DWI Morality

How would a cop feel if someone just took out $7,000.00 out of their paychecks (automatically deducted) just because they could and it was legal ? Highway robbery, theivery, call it what you will- BAD MORALITY. They would be pissed, suffer enormously and forever hold the burden of a bitter grudge against the entity that did it. Well, cops are doing this to nonnecessary DWI suspects. The average person in America will spend about $7k defending themselves (surcharges, fines, court costs, atty fees... this does not even account for a trial fee) because they too are being robbed. Most DWIs are people who are minding their own business, driving in nondangerous manners (speeding along with the traffic- not accidents or call ins), and cops take advantage of them because out on the side of the road they can't perform nonscientific field sobriety tests that most of the rest of the world refuses to use. Cops get pissed when the driver says they haven't drank. They get so personally offended (which is not appropriate, I'm sure I get lied to in my job but it does not affect how I do my job... I am a professional) that they make sure the driver gets arrested even if his performance on the circus tests is questionable. Now just because the cop can justify this on "probable cause" does not make it right or moral. True probable cause is reality and common sense, neither of which most cops employ on nonnecessary DWI arrests. CNN is airing a special on highway robbery by cops (and legal under the law but not right) of drivers in east Texas. They may have spurious bad laws that attempt to justify the money forfeitures of people driving through who get traffic tickets but bad laws don't make it right. Bad judgment, getting personally offended and bad investigation tools that are not scientific (non of which are including the HGN eye test as numerous court have now opined despite its continued use) don't make it right to rob a driver of at least a $7k fee and false DWI conviction (many people just give up or don't trust jurors to see the fallacy of these tests in this "tough on crime" at all costs era. I am angry. I hate hyprocrisy. I think cops and law enforcement including district attorneys offices should stop robbing people because they can in the name of this false MADD dwi hysteria (reality is only 1 out of every 100 dwi drivers arrested killed someone, twice as many people die from the flu every year yet you don't see doctors getting arrested for failed treatment, duh !). Just because you drive with alcohol on your breath does not mean you deserve a DWI. Cops, stop acting like the law (probable cause based on bad tools) makes it right when you know it doesn't. You guys are no different than theives or hypocritical Christians who screw people every day in business and life and go home at night and think that by praying they wipe their slate clean. Ugh. I work in a nasty profession, quite sickening to say the least for the most part (very few of my cases are genuine DWI deserving clients- maybe 30% at most). I have no respect for those with bad morale and I'm not talking about what people are free to do with their personal lives. World, fellow proud Americans... we must stop these wrongs.

DWI Blood Tests Suck

Blood Tests Suck Worse than Breath Testing
Dose of Reality

I just tried a felony DWI blood test case and after 6 hours the jury of twelve found him guilty. As a defender of the constitution and our laws (criminal defense lawyer), I know that I am suppose to walk out of that courtroom and move on to the next case. Part of my job, right ? You win some and you lose some, right ? I wish. For me, where injustice occurs, we all lose. When injustice occurs, not only is our society unsafe (our citizens being falsely accused and their rights trampled on) but the beauty of humanity leaves us all. In State of Texas v. James Ryan Giles (everything occurring in trial being public record), the facts are the Fort Worth Crime Lab is so incompetent they use the same pipette and beaker of water for all 25 samples they run through the gas chromatograph when testing for blood. Industry practice is to change the pipette tip and use a different beaker of distilled water for each sample to prevent contamination (blood samples must be prepared in a different tube with an internal standard, the blood is not actually tested but the heated headspace above it). The blood is pushed through a gas chromatograph column (type of coating and thickness important in that it affects the retention time and therefore the result, yet the Fort Worth analyst did not even know what type of coating or thickness she used on Mr. GIles) that must be cleaned at least once a month (industry standard for as many samples as Fort Worth analyzes) to prevent contamination. They had not cleaned the columns a single time in 6 months before and Mr. Giles' samples showed contamination on all 4 of his gas chromatograms. The analyst even admitted that she found Toluene contamination in his sample of which he would be dead if he ingested it. Funny how she admitted that on the stand but marked "unknown" in the record. These are just the analyst problems, not even touching on the improper storage (refrigeration, lack of temperature high/low check documentation) or the improper collection (using a swab that may have contained alcohol and not sterilizing the tube). Despite 3 fact witnesses who were with Mr. Giles who testified he could not have had more than 3 drinks over 3 hours, and 4 of the state witnesses including a police officer never testifying that Ryan was intoxicated, the jury after 6 hours found him Guilty. Not being privy to the jury deliberations, I cannot claim to understand the basis of their decision. As would be my job, I must accept the verdict; however there is not a shadow of a doubt that I know not a single one of those 12 jurors would trust the Fort Worth Crime Lab with their blood. Their verdict just tells the Tarrant County District Attorney's office that improper scientific methodology that tainted results is acceptable. As a matter of fact, the prosecutor commented in close "If you don't like how they do things in the Fort Worth crime lab, move out". I wish everyone involved in tainted blood test procedures and those that support such unacceptable methodology would move out, not the other way around.

The point of all this really boils down to one simple thing: a great human being. I have known Ryan for years. I represented him on his previous DWI. He is a good looking, clean cut, charming 33 year old man. The courthouse was full 3 days with his supporters numbering close to twenty. He has always been straightforward with me, respectful and somehow always seemed to make me laugh or smile. Testimony even came out in trial how he can't even go to his local TGI Friday's without almost all the employees knowing him and him befriending everyone. After the punishment phase (he agreed to the 2 years prison versus Tarrant County's insane 10 year/4 month jail probation office policy designed to put a probationer back in prison), with utmost dignity he told me how much he appreciated my services, how he hated to make his mom cry and how he did not want his family spending anymore money on him on an appeal. The bailiff took him behind the steel door and the last glimpse I caught of Ryan was his look of dignity wiping back a tear as he glanced out at the gallery to his many friends and family. He said 2 things that struck me. First thinking postively, he said "Mimi, you know I might be a positive influence in prison but it amounts to so very little." He next said, "You know Mimi, going to prison is not going to somehow make me a better person. It won't be good for me at all." He knows, but little does he know. What I know of our jails and prison system, is that you get treated less than a human being. When a guard looks at you, he sees a criminal- not a person. They herd you like cattle and take away every ounce of dignity you ever had. Problem is, a person like Ryan does not deserve prison. Prisons should be for people who hurt people and animals- kidnappers, rapists, robbers and murderers. Ryan and others charged with alcohol or drug problems that do not involve serious death or bodily injury should be in various forms of rehab and counseling, allowed to continue to contribute to societal good. Yet our society would rather spend $40k a year caging people like Ryan like animals in prison. Europe (the Netherlands) has left this moralistic, Calvinistic thinking decades ago. America cannot be the greatest country when we put good people like Ryan in prison where he does not belong. Probation in Texas on nonviolent felonies on alcohol and drug cases is not rehabilitative either. It is designed to bilk you out of bunch of money and land you back in prison anyway once you have been totally humiliated. When I think about Ryan, I can honestly say that I prefer his company ten million to one compared to both prosecutors and those jurors who choose to put their heads on their pillows at night and ignore the real problems. I accept they found Ryan guilty. I don't agree with it but I don't accept the fact that their verdict will put a lot more innocent Ryans in jail just because they have drank alcohol (not intoxicated) and their blood ends up in a crime lab that is worse than what a 7th grade classroom would do (at least they would follow protocols).

The bigger problem in all of this is that people should try to be good to other people. We should not have "office policies" in district attorney offices that fail to look at the individual facts and the human beings behind the cases. We should have DWI/ drug possession laws that take prison out of the formula and focus on positive counseling and rehab. Probation in Texas is another word for punishment. Probation should not be punitive (that is what prison is for) but positive and helpful to people. If our criminal justice system aimed to help nonviolent people who have just made mistakes and give people chances rather than punish (we are light years away from European enlightenment when it comes to criminal justice), all of society would be helped. Bottom line from Mr. Giles case, blood testing is anything BUT accurate (my chemist expert said the margin of error on blood testing is infinity) and our justice system is about convictions at all costs not what is right from wrong when it comes to DWI. This is wrong. Somehow this overhyped DWI madness makes everyone not worth knowing feel good. My heart hurts tonight, but I will move forward to continue to fight in honor of those like Ryan. Let us all try to be openhearted and good to one another whether or not they are social drinkers is my message to MADD and district attorney's offices everywhere.



Sidenote- The Swine Flu strikes again ! 80,000 students in the Fort Worth Independent School District not going to school. ALL Ryan's (33 years old) jurors were middle aged to senior citizens. The youngest juror being older than me, 41 ! There was a reason the Founding Fathers created a "jury of your peers."

The Dark Age of Justice

The Dark Age of Justice
We are living in the dark ages of justice in the criminal law field. The overriding sentiments and motivators among the majority are to do anything to sustain convictions even when it means ignoring the law, our Bill of Rights and Constitution (George W. Bush said the Constitution "was just a piece of paper"). The spirit of community has been overtaken by a spirit of meanness where cops are not there to help people but to arrest them; and district attorneys can't see the greater good (some people need convictions, but many just need direction, guidance and a chance to get on a better path whereas a conviction will ruin their chances at employment to good jobs) and prevents them from supporting their families which produces more crimes). We literally live in a day and age where rapists, murderers and thieves get better treatment and options by the criminal justice system than a misdemeanor DWI who got pulled over for a broken tail light, looks and is completely sober on video and has harmed no one. Even those who are intoxicated on DWIs but have not hurt anyone (most DWIs involve minor traffic offenses) are getting railroaded by fines and surcharges over 3k and many are losing jobs and their families are being broken apart with their punishment being the maximum in most cases by district attorney "office policies". The punishments do not fit the crimes and are way disproportionate. Everyone is so quick to judge in the legal system they no longer care for the facts (district attorney office policies in Tarrant County and many other parts of Texas). They have gone so far as implementing court procedures that seek to punish the criminal defense lawyer for doing things such as setting trials (not giving citizens enough time to pay or defense lawyers enough time to prepare for trial) as if that will somehow make us stop doing our jobs in protecting people's rights. ! Our system is drastically broken. I am ashamed of how our criminal justice system treats people. I just know at the end of the day I am one of the good ones, trying on a daily basis to interject dignity, compassion and reasonabless. I am the only one that stands between a citizen accused and a biased freight train coming down the track to demolish someone. Most judges that I deal with, although many are decent people, are not doing enough to stop the Naziism they are inflicting on our own citizens, particularly when it comes to DWI. I at least go to bed at night, knowing that I am the mighty lion who will not back down. I don't care what meanhearted and misdirected judges and district attorneys and cops think of me or do to me. They better know, that unlike the many .. I roar like a lion and pounce with unstoppable fury to their folly and abuse of my clients and their rights. Yes, as an analogy, I bite (I appeal bad decisions; I publish scholarly articles on what is wrong with the justice system and DWIs; I don't shy away from telling people facts; I blog because information is power; I advise my clients on who not to vote for)! I am diplomatic but do not play politics that contributes to a wrong system, unlike the good people of Germany who said nothing at Naziism because they were scared. I fear no one. We are living in Nazi dark ages in the eradication of rights in the criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to DWI offenses. I will not back down. May history know that ! I have faith that it will change for the better one day. I'm doing everything I can in the meantime

DWI Laws

What is a true leader ? Today on President’s Day, it is the perfect time to reflect on what makes a true leader. Leaders are not born. They are made. Look at the men who rose to the occasion to fight for and create the first democracy in the world ? It would have been a lot easier for them to have rested on their laurels and continued to have life made easy by the British, at the time the most powerful country in the world. Those Founders had a vision: one where the people could have a say in their own governance, a government ruled by elected people opposed to monarchies and merely the rich. They sacrificed their time, money, efforts and opportunities in hopes that something better would come from their efforts. Leaders do things that go beyond their own bottom lines and self interest. They venture out of their comfort zone to make the world a better place for others.

Today, I am saddened by the 80s mentality of Wall Street greed where money is king. Twenty years after that famous movie the only thing that has changed is the fact that this greed has gone from an admired trait to a pervasive sickness. Case in point, I know very few lawyers who will do anything unless it involves money. You can’t get them to drive to Austin or their state capitol to lobby for good laws because they aren’t getting paid. They could care less even when the laws being passed hurt their clients. This isn’t just in Texas; it is nationwide. Kids just aren’t graduating from lawschool with the right principles. Everyone just wants to make money, justice is a hoped for side benefit for most. Lawyers come from an old school of thought where your license allowed you to make money but more importantly it shouldered you with a responsibility to make the world a better place armed with the power of the law. Of all the lawyers I know besides myself I can only say that Chris Hoover , Charles Kingsbury and Larry Boyd are the only DWI lawyers in Texas that have genuinely cared enough to venture out to Austin on a regular basis voluntarily when it really mattered even though it didn’t make us any money (many of the laws we fought for meant losing money as lawyers but better for the citizens). To me, we are the Presidents of the Constitutional Law crowd- trying to make a difference. Even on a national level, it seems damn near impossible to meet a DWI lawyer who cares about fighting for good laws. I don’t know a single one outside of Texas besides Steve Oberman of Tennessee and Patrick McPherson of Hawaii that is involved legislatively. So there you have it folks, out of this whole country less than 2 handfuls really care about leadership when it comes to DWI justice where the laws are made and DWI is the number one crime in America (in terms of numbers of arrests).

On a personal level (maybe it’s because I am surrounded by lawyers and red neck rich wannabes), I am disgusted by the pure selfishness of people when it comes to their government. I am so sick of people crying for capital gains tax cuts and at the same time screaming about paying for welfare yet preaching abstinence among teenagers. That makes a whole lot of sense now doesn’t it ? Why is it that your “wear their religion on their sleeve” right wing Republicans can’t see their own hypocrisy ? They cry for teaching religion in the schools (creationism, such a joke) yet can’t teach basic human decency at home. They think as Sean Hannity said “government’s job is the national defense.” They forget that even monarchs took care of the mentally sick, disabled and diseased. It’s just sick to see a cycle of intellectual inferiorism be perpetuated all in the name of the Bible. Ugh. My leadership exercise this President’s Day is to proudly stand up and call bullshit. This country would be a lot better off if people would start thinking about their fellow human beings and ask how to make this country better. As a great leader named John F. Kennedy once said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” I will end on this note. Happy President’s Day in honor of the many leaders before us who put others first to make this country a better place. Young people, strive to define a better generation. It shouldn’t be that hard.

Common Sense

Arthur Anderson goes down. Enron goes down. Big CEOs in jail. The nation woke up one day and said enough is enough. Don't tell us that just because you hire the best accounting firm you can create your own tax breaks by creating sham companies; just because the SEC in the past has winked at insider trading we are going to continue to allow the big CEOs to get rich because they know when to trade or sell (even going after small trades like the Martha Stewart case). Whether or not all those involved in the crackdown were deserving (in the Anderson case apparently one nose bleed CPA type brought the whole firm down due to bad ethics) I cannot say but what it obvious is that the press through the nation got the legislators and judges concerned and the rest is history. The same needs to happen for DWI. Bad ass lawyers have a job to do but we don't serve as the press. Some of the 1.4 million DWI arrestees (this statistic in contrast to NHTSAs approx. 17k alcohol related deaths) need to stand up and cry foul !! This country has a huge embarrasing problem when we are arresting 99 people for the one idiot who drank too much and killed someone. I WILL BE THE ONE TO SAY IT AND CALL A SPADE A SPADE: BASICALLY ANYONE WHO GETS PULLED OVER WITH ALCOHOL ON THEIR BREATH IS GOING TO JAIL. The field sobriety tests are designed for failure and are ridiculous (this country would go into fullscale war if we made people do these tests to get their driver's licenses on the same NHTSA grading scales). Why the hell do we use breath test technology for evidentiary purposes when for all practical purposes you cannot retest the samples and the tolerance between two samples is so damn high that the body cannot even physically metabolize the difference (.02) within the 2 required minutes ?!? Give me a break why don't ya ?! Now we have a MINIMUM $3k surcharge from Texas DPS you have to pay once you get convicted on top of fines, court costs and court related expenses ?! That is double punishment (OR DOUBLE JEOPARDY FOR YOU JUDGES AND LEGISLATORS READING THIS BLOG AND CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT) and serves NO purpose except for people like me to say "Texas DPS is in the business of making money." This is no different than in the wild west days the local powers that be (the women's Temperance unions because you know the sheriff's were enjoying some drinks at the local saloon) would tax the hell out of liquor establishments to try to get rid of them. Women would parade around town with sign that said something to the effect of: "No lips that have touched liquor will touch mine" (the pics one can find are hilarious !). Yet history repeats itself - the women's temperance union of the 1800s have now turned into MADD. MADD is not about helping victims anymore (even their founder claims this and has left the organization: Candy Lightner whose daughter was killed in a DWI) they are about creating victims: the responsible social drinker into an undeserved criminal. Mend need to quit being impotent and stand up to this nonsense- pillowtalk aside, geez ! Women need to quite lumping everybody together in blind distraction of the real victims out there. Common sense which is not so common anymore......... QUOTE ME, BRAND ME, MAKE ME THE WHIPPING BOY (girl that is) I DON'T CARE. I CONSIDER IT AN HONOR. I AM NOT IMPOTENT, POWERLESS. I HAVE COMMON SENSE AND I AM NOT AFRAID. I AM A PROUD AMERICAN AND AMERICA NEEDS ME AND YOU RIGHT NOW ! HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF.... 100, 200 YEARS FROM NOW SOMEONE WILL REMEMBER AND CALL A SPADE A SPADE. I WILL BE ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS WAR. Now everyone: if you do drink, go forth and drink responsibly. Mimi Coffey