When I speak to law students or young lawyers, I am often asked, “Which cases are the hardest?”  The answer is an easy one.  THE most difficult cases to defend are those where you KNOW your client is innocent.  The cases will keep you up nights.  The cases will tie you stomach in knots.  Sometimes, no amount of lawyering will overcome a witness who is determined to lie, conceal the facts and undermine the fairness of a judicial proceeding.

Sometimes witnesses start out with a small lie and allow the lie to fester and grow because they are afraid to stop what they’ve put in motion.  Talkleft.com recently blogged about a recent case from New York where a man was released from prison after serving four years of a twenty year sentence.  The AP story appears here. Luckily for the defendant, DNA evidence was available and reviewed.  The lying complainant stated that she initially told her lie because she wanted people to feel sorry for her and thought the man would be acquitted because of a lack of evidence.

On the heels of a recent uproar over secrecy, suppressed findings and untimely dismissals, Governor Rick Perry’s newly appointed Chair of the Texas Forensic Science Commission outlines his ideas for the Texas Forensic Science Commission here.  The Blog Grits for Breakfast, reports on a story from Texas Lawyer that the newly appointed chair, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley, has the following ideas for the commission going forward:

• Making investigations secret and meetings about them closed.
• Re-education of commissioners: “Bradley says that when people act as investigators and judges, they typically should have some background in that work. Most members of the commission don’t do investigative work and need training, he says.”
• Lengthening terms for commissioners. (No word why the governor couldn’t just reappoint if continuity is so important.)
• Creating new rules and procedures for the commission (no detail).
• “Clarifying” whether the commission has authority to investigate the Willingham case. (He seems unwilling to take his former boss Sen. John Whitmire’s word for it.)

Add this story to the list of crazy things drivers do, instead of driving:  Eating Cereal.

“Police said a man who was stopped for erratic driving on Central Avenue last week was eating a bowl of cereal and milk while he drove. He told officers he was hungry,” says the Boston Globe story posted on the ABC News website.

I’ve previously written about texting and other cell phone usage while driving here.

President Barack Obama is still weighing his nomination decision for a replacement of Justice David Souter.  Popular Science magazine has critiqued the scientific credentials of some of the prospective nominees to the Supreme Court on its web site.  I guess you’d call it, the nominee’s “lab cred.”  Its interesting to see the take of the scientific community on what usually boils down to debate on politics, and to a lesser degree jurisprudence.

The Washington Post has picked up on the notion that there is an odd convergence of technology, salacious conduct and today’s youth.  In a story out today, the Post writes about this evolving area of criminal law.   On one hand, there is nothing new under the sun.  Prosecutors, law enforcement officers, judges, and defense lawyers will have to sort out messes made by young people making poor decisions.  On the other hand, the speed at which a mistake can magnify in this Digital Age will have some corners very concerned and active in the prosecution of these acts. I’ve previously blogged about this phenomenon here.

The Legislature is considering something of a fix to the current expunction process as it applies to teachers.  In the past few years, teachers have had to submit to fingerprinting and background checks.  More than a few that I’ve represented called in a panic when they realized that the dismissals of charges that we were able to obtain didn’t shield them from background checks for arrest records.

As reported in the San Antonio Express-News, the teachers now have their lobbyists involved, claiming that teacher’s privacy rights and need for protection from identity theft should entitle teachers to what can only be called a Super-Duper Expunction, providing protections above those enjoyed by other citizens.  The news outlets don’t like the impingment on First Amendment Newspaper-type rights.

Sometime soon, the citizenry will catch wind of the sale of their criminal histories by the State of Texas to offshore entities beyond the reach of Texas expunction orders.  Then, we will watch another flurry of bills in the legislature.  But, the cow has left the barn on that problem, I’m afraid.

The Harris County District Attorney’s office is looking at a new policy that would require individuals to swear under oath that they are in the country legally before being able to take advantage of a plea bargain for probation.  The Houston Chronicle reports that this policy, while not currently in effect, is being considered in an effort curb Houston’s problem with illegal immigrants.  The policy is at odds with some state laws which REQUIRES probation for certain first time drug offenders.

Many states use D.W.I. checkpoints in efforts to curb intoxicated drivers.  The Texas State Senate took up the issue recently and approved the use of such checkpoints. The measure now heads to the House.  If approved it will go to the Governor’s desk.  Law enforcement is also increasing its use of forced blood draws on those suspected of D.W.I.

For an idea of what goes on at a D.W.I. checkpoint, check out this audio from the stop and detention of a criminal defense lawyer at a California D.W.I. Checkpoint.

The number one rule of any community supervision, or “probation,” is: Don’t Break the Law.  If an individual breaks the law while on probation, they are subject to being sentenced on the original case AND the new offense.  The Austin American-Statesman writes that Travis County has instituted a program that some say has caused a drop in the crime rate for those on probation.  One of the approaches:

“For probationers considered at high risk of committing a new crime, for example, the department has beefed up the number of classes that seek to teach them how to adjust their thinking and moral judgment.

For low-risk offenders, the department has minimized the number of visits required with probation officers, citing research that shows that saddling small-time offenders with too many obligations could increase their chances of winding up in prison.”

Most observers of the DNA testing progams and crime labs in Texas will note that many of the wrongfully convicted in Texas that are ultimately released from custody  because of re-testing of DNA material come from Dallas County.  (Blog Grits for Breakfast notes that there have been 19 from Dallas and 35 overall.)  Some would argue that Dallas has been more aggressive in its prosecutions than other places, resulting in more wrongfully convicted individuals.  Lawyers in this particular field might tell you that they are lucky because Dallas kept the DNA material for long periods of time, so re-testing is an option in these cases. Observers will also tell you that the Harris County crime lab became infamous during the first part of the decade for its sloppy procedures and poor work.

The Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Houston, which has seen five DNA exonerees in recent years, will change many of its policies relating to the handling of DNA evidence in an effort to prevent wrongful convictions.  First and foremost?  The prosecutors office will “require prosecutors to test DNA evidence in every case where it is available and relevant to prevent miscarriages of justice,” reports the Houston Chronicle.