From a recent PC affidavit:
Continue Reading...…The tin contained four marijuana roaches and 6 small round pills with 2530 on one side and the letter v on the other. [Jamie’s client] said that the pills were Klonopin. I asked [Jamie’s client] if she had a prescription for Klonopin and she said she did not.
The pills were identified as Clonazepam via the Epocrates iPhone Pill Identification Application.
I don’t care how stupid it is for the governmenr to criminalize marijuana, it’s stupid times moronic to post YouTube videos online called “How To Smoke” starring your teenage sons:
Continue Reading...You never know who's watching online.
[The defendant] was arrested earlier this month after Sarpy County Sheriff's investigators connected him to about 90 "how-to-smoke-marijuana" videos on YouTube that also feature his sons.
As usual, I’m missing something. In today’s front page story, “Photo From Death Row A Sign Of Inmates Online”:
Continue Reading...A condemned San Antonio law enforcement killer sent a photo of himself out of Texas' death row two years ago using a smuggled cell phone, officials said Tuesday.
A recent comment led me to one of my first ever posts, one about the Gateway Theory of drug use. For those unaware of the fallacy, it goes like this: many/most/almost all hard drug users started with softer drugs like marijuana, therefore marijuana causes harder drug use. It is the gateway to cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, etc.
My post concluded with:
Continue Reading...Let’s ignore for now the refutation that a higher percentage of cocaine and heroin addicts consumed alcohol than marijuana, and we all “know” that alcohol use does not cause cocaine or heroin addiction… (since many readers, like me, are occasional alcohol consumers who have never tried cocaine or heroin)
Can’t remember the last time a one sentence per curiam opinion was such good news. Here’s the entire opinion in Briscoe v. Virginia:
PER CURIAM.
We vacate the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia and remand the case for further proceedings not inconsistent with the opinion in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 557 U. S. ___ (2009).
It is so ordered.
Whew!
S: (n) phylactery, tefillin ((Judaism) either of two small leather cases containing texts from the Hebrew Scriptures (known collectively as tefillin); traditionally worn (on the forehead and the left arm) by Jewish men during morning prayer)
Phylactery comes from the Greek verb φυλάσσειν which means to guard or to protect.
Continue Reading...Despite the title of this post, which is a quote from the Special Master’s findings of fact before the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, this report will surely be trumpeted by the pro-death penalty crowd as exonerating Judge Keller.
And why wouldn’t it be? It comes pretty close to giving her a clean bill of health, and recommends no sanctions especially in light of the “public humiliation she has already suffered”. I have my doubts that she is doing anything other than laughing all the way to the bench, but maybe she has learned something. Hard to believe since with hindsight she claimed, under oath, that she wouldn’t do anything differently.
Mostly I find it impossible to read the decision(and I’m not sure that’s even the right word for it) without some sense of sorrow. Is this what it has come to? After we kill a man, it’s just petty bickering about who is to blame for not doing this and not thinking about that soon enough? The decision boils down to this: "So what about Keller, his lawyers should have done a better job".
I’ve asked it before: should we kill a man because his lawyer made a mistake?
An out of town felony probationer, who was charged with misdemeanor shoplifting, who had just a few weeks left before completing said probation, called me nearly in tears asking me whether or not I thought the probation might expire before “they” found out about the potential new arrest.
Continue Reading...This morning, my all time unique-IP address count of visitors reads 513,432, so I missed the mark by a week or two. Serves me right for not paying enough attention to my blog as of late.
…is a really good criminal defense lawyer. Don’t you just love it?
Via Pete:
Concerning the actions of the officers involved in the death of Jonathan Ayers on Sept. 1, 2009, we find that the use of deadly force by Agent Billy Shane Harrison was legally justified based upon his objectively reasonable belief that such use of force was necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or others,” a statement signed by the grand jurors read.
“Based upon this finding, we the Grand Jury believe that the officers involved in this incident would be immune from criminal prosecution pursuant to Official Code of Georgia Annotated 16-3-24.2.
From Ron Chapman’s new blog/website, “Federal Criminal Lawyer – Frequently Asked Questions”, comes this post titled in the form of a question, “How Can You Avoid a Minimum Mandatory Sentence in Federal Court?”:
In federal court, there are only two ways to avoid such a sentence:
Continue Reading...1. Safety valve; and
2. Cooperation.
Several classes of eight 3-year olds a piece, dressed as stars, shepherds, lambs, and other characters out of a nativity scene marched in through the nave, past the parents with cameras, and up to the front of the altar of the parochial Lutheran Daycare on a Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., and sang “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and “Hark The Herald Angels Sing”.
Continue Reading...…I will not be moving to Laredo. [H/T: Robert W. Boyd]
Some google searches that caught my eye:
www. austin state laws on weed.com - Quick, check GoDaddy. It may still be available. Probably not with the spaces in the URL though.
Can judge still sentence jail after acquittal? – The answer is supposed to be “No”, but that’s not always the case. (Also see federal sentencing.)
Continue Reading...I didn’t give the prosecutor enough credit, when I pre-guessed that his response would be “out of time”. But he did throw a procedural wrinkle at me: Municipal Court judges can’t grant a writ. From Article 11.05, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure:
Continue Reading...Art. 11.05. By Whom Writ May Be Granted.
The Court of Criminal Appeals, the District Courts, the County Courts, or any Judge of said Courts, have power to issue the writ of habeas corpus; and it is their duty, upon proper motion, to grant the writ under the rules prescribed by law.
Ron:
Regarding what we talked about in court the other day, my last post didn’t quite fit the bill. So I had to write another. This should do the trick.
JS
P.S. Thanks for reminding me.
I’m about to go argue a writ of habeas corpus in Austin Muni Court, for a Class C No Insurance conviction from about a year and a half ago. Client attempted to pay some outstanding speeding tickets and the monies were wrongly applied to an FMFR that was pending.
When she returned a few days later with proof of insurance to get the dismissal, she was told “too late, we already convicted you when you came to the counter with money for the other ticket.” She filed a few motions for new trial – pro se – which were denied as untimely, and the case ended up in my hands after a few referrals and through UT Student Legal Services.
Should be fun. I wonder whether the prosecutor will say “Not Timely” in response to my writ. As if that applies…
[By the way, I don’t handle traffic tickets, and I make up my own mind what I’ll do pro bono, so don’t call me if you think you fall into either of those categories.]
It’s me.
So says Acerbic at his anonymous blog “Jamie Spencer – Crappy DWI Defense Lawyer”. Before we get to Acerbic’s accounting of the facts, let’s review what really happened.
Five days after its first post on October 10th, I gave a shout out to the newest criminal law blog in town: D.A. Confidential. Despite the short amount of time since its debut I predicted great things would come from it, and it hasn’t disappointed.
Continue Reading...Enter keywords:
