Through the Community Justice Assistance Division (CJAD) we have received a grant to put on a sentencing conference in the Fall. We hope to ask TDCAA to co-sponsor and support the seminar.

Our intent is to invite the elected Prosecutor, Presiding Criminal Judge, and Chief Probation Officer from several jurisdictions to come as a team.

We will have lectures by national and state experts in various sentencing practices as well as presentation by prison and parole authorities on what actually happens with various sentences.

As an informal survey, could you'all let me know if you think this is a good idea that would be embraced by prosecutors? Also, could you suggest the name(s) of prosecutor(s) who would make a great sentencing presentation if invited to make a lecture.

I would sincerely welcome any advice or suggestions anybody has. Thanks so much. Judge Larry Gist, Chairman, Judicial Advisory Council to Texas Board of Criminal Justice and CJAD

Just as a suggestion: You should schedule the conference for South Padre Island.

I can't think of a better speaker on the topic of sentencing than John Bradley, who's given a series of VERY well-received talks at TDCAA regional seminars on sentencing, plea conditions, the ability to appeal, and so on. Besides knowing his subject matter inside and out and being a dynamic guy to listen to, John puts together an incredible Power Point to accompany his talks that includes movie clips, sound effects, true life examples and evidence from various cases. In other words, he makes his presentation come to life and captures the attention of his audience. We had John help us (TDCAA staff) put together our last round of legislative update talks (the Power Point part of it) because he's such an expert at doing it and has really creative ideas for attaching popular culture illustrations to legal issues to keep the presentation interesting.

John wrote a book for us, "Pleas, Probation & Punishment," in 2000, and he's updated the book (now called "The Perfect Plea") this year. In fact, it's at the printer right now and will be ready for purchase in about a month. The book includes plenty of practical sentencing tips -- it helps de-mystify Chapter 42 of the CCP and is full of the most recent caselaw, plus forms and sentencing scripts. In other words, the books are valuable for prosecutors and for judges, clerks, etc.

We'd be delighted to make some sort of deal with you guys to provide books for your conference attendees at a discounted rate.

Thanks for letting me plug John and his work product -- written and spoken. We look forward to talking with you more about the conference.

Diane Beckham
TDCAA Senior Staff Counsel

Diane, you forgot to mention John's other book, "Texas Sentencing." Of course, that is not published by TDCAA. And, of course, Judge Gist if familiar with it, having written the forward.

However, it is an authoritative tome on the intricacies of sentencing options. A finer volume I have yet to pick up. So good it made me weep.

John, can I have a free lunch for that one?

Judge Gist, you should only invite John if he involves some sort of Predicate Bowl.

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful suggestions. I understand John has a new book coming out soon entitled: "What Modesty Did For My Incredible Career!!!"""

John will be on the top of the list and I sincerely welcome the help of TDCAA.

Our goal will be to help judges and prosecutors make more informed sentencing decisions.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's assistance.