Friday, August 20, 2010

Dude, Where's My Prosecutor?

Defense attorneys and accused citizens on the docket in the District Courts today (Friday, August 20th) shouldn't be expecting to get too much done on their cases.

Lykos and the Gang decided to have a mandatory CLE (that's Continuing Legal Education) this morning for all Felony Chiefs and Twos. That leaves the Three Man in charge of the District Courts all by his or her lonesome self.

Don't be looking for the Threes to be cutting any awesome deals this morning.

Once again, Lykos and crew does something I just don't get. I mean, it isn't the end of the world or anything, but is it really a good idea to be doing mandatory CLEs in the middle of a regular docket? You virtually guarantee that nobody is going to be able to get anything done on their cases, and you are wasting time and money.

Today's topic for the mandatory CLE for the prosecutors is prosecuting Capital Murder cases. At least that's a good topic.

The last time Lykos called everybody out of docket for a mandatory CLE was for this Moment of Awesomeness.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Has the Death Penalty even been sought since Lycos took office?

Anonymous said...

At least lunch came early today....

Anonymous said...

Other prosecutors at the chief and senior felony 2 level were assigned to cover the courts as well so felony threes were not left alone.

Anonymous said...

Murray-Your thoughts on the new office policy requiring probable cause DA's to inquire about immigration status of Defendants and then subsequently asking for high bonds. Isn't that task already done by the 287g folks at the Sheriff's Department? And how do the district court and ccl judges feel about the DA's office trying to circumvent THEIR bond schedule?

Anonymous said...

Was it a mandatory ethics CLE?

Anonymous said...

Well, I must say this was not as bad of an idea as made to be. With the mass exodus from her office, she has chosen to get some of us younger guys trained before the likes of Denise Bradley, Bill Hawkins, Mia and others leave her fifedom.

It may have sucked for a morning, but even Lykos knows that the window of opportunity to get some good knowledge passed along is rapidly shrinking!!

Plus, who else is gonna teach Hanna, Rachel and the gang how to do it?

Anonymous said...

So the judges get a pass for a two day hob nob at the Houstonian but the DAs can't have a day for training?

Anonymous said...

Backup Chiefs were not covering courts and this was the second CLE during court hours. At least one of the top gang members has a spouse who works in the courts on a daily basis and I speculate that this persons passes on the hardships caused by such inefficient decsisions. The Judges are getting fed up to say the least.

Death Capital Murders skills are not acquired in CLE training. Death Capital Murder skills are acquired by trying Capital Murder cases with experienced proscutors.

On another note, please don't leak this training to the Chronicle. Liekos made some promises related the Death Penalty and training proseuctors how to try these cases is not consistant with her promise.....

Anonymous said...

Are there any criminal defense lawyers out there that can remind those former defense lawyers (Bridgewater and Leitner) what it was like to be a defense lawyer. These decisions leave people in jail longer than they should because the #3 prosecutor don't have the authority to make a decision.

Which defense lawyers or lawyer can get the ear of these guys?

Anonymous said...

So Judges come and go as they please - no big deal. Many defense attorneys don't show until after 12, if at all, or call and off-docket reset when they want - no big deal. But a day of training, while prosecutors are still in the
courts (and there was coverage... Reset forms reflect it) and the world crumbles? Many defense attorneys ran for
the reset when they realized the person assigned to the case wasn't present. Another excuse for a reset, just like when the Judge is out. Not all defense attorneys did this... But many did... We all know the truth.

Murray Newman said...

Anon 6:38 sure has some interesting views on how courts work. Just an FYI, sometimes the reason a defense attorney doesn't show up for court until after 12:00 is that they got tied up in another court. If I've got cases on the docket, I get to my first court no later than 9:00 a.m., and it still isn't unusual to be there after noon or even one for one reason or another.

Like I said, the CLE wasn't that big of a deal, but it just isn't really the best idea. Yes, there were substitute prosecutors in courts, but I heard more than one of them saying: "Hey, look I'm just filling in. I don't know anything about the case, so you're just going to need to reset."

It was just odd to me that they yanked out everybody rather than just having a CLE in the afternoon.

Anon 12:19 p.m.,
I hadn't heard about the new policy about immigration status. Sounds to me like it would be kind of redundant since HCSO should have done it already. I'm sure that it is just Pat making a policy so she can tell her fellow Republicans how she is personally shutting down the Border. Once again, it's crap that was done long before her arrival that she will take credit for.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:26,

Have you forgotten how much better you have it? You deal with inexperience, get DIVERT, pretrial diversion on everything.... There is a layer of inexperience at the top. The talent that is left at this office for the most part is looking for another opportunity. The talent is hiding in every nook and cranny at 1201. I assume your life is harder because there is an inherent fear about making risky decision but there is no longer a push to be the best. The common theme you hear is "stay under the radar."

The only people who should be complaining are those of us who work at the office and have to worry about the political effect of every decision we make. We have to worry about senseless moves, demotions, calls from the sixth floor about cases we plead. People like Joni Vollman who was a no name and now is the biggest yes "man" that ever existed pulling our files. I am not going to post my experiences with the sixth floor but if the public only new what happens in the dark corners of the sixth floor the FBI would really be interested. Public Corruption and spineless losers is what makes up the sixth floor now. Quit whining defense bar, you have it better than you even know. A few hours where we have to go to a seminar and you all want to complain. How much more concierge service do you want. You are spoiled.

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

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