Good stuff from Texas legal blogs

I was down with the flu over the weekend and the early part of the week, and am just beginning to get back on my feet. Thankfully the rest of the blogosphere chugs right along, even when Grits' posting is slow. Here are a few interesting tidbits I noticed this week from around Texas' legal blogosphere:

First, let me point to a new (to me) blog worthy of readers' attention: The Fifth Circuit Blog, covering, just as the title says, the federal 5th Circuit Court of Appeals based in New Orleans, of which Texas is a part.

Bill Baumbach at the Collin County Oberver is following a story I meant to write about before I went down last weekend. See his excellent item - Judge's ties to Prometa questioned - and related coverage.

Jamie Spencer at The Austin Criminal Defense Lawyer picked up on my beef with Doug Berman's advocacy of the death penalty as an "effective bargaining tool," and adds his own perspective: I’m pretty sure the Spanish Inquisition got high marks for efficiency when it came to extracting confessions." :)

Speaking of inquisitions, Tom Kirkendall wonders if we'll see justice for NBC for sponsoring Dateline's Perverted Justice programs in a lawsuit by the sister of a deceased ADA in East Texas. Writes the veteran attorney, "I don't know about you, but I hope she rings the bell on NBC."

At Prevention not Punishment, see "Stop Criminalizing the Mentally Ill," and "The role of medications (or lack thereof) in recent acts of violence."

Over in Brazos County at The Defense Perspective, I highly recommend the post "Experiencing Forgiveness."

Meanwhile, Robert Guest at I Was the State has produced several noteworthy items recently:

• Rick Perry's email available for $54 per day
• Dallas burglars approve of new cell phone ban
• Lessons from TV: Cops trust snitches

Finally, South Texas Chisme finds glitches with the virtual border fence, and lets us know the corrupt police chief in Laredo has been sentenced to three years in the federal pen.