You heard it here first that the case of alleged murderer Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean will end up going down as one of the most bungled murder investigations in history right there with the Duke Rape Case, O.J. Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey.  Cpl Laurean is the prime suspect in the murder of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach who was pregnant the time of her death. The case has already been marred by moronic and frequent news conferences by the Osnlow County Sheriff Ed Brown as well as his appearance on tabloid shows… We now hear that the Onslow County Sheriff’s department had enough information to arrest Cpl Laurean not prior to the murder but soon after. The failure to take him into custody has now allowed him to escape to Mexico which effectively takes the death penalty off the table if he is apprehended there. Mexico will not extradite someone charged with a capital offense unless the death penalty is removed from consideration Real time decisions are always based on less than perfect information and mistakes are made but there is a huge difference between mistakes made in innocence and mistakes made in arrogance.Lets hope that the arrogance and desire for “tabloid time” of Sheriff Brown has not damaged the ability to get a conviction when this guy is finally caught We know it has damaged the ability to get the full justice that U.S. laws would have allowed for.

According to the Dallas Morning News, Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina and his wife were indicted today by a Houston grand jury in conjunction with a fire at their Spring, Texas Home. Fran Medina’s on an accusation of arson, Mr. Medina’s on an accusation of tampering What is interesting is that within hours of the indictments, the Harris County prosecutor announced that they would ask the court to dismiss the very indictments they sought claiming there was not enough evidence to proceed,I do not practice criminal law and have only tangentially followed the case at all but as a layman I see two possible scenarios here…a. They were approaching a deadline to seek and indictment, were expecting a “no bill” and were shocked as shit when the indictments were handed downb. They figured the quickest way to get this behind Justice Medina was to get this to the grand jury which they were sure would “no bill” and again were shocked as shit when indictments were handed down….Either way Justice Medina could not be too happy with their handling of this and they certainly have some egg on their face in looking indecisive at least as it is being portrayed in the media.

Something very unusual occurred in the Dallas judicial system the other week. Two individuals who were tried and convicted of rape were NOT exonerated by DNA. Why is this unusual? You would think it would be the other way around. Dallas County leads the nation in the number of rape and other convictions that have been over-turned because DNA testing that was not available at the time of the original trial proved that the person in prison did not in fact commit the rape. The DNA at the scene did not belong to that person. That’s a great thing isn’t it? Of course it is. One wrongly convicted person in jail is one too many. Most if not all of these convictions were based solely on the most unreliable evidence there is, eyewitness testimony. Anyone who has seen more than one episode of Law and Order knows this. Now there has been a lot of hoopla made over the fact that Dallas leads the nation in such cases. The Dallas judicial system of the past has been portrayed as a bunch of red neck cops and law enforcement types railroading the less fortunate innocent dupes who could not afford competent legal representation. This may or may not be true. I am no expert on the history of Dallas law enforcement. What I do know is that without knowing the sample size, what is being done in other cities, etc, the stats are pretty much meaningless. Maybe Dallas is leading the nation because the Innocence Project and other organizations are not focused on other cities. Maybe next year Atlanta or LA will lead the nations in wrongful convictions when attention is turned to those cities. Statistics are the great manipulators of truth……. Just ask any former Enron employee……Fast forward to yesterday in Collin County, Texas. A young man tried and convicted for a rape committed during a home invasion robbery. The conviction was apparently based on the strength that infamous eye-witness testimony. No DNA available. He was 16 at the time of the crime and was tried as an adult which is apparently pretty rare in Collin County. This should tell you something about how serious the prosecutors took this matter. They wanted this guy put away for a very long time. The case was tried before a jury and he was convicted. The prosecutor asked for 50 years. He could have received up to 99 years which he undoubtedly deserved. What did the jury give him? 10 YEARS PROBATION! Probation for a brutal rape of women at gunpoint. What in the world were these jurors thinking about?????I will tell you what they were probably thinking about……..They were thinking about the history of Dallas as a red-neck law enforcement town railroading innocents and less fortunates into prison for crimes based solely on eye-witness testimony,This poor lady paid dearly for the sins of our past……….

Disgraced and disbarred former Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has declared bankruptcy in the face of hundreds of millions of dollars in claims against him arising out of his mishandling of the Duke Rape Case. I thought this would be a good time to re-post an article I wrote when it all started. I wrote this in Dec 2006 when he dropped the charges against the players.AN OPEN LETTER TO MIKE NIFONGDear Mike:I love Law and Order, don’t you? Jack McCoy is my idol. Isn’t he yours? I have every episode ever broadcast Tivo’d. I am sure you do too. I think I could have bypassed law school and just watched Jack McCoy prepare and try cases. I would pass the bar and be the best trial attorney ever! Isn’t that what you did? I love Jack! He wins the great majority of his cases, and certainly all his rape cases! He withholds evidence from the defense and walks away without as much as a slap on the wrist! He lies to witnesses and defendants and it is okay! Jack makes inflammatory comments not supported by the evidence to the media and he is a hero for it! His trial arguments are often emotional and not based on any evidence, but no one objects and he gets the conviction! Wait, there is a catch here. Sam Waterston, who plays Jack McCoy, is an actor – not an attorney. Sam Waterston, after committing all those terrible legal sins every episode, gets to go home to his wife and kids every night and read his script for his next episode. Sam Waterston did not take an oath to the Supreme Court of New York to uphold the law. Sam Waterston is not bound by any legal canons of ethics. Sam Waterston is a real person; Jack McCoy is not!I wonder if the State Bar of North Carolina will remind you of that when they yank your law license. Thanks for listening, Mike. There is a new episode of Law and Order on right now so I need to go. Maybe I will pick up some new trial techniques.