TRUMP IS RIGHT Breaking News: Cody Cofer Agrees with Donald Trump! Dare I say it? That Donald Trump could possibly be right about even one thing? Well, he is right regarding our nation having a mental health problem not a gun problem. Today, Trump told CNN’s Chris Cuomo, “This isn’t a gun problem, this is a mental problem. It’s not a question of laws, it’s really the people.” Trump’s statement comes in response to the Wednesday shootings of two journalists live on television by what many are calling a mentally ill man who later took his own life. Trump says that he is opposed to increasing gun laws but does favor addressing mental health to combat shootings. This approach has
Read more →Tarrant County has already posted about “jury service scams.” In the post, the county makes clear a representative will not contact you by phone to pay a fine for failure to appear. Jury scams have been reported around the country. The National Center for State Courts has posted information about various scams. As a new twist, likely in response to the Tarrant County post, scamming callers are claiming they are a Tarrant County Sheriff’s deputy enforcing federal jury service. The Northern District of Texas has a page dedicated to those with questions about jury service. If you receive a legitimate summons you can visit their page for information. The page also instructs those concerned about a “bogus” attempt to collect
Read more →How much longer will we have the death penalty? The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Glossip vs. Gross to uphold Oklahoma’s lethal injection procedure after it took 43 minutes for inmate Clayton Lockett to die may have many supporters of the death penalty cheering, but the death penalty is dying a slow death. As a result of a growing number of death row exonerations and the legal and ethical qualms about supplying drugs for the specific purpose of killing people, all 32 remaining death penalty states are now struggling to obtain the necessary drugs needed to perform executions. Nearly 40 years ago America resumed executions after a brief four year break when the practice was temporarily ruled illegal by the
Read more →Texas Criminal Legislative Update: March 23, 2015 The 84th Texas Legislative Session is in full-swing in Austin, and you may want to know what new laws our legislators are considering and which old laws might get a facelift. Two controversial gun bills were passed out of the Texas Senate this week, along party lines. SB 11 by Senator Brian Birdwell (R-Granbury) would allow licensed students on public university campuses to carry concealed handguns; private universities would be permitted to opt out. SB 17 by Senator Craig Estes (R-Grandbury) would allow open carry in public by licensed gun owners. This Session Senator John Whitmire (D-Houston) has filed two important bills related to juveniles and the justice system. SB 106 aims to clean up previously-passed juvenile
Read more →Holding the State to Its Burden of Proof in Trial If you find yourself facing criminal charges for a crime you did not commit, and the State refuses to dismiss the charges, then a jury trial becomes necessary. It is also necessary for you to hire a defense attorney who will hold the State to its burden of proof: Guilt Beyond a Reasonable Doubt. Guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is the highest burden of proof in the American civil and criminal justice systems. But prosecutors like to tell potential jurors that reaching this burden of proof is no big deal; that every day in courtrooms across Texas and the U.S., jurors reach consensus and find defendant’s guilty of all kinds
Read more →Texas Criminal Legislative Update: March 16, 2015 The 84th Texas Legislative Session is in full-swing in Austin, and you may want to know what new laws our legislators are considering and which old laws might get a facelift. Senator John Whitmire (D-Houston) has already passed an important bill out of Committee. SB 135 is designed to replace Texas’ antiquated “pick-a-pal” Grand Jury system (the last remaining in the country) with a jury pool system designed to reflect the community’s diversity. Senator Joan Huffman (R-Houston) filed SB 174, which would deny community supervision sentences for “illegal alien” offenders. University of Houston Professor Geoffrey Hoffman quickly repudiated the bill’s intent and outlined its unconstitutionality in a Houston Chronicle article titled “Houston Senator’s
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