The Texas District and County Attorney Association yesterday removed a discussion string from their website, apparently in response to the publication of this Grits post reacting to their comments. On the string, prosecutors offered advice to a DEA agent who'd conspired with other law enforcement officers to remove the license plate from a vehicle driven by a drug suspect in order to manufacture probable cause for a traffic stop.
FWIW, that post generated more traffic than any other in Grits' history - more than 20,000 page views since it was posted over the weekend, thanks largely to visitors exploring links from Fark.com, Buzzflash and Overlawyered. There was a good discussion of the topic, too, I thought, in the comments to that Grits post.
It seems kind of silly to take the string down now, doesn't it? I'd already captured the money quotes on Grits and it's not like they can rewrite history. Makes you wonder what they have to hide?
Ya think that this was a lesson to those cops and pros that if they want to cheat the system, do it undercover? You did a huge mitzvah (that's Texas-talk for good deed) with that post. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteSHG
Nah, they'll never learn that lesson. See here, here and here. The Texas prosecutor association logo probably illustrates the definition of "hubris" in the dictionary, or should. Usually they're quite proud of themselves over this sort of thing. Quien sabe porque? best,
ReplyDeleteYou ripped their legs off. Good work.
ReplyDeletesg
I was so tempted to use that picture, but for some reason I hesitated. It is perfect, though, given what has now transpired.
ReplyDeleteEver since you started linking to that message board, I wondered why they didn't just move all their discussions to a private section of the site and left it open for public view.
@Gideon - they're elected officials and public employees. Even if they moved it to a private part of the site I or other interested parties could just file open records requests every so often for access.
ReplyDeleteIt WAS a great pic!
Yeah, but I suspect they could make a good argument that it would qualify as work product. So if they kept this to phone calls and notes in their file, I'm not sure they'd have to turn it over under a FOIA request.
ReplyDeleteI could be wrong.
Our Texas open records law is pretty strong, certainly most of what goes on their bulletin board, by far, is public. Hell, half of it is just snarky jokes.
ReplyDeleteI think they're trying too hard. They have a lawyer joke of the day on their home page.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it's a somewhat short (and very convoluted) step from what they type on a message board to what they say to each other. Someone should try that argument to have the prosecutor's office miked up.
Anyone who knows anything about the incestuous relationship between DAs and law enforcement should know that the difference between a DA and prostitute [for police] is that a DA doesn't need coercion to put out for police.
ReplyDeleteYou know the problem with lawyer jokes, don't you Gideon? Lawyers don't think they're funny, and nobody else thinks they're jokes. ;) That goes double for this crowd! God knows what you'd hear if you miked some of those guys up, given what they say on the message board.
ReplyDeleteHar har :p
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