Allegations by attorneys in the report that TDCJ interfered to prevent deployment of particular legal strategies should be investigated by the state bar or perhaps a legislative oversight committee, at a minimum. Indeed, if that's going on - and it sounds like it's happening writ large in the civil-commitment division - then it's time to question, as my co-host Mandy Marzullo suggested during the segment, whether the SCFO is structured in a way that allows for the ethical handling of defense cases. That shouldn't be happening.
Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Interference with SCFO attorneys demands investigation
Grits had earlier discussed the new report from a state bar committee critical of the State Counsel for Offenders, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice division charged with providing legal services to Texas prison inmates. (See coverage from the Texas Observer and KWTX.) So I wanted to pull out a segment from our most recent Reasonably Suspicious podcast discussing the topic in more detail:
Allegations by attorneys in the report that TDCJ interfered to prevent deployment of particular legal strategies should be investigated by the state bar or perhaps a legislative oversight committee, at a minimum. Indeed, if that's going on - and it sounds like it's happening writ large in the civil-commitment division - then it's time to question, as my co-host Mandy Marzullo suggested during the segment, whether the SCFO is structured in a way that allows for the ethical handling of defense cases. That shouldn't be happening.
Allegations by attorneys in the report that TDCJ interfered to prevent deployment of particular legal strategies should be investigated by the state bar or perhaps a legislative oversight committee, at a minimum. Indeed, if that's going on - and it sounds like it's happening writ large in the civil-commitment division - then it's time to question, as my co-host Mandy Marzullo suggested during the segment, whether the SCFO is structured in a way that allows for the ethical handling of defense cases. That shouldn't be happening.
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3 comments:
This is an ancient tradition going back to the founding of the State Counsel for Inmates in the 1980's, Scott. The abuse of power at the agency doesn't go away when the name is changed to circumvent a court order.
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/courts_and_trials/twin-peaks-dam-breaking-with-dismissal-of-cases-biker-s/article_bf4f69ad-bcd8-53f6-bb8c-6386003f1477.html
This is so True about TDCJ being involved with Civil Commitment.The court in the 435th court with Jugde Seller was like a Hollywood movie and the Judge was the director. The court appt attorney were not able to defend these inmates placed in Civil Commitment ,The Attorney would say, just go with it,you will be civil committed no matter what,there is no use to fight it.These men were not given a fair chance.The State Doctors even evaluated these inmates for 30 min - 1 hour with a result that they have Behavior Abnormality. These paid Doctors did get paid How can they evaluate and have results within 1 hour I.TCCO needs to be stop,Its Unconstitutional! It's not Legal,The Tax payers are paying their Salaries for TCCO and all Therapy case workers.
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