Either there just hadn't been much happening of interest lately or I've just been experiencing a bout of writer's block. Also, I've been very busy with my Little Man's summer activities and my Favorite Editor from New York being in town for an extended visit.
And then last week, several different things happened that were all worthy of writing a blog post (or two or three) on . . .
. . . and I'm at a place for the weekend that has no Internet connection.
Ah the irony.
One of the major things that happened last week was the stunning revelation by former Houston Police Department technical advisor Amanda Culbertson that HPD's mobile "BATmobiles" (used for the on-site testing of a DWI suspect's breath) had some major glitches in their reliability. It was covered at length by Paul Kennedy with his post here. (NOTE: If you aren't reading Kennedy's blog, you should be. Yes, you'll probably disagree with a lot of it, and he does wear that bola instead of a tie, but he is worth reading.)
Paul focuses in on the ramifications for HPD, but what I find interesting is the ramifications for the D.A.'s Office. There are a ton of cases that Culbertson's testimony effects and it will be very interesting to see what the Office does with them.
I'm also quite skeptical of the idea that the D.A.'s Office was unaware of Ms. Culbertson's claims that the BATmobiles were faulty. Why exactly did the prosecutors ask for a continuance on the case rather than dismiss it? Look for there to be A LOT more to come from this revelation and the key question you'll need to be asking is "Who knew what? And when?"
In addition to the BATmobile revelations, last week long-term prosecutor Bill Hawkins turned in his letter of resignation to the Lykos Administration. I say that he turned his resignation into the Lykos Administration, because Bill Hawkins would have never resigned from a District Attorney's Office. There is a distinction between the two.
Bill was the lead prosecutor on the upcoming retrial of cop killer Carl Buntion, which was set for trial in the next month or so. His resignation is surprising in its timing, but there were early warnings that Bill was not going to mesh well with the Lykos Administration.
Integrity often causes conflict with those who have none.
Because Bill has integrity, he is not talking about his departure at the moment, but if I had to guess, I would bet it had something to do with the idiotic idea to have him supervised by a prosecutor junior to him as I detailed in this post. Especially if that junior prosecutor is a darling of the Lykos Administration when Bill certainly was not.
I will be writing a much better post regarding my friend and mentor, Bill Hawkins when he has finished his last day at the Office.
In other news, I did finally get off my butt and write a new blog on the Chronicle. You can check it out by clicking here.
And finally, on a sad note, my friend and former trial adversary, John Denninger, passed away yesterday after a battle with cancer.
But, I will be writing a separate post on him momentarily.
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