The Matlock Blog

Please place all metal objects and your dignity in the tub...

Damn terrorists.  I can't even go to the grocery store without having to go through a metal detector.  There is increased security practically everywhere.  Of course, in many instances it's necessary.  There are many places that, for whatever reason, require increased security and that security often comes in the way of a metal detector.  No....my grocery store is not one of them.  Yet.

But one such place is your friendly Tim Curry Justice Center.  I'm told It’s a place filled with con men, crooks and killers.  So, I suppose, it's no surprise that in order to enter the court house, you must wait in line, disrobe, and successfully pass through a metal detector.  Well, at least some people do.

If you're someone charged with a crime, I suppose it's reasonable to subject you to increased security checks.  I'm not begrudging anyone that.  But what if you're just someone offering some moral support for your friend that has to go to court for a first-time petty theft case?  Trying to help your friend when she's no idea what to do or what to expect?  Are you a security risk?  Apparently.

What if you're a lawyer?  What if, day in and day out, you work in the court house?  Are you a security risk then?  Should you be subjected to security?  

What if you work in an office filing papers all day?  Does that job require you to be subjected to security every time you walk into the court house?  

Well, the answer is yes.  And no.

If you watch the entrances at the court house you will see that most people are herded through the security points.  However, not if you work in the court house.  Well, let me rephrase that.  Not if you work in the court house and also work for Tarrant County.

You're a lawyer that works in the court house every day.  If you're a prosecutor, you breeze right past security.  If you're a defense attorney, you must go through security.  Actually, if you're any other attorney, you must pass through security.

If you work in the clerk's office filing papers all day, you breeze right past security.  If you're just there to help a friend.  Or look something up.  Or watch a trial.  Or pay your cousin's court fees.  You must endure security.

Why is that?  Why are you deemed less of a person than a county employee?

Apparently, by the mere fact that you work for Tarrant County, you are somehow immune from ever being a security risk.  And truthfully, I have no idea how that is.  Is it possible that Tarrant County has the single best hiring process in the universe that they are able to foresee their employees will never, ever be a security risk?  Or is it just possible that the powers that be in Tarrant County don't feel their employees should be subjected to the routine of the common person?  

God forbid the almighty Tom Wilder, District Clerk have an employee subjected to such an insulting procedure.  What would his friends say?

Why is it that a person that works in the clerk's office or the D.A.'s office is held to a lower standard than you?  Or me?  Or anyone else that wants to go to the court house?

Of course, I don't hold it against those that work in the clerk's office or the D.A.'s office for being able to breeze through.  Nor am I saying they somehow indeed are security risks.  I'm just saying...

It's been said, the business of the courts is the business of the people.  That may still be true, but only if the people are willing to pass through security to see it.  

But what the hell do I know?

If justice is blind, does she still poll the voters?

To the judge or to the jury, that is the question.  This is not so much a legalistic interpretation of Hamlet’s preeminent line, but rather the conundrum of the modern day criminal defense attorney.  

You see, in Texas, prior to trial, a defendant must choose from whom he wishes to receive his punishment.  Before he knows he will be punished.  You choose either sentencing from the judge or from the jury.

And while there is certainly a number of legal issues involved, this is one of those decisions in a criminal trial that is far less legalistic than pragmatic.  The decision is one made based more upon experience than scholarship.  Instinct than knowledge.  Gut than cognition.  

Ultimately, it can be the difference between life an death.  

“I recently served on a Tarrant County criminal jury where the defendant was a middle-aged repeat offender who was found guilty of robbery. The minimum sentence was 25 years; Judge Ruben Gonzalez sentenced him to 75 years. Now, no one was injured, there was no evidence of a weapon, a small amount of cash and a cellphone were stolen, and the perp was stupid enough to return the cellphone hoping for a $50 reward. He got 75 years, a virtual life sentence.

So what sentence do we give to the criminal who rapes, maims or kills another? Why do I keep reading about killers who get five- to 10-year sentences? Where is the justice?” 

This was a recent letter to the editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, entitled Where's the Justice?.  This is not from a defense attorney, or a liberal activist, or any one like that.  But from one of the actual jurors who convicted the defendant.  In Texas.  In Tarrant County.  Not a hotbed for rights of the criminal defendant, to be frank.

I can’t imagine it’s a good thing for a juror here to question the justice in a judge’s sentencing.  If a juror who sits through the entire trial thinks the sentence handed out by the judge is unjust, is it?  And here in lies the problem.  

We elect our judges.  They aren’t appointed.  Now personally, I’ve never been a fan of appointing judges because after all, they’re just being appointed by those that were elected.  So it’s really just the second cousin of electing judges. 

But the fact that judges are elected clearly plays a part in how they do their job.  

Now I’m a lifetime Republican.  And as such, I know that they teach us that we are all about law and order, public safety, being tough on crime.  So if you’re a Republican judge, and you want to continue being a Republican judge, it’s pretty clear you need to be able show the voters you are all about law and order, public safety, and being tough on crime.  

But at what cost?  You see in this case, one has to wonder whether the newly-appointed Judge Gonzalez of the newly-created 432nd District Court isn’t flexing his judicial muscles.  Does he feel he has to show the voters of Tarrant County that will be going to the poll within a year that he’s all about law and order, public safety, and being tough on crime?  Did he overcompensate?

Now I have it on good authority that the State’s offer on this case pretrial was 25 years.  The defendant was a Repeat Offender.  But the fact that the State offered the defense 25 sort of has to tell you what that case was worth from the State’s perspective.  Not only that, but the case was originally charged as an Aggravated Robbery, but the jury found the defendant guilty of only Robbery.  Of a cell phone.

As the letter indicated, no one was hurt.  There was no dead body.  So if Judge Gonzales feels this kind of case warrants a 75 year sentence, one has to wonder what will happen after the first murder trial.  Sexual Assault trial.  Kidnapping trial.

Within the courthouse, it’s no secret which judges are considered “hanging judges.”  If you, as a defense attorney can avoiding having one of those judges from being involved in the sentencing of your client, you’re probably always playing the odds to your benefit.  And the reverse is true also.  There are those that are more willing to sentence a defendant lighter, and if you can get to them, it might be in your client’s best interest.  

It’s all part of the system.  It’s not perfect.  It’s human after all.  Any time you have humans imposing sentence on each other, there will likely be issues.

But this was one of the first trials ever held in the 432nd District Court, and presumably the defense felt that by going to a new judge who only weeks before had been a defense attorney himself, was a good bet.  From a poker perspective, it looked like a damn good flop for the defense.

But clearly the defense forgot about the politics of the situation.  Judge Gonzalez is a newly-appointed Republican judge, who presumably would like to continue being a Republican judge.  Perhaps Judge Gonzalez saw this as an opportunity to show the voters of Tarrant County that he was what they hoped for in a judge.  And that by imposing such a sentence was a surefire way to avoid having an opponent in the upcoming election.

But if one of those voters just took the time to write that letter, has it backfired?  

Such a harsh sentence in an effort to avoid an opponent next year may have resulted in just the opposite.  The question remains, will anyone seize upon this to run against Judge Gonzalez.  Clearly the case could be made for it.

But what the hell do I know?

I hate to say I told you so, but...

I told you so.  Call me Captain Clairvoyant.  But just as I speculated about over a month ago will come to fruition.  Tarrant County is getting its first Hispanic felony court judge.

This afternoon Governor Rick Perry, probably following my shrewd political advice here, appointed local Fort Worth criminal defense attorney Ruben Gonzalez to the newly-created bench of the 432nd District Court.  

According to the Star-Telegram, the court should be open for business on October 1, as the county is renovating a former civil courtroom to accommodate the new criminal court.  

How will the newly-appointed judge perform?  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, here's to Judge Gonzalez.

Is it time?

Few things about judges capture the nation's attention the way a Supreme Court confirmation hearing does.  After all, most people have no exposure to judges or the courts except through a hearing such as Judge Sotomayor's confirmation hearing.  I think it's boring, but hey, if that's what floats your boat, the straw that stirs your drink, the, well, you know.

But as I sat watching some highlights the other day, I recalled a conversation I had with a fellow attorney friend of mine.

There are nineteen criminal courts in Tarrant County.  The county's population is roughly 1.7 million people.  Approximately 25 percent of the county's population is Hispanic.  If memory serves, I believe Judge Nekhom of CCC 4 is from Guatemala Argentina (thanks Lance),thus making her the only Hispanic judge in the county.  I could be wrong on that though. 

Of the county's population, roughly 14 percent is African American.  That corresponds with the two African American judges we have, Judge Salvant of CDC 2 and Judge Sturns of the 213th. 

Just going on the population percentages, there should be about three more Hispanic judges in the county.  Of course, there will be some that argue that to be a judge, you have to campaign, and except for J.R. Molina and his interminable campaign for the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, there aren't any Hispanic candidates.  I can't argue with that.

But there will soon be an opportunity to partially remedy this situation.  The Texas Legislature recently created a new felony district court for Tarrant County, the 432nd  District Court.  I know that the Governor's office is taking applications for filling that new bench.  Would the Governor appoint a Hispanic to the bench?

From a political standpoint, it would make sense.  He is, or at least will be, in a tight race for reelection against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.  Tarrant County is overwhelmingly Republican.  In fact it is the second-most Republican county per capita in the country.  It might help to sway some Hispanic Republicans and undecideds to his side if he were to appoint a Hispanic to the 432nd.  

Now obviously I'm not trying to tell the Governor how to do things.  If I was, he probably wouldn't be in the trouble of losing reelection.   But I digress.  

The bottom line here is that there is an opportunity to adjust the racial makeup of the Tarrant County criminal bench.  Interestingly, there isn't really much discussion on the subject.  So the question is, is it time?  If it's good enough for SCOTUS, why not here?

But what the hell do I know?

Catalano for Judge Campaign Fundraiser

Just a reminder that Robb Catalano's Campaign for Criminal District Court No. 3 has a fundraiser tonight at Daddy Jack's from 4:30 to 7:00.

Daddy Jack's is of course here. 

And people (read prosecutors) thought I only used this for evil.