DWI, Drugs, Assault, Probation Revocation, Sexual Offenses, Theft, Juvenile Defense. Felony and Misdemeanor Offenses in State and Federal Court
Driving While Intoxicated, DWI and Your Drivers License Forney, Texas DWI Defense Lawyer.
Sexual Offenses, Drug Offenses, Assault and Violent Crimes, Theft, Truancy/School Related Criminal Charges.
Is an impartial judiciary important for criminal defendants? Even if the defendant is charged with DWI?
DWI enforcement has already destroyed many Constitutional Protections for DWI suspects. The 4th, 5th, and 6th amendments were long ago sacrificed to ensure efficient DWI convictions. Unfortunately MADDness and DWI hysteria are now threatening to destroy the impartial judiciary.
National Center for State Courts
The debate on the CP raid is evolving. My original post generated some good discussion on liberties, lifestyles, and law enforcement. Thanks to all for reading and posting.
One justification for this raid that hasn’t been discussed is the nanny state view. The idea that adults need police protection from themselves. A great summary of this view if offered by Duncanville Police Detective Dan Hunt. Here is a quote from DMN-
In a city news release issued Wednesday, police Detective Dan Hunt said the Cherry Pit’s owners are endangering and exploiting patrons.
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. We had a spirited hearing for 90 minutes, and my suppression motion was denied.
However, there was some interesting testimony on the I-5000. As a public service, here is some information on the Intoxilyzer 5000 (I-5000) and Technical Supervisors (TS).
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, this is a State Jail Felony. If not, this is a misdemeanor.
§ 42.06. FALSE ALARM OR REPORT.
Late Saturday night the Duncanville Police raided the “cherry pit”, a private residence that also hosts swinger parties. According to DMN the police stormed in guns drawn (insert joke here). From DMN
Duncanville police executed a search warrant at the club, the Cherry Pit, which has been the subject of a Duncanville ordinance that bans sex clubs.
“They had guns drawn when they busted down the door,” said Ed Klein, the Cherry Pit’s attorney. “You’d have thought this was some kind of meth lab.”
This is a piece I wrote for the Ellis County Press on plea bargains.
Joe Goodguy is charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second degree felony. The criminal case against Joe has problems. The “victim,” Bob Badguy, is a felon who was high on crack during the offense. Joe is a decorated elementary school teacher with a clean record. Finally, the prosecutor has a murder trial next week and 100 other serious felony cases to work on.
The prosecutor offers a plea bargain. If Joe will plead guilty the prosecutor will reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and put Joe on probation. Joe speaks with his defense lawyer and accepts the plea bargain. Plea bargaining is the process in which the state and defendant reach an agreement on punishment in exchange for the defendant’s guilty plea.Plea bargains are reality in every court in Texas. In my experience, more than 90 percent of criminal cases are resolved via plea bargain.
I’m off to Austin to speak at Netroots Nation. I’m in the Open Records Laws For Bloggers roundtable with some other great speakers.
Here is the official Robert Guest guide to Texas Open Records Law For Bloggers
If you don’t want to read two pages of brilliant public information information, here is the three sentence version.
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
DMN reports that a Collin County Sheriff Deputy, Robert Benavidez, has been charged with abuse of official capacity. Allegedly, Mr. Benavidez has been working for a Mexican Drug Cartel, the Zetas. Let’s look at this story from a two angles.
Prohibition=Corruption
Only 3 entities can supply drugs to the American drug consumer- the free market, the government, and organized crime. We have chosen organized crime. Prohibition gives Mexican drug cartels multi billion dollar monopoly. Drug cartels use these profits to, inter alia, corrupt law enforcement so they can sell more drugs.
An anonymous commenter posted this reaction to my interview with Dr. Greg Kane, an expert witness.
Wow!! Amazing!! A man who wants money from defense lawyers states that nothing LE does is correct?? What are the odds of that?
Dr. Kane detailed the statistical manipulation used to legitimize field sobriety testing. Dr. Kane is available for hire by any attorney, State or defense.
Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog