Seeking a Police Blogger

As many of you know, I also do a little bit of blogging over at Mimesis Fault Lines.  Scott Greenfield and Lee Pacchia have a great line up of bloggers over there to write about the criminal justice system.

I was honored to be invited to be a writer for them, and I get to write alongside some of the best bloggers in the country.  Not that I want to boost Scott's ego anymore, but having him as an editor has been a tremendous gift that I couldn't have gotten anywhere else.

Scott and Lee are always looking for talented writers to join the ranks of Fault Lines, and they are looking for people who write from differing viewpoints.  We currently have a Federal judge, a card-carrying prosecutor, a former-police officer/defense attorney, along with some very prominent names from the defense blogging community.  Most recently, JoAnne Musick has joined the ranks as a regular contributing writer.

We are currently looking for a blogger to write from a police officer's perspective.  Retired or active.

It isn't a commitment to enter into lightly.  Anyone interested would be writing once or twice a week (depending on what you agree to with Scott and Lee).  They want a post that comes in around 1000 words and it needs to be on a topic that is relevant, current, and interesting to a national audience.  Most importantly, they want it to be smart and offer an insight that people don't get when just reading the newspaper.  Scott is a tough editor, but his corrections and suggestions will make you a better writer.

The deadlines that you commit to are firm. Having a bad day, the sniffles, or feeling just too tired to write something are not sufficient excuses for not having something on your scheduled day. Trust me, I've tried! If you are interested, please realize that they are very very serious about that.  You will also have to have a thick skin when people call you out when their opinions differ from yours.

On the plus side, the people that read your stuff are interested in your opinions.  Some of the things we've written have been quoted in newspapers across the world.  It is a fantastic opportunity to have your voice heard.

In short, it is a tough gig, but one that I'm proud as hell to have.

If you are interested or have any questions, feel free to shoot me an e-mail at murray@murraynewman.com or leave a comment.

An Interview With Scott Greenfield

My friend (as well as the Great Grandfather of Criminal Blogging) Scott Greenfield interviewed me for the Fault Lines blog that we work on together.  You can read it by clicking here.

Has Batson gone as far as it can go?

I've written a post over at Fault Lines on the Timothy Tyrone Foster case that the Supreme Court case heard yesterday.  If you haven't been following it, prosecutors on a 1986 case were pretty blatant in writing down and singling out the African-American members of a jury panel and then striking them with peremptory challenges.

Although the case is egregious, what more can the Supreme Court do to enforce Batson?  I wrote more about it here.  I hope you will check it out.

New Fault Lines Post

Today's new post at Fault Lines deals with a story out of The Atlantic which talks about the "Victimhood Culture" and how it applies across the board in the Criminal Justice Arena.

You can read it here.

An Interesting California Case

For those of y'all that think California is off its rocker when it comes to criminal law, you should read this post today at Fault Lines.

A New Blogging Opportunity

I was recently invited by my friend, New York attorney and blogger, Scott Greenfield, to become a contributing blogger to a new project he has begun called Fault Lines.  The project incorporates several different attorneys from around the country who write about trending topics and news stories in the Criminal Justice arena.  He invited me because I'm semi-literate and can hopefully draw on my experiences from my prosecutor days for a different type of perspective.

Followers of this blog know that I don't normally comment on national news stories here, sticking to what I know best: Harris County Criminal Justice.

However, the opportunity to work with Scott on a project is too good to pass up.  He is the preeminent criminal law blogger and I'm honored to be invited.

And I'm not just saying that because he bought me a beer once at Char Bar.

So, here's my first shot at it.  I hope you'll contribute to the discussion over there.