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Any defense attorney will have some of his motions denied. I have the option to appeal these decisions to a higher court. Often, my client can’t afford such a measure. However, it never occurred to me to simply seek a new hearing in front of a defense friendly judge.

Here is a recent quote from the TDCAA message board. Freudian slip maybe? I’m hoping it’s a joke, or a typo.

My cops seized items at a drug dealers house and then had a property hearing under Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 18.16 (2007) to see if they should be returned to the defendant. Well the judge decided to return the property but my officers want to let a less impartial judge decide. can we appeal? what do we do? got any authority? thanks.

Steven Nicely is one of the top drug dog experts in the country. His testimony led a recent suppression victory in Arizona. The judge ruled that the State’s drug dog was unreliable, despite the fact that the drug dog had all the standard training and certification. I asked Steven for a Q&A.

1. Why did the judge rule that the drug dog was not reliable?

There were different reasons the main one was the certification process. They put a dog on the street that responded incorrectly when only six targets had been placed. Also, those responsible for the certification process did not take steps to correct the problem.

UPDATE- The hearing was cancelled and will be pushed into 2009.

Quick recap-

The Collin County DA subpoenaed a defense attorney to testify and produce evidence against his client before the grand jury. The attorney Keith Gore challenged that subpoena with a motion to quash. There was a hearing set on the motion for March 4th of 2008.

Some interesting stats from the Kaufman DA’s office.

Total Pending Cases- Filed from 1/1/2004 – 9/26/2008 6,458

Total Disposed Cases- Filed from 1/1/2004 – 9/26/2008 11,871

In Texas defendants have very little right to learn about the evidence against them. For example, Texas law does not require the State turn over the police/arrest reports to the defendant. Those facing criminal charges in Texas have less discovery rights than litigants in a car wreck or divorce. If you really wanted to crack down on wrongful convictions, discovery would be the first area to start. Defense attorneys must hope that the State will agree to voluntarily turn over such material.

Open/Closed File Polices

The good news is that most counties I work in have open file policies in which the defense attorney can get a copy of the State’s file. Only one county has a strict closed file policy.

Ok. This isn’t going to become a fulltime Sarah Palin blog. But this speaks as to what is wrong with government.

Someone hacked Sarah Palin’s Yahoo email account. Here is a quote from wired.com

“This is a shocking invasion of the Governor’s privacy and a violation of law,” Rick Davis, McCain-Palin campaign manager said in a statement. “The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them. We will have no further comment.”

Nary a day goes by without a phone call or email from an SEO company. SEO stands for search engine optimization. SEO companies promise that they can get your law firm site ranked in the top 5 for attorney google searches. To be fair, I use Justia which designs and markets my blog and website. They don’t spam or splog to achieve results.

I’m often asked how I get readers, or how I got my blog to rank high on Google searches. I’m not afraid to share the secret. I’ve been blogging nearly every day for 18 months. I’ve had over 96,000 visitors and over 160,000 page views. I regularly add new material and my posts are linked on other prominent blogs. That’s the big secret. The web is a meritocracy, if the public likes your content it rises to the top. If you don’t produce relevant and popular content, you aren’t going to be prominent.

How do SEO companies work? Basically by tricking Google with phony links.

Blogging success can bring about trepidation. Case in point. My Sarah Palin post was linked on StumbleUpon.com. As a result, I have had over 20,000 readers in 3 days.

Many readers would be surprised to learn that my site doesn’t usually average 6,000 readers a day. It’s true. This influx of readership has left me wanting to write another blockbuster post. I’ve been waiting for inspiration for the perfect follow up post and….. nothing.

Forced writing is usually the worst. So, instead of delving right back into election commentary I’ll just point out other great blog posts that deserve your attention.

MADD is having a meeting in Dallas. Needless to say they are having a fit over the idea that 18-20 shouldn’t be criminally prosecuted for drinking.

Here is a great quote from MADD’s president, Laura Dean-Mooney,

This is not about rights and responsibilities. It’s about public health and safety.

Laura exhibits the myopic zeal common among petty tyrants. She vows to keep her child from attending any school where officials endorse changing our nation’s failed drinking age laws. To Dean-Mooney and her ilk ignorance and criminal prosecution are the only way to teach young adults how to use alcohol responsibly. This explains MADD’s shameful practice of arguing for the prosecution of our nation’s soldiers who dare to drink on base. Teetotallers have no use for rights, freedom or responsibility- all that matters is their definition of public safety.

Gustav Update- It seems the Hurricane has passed by. We had some spotty yet intense showers. However, the brunt of the storm is still well east of Quintana Roo.

Drug War Terror in Mexico

11 decapitated bodies were discovered in Meridia. It seems to be the work of the Zetas, one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico.