Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

The title to the DMN article says it all- Officer admits stealing cash during traffic stop.

Officer Mark Torres is facing a felony theft charge after stealing $700 from a motorist.

Officer Torres turned his camera off during the stop. The Dallas police chief vows to do whatever it takes to keep the police cameras rolling in the future.

A news article in Virginia discloses the truth about DWI roadblocks.

MADD tells us we need roadblocks to stop deaths on the roadway. MADD/law enforcement like to use fabricated “alcohol related fatality” numbers to scare us into giving up our freedom.

MADD has sold us the lie we must ignore the Bill or Rights and the outdated probable cause requirement to pull a car over.

The Texas Lottery is facing tough times. We have given the State of Texas a near monopoly on gambling yet they have managed to lose money on the Texas Two Step.

If ticket sales don’t improve the public schools may lose some funding. Despite that potential positive development Texas Lottery officials are looking at ways to boost ticket sales.

Is anyone suprised that the State can lose money on something as profitable as gambling? The Government can never run a business as well as private enterprise.

D magazine has an amazing piece on the Dallas Police Ticket scandal.

My earlier blog on the topic is here.

Basically, DPD officers got better evaluations for, inter alia, writing tickets. They would write phony tickets to inflate their numbers.

I blogged recently that DWI is not a moral failure. DWI happens.

I may have been wrong. It seems the Pope must be an IWTS fan. Today the Vatican Released the “Drivers’ Ten Commandments.” These new commandments as listed by the document, are:

1. You shall not kill.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of privacy and actually supressed a stop that yielded drugs.

Brendyln vs. California

From Scotusblog “Applying a considerable dose of common sense, aligning itself with the overwhelming majority of lower courts, and voting unanimously, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a police traffic stop of a car also amounts to at least temporary detention of everyone in the vehicle, so passengers, as well as the driver, may challenge the legality of the stop.”

DMN has an article about the new public defender office in Kaufman County, where I practice. Texas has very few public defender offices. Most indigent defense is handled by court appointed private attorneys.

Kaufman County started a public defender office last fall. The goal was to save money on attorney fees. I remember hearing rumors that some defense attorney’s were making 6 figure salaries on appointmented cases.

The new PD, Andrew Jordan, is doing a great job. Defendants are moving out of the jail quicker and the criminal dockets seem to be moving much faster. It seems that even though the PD office is working well the county is not seeing the savings they wanted.

Let me start by thanking my Dad. I would not be who I am without you.

For those of you with a father or other family member in jail here is the Texas Department of Criminal Justice guide for families.

As of 1998, 1.4 million children had one parent in jail. 94% of those were fathers. I am sure that number has only increased in the last decade.

Rick Perry signed HB 1178 into law. HB1178 requires pro se defendants to sign waivers before talking to the district attorney. A similar bill was vetoed 2 years ago.

When I was a DA in East Texas the judge required a pro se waiver. Most defendants signed it and pled guilty. Before I got my chance at plea bargaining with any pro se defendant they at least knew what their rights were and signed them away.

If the end result is the same, what is the difference? Why require a waiver?