OSPA Offers Practically Free Traffic-Stop Training for Rural Law Enforcement
Assistant State Prosecuting Attorney John R. Messinger will conduct a 4-hour presentation covering 4th Amendment issues with a focus on traffic stops. The presentation is accompanied by a paper (distributed in advance) and includes:
∙ Historical perspective
∙ In-depth coverage of controlling law
∙ Discussion of recent cases and pending issues
∙ A quiz!
This service is for small or rural counties that do not have the resources to send officers for training. Credit can be earned with a department’s approval.
Call ((512) 463-1660) or email (information@spa.texas.gov) John to schedule a training day for this August (August will be the only time the service is offered).
“Did the court of appeals err in holding that Section 133.102(a)(1) of the Texas Local Government Code by which the ‘consolidated court cost’ was assessed is not facially unconstitutional?”
“Did Appellant voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently waive his right of appeal by signing a boilerplate waiver?”
“May the proponent of a video sufficiently prove its authenticity without the testimony of someone who either witnessed what the video depicts or is familiar with the functioning of the recording device?”
1. “The Court of Appeals erred in dismissing this case for want of jurisdiction, because ‘no written appealable order’ existed when in fact the original judgment, nunc pro tunc, provided the Court of Appeals with a written appealable order.” 2. “The Court of Appeals erred in giving this appeal...
“The Eighth Court’s holding that rule 25.2(g)’s jurisdictional bar does not apply to deprive a trial court of jurisdiction pending issuance of the mandate on a State’s interlocutory appeal–the basis of the Eighth Court’s ultimate conclusion that Macias’s premandate trial was improperly terminated...
"Is it error to declare trial counsel ineffective for failing to investigate and present evidence when, at the motion for new trial hearing, Appellant presented no evidence demonstrating that the investigation and additional evidence would have been beneficial?"
"The Eighth Court erred in holding that evidence that Gonzalez had consumed ecstasy on the day of the murder was irrelevant to his state of mind and self-defense claim because the State failed to introduce evidence of the drug's half-life or the length of its effects, and that, despite any bear...
"The court of appeals failed to apply this Court's decision in Saunders v. State, 840 S.W.2d 390 (Tex.Cr.App. 1992) in determining that petitioner was not entitled to a lesser-included charge on manslaughter when the jury could reasonably have interpreted petitioner's mens rea as recklessness abo...
denotes a petition filled by SPA