DA oppo, snitch scenarios, improving visitation, and a welcome homecoming

Here are a few odds and ends which merit Grits readers attention:

Accusing Gary Cobb
Former Court of Criminal Appeals Judge and current Austin defense attorney Charlie Baird really doesn't want Gary Cobb to be the next Travis County District Attorney, a spot which will be effectively decided in the March 1st Democratic primary. Baird is treasurer of a PAC called Citizens for an Ethical Travis County which has put up this attack site dumping opposition research on the Democratic candidate and accusing him of "misconduct." Strong accusations, and Baird is a credible messenger, particularly among Travis County Democrats. But it's pretty late in the game to be releasing such allegations without a paid attack vehicle. A lot of folks consider Cobb the front runner in the four-way race.

Vanita's Homecoming
Vanita Gupta is not a Texan but after her involvement in the Tulia drug sting cases, as far as Grits is concerned, she remains a beloved adoptee and a personal favorite. I'm looking forward to seeing my long-time friend, who is now director of the USDOJ Civil Rights Division, when she speaks at UT-Austin's Barbara Jordan forum today. See the Statesman's preview of the event. I miss Vanita, we haven't spoken since she became a big shot.

Compensating Alfred Brown
I'll be interested to see if the Comptroller gives compensation to Alfred Dwayne Brown. Based on how they've decided cases in the past where exoneration did not result in an actual-innocence finding, it'll be a judgment call. They've given some similarly situated exonerees compensation and denied others. If they say "no," I'd expect Brown to file a civil rights lawsuit.

Waco drug cop(s) may have lied about informants
A 26-year veteran Waco drug enforcement detective has been suspended after it was revealed he allegedly "lied about his use of confidential informants to obtain arrest and search warrants," and soon thereafter his commander, a 36-year veteran and the department's first female assistant chief, was also suspended.

Reality TV footage gets alleged 'snitch' shot
Speaking of informants, a Dallas man has sued the production company of the TV show, The First 48, after they aired footage of him talking to police detectives that wound up getting him shot as an alleged "snitch." This isn't the first time the show has caused problems in Dallas.

Toward pro-family visitation policies
Check out an absolutely excellent column on problems with prison and jail visitation policies from our pal Doug Smith, who called for "frequent and meaningful contact with their loved ones in environments that allow children to be children, yet only one state has a child-friendly visitation area. Less than ten states have overnight policies, and few of these policies are geared toward overnight stays with children. Few state prison systems include family contact when developing rehabilitative programs.  How do we expect incarcerated men and women to become fully productive members of communities within the very families that will support them upon release?"

Prosecuting fish-related crime in Palau
As many Grits readers are familiar with the Attorney General of Palau (who is now back on the job after a brief, unanticipated hiatus), I should point out this fascinating piece from the New York Times Magazine which references him, though not by name, in the context of the island nation's battle to combat illegal overfishing in waters designated for conservation.

Newest felony: Misrepresenting a fish

You can't make this stuff up: Though there are no new oyster felonies moving at the Lege this year, the Texas Tribune reports that both the Texas House and Senate have passed legislation to make cheating or lying about the size of a fish you caught in a tournament a 3rd degree felony. Becca Aaronson at the Trib couldn't resist the reference:

Fraudulent fishermen better reel it in. The Senate passed a bill today to make cheating in a fishing tournament up to a third-degree felony, sending the measure on to the governor.

HB 1806 expands existing law to all fishing tournaments, from fresh to salt water. It would make it an offense for contestants to give, take, offer or accept a fish not caught as part of the tournament. It would also be an offense to misrepresent a fish.

You know what the punishment should be for cheating or lying about the length of a fish in a tournament if you get caught? Disqualification. Ban them from future tournaments. If the tournament is affiliated with others, ban them from those. Why can't the private sector take care of this on its own? Why should law enforcement be involved at all, much less make it a third degree felony? After all, prosecution for the offense assumes the perpetrator is found out; if they don't catch cheaters, they face no penalty, criminal or otherwise.

Looking at this bill, though, claims about fish lengths, weights and numbers at tournaments had already been subsumed under the purview of law enforcement, this just boosts the penalty to felony status. An already existing provision in the law holds that "A person commits an offense if the person sponsors or conducts a fishing tournament and knows of the occurrence in the tournament of activity prohibited by Subsection (b) of this section and does not immediately notify a law enforcement officer commissioned by the director of its occurrence." So not only is cheating or lying about your catch an offense, it's an offense for tournament managers not to report it!

A 3rd degree felony obligates taxpayers to a 2-10 year prison sentence, or if the fisherman is put on probation, that puts them at greater risk of imprisonment later for violating their probation terms. Government has no business being involved in prosecuting fishermen for exaggerating their catch. I'm certain you could have prosecuted half the boys in my senior class for lying about the biggest fish they ever caught. I don't condone doing it in a tournament, but I can't fathom why it's the government's job punish hyperbolic anglers for misrepresenting a fish when the private sector has ample remedies available to them.

The bill appears to have passed the Senate unamended (out of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee) and so will now head to the Governor. The Coastal Conservation Association gave the only testimony in favor of the bill, with no one opposing it in committee in either chamber. As always, the Legislative Budget Board says it's cost is insignificant.

Texas had 2,383  felonies when the session started. No telling yet how many new ones the Lege will pass this year, but Grits' pre-session prediction was 55. Nobody really tallies them all comprehensively until the parole board must assign new felonies risk categories later this year. But there are a bunch of them. You'd never know the Lege is broke because they seem to think more incarceration can solve any and every social problem: Even dishonest, exaggerating fishermen.