More Death and Violence in Mexico DMN reports on the escalating drug war in Mexico. Violence is reaching new levels as drug cartels fight for the right to sell drugs to Americans. The headline to the story is promising- As Juárez violence escalates, debate rages on whether Mexico’s drug war…
Deferred adjudication is a type of probation that does not result in a final conviction. For example, in Kaufman County many defendants received plea bargain offers of deferred adjudication probation for misdemeanor marijuana cases, usually for a period of 6-12 months. In order to accept a deferred adjudication the defendant…
I’m jumping in late on the 21 drinking age debate. Any law that is nearly universally ignored should be abandoned. That being said, the 21 drinking age law is not without value. It does teach young Americans valuable lessons about the criminal justice system. Lesson One Some laws are stupid.…
Speaking of official oppression, Dallas is planning to celebrate Labor Day by violating your constitutional rights. It’s another “No Refusal” weekend!! To kick off the festivities Ryan Evans, First Assistant City Manager, sent out this letter regarding DWI no refusal weekends. A reader was kind enough to send me a…
A reader wants to know about “official oppression.” Texas does have a law against official oppression. That sounds better than it is. Prosecutions are extremely rare. I’ve never seen one. What is OO? If the police pull you over and offer to let you go for sexual favors. Or if…
Need to see if a friend or loved one is in the Dallas County Jail? Here is the Dallas County Jail Lookup. It’s like Facebook for inmates. You can search by name, bookin number, or criminal case number. Dallas has one of the worst jails in the country. It constantly fails…
A recent poll shows that 31% of Americans want the government to regulate blog content via the “Fairness Doctrine”. The FD would force blogs to provide equal time to opposing viewpoints. Let’s see how this would work in practice. Recently, a Wichita Falls man was sentenced to 99 years for…
The local media is in a tizzy over the arrest of Officer Alph Coleman. Allegedly, Officer Coleman helped coordinate a robbery at a Sam’s Club. Officer Coleman was working security at the Sam’s when it was robbed. There is some pretty compelling evidence against Officer Coleman. From DMN- Police say…
It’s a busy work week, which makes for slow blogging. Here is Colbert Report gem via the Agitator. H/t to Radley. Enjoy. Can anything sum up our idiotic federal marijuana policy better than this 5 minute clip. I’ve seen a lot of media about the War on Drugs, and medical…
For those new to the blog I am a member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law’s (NORML) legal comittee. I used to prosecute pot cases, now I defend them. My goal is for a future in which lawyers will do neither. That being said, here is…