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Covid-19, Violent Offender Release

The News has reported that inmates in jails are being released due to covid-19.  Is this true? Yes. It has been reported and confirmed that inmates in Harris County, Dallas County, some Texas prisons and a juvenile detention center have the coronavirus.  This is a problem due to increased community spread in the jail environment; which outside of putting inmates' health in danger, endangers the lives of the jail and prison staff and adds more pressure to the hospital community. Are jails and prisons releasing inmates? Yes. This is not a blanket wide release of everyone in jail or prison. Each state, jurisdiction (federal or state), and county is making their own guidelines on release.  75% of all inmates in Texas county jails are not convicted. They are awaiting their case resolutions.   What about the release of violent offenders? Govenor Abbot issued executive order GA 13 which forbids the release of anyone who has been convicted of ...
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Justice

"Profiteers" and "Privateers" close in semantics and in meaning. The former meaning a person in today's society who capitalizes on a profit making opportunity. The latter a term dubbed on pirates who sailed the seas in search of loot. I am currently reading a biography (in my Founding Father quest) on the father of the US Navy: John Paul Jones. His character was impeccable. His mariner skills keen. His spirit to fight injustice unparalleled. As a Scotch sailor, he quickly joined the American bandwagon for "equality for all" versus a society of the privileged based on monarchy. Everything he did (his raiding of the English coasts in retaliation for the British raiding & burning of American eastern seacoasts), his sea battles, his diplomatic overtures in France were made on principle: to secure democracy for everyone. Yet his detractors claimed he was a "Privateer", a pirate. He had many opportunities to profit as a privateer but did not....
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Is Blood Really The Gold Standard?

People think DWI blood tests are 100% accurate. Yet this is not true. People assume that a blood score is like DNA evidence- irrefutable. Once again, this is not true. People give up hope and resolve to plead guilty or no contest to their DWI thinking it is impossible to win. This is sadly not true. I was abhorred when a Houston blood expert (Ph.D in chemistry and former state lab forensic scientist) explained to me that if the lab tech accidentally pipettes one quarter of an extra drop into the test tube the score can be .07 too high! I was equally mortified when I learned that many results come from labs that do not properly validate their machines. A result is only as good as its measurements. These measurements must be properly tested (lower limit of detection, etc.) before one can rely on them.  In June of 2023 I will be spending a week in a university gas chromatography lab teaching other lawyers about the issues with testing. This will be my second time in this particular la...
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