Ginger notes that Chron columnist Thom Marshall asked some pretty good questions about the K-Mart Kiddie Roundup. He also agrees with me in that towing fees should be refunded and all convictions should be overturned. Not that I normally brag about being in agreement with the potted plant of the Metro section (tm, Kevin Whited), but at least I can say that I said it first.
In the Equal Time department, one neighbor of that K-Mart is damn glad that the cops busted everyone in sight. Note to self: Be more careful about where I get a midnight snack in the future.
Bravo! Thom’s column in the March 13, 2003 houston Chronicle brought the correct issues into focus regarding the HPD crime lab scandal. How can HPD objectively investigate something of this nature. Without impartial, outside experts conducting the investigation beyond the control of local politicians and HPD officials, the best we can hope for is a whitewash job. There should be a great public outrage concerning this affair because the effect of having the lab process evidence was actually fabrication of evidence with the lab being run outside the bounds of sound scientific principles. Who knows how many people have been sentennce unjustly on this type of tainted evidence? This applies not only to those high profile, captial cases but many more lower profies cases that were handled by the lab.
Not only do the people sentenced on the basis of tainted evidence have to serve the time, but they also have to deal with the stigma of being a convicted felon the rest of their lives, and the State of Texas is particularly unforgiving of felons. There is a real need here for an objective investigation to reveal who bears the responsiblity for this travesty. This is clearly a case of criminal negilgence and I’m sure that there is a lot of scrambling to cover it up starting with the mayor’s office and descending down thruogh the lab technician ranks.
please have someone explain to me how is it that we have this war on drugs in every street in america that we are ” failing miserably” with
all of our “advanced technological resources” BUT we cannot stem the flow of drugs into our bullshit “controlled environment” of our jails and prison systems. I thought that this could not happen because this is something controlled by the same forces that were meant to “ERADICATE” this scourge from our society.