Drug case reeks of judicial bias, misconduct

In a tale somewhat reminiscent of the Tulia debacle, NPR has a story out of Clarksville, TX of a politicized drug prosecution that a local judge tried to continue even after the Attorney General moved to dismiss. See:

• Civil rights, judicial bias surround Texas drug case
• Investigating bias on the bench

Best fact bite in the story: The search warrant wasn't signed until after the local Sheriff, with the DA in tow in full body armor, had already executed an armed raid and search. The judge refused to let charges be dropped and himself attempted to negotiate a plea deal with defense counsel that would have dropped charges in exchange for dropping a federal civil rights suit over the incident.

Excellent stuff. A must read story.