Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Perry Takes The Perp Walk

perry2Yesterday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry turned himself in response to the indictment for alleged abuse of power. Regardless of how you feel about Perry, he takes a damn good mug shot.

Rod_Blagojevich_mug_shotAs we have discussed in the past, there is always a debate with celebrities on how to appear in a mugshot. If you smile, you can be viewed as cocky or unrepentant. If you frown, you can look guilty. You know that whatever picture you take, it will be plastered around the world. Perry went the faintly bemused route and I think it was the best optics under the circumstances for a sitting governor. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich went with a more determined look that came across like a trapped animal.

XXX _TOM-DELAY.JPG A CLJ USA TXAFP US-CRIME-JOHN EDWARDS A CLJ USA NCHowever, Tom DeLay and John Edwards took the same “happy to be here” look at their mugshot moments.

To smile in such a circumstance is no easy task.

As I have written on this blog and in a column, I believe that the indictment is factually and legally weak. The indictment dangerously blurs the line between political and criminal actions. It also raises serious problems under the separation of powers doctrine. This week, the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post and a number of liberal figures also denounced the indictment as excessive or abusive. There remains some who cannot see beyond their intense dislike for Perry to see the dangers inherent in this type of criminalization of political decisions. As I stated before, I believe that Perry was wrong to veto the funding for this office, but he has a constitutional right to veto such funding (subject to a legislative override).

Forcing a governor to take a mug shot and appear in such a facially weak case is deeply disturbing. This was a case that should never have been brought with the simple use of prosecution discretion. Neither of these state provisions clearly put a governor on notice that such decisions could lead to criminal prosecution — nor should they. I have been a regular critic of Perry but I believe that he was wrongly charged unless the prosecutor has some incredible evidence (and a likely superseding indictment) in mind. I cannot think what that evidence would be however. Perry publicly threatened to veto funding after the incarceration of Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. I believe that there is a strong case for dismissal to put before the court as a threshold legal matter.

This office has had a questionable history of prosecutions, including the charging of former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison two decades ago (this case is being brought under the authority of the office but through an outside special prosecutor). She was charged with using state employees to plan her Christmas vacation in Colorado and write thank-you notes. The case was so weak that it took only 30 minutes for the jury to find her not guilty on all charges. It was a manifestly weak case that should not have been brought. This case presents the same concern in stretching these provisions to breaking point to criminalize the threat and the veto of the appropriations line.

210 thoughts on “Perry Takes The Perp Walk”

  3. Also read the brothers Dulles… It will give you greater understanding of all of the puppets we have out there…. There was no real threat of the soviet taking over the oil…. It benefited Simon Crowell, the OSS, bankers, oil companies, the US military et al….

  5. Paul,

    Read into it what you want…. But the fact is they wanted to be an independent sovereign…. They are anything but that…. You understand really what lend lease is? American occupation….

    1. AY – I understand much. All of the Balkans wanted to be free but the Soviets and Churchill made sure they were not. I, personally, want all of Bill Gates money. However, it is not going to happen. There is a real world out there, AY.

  6. NEWSFLASH – OBAMA – 30 SECONDS TO WHITE, 30 DAYS TO BLACK

    The eminently ineligible Obama devotes 30 seconds to a “white” whose head was involuntarily removed as he attempted to inform America through his duties as a reporter in the “religious” Middle East.

    The very same Obama devotes two weeks and running to a maximal, 24/7 campaign to disparage American-Americans, in a clear and completely transparent case of by-the-book law enforcement, by deploying the entire faculty of the race industry to Fergusson, MO., including the blatant racist and found-in-contempt-of-Congress Attorney General, the protagonist of “Fast and Furious,” Eric Holder.

    That dudn’t make any sense.

  7. So a guy unwilling to even use his own first name is demanding that I do something for him as simple as a search on google or opensecrets. Or they could take a little effort to be informed on a subject before jumping in the middle and making grand pronouncements that reveal their lack of information. The prosecuting attorney is no angel. That is not a secret in Texas.

  8. Dredd,

    You understand the KKK is misunderstood…. It’s a benevolent society that provides folks with lights and crosses…. Some folks seem to think that is acceptable…

    1. AY – I think you need to reread the article. We disrupted the Soviets from taking over Iran and saved the king.
      The following quote is from the article.

      Mohammad Reza Shah told U.S. Ambassador George Allen in December 1946 that a major factor in the rapid collapse of the Azerbaijan movement was the “conviction by all concerned (Soviets, Iranians, and Azerbaijanis) that the United States was solidly supporting Iranian sovereignty.” Iranians were so happy about the outcome of the crisis, the monarch said, that they referred to Azerbaijan as the “Stalingrad of the Western democracies” and the “turn of the tides against Soviet aggression throughout the world.”

      This seems to say that without the United States Iran would have been controlled by the Soviets or Soviet puppets.

  13. Maybe Begala ,who has spent a good part of his life in Texas, is right that the Texas press knows more about the Perry case than the DC pundits.

  16. NIck, “By supporting this prosecution ya’ll[homage to Texas] own that battleax you see in the DUI video. These type political prosecutions are turning this country into a banana republic.”

    Firstly, you have just directly offended all the “battleaxes” on this thread. Perhaps an apology is apropos.

    This collectivist/progressive Perry campaign is NOT jurisprudence. It is pure politics. That is an egregious abuse of power.

    Checks and balances should have been brought to bear long ago. This campaign stems from the dereliction of duty of the Congress to impeach for high crimes and misdemeanors. Boehner has failed to do his duty leaving the fate of this originally rational restricted vote republic in the hands of a one man, one vote democracy which, by definition, leads to Congress bribing the public with the public’s money. Boehner is playing for the election which is bound for failure in this burgeoning one-party nation. This anti-Perry campaign is a conspiracy from the President through the Attorney General to the collectivist functionaries in Texas.

    Abraham Lincoln began “turning this country into a banana republic” and the “fundamental transformation” continues toward the “tipping point.” Lincoln used force in lieu of law and economics which is currently perpetuated by artificial constructs of bias such as affirmative action, quotas, illegal immigration and punitive taxation to effect unconstitutional governmental control and redistribution.

    In Lincoln’s defense, he unfortunately died before his comprehensive plan was executed.

    A banana republic will be the effect of exceeding the “tipping point” – uncharted territory in the Brave New World. A cause for concern.

  19. I find it amazing that all the people stating the prosecutor is a Republican. He is not, he is a self described democrat. His friends describe him as a democrat, but not driven by partisanship. I don’t know his motives, I just know his legal reasoning in this is extremely weak. The money quote from a TCCA decision from 1994 that is the controlling precedent is, “Coercion of a lawful act by a threat of lawful action is protected free expression”. Meaning if it was lawful for him to veto the bill, and it is not unlawful for the DA to resign, then there was no coercion. It is from a case where a county commission judge threatened to cut the pay of a DA and his office if he did not revoke the probation of a particular person.

  20. Paul,

    World history is not one if your strong points is it? There have been a number of countries that had resources we wanted and we attacked them in the name of communism….. We even attacked Iran when they wanted to cease the oil contract with the UK… In the name of fighting off communism…. Read and pay attention….

    1. Anonymously Yours
      I think that any country that disagrees with American Imperalism has been designated communist….. You can’t be neutral, either you are for US or you’re communist….

      This what I responded to. Now you have moved the goalposts.

      Paul,

      World history is not one if your strong points is it? There have been a number of countries that had resources we wanted and we attacked them in the name of communism….. We even attacked Iran when they wanted to cease the oil contract with the UK… In the name of fighting off communism…. Read and pay attention….

      So, which is it? Seems to me the second implies that we were fighting Communist take-overs. The first flatly states that any country that does not agree with our policies is Communist. I don’t agree with the first and I partially agree with the 2nd. I will need a cite on the Iran attack.

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