Criminal Law Blog
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March 28, 2008
There Are Two Sides To Every Story
This is what happens when policemen take the word of a bouncer and won’t listen to witnesses.
Here is the long story short: the police walk up and see my client on top of a bouncer, punching him in the face. Now, of course the police have to stop the fight. That’s their job.
But it is also the police’s job to listen to people who know something about what happened before they arrived. This particular time, they didn’t.
Here is what the police wrote in their Probable Cause Affidavit. They saw a fight. They stopped it. They talked to the bouncer who gave his side.
Now for the rest of the story. The bouncers started it. They had a good old time laughing about how they beat the dickens out of MC.
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March 19, 2008
It Is SO Easy To Accuse, And Convict, When ...
It is so easy to accuse. Every 3rd grader who had some classmate tell lies about him knows this.
It is especially easy to accuse when you are a lying cop. The American Statesman
reported on March 19, 2008 that James Learmonth, a fired Austin Police Department officer lied in his report to bolster his accusation that a citizen was in possession of drugs and drug paraphenalia.
And it is so easy to convict, when you sit on a jury and choose to believe a lying cop because you think that “no cop would risk his career over this.” Because that possession of drug paraphenalia charge is usually just a Class C Misdemeanor (the same level as a parking ticket).
What did James Learmonth have to gain by lying in his report? Why in the world would he do that? If your answer is “I don’t know,” I beg you to think about it some more. If you still have no answer, talk about it with your friends and family.
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October 07, 2007
How To Get Through A Traffic Stop Without Getting Shot With A Taser.
First let me explain why I offer this blog as a public service announcement.
The Austin American Statesman reported on September 30, 2007 that Austin Police Department Corporal Thomas O’Connor tased driver Eugene Snelling within 45 seconds of ordering him out of his car.
A Taser delivers a shock of up to 50,000 volts. The device is intended to render a person unable to attack another (or defend himself) and is meant to be an alternative to deadly force.
Surprisingly, Cpl. O’Connor’s immediate supervisor and internal affairs investigators exonerated him of wrongfully using his Taser.
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October 06, 2007
10 Commandments On What To Do On The Roadside To Avoid A DWI Conviction.
If you are stopped by a police officer …
1. Hand over your driver’s license and proof of insurance once you’ve been asked for them.
2. Politely tell the officer that you do not want to answer
any questions.
3. Tell the officer that you want to leave. If you are not allowed to leave, tell the officer that you want to speak to an attorney immediately.
4. If the officer tells you to get out of your vehicle, get out.
5. If the officer tells you to perform some roadside maneuvers, DON’T DO THEM.
6. Do not take a preliminary breath test. Do not submit to an examination by a Drug Recognition Expert.
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September 12, 2007
This is why I warn clients who call me from the jail: “don’t say anything you don’t want recorded and used against you.”
There was a capital murder case in Williamson County I handled once. The prosecutor gave me a set of CDs that contained recordings of my client talking about her case, what she did, and about me. “Don’t worry,” the prosecutor said. “Your client likes you and says you work hard.” Now, there was nothing illegal or unethical about the jail recording those conversations. There are signs in the jail saying that the calls are subject to being recorded.
Now comes a very different story from Hunt County in which the jail not only recorded the conversation between a client and his lawyer, but then turned that recording over to the prosecutor. Here is a link to the Dallas Morning News Story.
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