The Texas First Court of Appeals at Houston recently considered another instance of ongoing prosecutor and trial level judicial resistance to protecting criminal defendant's right to confront witnesses against him, as guaranteed by the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This Confrontation Clause case could just as likely come up to the Texas Court of Appeals at Dallas through a Dallas County trial court, and whether it would be via Dallas or Houston, the State of Texas through the Harris County District Attorney has already filed a petition for discretionary review in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals --the highest court to review criminal cases in Texas-- asking that Court to reverse the decision of the lower Court of Appeals.
In this case, the State presented as evidence the defendant's disciplinary records from prison and probation reports. The defense counsel protested the admittance of those records, which contained detailed descriptions of events as witnessed by the law enforcement personnel who prepared the records. Because the records reflected the subjective, personal views of the law enforcements agents and because those agents did not testify at trial, the defendant's right to cross-examine witnesses against him was violated.
The Houston Court emphasized that these types of records were precisely what the Court of Criminal Appeals had banned in a case in 2005. Even after the Court of Criminal Appeals hands down a decision, the lower appellate courts must remain alert for attempts to circumvent that decision to ensure protection of defendants' rights. The Harris County District Attorney would interpret the prior cases differently. The Court of Criminal Appeals could accept review in order to agree with the Court of Appeals, even though the District Attorney is the one requesting review.
STATE WANTS HIGH COURT REVIEW OF HOLDING THAT PROBATION AND PRISON RECORDS CANNOT SUBSTITUTE FOR LIVE WITNESS TESTIMONY
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ESTADO QUIERE TRIBUNAL SUPERIOR DE DECIR QUE LOS REGISTROS DEL GOBIERNO SOBRE LA LIBERTAD CONDICIONAL Y COMPORTAMIENTO EN CÁRCEL PUEDE UTILIZARSE EN LUGAR DEL TESTIMONIO EN VIVO
La Corte Primera de Apelaciones en Houston Texas consideró recientemente otro ejemplo de la resistencia judicial de la fiscalía y juezes del juicio en curso para proteger el derecho del acusado a confrontar a los testigos en su contra, como lo garantiza la Cláusula de Confrontación de la Sexta Enmienda de la Constitución. Este caso Cláusula Confrontación tan probable podría llegar a la Corte de Apelaciones de Texas, en Dallas a través de un tribunal de primera instancia del condado de Dallas, y si sería a través de Dallas o Houston, estado de Texas a través del Fiscal de Distrito del Condado de Harris ya ha presentado una petición de revisión discrecional de la Corte de Apelaciones penal -el más alto tribunal de Texas para revisar los casos criminales en Texas- pidiendo que la Corte para revertir la decisión de la Corte de Apelaciones del menor.
En este caso, el Estado presentó como prueba los expedientes disciplinarios de la parte demandada en los informes de prisiones y libertad condicional. El abogado defensor protestó por la admisión de esos registros, que contiene una descripción detallada de los acontecimientos como lo demuestran los agentes del orden público que prepararon los registros. Debido a que los registros reflejan los puntos de vista subjetivos y personales de los agentes del orden y porque los agentes no prestaron testimonio en el juicio, se violó el derecho del acusado a interrogar a los testigos de cargo.
El Tribunal Houston destacar que estos tipos de registros eran precisamente lo que el Tribunal de Apelaciones en lo Penal había prohibido en un caso en 2005. Incluso después de que el Tribunal de Apelaciones en lo Penal de dictarse sentencia, los tribunales de apelación inferiores deben permanecer alerta ante los intentos de eludir la decisión de garantizar la protección de los derechos de los acusados. El Fiscal de Distrito del Condado de Harris interpretaría los casos anteriores de manera diferente. El Tribunal de Apelaciones en lo Penal podía aceptar examen a fin de ponerse de acuerdo con el Tribunal de Apelaciones, a pesar de que el fiscal de distrito es el que solicite la revisión.
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Leonard Peltier, 38 Years A Detainee: How Did We Get Here?
Amnesty has serious concerns about the fairness of Leonard Peltier's trial.
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Developers Indicted for Running an Alleged Scheme to Defraud Lenders
Samuel R. VanSickle, a/k/a Donald Blunt, Jacob Aiken, Allen Helms, Paul Walsh, and William Hall, Attorney, 49, Accident, Maryland, and Louis W. Strosnider, III, 47, Oakland, Maryland, have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges related to a $3.7 million bank fraud conspiracy. According to the six count indictment, Samuel R. VanSickle and […]
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Can Google Glass Help Lawyers and Law Enforcement Officers?
The photo accompanying this post shows me with Google Glass, a wearable computing device. UNC has a pair and I’m testing them for a couple days to help me think about whether such devices might be useful for us or for the government officials with whom we work. This post summarizes my initial impressions. What’s […]
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Effective Heritage analysis of federal MMs and statutory reform proposals
Earlier this week, the Heritage Foundation published this effective and informative Legal Memorandum titled "Reconsidering Mandatory Minimum Sentences: The Arguments for and Against Potential Reforms." I plan to have the students in my Sentencing class read this memo, which was...
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Robinson on Proximate Cause in the Model Penal Code
Paul H. Robinson (University of Pennsylvania Law School) has posted The Model Penal Code's Conceptual Error on the Nature of Proximate Cause, and How to Fix it on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The Model Penal Code reconceptualized proximate cause...
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Failing To Clean Car Windshield Can Result in a Traffic Ticket
Area high school students have teamed up with local law enforcement to spread awareness of an issue that has been plaguing high school parking lots and busy streets – Driving without cleaning off the snow from all car windows. Students at Prior Lake High School are working with the Prior Lake Police to inform the […]The post Failing To Clean Car Windshield Can Result in a Traffic Ticket appeared first on The Appelman Law Firm Law Blog
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Science Thursday - February 13, 2014
The Boston Bar Association (BBA) Drug Lab Crisis Task Force released a report that praises the response to recent Massachusetts crime lab issues but warns that significant reforms are still needed to prevent future problems. The BBA, a membership organization of about 10,000 attorneys in the Commonwealth, created a task force in 2012 to study how faking test results and tampering with samples occurred at a Department of Public Health crime lab. The report found that prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges have made great efforts to deal with more than 1,100 cases that were dismissed or not prosecuted because of tainted evidence. Additionally, the takeover of two different crime labs by the state police, implementation of various audits, and the decision to move toward accreditation were also noted as beneficial steps. But, the task force found that the various steps fall short of preventing similar issues in the future, noting that such measures "have not fully addressed the larger issues we have identified," according to task force Chair Michael Ricciuti. One noteworthy recommendation from the BBA report is that the Commonwealth should create an independent audit process and oversight structure to review the performance of drug labs and any other forensic services. Audits should permit confidential reporting of poorly performing co-workers as well as access to all internal and external complaints made in regards to forensic services. Such a process would augment the quality assurance system for crime labs in Massachusetts. Another promising suggestion from the BBA is to improve the current Forensic Science Advisory Board (FSAB) to include a diversity of stakeholders. Currently, the FSAB is limited to various officials or their designees from organizations that are involved in investigating or prosecuting cases or management of personnel at crime labs. To ensure the FSAB respects a diversity of opinions, the BBA recommends that the composition of the FSAB be changed through legislation that would require more scientists and representatives from the defense bar. The report from the BBA's Drug Lab Crisis Task Force is an excellent resource for Massachusetts to consider as it works to improve the reliability of forensic evidence and increases its oversight. These recommendations come from a different set of stakeholders and can be easily implemented, resulting in steps that can hopefully prevent future widespread errors to occur.
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Godspeed Taxi Driver Facing 15 Charges in Connection with Alleged Rape
Robert Hezekiah Prescott, a 38-year-old Kalamazoo taxi driver who works for Godspeed Taxi, is facing trial for the alleged sexual assault of a woman who used his cab service on January 12 of this year, according to news reports at Mlive.com. Court documents indicate Prescott was bound over for trial last month. The alleged victim, […]
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NH - 4 women accused New London police chief (David Seastrand) of making sexual propositions. Attorney General says he did nothing wrong?
David SeastrandOriginal Article
See the video at the link above. The video below is a different report on the same issue.
02/12/2014
By Heather Hamel
NEW LONDON - New documents have been...
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Arrested for Cat Poop?
Federal Crime: Mailing Injurious Articles Via The United States Postal Service Looking for a job can be a drag, especially when you feel overcome by constant rejection. If you find yourself feeling spiteful and frustrated with a lack of employment opportunities, don’t do what Jevons Brown, a 58 year old vet from […]The post Arrested for Cat Poop? appeared first on .
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FL - Questions Linger Over Jimmy Ryce Act's Prevention Of Violence
Original Article
02/13/2014
By RICK STONE
Juan Carlos Chavez's inadvertent legacy to the people of Florida was a piece of legislation now known as the Jimmy Ryce Act, in honor of the nine-year-old...
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Feds to appeal probation sentence given to tax-dodging Beanie Babies billionaire
As reported in this new AP article, the "U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said Thursday that it's appealing a sentence that included no prison time for the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies for hiding at least $25 million from U.S....
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"Why Mass Shootings Haven't Ushered In a New Age of Gun Control"
From Reason.com, this discussion of a paper by Josh Blackman and Shelby Baird. In part: A widely covered mass murder typically produces a period of "emotional capture," which frequently (though not always) includes greater public support for new gun controls....
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Motor vehicle accident in California injured 2
Negligence is often the biggest cause of many senseless accidents that occur every day across the United States. Negligence can lead to reckless driving and can sometimes put those who are near the negligent driver in danger. Serious accidents are...
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FL - Sexual predator bills package sails through House Appropriations
Original Article
02/12/2014
By James Call
While state corrections officials prepared to execute the man found to have committed the notorious 1995 murder of 9-year-old Jimmy Ryce, the House...
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TX - Former Longview officer (Leland Carver) arrested on child sex assault charge
Leland CarverOriginal Article
02/13/2014
By Sarah Thomas
A former Longview police officer was arrested Wednesday afternoon on charges he sexually assaulted a child in late December.
Leland Thomas...
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CT - Sex Offenders at the Polls
Original Article
02/13/2014
By Len Besthoff
They have every right to be there in Connecticut once they have served their sentences. But some voting districts have raised concerns.
A state...
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PA - Carbondale sued over Megan's Law ordinance
Justin TaylorOriginal Article
02/13/2014
By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER
A former Carbondale man forced from his home because his son is registered under Megan's Law is suing the city and the mayor,...
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