Quantcast
Channel: Recent Criminal Law posts - Justia BlawgSearch.com
Viewing all 71805 articles
Browse latest View live

Harris County indigent defense costs up 142% over last decade, but case filings starting to drop

0
0
An email from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition last week alerted Grits to an interesting memo (pdf) from Jim Bethke of the Texas Indigent Defense Commission to a legislative staffer regarding the Harris County Public Defender Office (PDO). Bethke emphasized that there's a more formal and in-depth evaluation of the PDO coming from the Council of State Governments' Justice Center, but offered a preliminary analysis in response to the staffer's questions.Perhaps most startling, check out the numbers on cost increases for indigent defense spending over the last decade in Harris County:That's a whopping 142% total increase in indigent defense costs over the last decade, though it's interesting that the total declined slightly in 2011. Bethke suggests that decline "may be the result of greater emphasis placed on the functionality of the criminal justice system," including "alternative dispositions" and "taking greater care in case filings." But the more likely cause is a recent…

Hypothesizing reasons for continued crime declines

0
0
Reported crime including both violent and property crime continued its remarkable decline in the first half of 2011, reported the FBI:Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported a decrease of 6.4 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first 6 months of 2011 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2010. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The number of property crimes in the United States from January to June of 2011 decreased 3.7 percent when compared with data from the same time period in 2010. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Here's a table including Texas cities over 100,000 people comparing reported crime rates for the first six months of 2010 and 2011. Notably, a few towns where murders had virtually bottomed out saw significant year-to-year increases,…

Two suggestions, one radical, one modest, on prosecutorial reform

0
0
I ran across two additional, suggested approaches to reduce prosecutorial misconduct: First, here's an interesting idea for prosecutorial reform: Separate conflicting prosecutorial functions.No one likes to be inspected. Naturally, prosecutors facing trials will be tempted to mobilize the leverage that extra years of incarceration provide to avoid the inspection stage altogether by forcing pleas.In  Missouri v. Frye the Court  took belated note of this fact, recognizing a right to counsel in plea bargaining in part  because “longer sentences exist on the books largely for bargaining purposes."“This often results in individuals who accept a plea bargain receiving shorter sentences than other individuals who are less morally culpable but take a chance and go to trial.” the Court continued.Each year of incarceration that your prosecutor is now deploying to avoid trial inspection costs at least $40,000, and the money comes from the Corrections Commissioner’s…

Galveston DA drops politicized prosecution against blogger

0
0
The District Attorney in Galveston has dropped online bullying charges after a local blogger was arrested at his home last week for online criticisms of a city council candidate's spouse. This wasn't a spur of the moment charging error but a big, fat public flip flop on a politicized prosecution. "Clear Lake Shores interim police Chief Kenneth Cook said his office worked with the district attorney before charges were filed," reported the Galveston Daily News.

'Review' of death penalty doesn't diminish public demand for blood sacrifice

0
0
Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins this week revealed that his great grandfather was executed by the state of Texas. According to AP, his reference was to:the execution of his great-grandfather, Richard Johnson. According to state criminal records and news accounts, Johnson escaped from prison three times while serving a 35-year sentence for burglary, and he was charged with killing a man after his third escape. He was convicted of murder in October 1931 and executed in the electric chair in August 1932.Watkins said he did not get a full explanation of what happened until he became district attorney. His grandmother, who was a young girl when her father was executed, still struggles with the story, according to Watkins and his mother, Paula.Whether because of this reveation or coincidental to it, Watkins announced he's reconsidering his position on capital punishment, somewhat opaquely calling for a review of the death penalty in Texas. Grits must admit, I…

BSG (broke state government) seeking forensic mental health beds

0
0
Found in the want ads in the Houston Chronicle:UT Health Science Center is hiring for positions including a psychiatrist, psychologists, nurses, hospital aides (psyc techs), social workers, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, recreational therapists and a chaplain for two units they are opening in March 2012.1. Adult Forensic Detention Unit at The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center (UTHCPC): The forensic unit will treat mentally ill individuals with medicine, psychiatric and psychological treatment who have committed a criminal offense and are in jail awaiting trial.Didn't know that was happening, but perhaps it will contribute to short-term relief with the shortage of "forensic beds" at state hospitals designated for competency restoration. Relatedly, at the Dallas News Somer Ingram had a story published February 6 discussing Judge Orlinda Naranjo's yet-to-be finalized ruling (pdf) on timely admission of inmates needing competency restoration…

SCOTUS expands scope of Fourth Amendment in divided 9-0 ruling

0
0
At the US Supreme Court case this week, the opinion in US v. Jones on GPS tracking of private vehicles was a fascinating piece of jurisprudence. Ostensibly a 9-0 decision, the only thing all nine justices agreed on was the bottom line that "the decision of the Court of Appeals must be affirmed," and none of them for precisely the reasons on which the lower court based its decision!To make matters even more confusing, as Tom Goldstein pointed out at SCOTUSBlog, most of the mainstream media misinterpreted the opinion to say a warrant is required to use GPS tracking on a personal vehicle. But the ruling does not address the warrant requirement, only whether the GPS tracking constituted a "search." What's the distinction? The Fourth Amendment only bans "unreasonable" searches without a warrant, but the courts have carved out wide swaths of legal territory where warrantless searches are routinely allowed. Wrote Goldstein, "The government probably conducts fifty times as many…

On proof of innocence, reasonable doubt, and false rape accusations

0
0
Having gotten to know quite a few of Texas' DNA exonerees over the last few years working with the Innocence Prjoejct of Texas, I couldn't help but think about the outcome of their cases after reading a pair of stories out of Houston about false rape accusations. First, reports Richard Connelly at the Houston Press Hair Balls blog:"Gotcha" moments don't come more classic than the one that happened in Montgomery County recently.The Sheriff's Office blotter says two officers were called to an apartment to investigate a sexual assault."The alleged victim stated to the deputies that her 26-year-old male friend had sexually assaulted her," the report says. Fair enough, and with that friend standing in the same apartment, no big manhunt needed.Not so fast: "Upon further investigation the deputies watched a video recording the male had made that showed the female telling him that she was calling the police because he was making her leave the apartment and she would tell the police…

'Anger, fear spur prison-building boom'

0
0
In the Amarillo Globe-News, Greg Sagan has a column urging restraint in incarceration policies in the face of gaping budget shortfalls with the same title as this post. His article opens quoting a corrections official from Mississippi:"We've got to decide who we're mad with, and who we're afraid of."This quote, from Mississippi Corrections Department Commissioner Chris Epps, appeared in a recent on-line Time article that described changes in the state's prison policies. Mississippi is at a point where it must choose between the "Throw 'em in jail!" enthusiasm of the 1970s and '80s and the "OMG, we're broke!" reality of today. Texas could stand to take the hint.It's expensive to jail people. Not only is there a direct cost to society to build, staff and maintain prisons, there is also a steep and enduring loss of productivity by those incarcerated, both while they are in prison and once they are out.America's justice system, with all of its leaks, breakdowns and …

A tainted Texplanation on TSA 'groping' bill

0
0
At the Texas Tribune, their "Texplainer" column posed the question, "Is TSA 'Groping' Bill Junk Legislation?," answering in the affirmative, but in the comments Grits took exception to their reasoning. The reporters hung their hats on a quote from University of Texas law professor Robert Chesney declaring that, "'It’s a bedrock principal of the Constitution that federal law is supreme over state law." To this Grits replied:Yeah, who cares about that pesky 10th Amendment, anyway? That was clearly just a clerical error the Framers meant to edit out but forgot. (/sarcasm) The "bedrock principle" has an "except" in it that this argument fails to acknowledge. (Actually two "excepts," but nobody, and I mean NOBODY, certainly not law professors, champions the 9th Amendment anymore.) Then there's this ignorant piece of editorial flotsam: "if the federal government created a law establishing that the minimum speed limit on a highway was 65 mph but a local entity, such as the…

Senate pushing biggest cuts to TDCJ vocational ed

0
0
A recurring theme in the budget battle at the 82nd Texas Legislature is that the proposed Senate budget - which includes tapping the state's "Rainy Day Fund" - is generally more generous than its parsimonious House counterpart, though it still represents a radical cut from the last biennium. On the question of in-prison vocational funding at TDCJ's Windham School District, though, that dynamic is reversed, reports KENS-5 out of San Antonio: "the Texas House is eying plans to cut around 12 percent of Windham’s budget; Senate cuts total near 37 percent."Whichever chamber prevails, in the scheme of things this will be the second major cut to vocational ed at TDCJ in a decade. During the last major budget crunch, WISD also took a hit: "In 2003, Windham School District faced similar funding issues. The superintendent said the district reduced staff by 35 percent and the remaining employees took pay cuts."Bottom line, the question becomes whether extra incarceration costs from…

TPPF: Reinvest savings from juvie corrections merger in community-based programs

0
0
Marc Levin and Vikrant Reddy from the Texas Public Policy Foundation have an op ed out today encouraging combination of the Texas Youth Commission and Juvenile Probation Commission, with the caveat that part of the savings should be reallocated to community-based diversion programs. The legislation, SB 653, is on the Major State calendar in the House today. The column opens:Legislation that sunsets Texas’ two juvenile justice agencies could bring a brighter future for the state’s most troubled youths. The Sunset Commission has advised that the Legislature consolidate the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) and the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission (TJPC).On April 13, the Senate passed Senate Bill 653 which implements the broad contours of the Sunset Commission’s recommendation.Now, Texas House of Representatives members must seize the opportunity to further strengthen this legislation by reallocating part of the savings, enhancing community-based programs and…

'Private prison promises leave Texas towns in trouble'

0
0
You don't get something for nothingYou can't have freedom for freeYou won't get wiseWith the sleep still in your eyesNo matter what your dreams might be.- "Something for Nothing," Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, Rush, 1978 NPR's John Burnett has a terrific story this morning with the same, alliterative title as this post that focuses on a subject familiar to regular Grits readers, but which definitely deserve national attention: Private prison companies that convince local governments to construct more jail space than they need then abandon them when there's no income to cover the debt. In West Texas at the Billy Clayton facility (named after a former Texas House Speaker), Burnett reports:For the past two years, Littlefield has had to come up with $65,000 a month to pay the note on the prison. That's $10 per resident of this little city. ...To avoid defaulting on the loan, Littlefield has raised property taxes, increased water and sewer fees, laid off city employees and held off…

Waste alleged, budget cuts sought at TDCJ's Windham School District

0
0
Senate Education Committee Chair Florence Shapiro called the budget of the Windham School District, which educates Texas prisoners at 112 prison units across the state, "the biggest waste of money I think I've seen," according to reports from the Austin Statesman and the Houston Chronicle. "With the state facing a massive shortfall, members of a Senate Finance subcommittee said they can no longer justify the $65 million a year in state revenue used by the Windham School District to provide approximately 5,200 high school equivalency certificates and other vocational training programs."Writes Patricia Kilday Hart, Shapiro "zeroed in an a study by the Legislative Budget Board earlier this year examining the employment status of paroled inmates who had received vocational training. Lawmakers wondered why inmates who received the training did not seem to have much better luck finding jobs than those who did not."The sources of savings suggested: Outsourcing to community…

Who wants to help Anthony Graves get compensation?

0
0
Lisa Falkenberg at the Houston Chronicle wonders why Comptroller Susan Combs won't give compensation to Anthony Graves, noting that, "Texas' compensation law seems tailor-made for a guy like Graves, who was finally freed after nearly two decades behind bars including 12 years on death row, when it became clear he was innocent in the savage Somerville murders of a grandmother and five children." Falkenberg writes:At first, I was hesitant to jump on the bandwagon of those attacking Combs' decision. She is not an attorney or a detective. If the paperwork doesn't say "innocent," it's not her job to go out and conduct her own investigation. And broadly interpreting the statute could open the floodgates for baseless compensation claims.But, it turns out the comptroller's office has been widely inconsistent through the years in the way it has applied the versions of the compensation law, resulting in payments to some people whose cases were far less clear-cut or worthy of…

Acquitted conduct to be reviewed by SCOTUS?

0
0
In Stroud v. United States, No. 12-6877, a case from the 8th Circuit, the U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether to review the constitutionality of a sentencing court's use of acquitted conduct in federal sentencing.  Stroud is asking the Court to review United States v. Watts, 519 U.S. 148, 157 (1997), which held that "a jury's verdict of acquittal does not prevent the sentencing court from considering conduct underlying the acquitted charge, so long as that conduct has been proved by a preponderance of the evidence."According to Stroud's petition for certiorari, the issues presented in the case are as follows:1. Does the use of conduct for which petitioner was acquitted by a jury in a prior state trial to enhance petitioner’s federal sentence violate petitioner’s right to trial by jury of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution?2. Does the use of conduct for which petitioner was acquitted by a jury in a prior state trial to enhance petitioner’s…

Life After a Felony

0
0
Wherever a group of people gather, judgment follows. The people within the group are sizing each other up. And, they're passing judgment on those outside the group. But let's face it; no judgment is harsher than against those who have a felony conviction (especially a sex offense). Being a convicted felon effects not just where you can work, but also where you are permitted to live. Without work, it's hard to live (duh). We the people must balance our freedom of information about someone's criminal history, with our desire to permit all of our citizens to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. How do we do it? One simple way to get started is sealing or expunging a criminal record. Sealing and expunging is not THE answer, but it is a great start. It's mandatory. For those of you with a criminal history, there are several government entities which have the garden hose of information fully blasting your negative criminal history information out into the digital world. …

FL - Miami-Dade police officer (Prabhainjana Dwivedi) convicted in lewdness case

0
0
Prabhainjana DwivediOriginal Article02/09/2013By JESSICA DE LEONA seven-year Miami-Dade police veteran was found guilty on six of seven counts of depriving people of their civil rights. A Miami-Dade police officer, who routinely stopped women drivers without cause and engaged in lewd conversations, was convicted in federal court Friday.Prabhainjana Dwivedi, a seven-year veteran, was found guilty on six of seven counts of depriving people of their civil rights. He was found not guilty on the seventh count involving an undercover police officer. Following the ruling, U.S. District Judge Jose Martinez immediately remanded Dwivedi back into custody pending sentencing scheduled for sometime in April, according to prosecutor Karen Gilbert. The trial began Monday. Dwivedi faces up to a year in prison for each count. A grand jury indicted Dwivedi after he was arrested by FBI agents Sept. 5 at Miami-Dade police headquarters. Dwivedi, 33, was charged after an investigation into…

Riverboat gamble: Steve McCraw is betting on border security

0
0
Col. Steve McCraw of the Texas Department of Public Safety yesterday told the Senate Finance Committee that his agency is currently short of budgeted capacity by around 400 state troopers, with 10-15 more leaving every month. In addition, a consultant has advised they'd need a "minimum" of 1,043 more troopers, even, than are currently budgeted to provide comprehensive traffic enforcement, though he acknowledged he'd be laughed out of the capitol if he came in asking for that many new troopers when the agency can't staff its current allotment.The reason the state can't fill its cadet classes, said Col. McCraw, is primarily low pay compared to urban Texas jurisdictions. Sen. John Whitmire grilled him regarding whether there were other ways to reduce those vacancies besides raising trooper pay by $52.9 million, which is the first item on the agency's budget wish list. McCraw insisted "no," nothing else would do it. In addition to poaching by other, higher paying law enforcement…

STALLINGS V. STATE - A12A1929: Gauging the Influence of Objectionable Evidence Presented to a Jury

0
0
Stallings v. State (2013) - Georgia Court of Appeals At 1:00 a.m. on March 26, 2011, a DeKalb County Police Officer responded to a call about a driver asleep at the wheel of an intersection. Upon reaching the intersection, the officer saw Dominique Stallings' vehicle, which fit the description, parked irregularly in a nearby parking lot. When the officer made contact he noticed that Stallings was visibly intoxicated: his eyes were glassy, his clothes disheveled, and there was an odor of alcohol on his breath. The keys were in the ignition. Stallings failed field sobriety tests and was arrested for DUI. He consented to a state-administered breath test and blew a .212 BAC. At trial Stallings was convicted of DUI per se. He appealed his conviction, contending that there was insufficient evidence to prove his guilt and that the trial court erred in allowing inadmissible hearsay evidence. Citing, primarily, Stephens v. State, 271 Ga. App. 634 (610 SE2d 613) (2005), Howard v. State,…
Viewing all 71805 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images