Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Eyewitness to Rick's veto

The Texas Senate is looking at making some changes to laws pertaining to eyewitness testimony, but Rick is against some of the proposed changes (link). Excerpt follows:

Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, dropped his original version of the bill that would have ordered police agencies to follow specific lineup methods or face exclusion from trial of identification evidence. Gov. Rick Perry vowed to veto any bill that applied laws on evidence exclusion to eyewitness identifications, said Keith Hampton, legislative director of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers.

The compromise legislation requires police agencies to have written policies on identifications that reflect the latest scientific research. But it specifies that the judicial rule governing what is admissible evidence does not apply to eyewitness identifications.

Unlike his predecessor, Rick is highly inclined to use his veto powers. Will a contentious veto period make Rick seem like he doesn't get along amicably with the legislature, as the Kay team is wont to assert?

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Hey now, campaign characters. Be nice. I know a lot of you on both sides, so I don't want any overly foul language, personal attacks on anyone other than the candidates themselves, or other party fouls. I will moderate the heck out of you if you start breaking the bounds of civility.