Several items caught my attention this morning that may interest Grits readers:
- Sharon Keller feels "vindicated" over dismissed misconduct charges.
- Judge indicted in pissing match with outgoing Collin County DA. Five previous grand juries had declined to indict the judge, who the Commission on Judicial Conduct has suspended with pay pending the outcome of the case. The Collin County Observer rounds up the latest.
- The Texas Tribune has posted an interview with death penalty litigator Rob Owen from the UT Austin Capital Punishment Clinic after he argued the Hank Skinner case before the US Supreme Court.
- Tonight, the PBS news show Frontline will feature a story on the Todd Willingham case titled "Death by Fire." See "sneak previews" of the show here and here.
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3 comments:
On the raid at Club Dallas, it's interesting that the charged anyone with Indecent Exposure. As the Dallas Voice article Grits links to points out, Indecent Exposure as a criminal offense requires exposing one's genitals with the intent to arouse or gratify in a manner that is "reckless about whether present will be offended or alarmed."
Prosecutions like these are difficult because there's two types of people present at a "public place" like this: 1) those who share the voyeur's interest in arousing/gratifying themselves and 2) the vice officers of the police. I can't imagine the other patrons at Club Dallas would be offended by seeing someone's genitals (if they were offended they wouldn't be there). And the Vice officers see so many sexual acts and body parts that it's ridiculous to say that they are offended or alarmed. So how is the accused being reckless?
I've seen this argument win. It just requires that the defense attorney do a good job keeping Victorian types off the jury...
How did she escape!?! Keller escapes the charge. Yes, justice is dead in this state, here's your proof.
Death by Fire can be watched online
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-by-fire/
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