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Thanks to all the readers who emailed me this story. I haven’t had much time to blog, but this is an important development.

Here are the details. A Tarrant County judge threw out blood drawn by the Dalworthington Police in a 2005 DWI case. Too cheap or impatient to use real medical personel, the Dalworthinton Police decided that they should remove blood from DWI suspects.

A judge threw out the blood evidence in a pre trial hearing. Appeals are certain.

I’ll be celebrating the 4th and not blogging tommorow.. However, the web is full of great writing to keep you entertained and informed. Here are some items to check out between hot dogs, fireworks, and JP Souza music.

Happy Birthday DEA

A great article by Russ Bellvile that celebrates the 35th anniversary of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Quoting Russ-

I’m back from Rusty Duncan. I spent Saturday on Lake Travis and had a great time. Austin is a wonderful city and a great place to spend a weekend. Maybe I could franchise someday and have an Austin branch.

Ethics

Like most CLE seminars the Rusty Duncan conference had some speakers on attorney ethics. I was embarrassed to learn that criminal defense lawyers had the most grievances in 2007. I hope the defense bar will take a hard look at the practices that commonly lead to grievances.

I’m in San Antonio for the Rusty Duncan conference. This is my first RD and I am very impressed with the quality of the speakers. Here are some quick thoughts.

1. I think I saw Mark Bennett, philosopher/attorney. I expected him to be dressed more like Socrates.

2. There was a speech by Cathy Cochran on unanimous verdicts. We didn’t meet.

I just read the post on Grits about the Rothgery case. The opinion is 49 pages and I won’t have time to go through the whole thing today. However, the holding could have positive implications for shutting down the practice of DWI forced blood draw warrants.

“A criminal defendant’s initial appearance before a magistrate judge, where he learns the charge against him and his liberty is subject to restriction, marks the initiation of adversary judicial proceedings that trigger attachment of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Attachment does not also require that a prosecutor (as distinct from a police officer) be aware of that initial proceeding or involved in its conduct. Pp. 5–20.”

It’s not a far leap from that holding to ruling that when the police, prosecutors, and “friendly” judges team up to sign blood warrants that the defendant should have the right to an attorney. After all the prosecutor is involved, the defendant knows the charge against him, and that his liberty is subject is restriction. Yet another reason these blood draws should be unconstitutional.

Dallas Morning News has a breaking story about a government educational compound called “Arlington Sam Houston High School.” According to DMN this cult of socialized education has over 200 underage girls who are pregnant. When will CPS send in their SWAT team to protect these children!

Texas Governor Rick Perry has opined on the CPS YFZ disaster. What would Mr. Perry have to say to the hundreds of children who were wrongfully taken from their parents?

If responsibility needs to be taken for [court edicts] saying that we stepped across some legal line, I’ll certainly take that responsibility,” Mr. Perry said. “I am substantially less interested in these fine legal lines that we’re discussing than I am about these children’s welfare, that’s where my focus is. That’s where CPS’ focus is.”

How could someone call the law that protects parents from having their children arbitrarily stolen by CPS a “fine legal line”? Statist apologetics are built upon the tyranny of good intentions. Mr. Perry readily endorses this illegal compound raid based on phony evidence, sloppy police work, and religious profiling because CPS meant well.

Well, my jury trial got continued. One of the state’s witnesses was unavailable. What is the law on continuances for criminal trials in Texas?

For the first continuance filed by the State-

It shall be sufficient, upon the first motion by the State for a continuance, if the same be

I’m set for a DWI jury trial in the near future. I don’t blog about pending cases and I’m not going to start now. But I would like to share some insight on Texas juries. Today, let’s discuss juror qualifications.

To be a juror in Texas you must

Be a citizen of the United States and of this State.

The Texas Rangers are off to a surprisingly decent start this season. One of the reasons was the offseason acquisition of Josh Hamilton from the Cincinnati Reds. Mr. Hamilton’s story is an amazing tale of drug addiction and redemption. Here is the short version.

Josh Hamilton gets drafted first overall in the 1999 MLB draft. Josh gets a lot of money. Josh gets hurt in the minors, becomes a drug addict. Josh is suspended from baseball but claws his way back into the league and is now performing at an all star level for the Rangers.

The triumph of Josh Hamilton over cocaine reminded me of some other former Dallas sports stars who has a fondness for snow- Roy Tarpley and Michael Irvin. Let’s do a comparison to see what we can learn.