Sunday, September 12, 2010

Progress and Its Discontents- Or, What I Learned From An Article in Texas Monthly

Hey, everybody. Jeff Blackburn here. I hope a good week was had by all.

I sincerely appreciated all of the comments to my last post. I avoided answering them individually because it seemed better to let folks argue it out with each other. As far as I can tell, that approach stimulated discussion-which is pretty much the point, right? Many thanks.

Here’s what I want to stimulate discussion about this week: why has it been so hard for us to make things better in the Texas criminal justice system? Why is there always such strong resistance to change?

I received a fresh perspective on these questions when I read an advance copy of an article that will appear in the upcoming issue of Texas Monthly. It will be available online Wednesday and at newsstands Thursday. It is a big, thoroughly-researched and extremely well-written piece by Pam Colloff about the tragic case of Anthony Graves, an innocent man who has been trapped in the Texas system for most of his adult life. For reasons I will explain, this article yields insight into more than his case- it shows why things go wrong in criminal cases generally and why officials often refuse to set them right. Even though it is only about one case, Ms. Colloff partially answers the bigger question of why we can’t make more progress on the statewide policy level. Here’s what I mean:

Big Problems, Actual Solutions

As many of you know, I handle wrongful conviction cases. I’ve done a lot of them both as a private attorney and as a volunteer with the Innocence Project of Texas (IPOT). Every phony conviction I have ever seen is the result of some kind of misconduct or overreaching by officials (police, prosecutors, or judges), bad defense work, or a combination of these things. The same problems repeat themselves in case after case, and what they usually come down to is that one side is rigging the system to win. When justice becomes a competitive sport and one side gets to write the rules that sort of thing tends to happen.

People argue endlessly here and elsewhere about whether it was meant to be this way, whether police are bad or good, whether prosecutors and judges just don’t care, whether district attorneys really do bad things, and so forth. In the long run these arguments don’t matter. Here’s why:

When a system is sending innocent people into prison on a regular basis as ours has done, it has serious flaws. It doesn’t make any difference whether those flaws are there because people are bad, good or just indifferent. What matters is whether the problems can be fixed. They can be in criminal justice. Want to stop prosecutorial misconduct? Pass a statute that punishes it. Allow plaintiffs in civil rights cases the right to sue over it by lifting immunity in such cases. Want to stop bad defense lawyering? Set up a statewide public defender system. Create professional guidelines setting out minimum standards. Want to get the innocent out of prison? Reform the writ system. Want to stop the use of phony eyewitness testimony? Pass a law that keeps it out of court. The list goes on. The amazing thing is that virtually every serious problem we have in this system has a rational solution. We’re not dealing with something like climate change or the end of cheap energy. We’re dealing with problems that can really be solved.

So why don’t we just go and do that? The answer is simple, really, and it came to me after reading Ms. Colloff's article and remembering the facts of the Anthony Graves case: we don’t want to. Why don’t we want to? Because it would make us, or at least the people we elected and appointed, look bad. We are willing to go to ridiculous lengths to save the face of people in this system- and nowhere have we gone to more ridiculous lengths than in the case of Anthony Graves.

The Texas Monthly Article and What It Tells Us About Our State

Ms. Colloff has written a truly excellent article that will tell you just about everything you need to know about Anthony Graves and his case. Readers of Grits should take a look at this piece. It’s well worth the price of the magazine.

I’m not going to discuss the facts of Anthony’s case much here- I want you to read the whole article. I will say that I was privileged to be part of a team of IPOT lawyers that represented Mr. Graves pro bono and that Ms. Colloff’s report is even-handed and accurate.

Anthony Graves was a nice guy who grew up in Brenham. He was well-liked and responsible. In 1992, an entire family was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in Somerville, a small town not far from Brenham. The trailer they lived in was torched. A man named Robert Carter was apprehended a few days later. The evidence against Carter was strong: he had a motive to kill the victims since they were costing him child-support money, he had gasoline burns all over himself, and he had been busy destroying evidence in the days after the murder. The problem was that by the time he got arrested the police and prosecutors had already decided that there had to be others involved in the crime. This “theory”, which was at best a hunch and had been arrived at without any forensic investigation, became their case. Like many prosecutors, police, and presidents in our history they decided to fix the facts to fit their theory- the same sort of behavior that we see over and over again in wrongful conviction cases. This meant that they had to get Carter to say that others were involved- if he didn’t, they would have had to admit their “theory” was untrue and lose face with the locals. After hours of questioning, Carter finally gave them the name of Anthony Graves.

Texas Rangers arrested Mr. Graves shortly thereafter and put him in jail for capital murder, where he has been ever since. The case against him was based on the word of Carter and virtually nothing else- read Ms. Colloff’s article and you will see what this "case" looked like.

That was fine for the State of Texas- it has certainly killed people with less evidence than that. The problem was that Carter began recanting his story and told prosecutors that he would tell the jury in Mr. Graves’s trial that Mr. Graves was innocent. That was the sort of thing that might ruin a perfectly good execution, so the state responded by sweating Carter the night before trial and threatening to make him testify against his wife. After several hours of this kind of "trial preparation", Carter agreed to tell the State’s version of what happened. He did so the next day. Prosecutors covered up what had happened with the recantations and threats- evidence vital to the defense- and got their conviction and death penalty. Mr. Graves went off to death row.

In the months that followed, Carter told anyone who would listen- which was just about nobody-that he had lied about Mr. Graves to tell the prosecutors what they wanted to hear. Carter was eventually executed. Minutes before he died, he told the world again that Mr. Graves was innocent. His last words: “It was me and me alone. Anthony Graves had nothing to do with it. I lied on him in court.”

Years later, as a result of the truly heroic unpaid efforts of a lawyer and St. Thomas professor named Nicole Casarez (disclaimer here: Nicole is a very close friend of mine and a co-founder of IPOT) and despite the aggressive efforts of prosecutors, all of this came out. Mr. Graves narrowly avoided being executed because the federal courts intervened.

Ms. Colloff’s article describes the extraordinary ins-and-outs of a legal process that involved many fine lawyers working for years on the case. These lawyers- Pat McCann, Roy Greenwood, Jay Burnett, Ms. Casarez and others- barely saved their client’s life. They were ablocked and challenged by prosecutors at every stage of the proceedings.

Ms. Colloff also describes how little any of the legal wrangling has meant to Mr. Graves in practical terms. Eighteen years later, he is still in jail despite his new trial. New pro bono lawyers, of which I was one, have defended him. Mr. Graves now has the stellar legal team of Katherine Scardino and Jimmy Phillips, Jr. on his side. (Disclaimer again: these are both good friends of mine and Ms. Scardino is a member of the Board of Directors of IPOT.)

Ms. Colloff tells this story very well and in a way that makes sense to the average reader. She does more than that, however: she puts it into perspective. Why did Mr. Graves get charged in the first place? Why did the State cover up the truth about Carter’s recantations? Why did the State fight so hard to execute Mr. Graves despite all of the problems it had created? Why does it still insist on trying this plainly innocent man for capital murder?

The answer, ultimately, is because it could- and because it would make some police and prosecutors look bad for doing the wrong thing in the first place if they had to admit to it. Ms. Colloff's objective reporting of the attitudes of law enforcement officials in this case, even to this day, shows this quite clearly.

Mr. Graves’s story is about much more than him: it’s about how the system really works, the human cost it involves, and the ultimately childish motivations that sometimes guide decision-making in this state. As told by Ms. Colloff, it is a story that sheds light on why we have the problems we have in this state. In the last analysis, it is a story that helps answer the two questions we started off this discussion with.

Multiply the cover-yourself-at-all-costs mentality on display in the Anthony Graves case a few hundred times and you get at least part of the answer to the question of why the legislators, judges and prosecutors that run this system can’t seem to fix it: it would make them look bad.

Someday they might get convinced that it is better to be honest than to look good. Until then, the rest of us are going to have to be honest for them. Ms. Colloff’s article is a good example of the power that comes from telling the truth.

33 comments:

  1. Exactly what law could stop "phony eyewitness testimony?"

    I'm all for it, but it seems to me that absent the courts taking a scientific approach, it won't happen. And the courts being in a different branch, they can't exactly pass a statute.

    In this way it would be similar to the expert issues in Daubert and Robinson, and the sufficiency of the eyewitness testimony would then be a legal issue for the judge to allow or exclude.

    In other words, we'd be right back where we are now.

    Rage

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  2. For now, just get the h*ll out of Texas. Like I did. With my kid. The solution: help Texas secede. Really, it's that bad.

    http://www.jackiebuffalo.com/index2copy.html

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  3. Wow, thanks for the great essay, I look forward to reading Pam Colloff's article. Wouldn't I like to see every single person who covered up the truth in this case be held accountable. Those who "don't want to look bad," and their enablers, are actually rewarded (salary, jobs...). Cover up the truth, cover up for others, that's our system in Texas. That's one reason why so many people don't speak out - "it doesn't do any good" - and if you do, you will be screwed over. Fortunately there are people who do fight for what's right, and if enough joined in, maybe we can make them look bad (because they are). Thanks again, for taking the time to write this.

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  4. Leaving Texas won't help. The feds are just as bad, maybe worse.

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  5. Phony eyewitness Testimony? Enforce the Perjury laws.
    Leave Texas? Nope. You're either part of the problem or Part of the solution. Help fix it.
    Stop prosecutorial Misconduct? Enforce existing bar guidelines, Disbar flagrant cheaters that are prosecutors. Prosecute those that obstruct justice or commit crimes while prosecuting.
    And... the one poster is right, some of the playrs in graves were rewarded with re-election, promotions or actual Appointments by Rick Perry.

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  6. Help Texas secede? How exactly does this help fix the problem? What you describe on your web link are local problems with local school systems and doctors. This is due to STATE LAWS, not federal ones. no, sorry but the real solution is to put term limits in place for all elected officials, and also get laws passed as described in the article.

    Only when the government becomes FOR the people again will these issues get resolved.

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  7. A system produces the results it is designed to produce. The current criminal justice system in the US is designed to produce mass incarceration. The US populace, whether explicitly or implicity (by default) approves this system. It cannot be changed without changing the national consensus. See the recent book by Michelle Alexander, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness." See Alan Bean's review of that book, and my "Response to Michelle Alexander on the Friends of Justice Blog.

    Charles Kiker, Tulia

    Charles Kiker

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  8. I should have given the web address, Friendsofjustice.wordpress.com
    I also should have closed the quote, "Response to Michelle Alexander."

    Charles Kiker
    (I don't like to post anonymously, so I have to identify myself in the body of the comment since my username/password combination doesn't work for me)

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  9. I agree with you, Charles, but I don't see the Texas CJ system and the U.S. system as being the same. The overall system may be designed for mass incarceration, but Texas seems to have a unique mindset toward punishment, revenge, etc., as well as the tendency to agree with the system and reluctance to admit a mistake, regardless of whom gets hurt. The stories of Tim Cole, the Tulia mess with which you and Jeff are all too familiar, this story, and many others that are coming to light every day or so (it seems), just serve to make me think that Texas is a very special place when it comes to punishing the innocent. One thing that might help is try getting some of the politics out of the system. Maybe stop electing prosecutors and judges.??

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  10. I keep posting about the COST of the Criminal Justice System...HEY VOTING TAXPAYERS this comes out of your pockets.I wonder how much it cost to execute Carter, court cost, trial, attorneys, appeals, housing on Death Row, how many years X minumum cost of $50,000 per year, then the cost of execution, probably around a $1,000,000.00 yes a million dollars minium. WAKE UP America, the prisons are full of NON Violent Inmates, never hurt one person costing you for their long long long sentences of about $35,000.00 to $50,000.00 per year while on the inside, if they are healthy Inmates, BUT, by the time they are raped, beaten by gangs, brutalized by guards, neglected in medical care, and on it goes, the cost gets really expensive to the TaxPayers. Then when they get out, if they ever get out, they have to have housing (can't rent because have felonies on their record, can't get a job because they are not physically able to do manual labor-most of them due to the disabilities acquire while in prison) they can't pay their parole fees because they don't have jobs or a place to live so they go back to prison on a Tech violation or they commit another crime so they have a place to go to live or they come out of prison so full of RAGE that they need major counseling PTSD counseling so they can control the RAGE from the abuse of the system...ER rooms are full of ex-offenders needing medical care, counseling, just general help that the VOTING TAXPAYERS pay through their TAXES, oh that is Federal Taxes, City Taxes, County Taxes, Property Taxes, Hospital Taxes, etc. that keep going up and up.What say you? next time on a jury and they are talking about the long-long sentences for this person, do your multiplications, does the sentence really fit the crime and the price that TAXPAYERS have to pay not to mention what the Inmate might have to pay all the way up to his/her life.Make the Criminal Justice System prove with hard strong evidence and not on just someones say so, that includes the law enforcers, prosecutors, police - give evidence (what happen to the Constitution Rule of in the eye of two or more witnesses is the only way for eye witnessess) Drug Rehabilitation takes care of a lot of these woes for many Texas Inmates about 85% of the Prison System, but not if the programs are more government sponsor programs or ran by government. Let us put the free enterprises program back in place so it can be a "GOOD THING" Thank you, PAPA

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  11. I keep posting about the COST of the Criminal Justice System...HEY VOTING TAXPAYERS this comes out of your pockets.I wonder how much it cost to execute Carter, court cost, trial, attorneys, appeals, housing on Death Row, how many years X minumum cost of $50,000 per year, then the cost of execution, probably around a $1,000,000.00 yes a million dollars minium. WAKE UP America, the prisons are full of NON Violent Inmates, never hurt one person costing you for their long long long sentences of about $35,000.00 to $50,000.00 per year while on the inside, if they are healthy Inmates, BUT, by the time they are raped, beaten by gangs, brutalized by guards, neglected in medical care, and on it goes, the cost gets really expensive to the TaxPayers. Then when they get out, if they ever get out, they have to have housing (can't rent because have felonies on their record, can't get a job because they are not physically able to do manual labor-most of them due to the disabilities acquire while in prison) they can't pay their parole fees because they don't have jobs or a place to live so they go back to prison on a Tech violation or they commit another crime so they have a place to go to live or they come out of prison so full of RAGE that they need major counseling PTSD counseling so they can control the RAGE from the abuse of the system...ER rooms are full of ex-offenders needing medical care, counseling, just general help that the VOTING TAXPAYERS pay through their TAXES, oh that is Federal Taxes, City Taxes, County Taxes, Property Taxes, Hospital Taxes, etc. that keep going up and up.What say you? next time on a jury and they are talking about the long-long sentences for this person, do your multiplications, does the sentence really fit the crime and the price that TAXPAYERS have to pay not to mention what the Inmate might have to pay all the way up to his/her life.Make the Criminal Justice System prove with hard strong evidence and not on just someones say so, that includes the law enforcers, prosecutors, police - give evidence (what happen to the Constitution Rule of in the eye of two or more witnesses is the only way for eye witnessess) Drug Rehabilitation takes care of a lot of these woes for many Texas Inmates about 85% of the Prison System, but not if the programs are more government sponsor programs or ran by government. Let us put the free enterprises program back in place so it can be a "GOOD THING" Thank you, PAPA

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  12. Don3330

    I think the punitive vengeful attitude is rooted in Texas. New book, "Texas Tough," thinks so. Not restricted to Texas by any means. Curtis Flowers, probably innocent, is on death row in Mississippi. Same thing for Troy Davis in Georgia. A lot of info on Curtis Flowers, and some on Troy Davis, available on Friends of Justice blog.

    Charles Kiker

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  13. LEO and prosecutor ego. From the Tyler Municipal Courth that churns out traffic money to the dead Davidian Kids. Kills people. Perverts the justice system. They will never voluntarily reform.

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  14. Hey Jeff, appreciate the lesson and solutions. Keep 'em coming.

    Like PAPA mentioned, we must point out those that allow the problems to fester and never heal. Voters that vote just to be voting end up voting to convict just because everyone else is and/or are ready to go home. Then there are the almighty Taxpayers that blindly contribute without concerning themselves as to exactly what they are funding. These same people will moan and groan over gas going up but will say absolutely nothing in response to paying out settlements/bribes to the cherry picked subsection of those humans falsely arrested & wrongfully convicted.

    Since the Voters and Taxpayers are guilty by association and the solutions start with them, would an extra Tax that is specifically intended to go towards paying for mistakes made by the police and courts get their attention? As it is now, these ‘mistakes’ are paid out from tax dollars and people really don’t know their true individual portion. Would an ‘extra’ mandatory $100. bucks a year - per taxpayer going to the ‘Falsely Arrested & Wrongfully Convicted of Texas Fund’ (FA&WCTF) box on your tax returns wake any of you up? Thanks.

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  15. Like the article and your closing could be a template for Texas CJ agencies.
    Multiply the cover-yourself-at-all-costs mentality on display in the Anthony Graves case a few hundred times and you get at least part of the answer to the question of why the legislators, judges and prosecutors that run this system can’t seem to fix it: it would make them look bad.
    Someday they might get convinced that it is better to be honest than to look good. Until then, the rest of us are going to have to be honest for them. Ms. Colloff’s article is a good example of the power that comes from telling the truth.
    For example
    Multiply the cover-yourself-at-all-costs mentality on display in the ‘tyc’ a few hundred times and you get at least part of the answer to the question of why the jco’s, caseworkers, central office managers and legislators that run this system can’t seem to fix it: it would make them look bad. Someday they might get convinced that it is better to be honest than to look good. Until then, the rest of us are going to have to be honest for them. Ms. Colloff’s article is a good example of the power that comes from telling the truth.

    Great points, have thought that for a while now. Look forward to reading the artical when it comes in the mail.
    Sheldon

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  16. Hey Charles, good to hear from you and what a nicely put comment that was. Your words will live on in the PNG "Quotes & Words You'll Never Forget" (above the fold). Thanks.

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  17. How will you know when you've reached a point where there are absolutely, without a doubt, no "wrongful" convictions?

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  18. An entire family was stabbed and bludgeoned to death in Somerville. That really happened...under circumstances which strongly suggest multiple perpetrators. the Carter "recantation" was suspect from the beginning. Anyone want to wager on the the prospect of Graves being convicted again?

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  19. Part of the solution could come from public exposure of these types of criminal justice "crimes" through media outlets such as Texas Monthly and/or the internets blogsphere. Since prosecutors, judges and legislators are all political animals who ultimately must be concerned about negative media that could hurt their chances of re-election, the media has some potential leverage. The only caveat is that the medias own perspective standards about what it prints or broadcasts being grounded in a committment to ethics and the truth. Most media operates first as a business so they use public interest and response as a gauge, via sales data, letters to the editor etc., to determine how much time and space a story will get. Their patrons need to let them know that they are interested in hearing about these issues. Investigative reporting is one of the best tools there is today, be it on the web, blogs, t.v., mags., newspapers, radio etc.

    The biggest enemy to truth is the ability to be invisible followed by apathy of the citizenry. That includes me and you. I know that I am guilty of getting angry when I read about such travesties of justice, but often don't do anything more than get upset. I don't take the time to write letters or make phone calls. Truthfully, in part because there is always a risk to standing up and speaking out. I guess we are all social cowards at times.

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  20. This isn't just a problem with the criminal justice system, but with all state and local govt entities that I've ever dealt with. The bottom line is that even when you do get to sue for damages, they have an endless supply of taxpayer money to defend themselves with.

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  21. The good thing about your information is that it is explicit enough for students to grasp. Thanks for your efforts in spreading academic knowledge.

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  22. I didn't think any of could answer the question. Truth is, you don't want it answered.

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  23. TJP ~ interesting that only you so far has mentioned that the Judges and many other law makers and enforcers in Texas (and the rest of the US) are elected. I'm at a loss to know why everyone thinks this is always a good idea.

    How can someone who is elected remain impartial, when matters of justice and life and death are concerned? They are always looking over their shoulder or into the future to the next election, just to keep their job. They work for the people who elect them, not for all of the people.

    One other thing that perplexes me (well, there are lots, but this one seems pertinent at the moment) is why appeals have to be agreed and heard by the original trial judges. That seems particularly bizarre. If the Judge is not willing to admit that they may have got it wrong first time, nothing is going to move them.

    Develop an independent body to decide when there is enough evidence to bring someone to court, and a system where judges never hear appeals of cases they originally tried, and you might be getting somewhere.

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  24. @Jackie

    Maybe you just hate Texas.

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  25. "How will you know when you've reached a point where there are absolutely, without a doubt, no "wrongful" convictions?"

    if this was your 'question' that you didn't think anyone would ask, let me give it a try.

    The answer is, you will NEVER know if there are continued wrongful convictions, all systems are flawed. However, knowing that wrongful convictions will always occur is not a reason to throw up ones hands and say, hey it doesn't get any better!

    You identify the problems 1 at a time, and fix them as you run across them.

    For someone to believe that because there will be wrongful convictions no matter what you do, to allow a known corrupt system to continue, is a crime itself.

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  26. The only way to guarantee that no innocent person is ever convicted is to never arrest anyone.
    Every man, woman and child for themselves!!

    If Graves ever gets out I doubt he'll be eating grits for breakfast at any of your homes.

    It is remarkable how a Capital murderer's statement exonerating a co-defendant is taken as Gospel; while a statement by the same murderer implicating the same co-defendant is no doubt erroneous.

    If no obvious motive is apparent does that preclude guilt?
    Maybe Graves was paid in money or in kind...we'll never know so let's let him go.
    Were Leopold and Loeb really innocent as well?
    What about the motive of a true sociopath? And for those of you who think that the violence associated with some mentally ill folks is fixed with meds I'll bet you also think they'll be compliant with their meds on the outside living next to someone other than you.

    Texas Justice is tough and that is because the Texas criminal element is tough.

    Just Sayin'

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  27. "Texas Justice is tough and that is because the Texas criminal element is tough.
    "

    The nex time you see Tim Cole, ask him how tough Texas Criminal Element is... Oh wait you CAN'T, he was murdered by the state.

    Texas Justice is created to allow LEO and the rich to get by.. Don't believe me, Find DeLay in the TDCJ ...

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  28. Mr. Blackburn:

    In Texas, you cannot be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice so my question is what evidence was presented during trial to corroborate the accomplice testimony?

    Retired LE

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  29. how did we get here?as americans,texasans? who by the slip of decite,believed if a person was guilty and a price of time was declared WHERE they went jail ,prison,or safp they would be handed off to unhuman situation to the point a person NEVER gets over it .they are labled hard headed or rotten to the core.do we even take a number in suicides as many many are profiled.look up synanon on the web and see where gateway the solution for rehab and prerelease was adopted .people with driving with suspended driving lics.can be sent and reprogramed by methods of crawling on all fours and barking like a dog to ensure they wont repeat the crime !most would say if you do the crime pay the time but how are these yelling and screaming at each other over somthing made up so when you hit the street nothing will faze you helping us build a greater neighborhood,town,state,usa,?and the innocent who live within those walls are praying their nightmare ends and go home alive for the ones that have such horrific lables of lies are treated the worse.there is an answer,there is a way ,as humans we have to say its enough embrace those who are involved (on both sides)and see another way to heal our problems.yes there is crime commited ,but its on both sides.pray for a greater solution or what are the odds, within your family you wont deal from one side or the other a story you thought couldt touch you...

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  30. Texas justice is not "tuff" when those who are supposed to uphold the law make things just happen so that they can wrap up their work and go home to their supper and the latest American Idol show... that is PATHETIC! It's not just our state, it's the entire country in every state big and small. These cowards that participate in this path of "justice" are no better than the gangs, the dopers, the smugglers and anyone else who's character is lacking in any sense of right and wrong... it's the very same crap just in reverse!

    -Bart

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  31. As I see it, the problem is universal. It is the lack of taking oaths seriously. "... to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies ..." Our Constitution gives a guide to what our actions should be. "The purpose of a trial", we are taught, "is to seek the truth.". Both of these statements are forgotten moments after the government official lowers their right hand.

    Winning at all costs is now paramount. Politicians are elected based on either successes or lack of competition. Judges are immune from criticism from their peers (people in glass houses don't throw stones).

    People accept the excuse of "There is no controlling legal authority". The legal system centers on process, and not justice.

    The voters just want to be left alone so long as it does not affect them. This results in electing poor law enforcement, prosecution, and judging.

    Attorneys are more interested in making money than they are in making "right".

    LEOs and DAs work in concert to convict, not to find the truth.

    It is easier to deny wrongdoing than it is to work to prove the existence of of it.

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  32. Do any of you have anyone in tdcj? Let me enlighten you on a few things! First off you can kill or shoot someone and or sell drugs in a school yard,you can walk free, but if you screw up with people who know those sitting on that big bench, that is your first and only big mistake. No matter what weapon charge was done on the indictment, real or not, it will not ever be taken off under those circumstances. While it is so very true that a disgraceful many don't get anywhere near what they deserve, many others will rot for close to twenty years or more with what they don't deserve. Until the public realizes how much the good old boy system is embedded in tx not only on the city, county, and state level, the corruption will never change. While there are some good people in the tx system, nobody is above their minute of glory. If someone with some power who cared would take the time to look at the court records of some no a bunch of the cases, they would find what a shabby disgrace the court appointed lawyers really are and what the judges and da's are allowed to get away with good or bad!

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  33. If Mr Blackburn is so passionate about this why did he remove himself from the case? Maybe evidence.

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