Saturday, January 05, 2008

Saturday Morning Odds and Ends

Here are a few odds and ends that deserve Grits readers attention:

Now Rosenthal is really out ... maybe
Chuck Rosenthal finally decided not to run for re-election for Harris County District Attorney, but ironically he may have screwed up the letter asking to be removed from the ballot. Reports the Houston Chronicle, "Now on the ballot are former felony court judge and former homicide detective Pat Lykos, assistant district attorney Kelly Siegler, defense lawyer and former prosecutor Jim Leitner and Doug Perry, who listed himself as a Houston police captain, lawyer and accountant."

Mexican marijuana still plentiful and cheap
I know, I know, you're shocked.

ABC News: Don't snitch on drug using co-workers
ABC News' Bob Rosner advises, "Your co-worker doesn't need someone to play snitch and bust him at work. So take off that badge and step away from your role as enforcer."

How do you compensate 27 years' unjust imprisonment?
Asks the blog Tort Deform, looking at the Texas case of Charles Chatman. Over the years as a corporate defense lawyer, my father has spent a great deal of time arguing in and out of court over the value of lives lost or the financial consequence debilitating injuries, and I've always thought based on that second-hand experience that the $50,000 per year Texas compensates wrongfully convicted people is probably too low. As a Tort Deform commenter wrote, "clearly an instance in which 'noneconomic damages' should be available. Besides the 27 years of employment this person missed out on, he has been irreparably robbed of so much life experience, and I hate to imagine the abuses he may have witnessed or even personally suffered while incarcerated."

2007 annual report on Texas judiciary available
I've already done a couple of posts based on data from the Office of Court Administration's annual report on the Texas judiciary, but if you're interested in seeing the whole thing, which is chock full of interesting data, it's available here.

No transition team yet for new Dallas jail wing
Dallas Sheriff Lupe Valdez has been criticized, sometimes justly, for her failure to turn around problems at the Dallas County Jail, but she can't do it without help from the county commissioners court, which was criticized by the National Institute of Corrections for failing to fund a transition team to plan for opening a new jail wing. I still don't understand how they plan to staff the new facility.

1 comment:

Redo your life again. said...

Just know media has no clue the VAST amounts of misconduct and bs wastes of monies out of Harris County SD. I know of at very least a dozen deputies that have engaged in lewd sexual relations men women prostitutes each other. They act above the law. I was married to one of these folks no I was married to one of his personalities. The whole system is a boysclub to get it on its absolutely grotesque. The amount of paid time he spent voicing off. Working other job while on workers comp. Have sex in his county car with other dept. While on duty. Really its not surprising why give up a gravy train.