Sunday, August 9, 2009

The Beginning......

As much as I write for listservers and elsewhere, I am probably long past due for a blog: so in I plunge, without much of an idea what I am doing or what direction I want this to take. I know a little bit about some aspects of the law and I have some opinions, so I might as well join the 21st Century. I probably should have consulted some of my friends who have blogs, but it is likely I would have begun to over think it and would have put it off in an attempt to make it too perfect before it began. So, in I plunge. I am sure I will make mistakes, say too much on occasion, and wish I had advance planned a bit more, but for a change I am just jumping it and will fix things as I go along and apologize for things I cannot fix. After all, this is just law4lunch.

Troy

5 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Troy! Yes, this is right up your alley. And, you are right! The nerve of the government to deprive the accused without allowing confrontation. They make it seem as though it is a huge inconvenience as though losing your liberty is not!

    I look forward to your future posts.

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  2. Thank you for this post Troy. Melendez-Diaz is one of those cases that should have happened a while ago in the U.S. Supreme Court. It's late arrival amidst botched cases, D.N.A. reversals, and just piss poor vodoo forensics highlights the necessity to look under the hood of the train that has been travelling on the limited due process railroad. In a civil case you would have been able to take the deposition of the supposed expert so you can make critique the supposed expert. When it comes to putting someone in a box there has been this decaying recognition of the importance of the necessity of critical analysis of the supposedly omnipotent state's witness. Unfortunately it has not been universally recognized that if a dog cannot tesitify then a human that holds their leash should not be able to testify - until a case in Fort Bend County that I was able to help Stephen Gilbert shut down an expert when the Judge realized the lack of scientific oversight of the vodoo dog handler including him testifying more than once that he has a Master's in Chemistry. This same dog handler had testified in a case in Victoria that his dog misidentified a person that later D.N.A testing was shown not to be the person responsible for the crime. When the first person was released from death row we should have stopped the Death Penalty in Texas to question in depth forensic analysis. We should have these protections when the state wants to take your license away in a so called Adminstrative License Revocation Hearing or when a short video is taken at a red light that would not show everything that can be observed. There just seems to be this pathetic acceptance of this fast track short change due process ignore the constitution justice. Until we consistently stand up against this and point out why the criminal justice system needs to be conducted in something entirely different than a railroad. Many people accept the fast track railroad until their little Johnny gets snarled up on the train. Everyone should insist on Fair Justice and not the Just US attitude of many narrow minded prosecutors or judges.

    Derick Smith

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  3. Glad to see you did this. I look forward to following your blog.

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  4. Troy, this is perfect for you.

    You MUST continue and keep up the good work. Since you are already famous in Texas, your comments and opinions are needed, necessary, and appreciated!

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