Anyone who reads this blawg regulalry knows that I enjoy taking a current news story and adding some information on the law for the lay public, or some opinion not in the original piece (e.g. pot should be legal, the 4th Amendment matters). News reaction is not the pinnacle of…
There are only two traffic offenses in Texas for which arrest is not permitted, speeding and open container. I’m not sure what that says about our state. You can drink and speed but if you forget to buckle up or use your turn signal you can be sent to the…
I’m proud to announce the First Annual Kaufman County Bench Bar Conference will be held October 9, 2009. We are going to have at least 5 hours of CLE with a heavy dose of ethics. President Booker and I are working out the final details. I am currently soliciting CLE…
I received a speeding citation last week on the notorious I-45 speed trap. Allegedly, I was going 73 in a 60. In my pre blogging days I would call the court and ask for deferred adjudication, pay the tax (fine) and move on. However, the Google SEO gods demand constant…
Fresh angles are hard to come by in the blogging era. Just when I thought there weren’t any new ways to comment on the legalization debate, this video came out. Everything does sounds better auto tuned. Wait for the second segment in this video, after gay marriage, before Angry Gorilla.…
I have interacted with hundreds of cannabis consumers. First as a public defender, then a prosecutor, and finally as a private defense attorney. Much of the debate over cannabis prohibition is about the plant and the effects of smoking said plant. Let me share my experience with the more important…
I knew in law school that I was going to be a criminal defense lawyer. My criminal law class was a painful study in how our constitutional rights were sacrificed to help save dope cases. Decades of weakening the 4th and 5th amendment (to the point of absurdity) all in…
Did you know the police are allowed to lie to you? It’s true. The police can make up facts out of whole cloth and present them as fact. What if the police wanted you to open the door to your house so they could peek inside? One would think that…
Today was the Kaufman county bar meeting. Our speaker was Kaufman district attorney Rick Harrison. Mr. Harrison discussed the new child advocacy center. The CAC provides a non-law enforcement environment for children to be interviewed. We also discussed raising bar dues to pay for lunch/CLE. Kaufman bar dues are $50…
Good people from all walks of life use marijuana. Good people from all walks of life also get arrested for possession of marijuana. Until we correct the tragic failure of cannabis prohibition pot smokers must exercise self defense and common sense to avoid the wrath of law enforcement. To that…