Wednesday, February 3, 2010

A New Houston Press Article

This week's Houston Press is out with a great article on the D.A.'s Office's handling of vehicular fatalities written by John Lomax.

The article is somewhat stunning because it has me agreeing with Mark Bennett on several issues -- although I do think that Bennett is trying to recreate his High School Senior Photo with his pose in the article's picture. (That will teach Mark to insult my couch.)

I think Catherine Evans should be commended for finally articulating some of the criteria the D.A.'s Office is looking at in filing the charges. See how she did that Jim? You don't have to run out of the interview when you actually know what in the hell you are talking about.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Murray,
The best quote of the article comes from Judge Lykos herself as she chimed in, telling the Houston Chronicle that Montgomery's behavior had been both "selfish" and "narcissistic."
No one can challenge that Patsy is the County's expert on selfish narcissistic behavior.

Anonymous said...

HPD does some of the worst, piss-poor investigations in Harris County. We see this over and over again.
Give me a Sheriff's investigation any day.

Anonymous said...

HPD does some of the worst, piss-poor investigations in Harris County. We see this over and over again.
Give me a Sheriff's investigation any day.

Anonymous said...

They're all bad. As an investigator for the DA's Office, I spend most of my time looking for witnesses that they entered into their computers with bad information.. Wrong address, phone #'s etc. Tired of it. Waste of time and $$$$. Why don't they take the time to enter correct info?

Anonymous said...

I have extensive experience with accident reports from HPD and HCSO. Despite some quirks inherent in each agencies method of handling fatalities, both are vastly superior to those of the smaller agencies or DPS; and both are used as resources by those same agencies on a daily basis.

Anonymous said...

And at least WD is not there to screw things up any more.

Murray Newman said...

I've got nothing bad to say about the way HPD works up their cases, but in my opinion, David Pearson of the HCSO is the best in the buisness when it comes to action reconstruction. His brain is phenomenal and the work he does is astounding.

As far as "WD" screwing things up, I disagree that he screwed things up. Warren is an aggressive, die-hard prosecutor, but if I ever had my family hurt (or worse) at the hands of a drunk driver, there would be no better prosecutor in the world that I would want trying that case.

He's not popular with the defense bar, but in his line of work, that ain't exactly a bad thing for him, is it?

Anonymous said...

Until he indicts a bus driver for Murder.

Anonymous said...

Lay off Warren. We are happy to have him in Montgomery County.

Pearson is top notch.

Anonymous said...

My father was a juror on the bus driver case & a very logical person when it came to his analysis/interpretation of the "reconstruction" of the accident. After the trial when he told us his take & spoke about the evidence presented I agree that WD should not have filed charges, an accident is simply that.

CJC Crt. Ofc.

Anonymous said...

WD has tried more of these cases than everybody at the Harris County DA's office combined, never had a case reversed on appeal, been voted top prosecutor in the country three times, created caselaw on many issues, probably saved hundreds of lives through no refusal programs and teaching at high schools, lectured and trained more than people than you can count, and cares deeply for victims.

The worst you can come up with is he lost one case (it is his only loss much to the dismay of some)! Maybe it was not the best charging decision, but the case deserved to be filed and a jury verdict rendered. Your hypocrisy is incredible in that you probably don't condemn other prosecutors for losing a case. Only him! Why is that?

Episode Seven: The Voters Awaken - A One Act -Sci-Fi Play

SCENE:  The Death Star orbits over Downtown Houston. [INTERIOR] The Imperial Council Chambers. EMPRESS OGG sits at the head of a long table ...