Defending People

the tao of criminal-defense trial lawyering

Not Right, But Not a Crime

| June 30, 2008

Young Matt Skillern over at the new Greater Houston Criminal Defense Law Blog (another LexBlog product; not everyone can roll his own blawg. I’ve added it to the blawgroll nevertheless) writes about the no-bill of Joe Horn for the shotgunning of two burglars (illegal immigrants from Colombia) after they left his neighbor’s house: What do [...]

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Badvertising Hall of Shame / ADA

| June 30, 2008

From the website of Andy Nolen, who practices in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center: RATED BY GOOGLE AND YAHOO AS ONE OF HOUSTON’S: BEST CRIMINAL ATTORNEYS BEST CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS BEST CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEYS BEST CRIMINAL LAW FIRMS BEST CRIMINAL DEFENSE TRIAL LAWYERS I suppose he would say that his name pops up in [...]

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More Texas Criminal Law Links

| June 27, 2008

Republished with the kind permission of Paul Bush atĀ CourtPort.com (who saw this post and volunteered his list of Texas criminal law links), following is a comprehensive list of Texas criminal court and jail online links. I’ve removed all of the sex offender registration links (because lists of sex offenders are so inclusive that they do [...]

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No, Really, Thank You!

| June 26, 2008

MR. SPENCE: You notice that I didn’t object to Mr. Day’s opening. There’s were things that were objectionable. Why don’t I object? I want you to hear what he has to say. I don’t want to interrupt his train of thought. I don’t want to interrupt his presentation or rhythms. I don’t want the Court [...]

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Book Review: Your Witness

| June 26, 2008

Richard “Racehorse” Haynes is the only person I know who has a nickname for his nickname. He’s “Racehorse” to the world and “Race” (or just “Richard”) to the his “brothers and sisters of the bar”. I mention Richard because there are a very few lawyers — and Richard is one of them — whose tales [...]

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Dirty DWI Secrets

| June 25, 2008

In response to the discussion of DWI (sorry, Windy, in Texas if you’re a grownup it’s DWI; DUI is the crime someone under 21 commits when he drives with any alcohol in his system) that started here, Chicago’s Windy Pundit gives us the numerical rundown on the real danger of DWI: Drunk driving isn’t as [...]

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Calling All Criminal Blawgers

| June 24, 2008

Austin criminal-defense lawyer Jamie Spencer is collating a list of all criminal law blogs publishing regularly. Drop in on Jamie and give him the names and URLs of the criminal law blogs you read.

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DWI: Victimless Crime

| June 24, 2008

Victim-worshipping commenters on my profile in this morning’s Houston Chronicle are fixated on whether DWI is a victimless crime. Fortunately, the vast majority of incidents of driving while intoxicated have no victims; they don’t even result in a trip to jail. The victimocrats overclaim when they say that DWI has a victim. In Texas, crimes [...]

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To Blow or Not To Blow? A Little Texas DWI Law.

| June 23, 2008

In a comment to this post, in which I mentioned that I thought the ±25% margin of error of the Intoxilyzer 5000 was a good reason not to blow if you’re arrested for DWI, first-time commenter Scott wrote: Your comment regarding refusing to blow intrigues me, as a green attorney, given the likely loss of [...]

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Believe in Karma

| June 23, 2008

Last week I wrote about this dog of a DWI case, giving enough information, apparently, that some people were able to identify the prosecutor of whom I wrote. Today I went to court on this DWI case (trial was continued till August) in another court, only to find that the same prosecutor had been transferred [...]

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