The elections are over, the Republicans will have a majority in both houses in Austin, and the Lt. Gov. will be David Dewhurst. Nothing will change, however, if the criminal justice committees have the same personnel as two years ago, which resulted in very little useful legislation, and a lot that was very destructive to law enforcement.
The Lt. Gov. picks the chairmen and members of all the senate committees, while the speaker of the house does the same on the house side. The representatives in the house will choose who the next speaker of the house will be.
It is important that prosecutors, but especially elected prosecutors, take the time to try to bend the ear of their state reps and senators, and write letters to Dewhurst, and those seeking the speakership, detailing the need for responsible people to be appointed to the criminal justice and calandar committees. If we don't do this, we shouldn't be surprised if the appointments to these important committees are just after-thoughts by a busy Lt. Gov. and speaker. And if we don't get committees friendly to effective criminal justice, we will spend all our time during the session trying to kill dumb bills instead of promoting useful ones.
I think a useful litnus test that could be used to pick people for these two committees would be their willingness to reform our confession statute so that we have no more burdens than the federal courts have, and apparently virtually all of the other states have. In the past if you suggested repealing 38.22 (and that is all that is necessary--Miranda would still apply) you'd get gasps of horror from most of the criminal justice committees. "If we didn't have 38.22, we'd have jack-booted Nazis marching down our streets," is what some seem to think. In fact, Texas is not the only state in the union which is not a police state, and none of the other states have anything like the restrictions we have on confessions. 38.22 does not protect the innocent from rogue cops (a dishonest cop can always make up a story that the defendant confessed pre-arrest, for example, and 38.22 does not apply)it only protects the guilty.
I think now--not just when the legislature is in session--is the time to contact our legislators with our concerns, and try to get a committment that we'll have responsible people appointed to our committees.
for the benefit of a certain assistant criminal district attorney in dallas who apparently was one of those who voted in Mr. John Bradley's referendum about my activities on this forum, see the preceding post. it's the record and one i am not likely to beat. thank you for your support.
OK, you're right, I got an 11.07 today with several pages which said nothing useful except perhaps the part "I am an MHMR patient" (at Eastham). Rush seems to think my terse response meant something though. Of course I guess it needed to be in the plural.
