tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post3983667573326053994..comments2024-03-15T05:45:01.402-05:00Comments on Grits for Breakfast: What happened to Texas' Innocence Commision?Gritsforbreakfasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-89404673552480263902007-05-24T18:49:00.000-05:002007-05-24T18:49:00.000-05:00No, Paul Moreno was in town. He spoke on the House...No, Paul Moreno was in town. He spoke on the House floor the following Monday. He was either in a different committee hearing or resting, bc as you say his health is not well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-18687690695731220092007-05-20T22:45:00.001-05:002007-05-20T22:45:00.001-05:00To be fair, the question is really about TWO Ds, a...To be fair, the question is really about TWO Ds, and I don't know which ones they were. I've been reminded that Paul Moreno is ill and just suffered a personal family tragedy that called him away from the House for the remainder of the session. I'd forgotten about that, and certainly hold no ill will toward the Dean of the House for those unhappy circumstances - as with Sen. Gallegos, these things happen. I don't think that changes the vote count or political dynamics much, though.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-53573128443744693112007-05-20T22:30:00.000-05:002007-05-20T22:30:00.000-05:00For some reason I think all the Anonymous comments...For some reason I think all the Anonymous comments are from the same person and that person happens to work at Pena office. As Grits said, "this committee has been basically awful - they generated zero bills to address innocence questions themselves, opposed most progressive bills that came before them, passed enhancements like they were going out of style, and their only big accoplishments this session will be the Senate bills they pass."<BR/><BR/>Democrats could really show that they can reform and lead the state again. But as I see the problem is not with the republicans but with the lame democrats. Why were those three Democrats absent???Hooman Hedayatihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13174966445842575829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-62443525724717832192007-05-20T15:56:00.000-05:002007-05-20T15:56:00.000-05:00Show Recommendation -NBC Dateline Tuesday May 22 T...Show Recommendation -<BR/>NBC Dateline Tuesday May 22 The Ada Hour Injustice of Wrongful Convictions Featuring Dennis Fritz Author of Journey Toward Justice<BR/> <BR/>NBC Dateline will air on Tuesday May 22 The Ada Hour.<BR/>The Ada Hour will chronicle the repeated injustice of wrongful convictions.<BR/>In addition to John Grisham, District Attorney Bill Peterson, Barry Scheck and Robert Mayer the piece will feature Dennis Fritz the author of Journey Toward Justice. <BR/>Please feel free to post your comments about The Ada Hour on my blog Barbara's Journey Toward JusticeBarbara's Journey Toward Justicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09888004395206383450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-78690127871573010392007-05-20T13:33:00.000-05:002007-05-20T13:33:00.000-05:00anon @ 6pm, you've hit upon the conundrum. None of...anon @ 6pm, you've hit upon the conundrum. None of the Dems claims to be against it. The chair says he's for it, all the D members said they're for it - I'm not sure anybody needed convincing, they all had told the bill sponsor they were convinced.<BR/><BR/>It's pretty common for hearings in the second chamber to not have the same level of dog and pony show at a hearing as in the early part of the session, partly because of time and partly because usually the interested parties must have worked out a sustainable compromise to get it out of the first one. If it were the case that Dems voted "no," I might think you were on to something. But since they all said yes and then the bill died for lack of attendance, I don't know how further convincing would help. Anyway, they have to show up to be convinced.<BR/><BR/>Really this is just a sorry spectacle - nobody disagrees with the bill but Democrats can't get their act together to pass it out of a committee they dominate. That's why I said in the update it's evidence the party isn't ready to govern.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, a commentor on BOR correctly noted that a germane bill is on Monday's House calendar, another Ellis bill on increasing the compensation for wrongfully convicted people. Supporters should amend this bill onto that one on the House floor, and then the Chairman and Democratic committee members would have another opportunity to show their support for the bill from the back mike and by voting for it and lobbying their colleagues to do the same.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-21991177457917809582007-05-19T18:00:00.000-05:002007-05-19T18:00:00.000-05:00I agree that this House committee has been a disap...I agree that this House committee has been a disappointment, but some of the blame for the committee not voting out the Innocence Commission bill also probably belongs to some of the interested, professionally-staffed advocacy groups for not organizing a compelling list of witnesses for the committee to hear. Several of the committee members have little experience in criminal justice matters, so a well-organized committee hearing may have educated them better on the issue. In particular, they may have been impressed by hearing first hand from innocent people who have been exonerated and released. On the day when this bill was heard in the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, there were three actual exonerees present who testified, plus Barry Scheck. <BR/><BR/>When it was heard in the House committee, the only person who testified FOR it was a staffer from The Justice Project named Edwin Colfax who is based in D.C.<BR/><BR/>What should have happened is that some of the groups interested in this bill should have brought in some of the many innocent people from Dallas who have been exonerated recently or some of the three exonerees who testified to the Senate committee, or another exoneree from Texas, there are certainly a bunch of innocent, exonerated people in Texas who could have been asked to testify. <BR/><BR/>If the committee members had heard testimony from actual innocent people, then maybe they would have been convinced of the importance of this bill.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-64502382567304390202007-05-19T12:40:00.000-05:002007-05-19T12:40:00.000-05:00Lenny, you're a walking thinking error, and if you...Lenny, you're a walking thinking error, and if you’re truthful in that you no longer prosecute, then it's prosecutors like you that we can live without. Good riddance.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-72115399962515089872007-05-19T07:36:00.000-05:002007-05-19T07:36:00.000-05:00@7:57 - You're a troll. Re-read my comments. I sai...@7:57 - You're a troll. Re-read my comments. I said Pena and Thompson contradicted one another and I didn't know who to believe. Pena said in the first comment the votes were there. Did he lie? You're an ass, and a coward for making such trollish statements anonymously.<BR/><BR/>And Lenny, the only emotionalism here is from the opponents, and I'm the one that pointed out it was Democrats causing the problem and criticized them for it. I even said in the UPDATE is was evidence that party couldn't govern - what's your point? You don't appear to understand the terms of this debte. What emotionalism are you talking about? All I did was accurately asssess this committee's legislative oeuvre for the year - no anger involved, more sadness, really. Also, is it bad public policy for a reason or just because you're a former prosecutor and you said so?<BR/><BR/>Finally, to the writer who says I defend child molesters and murderers, you don't know what you're taling about. I only don't want innocnent people convicted for those crimes, in which case an injustice is done and a dangerous crook remains on th loose. You and Lenny apparently just want somebody locked up for each crime and don't care if they did it or not.<BR/><BR/>Y'all can defend this bad vote all you want and it hardly matters, because it's just one of MANY bad votes over the session by this committee with barely any good ones to counter them.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-25857408296808145262007-05-18T23:57:00.000-05:002007-05-18T23:57:00.000-05:00As a former prosecutor I am amused at the jabber I...As a former prosecutor I am amused at the jabber I am seeing on this site. I keep up with criminal justice issues here. I for the most part enjoy your comments but on this one you are way out of line. The proposal is and was bad policy. As you can see there is a strong emotional divide that exists between prosecutors and those that side with the accused or convicted. This proposal is ripe for abuse most especially if it is expanded. Lastly, you seem too emotionaly invested in this one. Why have you let so much anger come out because you lost the vote count? I believe it is because you wrongly believe or were led to believe the votes were there. I could not help but notice that the votes that failed to support your proposal with their absence were all Democrats and left of center in their politics. I hope to see a better effort in the future.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-37817711088948677062007-05-18T23:22:00.000-05:002007-05-18T23:22:00.000-05:00This blog is pitifull, defender of child molesters...This blog is pitifull, defender of child molesters and murders.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-81254294817907990562007-05-18T22:55:00.000-05:002007-05-18T22:55:00.000-05:00So you want us to believe Senfronia Thompson is a ...So you want us to believe Senfronia Thompson is a liar, Rodney Ellis is ineffective, Grits doesn't know what it's talking about, and Ellis staff is lazy, but Pena, who bailed on the voter id vote and who's been a puppet for prosecutors as a committee chair, was the sole champion of justice here ? Seriously? Strong words from Pena minions. Perhaps if you spent less time trying to defend your your shameless actions in the blogosphere, and more time using your Chairmanship to improve fairness and promoting justice in the Texas Criminal Justice system, this whole thing would have never ocurred. I'm sure your constituents are proud. Lets hope none of them are ever wrongfully convicted.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-26756940789587757912007-05-18T19:57:00.000-05:002007-05-18T19:57:00.000-05:00You choose to believe the House sponsor who told y...You choose to believe the House sponsor who told you today she had the votes to prevail and yet the facts are that they were not there when the vote occurred? Your bias is showing. They were clearly wrong or decieved you, yet you still chose to side with their mangled perception of reality. Liberals need to live in the present reality not in some imagined world as they see it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-83474267170870648072007-05-18T18:42:00.000-05:002007-05-18T18:42:00.000-05:00Lost it, troll? Why?Lost it, troll? Why?Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-6051260116539484482007-05-18T18:30:00.000-05:002007-05-18T18:30:00.000-05:00I think Grits has lost it.I think Grits has lost it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-74790066785946316782007-05-18T18:28:00.000-05:002007-05-18T18:28:00.000-05:00Who was the staffer by the way that started all th...Who was the staffer by the way that started all this?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-61438395878483867622007-05-18T18:27:00.000-05:002007-05-18T18:27:00.000-05:00Why oh why did you people not ask your votes to re...Why oh why did you people not ask your votes to remain? Keep looking for excuses, you people lost this one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-39947015566755021592007-05-18T17:54:00.000-05:002007-05-18T17:54:00.000-05:00So Ellis' office alienated and poisoned the "one v...So Ellis' office alienated and poisoned the "one vote needed" three weeks ago? Because the bill sat in committee like a log with no action at all from the committee. None.<BR/><BR/>It's good to know that the crack crew at the committee were ready to do something on the bill on the last day possible, though.<BR/><BR/>But, I think most readers are confused by one niggling fact. If, after all, the Chairman told Senator Ellis on Wednesday night that "we now had the votes", what happened to the "we"? If the Chair supported the bill, all 6 of the other Democrats also supported it, why wasn't the vote made when more than enough supporters were in attendance today? The vote is at the discretion of the chair, so why were other bills voted on when SB 263 supporters were at the ready? Why did the vote only take place after supporters LEFT the hearing. <BR/><BR/>The truth is that due diligence of Thompson or Ellis has nothing to do with it. The supporters were there. It wasn't until the vote needed to put the bill over the top left that SB 263 was brought for a vote. Inconvenient timing, that!<BR/><BR/>Everyone knows what happened here, and Grits has pretty much summed up the performance of the committee all session, so no need to belabor the point. <BR/><BR/>Bravo, minions. Bravo. The innocent folks in prison clang their cups on the bars of their cells in your honor.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-15081194915606330132007-05-18T17:42:00.000-05:002007-05-18T17:42:00.000-05:00@5:06 - Stop trolling and say who you are if you'r...@5:06 - Stop trolling and say who you are if you're going to talk dirt.<BR/><BR/>And then answer this: Which vote do you think they alienated - which Democrat are you saying is so petty they'd prefer to let innocent people languish in prison out of spite over something a blogger said?<BR/><BR/>That's pure silliness. This isn't junior high.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-34401959207477140982007-05-18T17:06:00.000-05:002007-05-18T17:06:00.000-05:00What happened is that Ellis and staff not only act...What happened is that Ellis and staff not only acted like children but they failed to follow up on their basics like getting their votes to the hearing. Face it they poisoned this vote and probably alienated that one vote they needed to pass the bill.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-6811996224725607552007-05-18T15:48:00.000-05:002007-05-18T15:48:00.000-05:00Anyone who buys the line of baloney by anonymous a...Anyone who buys the line of baloney by anonymous at 3:04, I have a bridge to sell you.<BR/><BR/>If the chair really supported the bill, and the 6 other Ds on the committee had pledged their vote to Representative Thompson, then that bill flies out of there. <BR/><BR/>Period.<BR/><BR/>Everyone involved in this process knows exactly what happened here.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-17636856223876984562007-05-18T15:29:00.000-05:002007-05-18T15:29:00.000-05:00I don't know if this bill was intentionally stalle...I don't know if this bill was intentionally stalled in committee or not. I DO know it wasn't intentionally passed. It wasn't treated as important in the same way that wiretapping or expanding the death penalty or making unreliable evidence admissible were priorities for this committee.<BR/><BR/>The version of "there weren't enough votes" is disputed by the bill sponsor and author, so I don't know who to believe on that. (I've been told the sponsor had her votes on Wednesday, and the chair said she did not.) But I do know this committee passed MANY bad bills, and that the chair did not use his leverage to make this bill happen the way he did other, much worse ideas - that's my beef. It's not just this bill, I tend to be forgiving about actual mistakes, time lapses, and the occasional bad vote - it's a cumulative bad record and misplaced priorities of the committee all session long that most bother me. This isn't the first time I've said it, it's just that now with session nearly done we have a more complete oeuvre of work to evaluate.Gritsforbreakfasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10152152869466958902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-34531717032102874462007-05-18T15:11:00.000-05:002007-05-18T15:11:00.000-05:00So, you're saying when rounding up votes, they don...So, you're saying when rounding up votes, they don't count if the members supporting aren't present?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-56591851063611368912007-05-18T15:04:00.000-05:002007-05-18T15:04:00.000-05:00The bill was never intentionally stalled in commit...The bill was never intentionally stalled in committee. The bill was referred to the committee on April 25th. The House was approaching a deadline on May 7th for House Committee Reports to get out of the committee. Therefore, at the May 1st hearing, the committee decided to only listen to remaining house bills, and only take action on senate bills which already had companion house bills that had received testimony. On May 8th, Chairman Pena suspended the 5-day posting rule to consider SB 263 for a hearing on May 9th. However, on May 9th, the House adjourned from the floor 11:28 p.m., and Chairman Pena was unable to achieve a quorum for a hearing. Therefore, the bill was postponed until the next hearing, which was May 15th. As usual practice of the committee, the bill was considered and the members listened to testimony, and finally, the bill was left pending. On May 16th, the Chair decided to consider SB 263 for a vote during a floor meeting. The bill did not have the necessary votes at that time, and therefore, the Chair decided not to pursue the bill at that time. I understand that there are nine members on the committee; however, with deadlines approaching, and the end of session near, members have to attend several meetings/hearings at the same time. Therefore, it is difficult to have all nine members present. At this hearing, there were six members present, and there was not enough votes to pass the bill out of committee. Today, May 18th, the Chair brought up SB 263 for a vote during the formal meeting. SB 263 failed to receive the affirmative votes with a vote of 4-2. It should be noted that the Chair voted for the bill.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-57497591851227941052007-05-18T07:56:00.000-05:002007-05-18T07:56:00.000-05:00Haven't you ever heard the Meese expression: "if y...Haven't you ever heard the Meese expression: "if you're a suspect, then your guilty"? Obviously you are in favor of letting criminals get away with what they do. Any moron can see that!JT Barriehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15571868033521182864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8597101.post-10094990966397069832007-05-18T06:22:00.000-05:002007-05-18T06:22:00.000-05:00Ellis is known for being lazy? Well, I wish we ha...Ellis is known for being lazy? Well, I wish we had more lazy Democrats like him because he sure seems to get a lot of things done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com