, 2015 shootout involving lots of bikers and motorcycle club members at the Twin Peaks restaurant in…
District Attorneys Keep Doing Bad Things: More Texas Prosecutorial Misconduct Stories
The problem of prosecutors doing bad things like hiding evidence and introducing unreliable (or false) testimony isn’t getting better. Recently, the Daily Beast published an expose on prosecutorial misconduct in the United States, labeling the problem a national epidemic. You can read their take on things in the article written by Jay Michaelson and published…
Bite Mark Evidence Isn’t Reliable But It’s Still Used Against Defendants in Texas
Lots of criminal defense attorneys have their fingers crossed here in Texas, hoping that sooner rather than later everyone is going to acknowledge and understand that bite mark evidence isn’t worthy of respect much less use in a criminal case where someone’s freedom is in jeopardy. For many years, defense lawyers have recognized that evidence…
