Here's how it works: I spend the morning in court, on a regular docket day, and come down about lunchtime to find a stack, large or small, of new cases on my chair. Kind of like Christmas, right?
Well, continuing my mission of letting you all know what kind of work we do here, I thought I'd give a rough overview of the cases I found on my chair last week.
1. Evading arrest. State jail felony.
2. Evading arrest. State jail felony.
3. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Second degree felony.
4. DWI 3rd Offense. Third degree felony.
5. Possession of a controlled substance (cocaine). State jail felony.
6. Delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine). State jail felony.
7. Delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine). Second degree felony.
8. Arson (of a building, but not a habitation). Second degree felony.
9. Delivery of a controlled substance (cocaine). State jail felony.
10. Possession of a controlled substance (cocaine). State jail felony.
11. Evading arrest. State jail felony.
Of these, the arson will take the most time, I already spent an afternoon going through the file prepared by the fire investigators. Even so, I'll be busy this week reading offense reports, ordering up video tapes and drug analysis reports, and making recommendations. But that's okay, I have an office with a window now. Did I mention that? Oh, sure, it looks out onto the jail but it's a window and I love it.
Monday, February 8, 2010
10 comments:
Comments posted to this blog are NOT the opinion of the Travis County D.A.'s office, under any circumstances. They are only the personal, non-representative opinion of D.A. Confidential if posted under his name.
I welcome all comments, as long as they are expressed with politeness and respect. I will delete all comments that I deem to be personal attacks, or that are posted merely to antagonize or insult.
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Thank you for posting this BLOG. I have been reading daily since becoming aware and enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome, I'm so glad you enjoy it. :)
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog and I like it. Of the cases you were assigned the Arson is going to be the hardest to prove. The others could be relatively easy, except perhaps, the DWI, IF it goes to trial.
ReplyDeleteI will be in your court this week, so I will tell you who I am.
Best regards...
I'd rather try a capital murder than a DWI :)
ReplyDeleteAssaults can be a bear to prepare for as well- I've had to spend an entire afternoon on one assault file just to try and figure out who was beating on who, and with what.
Would you please explain the reasons why, the reasons and thought process behind reason, someone is "struck" from being picked to serve on a jury? Also, how many "strikes" does each side get and if both sides agree someone should not serve, does it count against their "strike" limit?
ReplyDeleteAnon @3:13- That's a great question, but it'd take a full post to fully explain. The short answer for the reasoning behind a strike: voodoo. Maybe DAC or myself can give a much fuller explination in a full post soon.
ReplyDeleteDAC, I want a picture of the view out of your office :)
ReplyDeletethanks for these entries, your blog is a daily destination for me as well.
Five out of 11 are less than a gram drug cases?! Is that a usual ratio for your caseload?
ReplyDeleteAnon @ 3:13: Answer coming in a post next week, so check back.
ReplyDeleteRG: If my wife would let me have an iPhone, I'd take one and post it. Actually, she'd love to buy me one. Perhaps you can petition to get me a raise?! I'll see what I can do, though.
Grits: Give or take, that's Pretty normal. Certainly, I'd say that 80 percent of my drug cases are less than a gram.
Thanks for this post, I have been working as an arson investigator for the past 19 years in the state of Louisiana and had the occasion of bringing more than 16 individuals to justice, for the crime of arson; some of those, who committed murder during the omission of the crime......I can tell you some stories. Thanks for taking an interest in coming to understand the job that we do and the training that's involved.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully
RW