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(Below is a revised version of a past article.)

Recently I had an experience with the Collin County District Attorney’s office that gives some great insight into the minds of some (certainly not all) prosecutors.  I refer to it as the "Win At All Costs" mindset.

I have seen this mindset from prosecutors locally and in articles around the country.  The Win At All Costs mindset can often rear its ugly head in the appellate process. Prosecutors who handle the appeals of cases are often far removed from the courtroom. Book law vs. Practical law. Can we make an argument vs. should we make an argument.

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I am proud to announce that our little blog is now syndicated.  Our articles can now be read in several of the Star Local News newspapers.  My article the Collin County Court shuffle ran in the McKinney Courier Gazette on Sunday.

Future articles should be available to read online in the opinion section of the online newspaper under "Star Guests."  I saw that fellow blogger and Collin County Observer’s writer Bill Baumbach also has many articles published by the paper.

The newspapers include:

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Well, more drama and shifting is going on in the Collin County Courts.  I reported a while ago about who might be the new judges in Collin County . Since then there have been some more changes and shifting. 

As before, much of this info isn’t verified, and mostly courthouse gossip.  So don’t take everything at face value.  No real sources, comments from participants, etc.

First off, let me explain what I believe to be the rules on Sitting Judges running for other benches.  I’ve been asked this a lot.  If, say, a county court judge wants to run for a District Judge bench, he or she may do one of two things.  They can, a) announce now and begin the  race.  This however will force them to step down from their current bench.  Or, b) wait until a prescribed time (I believe Jan 1) to announce.  If this is done, they may retain the bench until the end of the cycle (Dec.31, 2009).  

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Congratulations to current Collin County Court 4 Judge Ray Wheless who was appointed to the 366th Judicial District Court recently vacated by Greg Brewer.  At the time of this post, it was not yet listed on the Governor’s website.

Judge Wheless is a great judge and will make a great District Judge.  Judge Wheless also runs Collin County’s DWI/Drug Court.  (I believe Judge Dan Wilson in Court 5 will be starting one as well soon)

This now will open up his court for an appointment by the Collin County Commissioners.  Hopefully whoever takes over the helm at Court 4 will continue running the Drug/DWI court.  It has helped a lot of people, our clients included.

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I have been told today from several sources that Collin County District Attorney John Roach will not be seeking re-election. I haven’t seen an official press release, but believe it is true.

His campaign website says it is being readied for the 2010 re-election campaign, but hasn’t been updated in a while.

You heard it here first.

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Today I had an experience with the Collin County District Attorney’s office that gives some great insight into the minds of some (not all) prosecutors.  The "Win At All Costs" mindset.

In general, I have seen this win at all costs mindset from prosecutors locally, and in articles around the country.  Arguments that get away from the merits of why we have the judicial system at all.  Consider a case where an inmate is requesting DNA to prove their innocence.  A prosecutor would argue not about whether or not that person is guilty, but whether or not he should be allowed to test the DNA sample. This gets away from the primary concern – is he guilty or not?  It moves into the realm of, should we test to see if he is guilty or not.

The illogical win at all costs argument is what I saw from the Collin County DA today, and it was shameful.

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Well, today I am attending the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association‘s Top Gun DWI – A Blood Test trial from Start to Finish.  

In the past I did some live blogging from another DWI Seminar Here, here, and here.  I got a pretty good response from it, so I’m going to give it another shot.

Although the premise of this seminar is an actual trial style : i.e. cross examination of officers, toxicologist, etc, there will also be some normal seminar speaking as well.

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One of today’s speakers, Mark Daniel, a Ft. Worth Criminal Defense Attorney, has been getting a lot of recognition for his recent work on Tarrant County District Judge Elizabeth Berry’s case.  Much of the good press was about he finally getting her case dismissed.  Not easy in a case where a blood test was taken. 

He first attacked the search warrant in the case, and got the blood test results kept out of court.  After some appeals by the state, he then won the appeal.  The State’s response after that was to dismiss the case. 

Mark’s talk is about fighting search warrants in DWI cases. . .

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The pre-trial discover portion of this seminar is being taught by Houston DWI lawyer Troy McKinney.  Troy is responsible for putting on many DWI seminars, and speaks at most of them.  Not to be confused with Collin and Dallas DWI Attorney Troy Burleson (my law partner).

First off, you cannot defend a blood test case without Documents.  You need to know what they have.  You need it to prepare, educate the judge, and confuse the prosecutor. 

PS – as a totally random side note, the Houston’s Crowne Plaza’s cups suck.  They leak.  I got 2 coffees, and both of the cups I used leak out of the bottom.  Also, this is the first time I didn’t pay to get the book along with the CD.  I think that was a good decision.  Especially when you can bring in and plug in a laptop and pull it up.

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