Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Asset forfeiture is a cancer on our criminal justice system. When you remove constitutional protections and allow the government to steal private property and keep the proceed, you can expect injustice every time. Here is a video from the merry band of libertarian lawyers at the Institute for Justice detailing the problems inherent in civil forfeiture laws.

I just received my acceptance letter for the CJA (federal court appointed criminal defeense) panel. I am awaiting my first federal criminal appointment and devouring as much federal law as I can in anticipation. One book I highly recommend is "Busted by the Feds" by Larry Fassler.

BBTF was written by a federal inmate and offers a first hand look at the federal criminal process. Highly cynical and often dispararing of lawyers (prosecutors and defense alike), BBTF offers a first hand look into the perils of plea negotiations and sentencing. If you have a family member of loved one facing federal prosecution BBTF is a great place to start.

Why the wheel?
I am lucky and honored to have a busy state criminal defense practice. However, I am looking for a new challenge and federal criminal defense has always seemed like the next logical step in my growth as a defense lawyer. I see fed defense as the major leagues, state court as more AAA. Finally, as a zealous anti drug war crusader what better place is there to fight the WOD than in the Mordor of Prohibition?

What's so different? In state court I'm dealing mainly with ad hoc arrest and investigation. Most state dope cases are road pops; a traiffic violation leads to some small amount of drugs. It's the unlucky lottery of law enforcement (especially DWI). Typical state fact pattern- Officer Dingdong pulls over Defendant for X, and finds Y (Drugs, DWI, blah blah blah). Not a lot of variety and in general very cursory investigations.

Federal criminal investigations are more thorough with better trained law enforcement (DEA > Mabank PD). Whereas most state case invesgations last a few hours, a federal case can be investigated for months before charges are filed.

The stakes are also higher as the federal system has been rigged to encouraged rampant snitching and a race to "cooperate" to avoid the draconian sentencing guidelines. It will challenging, but rewarding.

I'm looking forward to the April 23rd Federal Practice Seminar in Dallas. Drop me a line if you are going to be there.

From Kaufman Bar President Keena Greyling

The Kaufman County Bar Association endorses Rick Harrison for District Attorney, Wade Gent for Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2 and Joe Windham for Commissioner of Precinct 4.

We had a secret ballot at the meeting today.

Texas Ranger's Manager Ron Washington recently admitted that he used a little blow last year and that it was a one time deal. He's really sorry and promises not to do it again.

At least one local sportstwriter calling for Ron's immediate termination. That's a position that can be debated. Baseball is entertainment and if the Rangers, a private business, want their employees to not use blow, so be it.

That argument aside we should all be grateful that Ron didn't get arrested. Bosses and employers can be forgiving and understanding. The criminal justice machine, not so much.

If Ron had been arrested in Texas for possession of any amount of coke, he would have faced a state jail felony case for possession of a controlled substance, a sentence of 6 months-2 years in State jail (no parole), a fine of up to $10,000. Being a first time offender he would have been put on probation (Texas catches so many casual drug users we had to pass a law against incarcerating them, Onward Prohibition!).

What would purpose Ron's arrest and felony prosecution have served? Would your family be safer right now if Ron had been thrown in jail and put on probation? The lie that is the foundation of our modern criminal justice system is that arresting, prosecution, and incarcerating a small random percentage of drug users somehow makes the country a better place. That we are "sending the right message" when we destroy the lives of some casual users while the vast majority of users never get caught. It's nonsense in a way Shirley Jackson would appreciate. Our failed choice also fuels the bloody narco wars in Mexico.

The truth is that society is better off when we don't arrest and destroy the majority of drug users. First, not all recreational drug users are created equal. In fact, some casual coke snorters end up as President of the United States (see Obama/W) or the manager of your favorite baseball team. Outside of Saying Yes by Jacob Sullum, little has been written on casual drug users who are not hopeless reprobates.

Debate the merits of firing Ron all you want, but we should all be glad that not one minute of law enforcement time, or one dollar of your taxes, were wasted on his prosecution. Terminating Ron Washington is a choice for his employer to make; the decision to not make felons out of future Ron Washingtons is up to the voters.

Austin DWI lawyer Jamie Spencer has started Texas' first collborative criminal defense lawyer blog- Affirmative Links.Until now every blawger had to be a solo publishing machine; capable of generating interesting new content on a regular basis. No other media model works this way. Newspapers, magazines, bar journals- are all collborative efforts. It's one reason that so many new blawgs fail. It's hard to manage an active law practice and dedicate time to regular updating, posting, editing, etc.

Jamie is asking for a post a week from those interested. The idea being that if we can get mad SEO cred the right way- by producing compelling content together, we all win. I hope it works and puts more distance between real defense bloggers, and the ghostwritting dreck blawging SEO scamsters.

Will AL be successful? Organizing defense lawyers can be like herding cats and the murky nature of returns on such a setup may prove unworkable in the long run. But I'm proud of Jamie for his innovation.

District Attorney vote totals from last night's GOP primary-

Rick Harrison- 3,110
Andrew Jordan- 2,764
Mike Mclelland- 3,479

It was an interesting development as the early vote totals had Mr. Jordan in 2nd and Mr. Harrison in 3rd, respectively. I quit watching before all the Forney precincts had been posted. It appears Rick got a significant push from Forney voters to put him in the run off. Round 2 of the Kaufman DA election will be April 13.

In other election news Howard Tygrett won re election (86th Judicial District Court Judge) against Raymond Shackleford, Rhonda Hughley defeated Angela Webb for District Clerk, and JP2 in Forney is going to see a run off between Wade Gent and Patricia Ashcroft.

Finally, the world will be watching as the Ellis County Libertarian party holds their county convention on March 13, 2010 at my house in Ennis.