Tag: Texas

Of Mice and Men and Death in Texas: SCOTUS to Review Use of “Lennie” Standard in Death Penalty Cases

Post author By Oscar Michelen
Post date August 23, 2016
No Comments on Of Mice and Men and Death in Texas: SCOTUS to Review Use of “Lennie” Standard in Death Penalty Cases

In 2002, the Supreme Court of the United States in Atkins v. Virginia ruled that executing an intellectually disabled person was a violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishment.” Here’s what Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in his opinion:”Construing and applying the Eighth Amendment in the light of […]

Tags Bobbie J. Moore, Constitutional rights, criminal justice, criminal justice system, death penalty, Lennie, Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck, Supreme Court, Texas

Constitutional Law Criminal Law Litigation

Case of Texas Judge Reveals Coziness Between DA’s Office and Bench

Post author By Oscar Michelen
Post date July 7, 2013
9 Comments on Case of Texas Judge Reveals Coziness Between DA’s Office and Bench

We can always count on the glorious state of Texas to bring us the extremes of the criminal justice system: executing a man with a 61 IQ, for example. And now from Polk County Texas comes a story that a judge was texting a prosecutor a line of questioning in the middle of a trial, […]

Tags Constitutional rights, criminal defense, criminal justice, criminal justice system, Elizabeth E. Coker, Judge Coker, Judge Kaycee Jones, Kaycee Jones, lawyers, Litigation, Texas, texting, trial