Well . . . Crap

Yesterday, the Houston Chronicle reported in this story that the personal identification information of all county employees who were working in 2005 and 2007 was unlawfully misappropriated by an outside source.  Names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers were among the information taken.

You can read the story by clicking the link, but I've heard that the information stolen was being tracked to locations as far away as Vietnam.  I've also heard that the County Attorney's Office has known for quite some time (possibly years) that all of our information had been accessed but was sitting on the info to avoid any legal unpleasantness.

As of this writing, I've yet to be offically notified by any the County that my information has been stolen, and to my knowledge, none of my former co-workers have been either.

Docket Management

A few weeks ago, I had the distinct displeasure of having a flight home re-rerouted through Chicago's Midway Airport.  It had been raining all day in Chicago and most flights had been significantly delayed.  The airport was packed from end to end with people waiting on their delayed flights.  Finding a place to sit down was out of the question, and at one point, I texted my wife and told her, "I don't even have room to get out of the way!"

Luckily, I was prepared for these type of conditions because of the daily training we all receive at the elevator banks of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.  This Tuesday morning around 9:45 a.m., I was stuck at the elevator bank on the 10th floor for 30 minutes waiting on an elevator that wasn't already filled past maximum capacity and I found myself actually appreciating the spaciousness of Midway Airport.

The CJC is (and always has been) ridiculously overcrowded and the poor design of the facility aggravates that crowding to the umpteenth degree.  This is not news.  I've been writing about it for years.   So have other bloggers.  News media has covered it.  The Fire Marshal has inspected.

Nothing changes.

So far the only thing that the building management has done in an attempt to "control" the massive crowds in the morning trying to cram into elevators is have the already inept security guards yell at people to move out of the hallways leading to the elevator banks.  As far as I can tell, the only effect that has had is making an already angry crowd even angrier.

Unfortunately, since the CJC is a relatively "new" building, we are stuck with it (and the moronic security guards) for the foreseeable future.

If any meaningful change to the ridiculous (and dangerous) crowding situation is going to take place, it is going to have to be done by restructuring the scheduling of people who are ordered to come to court. As it currently stands, the vast majority of all persons charged with crimes in Harris County must report to court once a month at 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning.

Some judges (like County Court at Law # 6's Judge Larry Standley) are much more flexible about arrival times.  Many more judges are not.

Earlier this summer, County Court at Law # 8's Judge Jay Karahan issued a new standing Order for his court that was designed to reduce the frequency that a person charged with a crime in his court must make an appearance.  While in most courts, defendants must report once a month for settings that are more-often-than-not pointless (i.e., "Has the case been indicted yet?  No?  Then reset it for another month."), Judge Karahan's new docket order is designed to make those required settings be productive ones.

The docket order is one page long, but offers several common sense changes designed "to promote the efficient use of judicial resources."  Some of the highlights include the Discovery Order being signed off on at the first setting.  This gets the ball rolling early and forces both the prosecutor and the defense attorney to actually start getting the case together from the beginning, rather than waiting until it is time to decide if both sides want to go to trial.

More significant (and progressive, in my opinion) is that the Judge allows "complex" cases to be reset for up to 120 days before the next setting where the defendant's appearance may be waived.  This is huge, because the County Courts handle the majority of all DWI cases and the results of blood alcohol tests can often take several months to arrive.

If all of the other 36 courts in the building followed just those two orders, we would be well on our way to doing something significant about the overcrowding.

Earlier this month, it was learned that some other changes were being made that could help, as several misdemeanor courts announced that they were going to start experimenting with 1 o'clock p.m. dockets.

The idea of the 1 o'clock docket is going to be controversial, because neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys are going to like it.  Both sides are accustomed to the idea of being in court all morning handling normal dockets, but we usually rely on our afternoons being free to meet with our clients and witnesses or work on our cases.  A regularly occurring 1 o'clock docket will throw a hugh wrench in that schedule.

Unless it is done correctly.

A 1 o'clock docket could be extremely effective if it is used for two primary purposes:

1.  For First Appearance/"To Hire Attorney" (THA) Settings -- Any client that makes bond after being arrested is given a date to report to court and receive any statutory warnings that he may not have received before bonding out.  If he doesn't have an attorney, he is reset to hire one.  Usually, most misdemeanor defendants who bond out are scheduled to make their first appearances.  Therefore, Fridays are usually the most crowded day in the courthouse.

The courts that are considering doing afternoon dockets are talking about making these 1 o'clock settings for those first appearances.  Defense attorneys wouldn't be required to be there (because they haven't been hired yet) and each court would only need to send up one prosecutor (to read Probable Cause, if necessary).

In the meantime, the elevators won't be flooded with hordes of people in the morning who have very little chance of doing anything other than being reset.

2.  Contested Motions/Revocation Hearings --  One of my pet peeves practicing in Harris County (and probably any other county) is when court comes to a standstill during morning docket while a Motion to Adjudicate or Motion to Revoke Probation hearing is being held in court.  The prosecutors get tied up in the hearing.  The judge is tied up.  It is not entirely uncommon to have to wait for a couple of hours just to get a judge's permission to set a case for trial if they are in a hearing. Some courts won't even let you walk through the courtroom to get to your client in the holdover.

These hearings are different from jury trials, because only a judge presides over them.  The same applies on Motions to Suppress and other pre-trial hearings.  I understand when the judge is trying to be more expedient with a trial because there are twelve jurors waiting, but there is no good reason why making contested hearings in the afternoon can't be done.

The morning dockets would move more quickly and efficiently.  Cases wouldn't be reset because the prosecutor was unavailable to talk because he or she was tied up in a hearing.

I'm glad to see that some of the judges are beginning to do what they can to alleviate the situation at the CJC.  The building's structure isn't going to be changing any time soon.

Catching Up

So, after about four months (off and on) on the road working as a consultant (not a producer) on Cold Justice, we're finally done with filming for Season One and I'm back home for good.  Working on the show was a lot of work with very long days, but I enjoyed the hell out of it.  I think the show is going to be awesome when it airs.

I know the blog has been slacking badly in my absence.  I haven't been around to follow up on the latest news and gossip.  I would hear bits and pieces of news while I was out on the road, but I didn't have the time or resources to confirm what I was seeing until it was old news.

What's funny is that most of the comments I got about my absence from the blawgosphere were from people who hate the blog in the first place.  I suppose it just fulfills some need of theirs to be angry and they missed me.

I was in Arizona when I learned about Mike Anderson's cancer diagnosis.  As a friend of Mike's and as a father and husband myself, I'm saddened beyond words about what the Anderson family is going through right now.   As I said before, my thoughts and prayers are with him, Devon, and his kiddos.  Moments like this should make us all take a moment to stop and focus on the truly important things in life.

I've heard some complaints about the morale at the Office lately.  It doesn't rise to Lykosian Levels, but there have been grumblings from the troops about some of the people in higher positions and some questions about certain people in certain promotions.  Some of the complaints I agree with.  Some I don't.  It sounds a lot like the D.A.'s Office I remember from when I worked there.

There have been a couple of scandals this year, but the major one so far has been this one, which I already wrote about.

I don't know what is going on with Amanda Culbertson's lawsuit against the District Attorney's Office, Pat Lykos, and Rachel Palmer.  I haven't heard any updates.

There are some interesting developments going on in the aftermath of the Jeffrey Stern case, but I'm not at liberty to discuss them quite yet.

Two courthouse folks have publicly announced their candidacies for some appellate court positions. My friend (and one of my favorite people) Jani Jo (Maselli) Wood is running for Place 4 on the Court of Criminal Appeals.  She is an outstanding candidate who would make the Court a better place.  In addition to having outstanding taste in music, she is guided by a strong moral compass that is backed up by her tireless devotion to the law.  I'll be writing more about her in the months to come.

Harris County Assistant District Attorney David Newell is running for Place 9 on the Court of Criminal Appeals.  I don't know David very well, but I'm familiar with the work he's been doing on behalf of the Office.  Everything I know about him indicates he'll make a great candidate for the Court, as well.  I'll do some more research on him and get back to you in the months to come.

Of course, Governor Rick Perry's announcement today that he isn't going to run again for office is going to shake things up drastically around Harris County, too.

That's pretty much the stuff on my mind right now as I start to catch up on the blog.

What's on y'all's minds?

HCCLA's Annual Declaration of Independence Reading

Please join HCCLA tomorrow, July 3rd at 11:30 a.m. for the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence on the front door steps of the Harris County Criminal Justice Center.

This tradition began in Harris County under the leadership of Robb Fickman and other members of HCCLA several years ago.  It has since expanded into approximately fifty counties around Texas as well as many other States around the country.

HCCLA Board Member Tyler Flood even read the Declaration outside of British Parliament already this year.  (NOTE:  I think he did it early to avoid being bayonetted by people in powdered wigs.)

It is a fantastic tradition that pays to tribute to the origins of what we all do every day at the CJC.

I hope that everyone who can attend will be there.

Some Ways to Help HFD

Not all of you may know that our friend and fellow defense attorney David Ryan is also a volunteer fireman.  He was kind enough to share with the HCCLA Listserve ways that we can help HFD in the wake of last Friday's tragic loss of four firefighters.  His email is reprinted here with his permission.

Because so many have asked, some thoughts on monetary donations.

The 100 Club is collecting and distributing funds to the families of the fallen. You can instruct them you want the monies only used for firefighters.

Local 341 is collecting funds to distribute directly to the families of the fallen.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation collects money to distribute to firefighters families, and also to memorialize those who perish in the line of duty. You can instruct the funds be used specifically for the Houston firefighters, but there is no promise it will be used for that purpose.

Anne Sullivan was the rookie firefighter who died. Her family is setting up a scholarship for women who want to join the fire services. Well over 90% (it's either 93% or 97%) of firefighters are men. Details are still being worked out, and I will post this when the details are finalized.

Several of the community colleges in our area have fire academies. You can contact the schools directly and offer to pay for books and other materials for a deserving student.

There are a number of small, mostly volunteer fire departments in our area. They run the gamut - Cy Fair is one of the largest and richest volunteer departments in our country. Others rely on hand-me-downs from other departments. Most are supported by Emergency Services Districts (ESDs) that collect taxes. You can contact them directly about how they handle donations.

The St. Florian Society is a non-profit, honor society for firefighters with a chapter here in Houston. St. Florian was a Roman soldier who converted to Christianity and threatened to ride a wave of fire if they tried to burn him to death. The Romans flayed him instead, and he is our patron saint.

The Bull & Bear on Westheimer is donating 100% of purchases of Firemen No. 4 to the families of the fallen this month.

Teespring is donating 100% of the profits from memorial t shirts to the families.

Fire stations are not really donation centers. If you wish to send funds directly there anyway, please instruct what it is to be used for. We keep teddy bears (and other toys) to give to young visitors and/or children in need of emergency services. We usually eat in, so specify it's for dinner. Volunteer departments frequently eat out to help promote the departments, so specify it's for dinner out on you. You might even specify which shift (A,B,C or D, or Monday volunteers, etc.), or that it is for us while we are attending training. We tend to be sparsely furnished, so specify it is for a grill or a picnic table, or decorations. We have tons of photos that need framing. We buy a lot of movies on DVD.

You could do us all a favor and pull to the right and stop as soon as you see us coming. Stay at least 300 feet behind us - even if in traffic. Turn down the music in your car so you can hear us coming. We lose more firefighters in traffic accidents trying to get to a scene than we do in fires.

I won't be around much this week. I am privileged to be asked to be part of the honor guard. When a firefighter dies in the line of duty, it is our tradition that the fallen are never left alone - 24 hours a day - until they receive their final call/alarm (usually at the cemetery). The last funeral is Friday afternoon. Additionally, I will be on some extra shifts so other firefighters can attend funerals.

Thanks to David for sharing these suggestions.  Our thoughts and prayers are with David, the Houston Fire Department and all of those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Hell on Earth

If I were to ever write a book about any case I ever tried as a prosecutor, it would be about a murder that happened at the Roadrunner Inn around 2002 or 2003.

It wasn't a headline grabbing case by any stretch of the imagination.  It wasn't particularly shocking or gruesome, either.  It just always fascinated me because of the people and circumstances involved in the case -- the victim, the defendants, and the witnesses were all so unique and the lifestyle that went on around the Roadrunner was like watching an episode of HBO's The Wire.

The victim in the case was an unusual man named Lonnie, who went by the name of Bonsai.  He was a Jewish man from the Northeast.  His sister told me that he had worked for Motown Records back in the 1950s.  As he grew older, he disconnected from society and became virtually homeless.  He drifted from town to town and fleabag motel to fleabag motel.  He made money for rent and drugs by selling bonsai trees -- hence the nickname.  A few months before his untimely death, he took up residence at the Roadrunner.

The two killers were Gary "Boo" Edwards and Anthony "No No" Gibson, who were also an interesting dynamic.  Gary was a self-proclaimed pimp and drug dealer who could talk the paint off the walls.  He was a bullsh*t artist if I ever met one, and he always liked to talk to me, for some reason -- not about the case -- just about life at the Roadrunner.  He would even have his father come by and visit me at the D.A.'s Office.  Gibson was the opposite of his friend, Gary.  He rarely spoke but he liked to shoot people with very little provocation.

On the night of the murder, an unidentified acquaintance of Bonsai's had loaned Gibson his truck as part of a crack rental.  When Gibson was late returning the vehicle, the acquaintance cut Edwards with a box cutter and then left the premises.  When Gibson returned to the hotel, he and Gary went to Bonsai's room to interrogate him about the whereabouts of the mystery acquaintance.  The interrogation did not go well.  After roughing up Bonsai, Gibson shot him multiple times and killed him.

A few weeks later, Gibson went to the Red Carpet Inn, which was right next door to the Roadrunner.  He kicked the door in and shot a man who went by the street name of "Dillinger" multiple times as Dillinger lay sleeping in his bed.  Gibson's motivation was jealousy over a girl that Dillinger happened to be lying in bed with at the time of his death.  Gibson and Edwards more or less kidnapped that girl and kept her locked in their room at the Roadrunner for the next week until they were convinced she wasn't going to snitch on them.

HPD Homicide Sergeant Paul Motard and Clemente Abbondandolo (AKA Detective Abbey) worked up the cases and ultimately filed murder and kidnapping charges on Edwards and Gibson.  In working the case up for trial, my investigator Mike Connor and I spent quite a few afternoons walking around the Roadrunner and the neighboring Red Carpet Inn.  We interviewed prostitutes, gang leaders, and drug dealers.  My star witness was a prostitute named Rolanda who had more guts and character than probably any other witness I ever had testify.

But going to the Roadrunner and the Red Carpet was like going to hell on earth.  The Roadrunner was a courtyard-type hotel that was virtually deserted during daylight hours.  At night, the place swarmed with people who lived there permanently and they all had their own economic system of trading sex, drugs, money and violence as a means of existence.  The Red Carpet was no better.  It had interior rooms and hallways where the residents would leave the doors open as they smoked crack and had sex.  The fact that a prosecutor and investigator were walking down the halls in broad daylight didn't seem to bother them much.

I know this post already seems long, but trust me, I'm skimming on a lot of the details.

Anthony Gibson got 70 years for Bonsai's murder and Gary Edwards got 35.  Right before I went to trial, then-prosecutor-now-Judge Denise Bradley pointed out to me what a terrible place the Roadrunner Inn was.  She had been the prosecutor of Jeffery Williams, who had murdered Houston Police Officer Troy Blando at the Roadrunner back in 1999.  Motard and Abbey told me they had worked other cases where murders had happened at the Roadrunner and that homicide wasn't an unusual occurrence there at all.

Some time after the trials of Gibson and Edwards, Bonsai's sister and I went to a condemnation hearing on the property.  It was the only time I ever participated in such a thing during my tenure as a prosecutor.  We told the people of the City of Houston what a nightmare and death trap it was.  A representative of the owner said they were making improvements there.  I heard through the grapevine that the property owner was a relative of a City Council member.

For whatever reason, the Roadrunner Inn never shut down.

It did change names, though.

Several years ago, I was driving down Highway 59 and saw that it had changed its name to the Southwest Inn.

Today, four City of Houston Firefighters lost their lives battling a massive fire there.

My thoughts and prayers go out to their families, friends, and fellow firefighters.

And I hope that this Hell on Earth is finally gone for good.

Tonight's Reasonable Doubt (5/30/13)

Please join me and Todd Dupont as Reasonable Doubt returns tonight for a live episode for the first time in a while.  Our guest tonight will be criminal defense attorney and HCCLA Vice-President Rand Mintzer.

As always, the show starts at 8:00 p.m. and you can catch it live streaming by clicking here.

Please call in with your comments and questions.

A Remembrance of Judge A.D. Azios

Judge Mary Lou Keel and the staff of the 232nd District Court are hosting a Celebration in Remembrance of the late Honorable A.D. Azios on Friday, May 31, 2013.

The event is at 12:15 p.m. in the Ceremonial Courtroom on the 20th floor of the Criminal Justice Center and all are invited to attend.

Stupid Is As Roger Does

Never let it be said that it is easy to keep Former Gang-Who-Couldn't-Shoot-Straight Team Leader Roger Bridgwater down.

Despite having his tenure as Bureau Chief cut short by the un-electing of Pat Lykos last year and being passed over for an appointment to a judicial bench this year, Mr. Bridgwater has still found a way to interfere with the smooth administration of justice.

Brian Rogers is reporting in this article tonight that a Capital Murder jury trial pending in the 339th District Court will have to start over from scratch due to advice given to a juror by Roger.  In his article, Brian reports that a selected juror was concerned about serving on such a serious case as a Capital Murder.  That juror decided to seek some wisdom from his friend -- former prosecutor and former judge Roger Bridgwater.

This isn't an unusual phenomenon, actually.  Our friends outside the legal world routinely give criminal law practitioners a call whenever our worlds collide.  Family members always mention it when they have jury duty.  It's kind of like when you meet somebody from out of state and you have to mention to them people that you know from their state.

Most lawyers know that other than saying "obey your jury summons," there isn't anything else that we should add to the advice we give a prospective juror.  That applies even more so if a person who has actually been elected to serve as a juror calls us.

So when Bridgwater's juror friend called him up to express his concerns about serving, what Roger should have said (to paraphrase Mike Birbiglia) . . . was nothing.

Instead, Roger apparently gave him some very detailed advice that resulted in the juror drafting a letter to the judge and then alarming his fellow jurors to the degree that they all signed the letter as well.  As a result, a mistrial had to be declared and the trial has to start over completely.

Good job, Roger.

At first glance, this would seemingly be something to just shrug off as poor decision-making on Bridgwater's part.  But let's look at it a little further.  Bridgwater is a former District Court judge.  Even though he only served briefly after being appointed by Governor Perry, he still knew the rules of evidence and the Code of Criminal Procedure.  One can only imagine what his reaction would have been if he had been the presiding judge over a Capital trial where some uninvolved lawyer tampered with one of his jurors.

Bridgwater isn't exactly known for his cool, judicial temperament and I feel pretty comfortable in guessing that there would have been hell to pay.

Furthermore, up until the end of 2012, Bridgwater was actually a party to this case as a representative of the Harris County District Attorney's Office.  His upper-administration role would have granted him knowledge of all pending Capital murder cases.  His giving instructions to a selected juror on the case should be regarded no differently than if an active prosecutor were to have given the advice.

Obviously, I don't have much respect for Roger Bridgwater, but his actions surprise even me.  Viewed under the most favorable of circumstances, he made a very stupid mistake that caused a Capital Murder case to have to be started over again from scratch.

In a less charitable view, he knowingly undermined the Criminal Justice process.

Mike Anderson's Announcement

I'm sure by now that you have learned that Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson announced today that he is battling cancer.

I don't know any more than what is being reported in the newspaper or television.  No specifics have been released.

My thoughts and prayers are with Mike, Devon and their family.

We are all praying for you and wish you a speedy recovery.