Voice for the Defense Online

12/09/2012

May it please the court...

“May it please the court, opposing counsel…Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for listening to all the evidence. . . .” Just about this time, juries’ eyes glaze over; they shift focus and start daydreaming. You have just lost the jury.

07/09/2012

http://voiceforthedefenseonline.com/features

The feedback we receive for every seminar is carefully assembled so that it may be reviewed, with an eye to improving the next seminar. Some concerns raised, however, are outside of our ability to correct.

06/09/2012

http://www.voiceforthedefenseonline.com/story/breath-testing-texas-new-paradigm-standard-operating-guidelines-technical-supervisors-good-sta

Though Texas has had a breath alcohol testing program for over 40 years, its program has only recently adopted formal written “Standard Operating Guidelines” (SOG) for technical supervisors to follow in the operation of some aspects of the breath test program. The lack of such guidelines (or almost ...

23/05/2012

A San Francisco-based federal appeals court ruled in 2002 that every aspect of an ex*****on should be open to witnesses, from the moment the condemned enters into the death chamber to his final heartbeat.

22/05/2012

What's in your cell phone?

Several years ago, I was on a cruise ship that had docked in Kusadasi, Turkey. I called the office to check in and found out that I had a crisis. Over the next four hours I made or received a number of calls as we tried to work through the issues. When you have a cell phone, you’re always in touch w...

18/05/2012

From Gary Trichter...

Texan Roy Benavidez was born near Quero, Texas, in 1935. His parents were of Mexican and Yaqui Indian descent. Roy lost his father when he was but two years old and his mother when he was but seven years old—both to tuberculosis. He was then raised by his grandfather, uncle, and aunt in El Campo, Te...

15/05/2012

Say it ain't so!

He was the spitting image of the killer, had the same first name and was near the scene of the crime at the fateful hour: Carlos DeLuna paid the ultimate price and was executed in place of someone else in Texas in 1989, a report out Tuesday found.

14/05/2012

For the DWI lawyer in all of us, Mark Thiessen gives a guided tour through the archaic world of Enzymatic Assay Blood Testing. Don't let the hospital cook your client's blood.

Whether it is an ambulance with emergency medical services (EMS) or a Life Flight team, saving the client’s life is all that matters after an accident. However, after recovery, many clients face serious criminal charges which rely on forensically unacceptable evidence. This article aims to expose a ...

10/05/2012

Here is the April Voice for the Defense. I have been in trial more than out so far this year, so I have gotten a bit behind with the Voice. Sorry about that. Keep the articles coming! "Like" us on Facebook. Please leave comments. Thanks for the support!

22/04/2012

I just tried what I am sure will be my last death penalty case. It is a decision I made a year and a half ago – to stop doing capital work. It has just taken this long to be finished with them. State of Texas v. Mark Anthony Soliz was the last one that came in before I took my name off the list a...

22/04/2012

http://www.voiceforthedefenseonline.com/story/chanel-no-9

I answer the phone. A young man asks me if I am who I am and if I do what I do. I say yes. He says he has a legal problem and asks to make an appointment with me. I say sure and give him a time to meet me at my office.

05/03/2012

Would be about time.

17/02/2012

Read 'em and weep.

By the most recent numbers I have seen, it costs a county $500,000 to try the average death penalty case and, all things considered, approximately $2 to $3 million from investigation to ex*****on.[1] Even before our Governor and Legislature fleeced the school system this last session, Texas was alr...

11/02/2012

The new Voice is up! Check it out.

Sentencing IssuesThe genius of Winston Churchill is as manifold as it is undisputed. With the hope of having some of Mr. Churchill’s genius rub off onto this discussion, I would like to use his quote as a jumping off point to discuss sentencing issues in a s*x offender case.

08/01/2012

Thanks to Tony Vitz for posting a four-part series of articles on the VO Blog. We really appreciate it and the series is fantastic. Very honest and heart-felt. What we do isn't easy. Thanks, Tony.

Our Story-One Size Doesn’t Fit All The story has already been told in jury selection and opening statement. And really, the jurors already know what they will do or at least know what they want to do. Now, I just need to tell it again in cross examination and in direct with Carolynn. This was [.....

30/12/2011

We are about to set a one month record for visits to VO. By month's end, we will crack 3,000 unique visitors in one month. We have over 21,000 unique visitors for the 10.5 months we have been online who looked at over 112,000 pages. Not bad. Happy New Year to all!

13/12/2011

The last Voice for 2011 is online. Please take a look and tell us what you think. Thanks for a great year everyone. Have a wonderful holiday.

As lawyers, we should be used to the notion that there may not always be absolutely right or wrong answers. Such is the case with this topic: There are no right or wrong answers to be seen here—just move along.

07/12/2011

http://voiceforthedefenseonline.com/story/changes-46b-harmonizing-hb-748-and-hb-2725-part-ii

06/12/2011

Gary Trichter on the TCDLA Strike Force. The Strike Force comes to the aid of members (and sometimes non-members) who have run afoul unjust judges and power-hungry prosecutors. I have been on the Strike Force for 10 years and just love to see it work.

It was on April 19, 1775, at places called Lexington and Concord, a shot was heard around the world that changed it forever. It was then and there that ordinary citizens, but not so ordinary men, chose to openly defy an unjust government by standing in defense of others. Having been forewarned by Pa...

05/12/2011

http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htm

01/12/2011

We just cracked 100,000 page views since February 10. Over 18,000 unique visitors, now regularly seeing over 2,000 per month. Thank you everyone!

01/12/2011

Robin's brief is now attached. Check it out.

28/11/2011

The November edition of Voice for the Defense has been up for some time now, but I forgot to send it out on Facebook! In any event, check it out and look for the December edition to come out soon.

As an attorney, Democrat, and Episcopalian, I am characteristically reluctant to talk openly about my faith. But here, in the “Bible Belt,” people bring their faith into the courtroom, admittedly or not. Judges do it; jurors do it; parties do it; the lawyers do it too.

07/11/2011

The new Voice Online is up!

Where I messed up was that my Ground for Review Number Three began half of the way down the same page where the facts from my Ground of Review Number Two ended.

11/10/2011

Sometimes, justice just needs a little helping hand. Link, for instance, medicating someone so they can become competent enough to execute. Oh, does that sound a little stupid. Well, sometimes things just are. In this article, Jeanette Kinard takes us through the ins and outs of forced medication in our criminal justice system.

The recent implementation of forced medication orders in Texas, in combination with highly publicized trials that have highlighted the competency restoration process, have left many in both the legal and non-legal communities with questions concerning forced medication orders. This article is an att...

04/10/2011

The new Voice for the Defense is up. Features include the TCDLA Lawyers of the Year.

The Lawyer of the Year award is given out at the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyer’s association’s Rusty Duncan advanced criminal law course in San Antonio, Texas.

23/09/2011

Is it possible that in our nation, one in four people who support the death penalty despite believing that we have executed innocent people?

Well, we had two ex*****ons last night, one of whom was on a man who many believe was innocent. Not the first time we’ve seen that. Won’t be the last. So long as we impose the ultimate punishment, there will be the risk of a mistake. An innocent person dies.

20/09/2011

I have friends in other states who routinely take depositions in their criminal cases. Oh to be able to do that in Texas. We do have the law on the books.

Deposing State witnesses. The provisions of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (Art. 39.02) for deposing witnesses are among the most helpful and least utilized tools available to a criminal defense attorney. Defense lawyers seldom attempt to depose State witnesses because of the perception that j...

16/09/2011

He is more dangerous because he's black. Said with a straight face. To a receptive jury. As a race, we humans still have a ways to go.

The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday halted the ex*****on of a black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago after his lawyers contended his sentence was unfair because of a question asked about race during his trial.

14/09/2011

On April 14th, 2011, the Judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals signed an order amending the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure. These changes were published in the May 2011 issue of the Texas Bar Journal, and comments from the public were accepted until June 30, 2011. The Rules discussed bel...

02/09/2011

http://www.voiceforthedefenseonline.com/legalblog/

Well, as September 1 rapidly approaches, carrying with it the product of our duly elected representatives, I am reminded of some words by Grant Gilmore: Law reflects but in no sense determines the moral worth of a society. The values of a reasonably just society will reflect themselves in a reasonab...

29/08/2011

The New Voice for the Defense Online is Up!!
Check it out!!

When I was young, I loved the 4th of July. I was raised in Roswell and Midland. Being a Jewish kid, there were a few holidays, like Christmas and Easter, where I felt downright left out. But that was never the case with the 4th of July. My father, the son of a Russian immigrant, embraced the 4th as ...

25/07/2011

Before anyone thinks we have a new statewide law permitting defense lawyers everywhere to glide through courthouse security, you should know that House bill 3003, recently passed by the Legislature, is more modest. It simply wipes out the population requirement for charging a fee for selective “pass

06/07/2011

Check out the new Voice for the Defense Online!!!

In New Mexico v. Jimmy Garcia, criminal defense attorney Lelia “Lee” Hood was faced with the unnerving challenge of trying to save an innocent person from a zealous prosecutor—not an altogether unique mission for a veteran criminal defense attorney, but a perilous one still (Cause No.