Resources

Jailbreaking an iPhone and copying a DVD: Now not illegal.

While it’s never come to a criminal case in this country (to the best of my knowledge), jailbreaking your iPhone and copying a DVD for personal use have long been stigmatized as illegal, under the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. And typically, when something’s been illegal, it doesn’t become more legal later – especially when powerful […]

Peeing on Judge Judy’s leg and telling her it’s raining.

While I’ve been out of town this past week, I’ve had the opportunity to do two things I don’t often get to enjoy: Watch daytime television (hence the subject line) and talk to people from rural parts of Texas. I made a new friend, kind of – this 21 year old ex-Marine from East Texas […]

I don’t need the drug class. But are they going to drug test me?

Working with teenagers is always a great source for learning experiences. This is especially true in the criminal and juvenile justice system where many of them had a few years of successfully hiding risky behavior before being caught for the first time.  Nowhere is this more prevalent than college kids who have been busted for smoking […]

Don’t all four year olds knock around with the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court?

While on the topic of Supreme Court Justices, I get to tell the best story of our recent law school reunion. Corinne and I met in law school, keep in pretty good touch with many of our friends from law school, and since her family is in California, we find any excuse to find ourselves […]

Mark Bennett’s rules for dealing with crazy.

Here’s something to take with you over the weekend – Houston criminal attorney Mark Bennett has thoughtfully posted a top-ten list of how to deal with people with borderline personality disorder, which can be relevant in this field for all sorts of reasons. I won’t steal the whole list – and every item on it […]