Imagine if elected official and media pundits were focused as much on the rising US prison population as they are focused on rising price of oil. But, perhaps I expect too much from elected officials and the media when I hope they can be as concerned about human liberty in America as they are concerned about the cost of crude.


That’s from Doug Berman, commenting on the latest Justice Department report on overcrowding the US prison population.

For the full data reports, check out these links: Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007 and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2007.


Tags: Probation, Jail and Prison
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on June 4, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Money Saving Tip for Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers

Let’s say you want to print out Subsection (i) of Section 13 ‘DWI Community Supervision’ of Texas’ probation statute (Code of Criminal Procedure 42.12) that deals with when you do and don’t have to install an ignition interlock on your vehicle.

Here’s a money saving tip:

Make sure when you highlight the relevant section that you change the page range from ‘All’ to ‘Selection’ before you click ‘print’. Otherwise you may print out all of 42.12.

I’d hate to see anyone waste about a hundred pages of paper. Texas sure does have a very lengthy probation statute, doesn’t it?

Tags: General
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Trackbacks Posted on June 3, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
If I Lived in Kaufman County...

…I’d be emailing Robert Guest and asking to join the Kaufman County Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Association.

Tags: Other Blogs
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Trackbacks Posted on May 26, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Marijuana at the Airport (Ooooops!)

Most of the time the War on Drugs is actually a pretty sad thing, but every once in a while, something amusing comes out of it:

An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say.

A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.

Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in.

Who said there’s no such thing as unwitting possession?

Tags: Marijuana & Controlled Substances, possession
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Trackbacks Posted on May 26, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Recount: An Open Wound

Watched HBO’s Recount last night with my wife and sister-in-law, and thought about blogging on it.

Basically, it’s too painful to write about. Of course, there was no realistic recourse for the parts like 20,000 non-felons purged from the voting rolls – oh, who just so happened to be likely big D Democratic voters.

Several times we just groaned. Paused the DVR and talked about what should have been done. Started watching again.

It’s good, don’t get me wrong. But yes, it’s salt on an open wound.

Tags: Off Topic, politics
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 21, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
The Parrot Who Wouldn't Talk to the Police

Here’s a story about a parrot who seems to have taken the general advice of criminal defense lawyer’s a little too far:

When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught -- recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.

Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

"We checked the address, and what do you know, a Nakamura family really lived there. So we told them we've found Yosuke," Uemura said.

The Nakamura family told police they had been teaching the bird its name and address for about two years.

But Yosuke apparently wasn't keen on opening up to police officials.

"I tried to be friendly and talked to him, but he completely ignored me," Uemura said.

Talking to the police isn’t always a bad idea. (But see the corollary to this rule: Don’t let them search your car if you have a kilo of cocaine in the trunk.)

Tags: General, police tactics
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Trackbacks Posted on May 19, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
...the beginning of all freedom

Shawn Matlock declares that privacy as we know it is [possibly] a thing of the past.

Using Justice Douglas’ line that “The right to be let alone is the beginning of all freedom” as the title of his post, he assails the current Deputy Director of National Intelligence’s recent assertion that Americans need to rethink their definition of privacy.

Anyone interested in an excellent discussion on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and privacy should read Shawn’s post thoroughly. Those left unsated can [this part was left unwritten].

But I intend to daydream a bit instead.


Well, in attempting to follow through with my partial blog post project, I ran across this initial fragment.

Shawn’s post – and undoubtedly this beginning to a comment on it – were written in November of last year.

I know that Justice Douglas is a favorite of mine, but I haven’t the slightest idea how I was going to finish this post.

“The right to be let alone”. I’ll think on it awhile. It sure sounds like a good starting point.

But for now, I’m going to delete this snippet and move on.

Tags: General
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 19, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
I Am Not Dennis Toad (Really, I'm Not)

“Hi, Dennis.”

Bumped into fellow Austin criminal defense lawyer Jon Evans in the courthouse last week, and he had just looked me right in the eyes and said, “Hi, Dennis”.

I’ve known Jon for as long as I’ve been a lawyer. He officed upstairs in the old Stewart Title Building when I was first out of law school and practicing on the first floor. He had only been practicing for about 5-6 years at the time, but he was already one of the most seasoned trial lawyers in Austin.

That was more than ten years ago. We have enjoyed each other’s company while standing in line chatting about interesting issues and recent cases and the like.

And I’m 100% certain he knows my name is “Jamie”. But he said, “Hi Dennis”. He also had that Jon Evans grin.

I said “Hunh?” (I am getting a bit deaf in my middle age.)

“Hi, Dennis. You’re Dennis Toad right?”

Ahhhhh. I see said the blind man. Jon thought I was the anonymous author of a new “blog” that had appeared recently in the Austin blogosphere: “Austin Law News”. The author is listed as “Dennis Toad” but s/he has clearly gone to great lengths to remain anonymous – some would say “with good reason”.

Taint me.

One of my other accusers (there’s been more than Jon) pointed out to me that if it were my doing, then I would still be denying it to his face. Probably true, but it’s still not me.

I have my suspicions, but I’ll keep them to myself (unless you want to walk up to me in the courthouse and talk to me in semi-private about it).

So… Dennis Toad, please email me anonymously if you wish, but tell me…

Who are you?

UPDATE: Keith Lauerman isn’t Dennis Toad either.

Tags: Lawyers in Austin, Other Blogs
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Trackbacks Posted on May 14, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
The Partial Blog Post Project

I now have almost 50 half written posts in my folder on my C Drive labeled “Partial Blog Posts”. This time I’m going through each one, and either finishing and publishing it, or deleting it.

[Yes, I’ve made this threat in various forms before, so perhaps I’m the boy who cried wolf…]

Tags: General
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Posted on May 14, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Any Wonder We Have an Over-Incarceration Problem?

We – the collective we that is, which somehow does not include me – we have lost our minds.

Man jailed when daughter fails to get diploma

CINCINNATI (AP) — A man ordered by a judge to make sure his daughter hit the books has found himself in jail because she failed to earn a high school equivalency diploma.

Brian Gegner, of Fairfield, was sentenced last week to 180 days in jail for contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a minor.

He was ordered months ago to make sure his 18-year-old daughter Brittany Gegner, who has a history of truancy, received her GED — something that hasn't happened yet.

Brittany Gegner, who said Monday that she plans to take a required GED test this month, said her father shouldn't be blamed for her failure because she has been living with her mother.

There’s so much about this story that I don’t understand – it happened in Ohio, not my area of expertise, so to speak – that I tried to Snopes this, and otherwise de-verify it, or figure out that it was a practical joke. The story itself that is.

But no, it’s all over the blogs, this is from an actual AP story.

Honestly, I don’t know what’s wrong with us.

Tags: Probation, Jail and Prison
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 14, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Felon Spy (dot com - of course)

A private investigator that has access to the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Listserv sent an email out a few days ago (I usually link to folks to give them some Google Juice, but in this case, I’m doing the guy a favor by not doing that):

This is quite interesting, lets you know who and what to watch out for! Try it.

Interesting facts about your neighbors.

PLACE YOUR ADDRESS IN AND SEE THE CRIME IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

OR

ANY OTHER ADDRESS IN THE U.S.A.

Felonspy.com - You need to know who your neighbors are. Especially if they're dangerous criminals

The email included a link to felonspy.com, which shows you certain felons living near you and what they were convicted of, when you type in your address.

I’d probably be able to claim that I’m a better person than I am had my interest not been piqued, but it’s kind of like slowing down to watch a car accident – I had to do it.

So after typing in my address, I take a look at some of the crimes felons near me have been convicted of:

Attempted Gang Assault in the Second Degree
Course of Sexual Conduct against a Child in the Second Degree
Attempted Arson in the First Degree
Attempted Manslaughter in the First Degree
Aggravated Assault against a Person Less than 11 Years Old
Wow! Not only is my neighborhood crawling with felons, but they are all from out of state – none of these convictions make any sense at all under Texas law. I’m about to fire off an email to the Listserv saying I doubt the veracity of this site, and while writing it, I click back again so I can list off some of the supposed convictions.

Voila. Now living dangerously close to me are folks convicted of:

Intimidating a Victim in the First Degree
Attempted Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Child
Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree
Aggravated Sexual Abuse in the Fourth Degree
Attempted Sodomy in the First Degree
Well, I’m glad all those bad guys living nearby moved out – and that it only took them 10 minutes or so to do it – but it’s a little odd that more bad guys moved in so quickly.

Just makes you wonder whether or not a credible private investigator might be able to figure out what’s going on here – even if they weren’t intimately familiar with the exact names and degrees of offenses in Texas. (If it need more explanation at this point: FelonSpy just randomly takes peoples names and ages and makes up offenses and ‘degrees’ and superimposes them over some sort of Google Map near your neck of the woods.)

By the time I had amused myself playing around with the site, several people had replied already. Someone pointed out that the site already had a listing on Snopes.com. My favorite comment came from one of the best criminal defense lawyers in Austin, Gerry Morris:

Is there a web site where I can go to make sure I don't live next to anyone who spends time looking up information about their neighbor's criminal histories?


Tags: General, criminal background check
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 12, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
A Week in a County Jail: Hot Bologna, Eggs and Gravy

Blogging has been light, admittedly in part since I ‘discovered’ iTunes, but this favorite Tom T. Hall gem made me think about bologna sandwiches in the Travis County Jail. After being arrested for speeding while ‘sitting at a red light’, the narrator discovers the pleasures of what can only be small southern town 60s or 70s justice:

Well, they motioned me inside a cell with seven other guys
One little barred up window in the rear
My cellmates said if they had let me bring some money in
We ought to send the jailer for some beer

Well, I had to pay him double 'cause he was the man in charge
And the jailer's job was not the best in town
Later on his wife brought hot bologna, eggs and gravy
The first day I was there I turned it down

Well, next morning they just let us sleep but I was up real early
Wonderin' when I'd get my release
Later on we got more hot bologna, eggs and gravy
And by now I wasn't quite so hard to please

I sometimes ask clients what they were given to eat during their overnight stay at Downtown Travis County, and while the majority insist they weren’t in the mood to eat at all, many of them tell me it was bologna sandwiches, sometimes with cheese, sometimes with a small cup of jello.

My theory is that the Travis County Sheriff’s Office deliberately makes the stay unpleasant. My clients tell me they run into some recently arrested that act like they were there last weekend, and expect to end up in jail the week after that.

I doubt the bologna has much effect on them. But for the others? You can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride.

Tags: Probation, Jail and Prison, Travis County Jail
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Trackbacks Posted on May 7, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Crimson Flames Tied Through My Ears

My rough transcription – but possibly accurate, I rewound several times - from Obama’s Tuesday night victory speech:

[McCain’s] plan to win in November appears to come from the very same playbook that his side has used time after time and election after election.

Yes, we know what’s coming. I’m not naive. We’ve already seen it.

The same names and labels they always pin on everyone who doesn’t agree with their ideas. The same efforts to distract us from the issues that effect our lives by pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy in the hopes that the media will play along.

The attempts to play on our fears and exploit our differences, to turn us against each other for political gain, to slice and dice this country into red states and blue states, blue collar and white collar, white, black, brown, young, old, rich, poor…

This is the race we expect… The question then is not what kind of campaign they will run…

It’s what kind of campaign we will run.

I’ve been a politics watcher for a long time now, and frankly I’ve gotten more and more cynical with each passing election cycle. Without even realizing it, over time I came to believe that no one ever could change the tone in Washington – or would even try.

Ah, but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now…

Tags: Off Topic, obama, politics
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Trackbacks Posted on May 7, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
'The Legislature, In Their Infinite Wisdom...'

AKA the phrase you’ll never see written in an appellate decision or hear spoken out loud.

Gideon’s post about the fifth consecutive failed attempt by Connecticut’s legislature to pass an open container law got me thinking:

So, come to CT, where you can drink and drive (just not drunk and driving).

Well, in Texas we do indeed have an open container law, but we also have drive through liquor stores. Go figure. That’s got to be illegal in (most? perhaps all?) other parts of the country.

Anyone?

Update: A little googling and I find that Fox Noise reports that Texas is not alone. At least we were the first, and apparently the best at it. (Everything’s bigger in Texas.)

Texas boasts the most drive-thru liquor stores in the country. And despite legal controversy for drinking-and-driving-related reasons, they have also popped up in Maryland, Louisiana, Arizona and Hawaii, to name a few.


Tags: Texas Penal Code, DWI
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Trackbacks Posted on May 5, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Dallas DA on 60 Minutes: Practical Blawgosphere Goes Hog Wild

Houston defense lawyer Mark Bennett bemoans other lawyers reacting to this story before he can:

Lots of folks had something to say about this:

Grits, Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Robert Guest, Fort Worth criminal defense lawyer Shawn Matlock, Connecticut public defender Gideon, and New York criminal defense lawyer Scott Greenfield.

Ordinarily you would think that by the time the Connecticut and New York bloggers got to a Texas topic it would be as dead as Eight Belles and not in need of further flogging.

But the two Gs are on top of things, so their posts never scare me off. I though of an angle — how are the prosecutors on the TDCAA forums reacting? — only to find that Wise County, Texas criminal defense lawyer Barry Green had beaten me to it. Bryan, Texas criminal defense lawyer Stephen Gustitis went there, too.

[Boy, if that wasn’t the cheesiest way to link to a bunch of folks without doing any real work myself…]

Tags: Probation, Jail and Prison, actual innocence
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 5, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Northloop Neighborhoods is Not a 'Real' Blog

This is an experiment. OK – it’s a Cinco de Mayo fueled experiment.

There’s some odd bloglike but not quite a blog site out there named NorthLoop Neighborhoods that seems to cut and paste pieces of ACDL and post them without comment.

I’m posting this at 11:16 P.M. to see whether NorthLoop Neighborhoods picks it up, and if it does, how quickly it does it.

Update: It took about 45 minutes for NorthLoop to post this.

Tags: Other Blogs
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Trackbacks Posted on May 5, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Insult My Intelligence, Please

One day before the fifth anniversary of “Mission Accomplished” the Dean of White House reporters Helen Thomas and White House Spokesperson Dana Perino last Wednesday at a press conference:

MS. THOMAS: How does the President intend to commemorate "Mission Accomplished" after five years of death and destruction?

MS. PERINO: What you're referring to is the banner that ran -- that was aboard the ship five years ago. President Bush –

MS. THOMAS: I'm talking about the anniversary tomorrow.

MS. PERINO: Yes, I get -- no, I understand. That's the anniversary of when that banner flew on that ship. President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific and said "mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission." And we have certainly paid a price for not being more specific on that banner. And I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year.

That’s right. The president thought the banner was going to say:

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

(for the guys on this ship)

(pay no attention to my big airplane entrance)

(never mind the cameras and the media)

(this sign isn’t about the War in Iraq)

(it’s about a few hundred guys on this ship)

How was he to know that someone goofed and left out the fine print?

Seriously, I get lied to by clients on occasion, and frankly sometimes I expect it. It might take a few times before they feel like telling me what’s really going on in their case. Or for them to trust that I will work hard on their case no matter what the facts are.

But, I also get told outrageous lies at times. And it’s a little insulting. It’s not the “not being truthful with me” part that I mind; it’s the storyteller thinking I’m dumb enough to believe this particular load of garbage. How dumb do you think I am?

By the same token, I’m used to politicians – and their spokespeople - being shall we say less than truthful. But can anyone tell me why Perino was allowed by the press to tell this ridiculous whopper totally unreported and unchallenged?

Tags: Off Topic, iraq war
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 5, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Blogrolling

Blogrolling ACDL… Thanks go out to the following blogs that have recently added permanent links, linked to me in a post of their own, linked to my DWI blog or commented on recent posts:

Waco Criminal Law Blog
Exposed
Sex Crimes
The Mommy Blog
May It Please The Court
Eye on Williamson
Georgia DUI Law Blog
Condo & HOA Law Blog
Election Journal
Georgia DUI Blog
And here are some other interesting blogs I’ve been following recently:

Off the Kuff
The Legal Satyricon
Judgment Day
Norm Pattis
Hick Town Rap Star
As always, I’ve likely missed some folks, so please email me if you’d like to be included in the next edition of Austin Criminal Defense Blogrolling.

Tags: Other Blogs
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 5, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
On Starting a New Blog and Getting Noticed

I often get asked by new criminal law bloggers how best to get noticed by other bloggers so that they can get linked to. Actually there’s an easy answer: link out to others, and they will start reading your blog and link back to you.

While you’re at it, feel free to let the person you’re linking to know it in an email. They may not have noticed (although, as you get more and more into blogging, you’ll start to recognize when folks do). Here’s an email exchange from a relatively new blogger that is already posting frequent high quality content:

Jamie,

I’ve just started a new blog, Mississippi Criminal Defense Law Blog, www.mscriminallawblog.com, and wanted to reach out to you for any advice or comments you might have on blogging on the topic of criminal law. I’ve been reviewing your posts and with permission will start making some comments on a few in the future. I have also linked to your sites on my blogroll – I hope that is okay.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

--
Kevin W. Frye
Attorney at Law

My answer:

First and foremost, never ask permission to link to me: just do it!

Haha. No, but seriously, thank you, and by the way, linking out to others is the best, quickest, easiest way to get them to notice you and to get them to link back to you.

And feel free to grab snippets of what folks say (yes, me included) and comment on why it is wrong as well as why it is 'right'. It helps a little if I actually am wrong, but again, in the practical blawgosphere, that's more than welcome.

Blogging is a discussion - either in the comments section, or between blogs.

You've definitely got a good start. I'll be linking to you in my next edition of "blogrolling" - if not before then.

Thanks for the email, and by the way, at the beginning, feel free to email folks when you link to them (you won't need to do it with me - I'm subscribing to your blog now, and I would have seen it anyway on Technorati) - but I mean don't feel bashful if you link to someone and you want them to know you did.

Finally, permission (and you should ask permission for this one) to reprint your email to me? And my response to you? I'll include a link about your new blog of course, but probably post it as "advice to new criminal defense bloggers". Or I can just leave you out of it and anon-o-mize it.

Good luck. Looking forward to more posts from you.

Jamie

Perhaps it’s not obvious, but just in case, let me add “reprinted with permission”.

Tags: Other Blogs, lawyer blogs
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Comments Trackbacks Posted on May 4, 2008 by Jamie Spencer
Dismissed Case and Evidence of Innocence Still Counts as a 'Brush With the Law'

More on Cedric Benson’s arrest for Boating While Intoxicated here, but I was alternately amused and/or saddened by this line in the AP report about the recent Austin incident:

Benson had a couple of brushes with the law during his college days.

He was arrested for marijuana possession in May of 2002 in his hometown of Midland, Texas. The charges were dropped when he passed a drug test and other evidence surfaced to clear him.

Hmmmmmmm.

The charges were dropped. He passed drug test. And, according to the writer, ‘other evidence surfaced to clear him’. But we won’t say what that was.

But, and here’s the important thing to remember, as you read this story about Benson being arrested, let’s not forget that he has had other ‘brushes with the law’.

Clearly the reporter has included this information because it’s pertinent to the main story. If we apply the well known rule that ‘where there’s smoke there’s fire’… does that mean that:

Because he’s been arrested before he’s more likely to be guilty this time or
Because his prior arrest had to be dropped - at least in part because of evidence of innocence - that ‘there go the police, arresting an innocent man again’?
I’m just asking, that’s all.

Tags: Evidence and Criminal Procedure