I’m jumping late on the blawger iphone picture bandwagon. Here is a picture I took on August 20th on my iphone. It shows the front lawn of the Kaufman Courthouse at 2:30pm. Why such a banal photo? Well, the sprinklers were on at 2:30pm, during a rain storm, during the…
I had a pre trial hearing today regarding the broken Intoxilyzer machine in Kaufman. In Texas, technical supervisors are employed by DPS to maintain and verify these machines. I was looking to suppress the evidence from a machine that had proven to be faulty and was taken out of service.…
The Kaufman courthouse has been evacuated. Allegedly, someone called in a bomb threat. Texas law makes it illegal to call in a fake bomb threat. Here is the law. The question is… is today’s bomb threat fake? I really hope so. And, is a courthouse a “public service”. If so,…
Besides being inaccurate, Intoxilyzer machines break down frequently. Last year Kaufman County’s DWI breath test machine was taken out of service. Here is what happened. Reference Sample Breath test machines are never calibrated on humans. By that, I mean that you don’t have a human take a breath then a…
RACIAL PROFILING PROHIBITED. A peace officer may not engage in racial profiling. -Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 2.131 This begs the question- What is racial profiling? From the Code of Criminal Procedure- law enforcement-initiated action based on an individual’s race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than on the individual’s…
I am proud to announce the beginning of the Kaufman Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. KCDLA is open to all who practice criminal defense in Kaufman County. If you want to join, send me an email, or click below. KCDLA Visit this group
Yesterday I caught the last half of a death warrant hearing. This was the first case set for a death warrant in Kaufman County since the Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection was not cruel or unusual punishment. What is a death warrant? In Texas, when a defendant who has…
I’m getting a lot of searches for “Kaufman County District Courts.” A few of these readers may want logistical information, not criminal defense lawyer musings. Here is some basic information for the public Kaufman County District Courts Kaufman has two district courts. They handle felony criminal cases, family law cases,…
I haven’t contributed to the blog discussion on the West Texas Polygamy raids because I know very little that is not on CNN. However, I have dealt with CPS in Kaufman County and in East Texas. It’s that experience I’d like to share. I am not sure if this experience…
As long as I have been practicing criminal law I have been watching DWI videos. As a prosecutor in East Texas DWI videos were on VHS tapes. This was very inconvenient for trial. I had to write down the time stamp for each scene I wanted, while noting all any…