Originally posted by eyewitness86
What is needed is a group to investigate where cop's live and publish the info online. Let the filthy pigs know that if they anger the public by doing stupid things then we will know where to find them when they don't have a dozen other thugs behind them. I would expose every cop's home address and personal info if I could, and let the cop's get a new attitude. Maybe is THEY sweated a while worrying about a drive by they would not abuse the people.

An armed society is a polite society, and if cop's were taken down a notch every time they stepped out of line they would change. If a cop is protecting and serving then why should they worry? if they are arresting people to harrass them for using the first amendment rights, then they are fair game and should be in fear for their miserable lives.

It is disturbing that you would suggest going so far as to endanger the officer's life after hearing only one side of the story. At least give the cop the benefit of the doubt and get more information before making a judgement.

I know a cop. When he finds a small amount of marijuana on a person he will give them a Notice To Appear (NTA) rather than arresting them and filling up the local jail with minor offenders. So, arresting someone for failing to use a turn signal sounds WAY out of the ordinary. The guy says he "challenged" the ticket, but it doesn't say what he means by that. It is a very vague term. Here's a thought: perhaps he did more than verbally challenge the ticket and the cop is cutting the guy a lot of slack by ONLY arresting him for the initial offense.

Bottom line is, if you refuse to sign an issued ticket, you will get arrested - that's the law.

And now we're forced to hear this poor troublefree kid and his family whine about him spending 3 hours in a jail cell... give me a damn break.

How about you learn to follow the law, retake your drivers ED and quit the damn whining.

Texas law is quite possibly one of biggest complaints I have as an American.
I live in Texas. We're not far from Dallas County, proud home of the most verified wrongful convictions in the entire nation. (Google the Innocence Project of Texas to see how bad it gets)

When I read an article such as this, several things come to mind.

First, Texas has the largest prison system in the US. Each year it puts more Americans to death than any other state. And more people than the entire European Union combined. Imagine that.

Do you know why Texas has such a large prison population? Until 2001 Texas had no indigent defense or what most states call public defenders. jmagine that.

Let me go further here....you see Texas is one of only four states that still adhere to UPL (Unlicensed Practice of Law), which leaves the courts as the domain of the lawyers excluding the citizen's right to speak in a courtroom (without having purchased the services of a lawyer to speak for him/her).

Texas sued Nolo Press for violating UPL. Nolo Press, those good folks who provide the do-it-yourself divorce kits, counter sued. Eventually there was a deal struck or Texas would have lost. Although Texas did not give in on the point of citizens having access to the courts, they did allow the judge to determine if he/she would hear the citizen.

This is a key point one must understand clearly to see how bad UPL can be. The judge may hear you. You may have every point of law in your favor. Yet if that judge choses, he/she can decide everything you said was moot because you aren't a lawyer. And you lose.

In 1968 the state of New York struck down UPL ruling that it closed and barred the doors of the courts to the average citizen. 45 other states agreed justice could not be done if the courts omitted the citizen from the process.

Of the remaining four states, Texas was the only state that required a person to purchase the services of a lawyer, and had no public defender or indigent defense program. Imagine that. You're charged with a crime, taken into a courtroom, and if you can't afford an attorney, well, we don't have to give you one. (Out of the goodness of our heart, we might, but hehe....you get what you pay for.)

And it was that way until 2001 when Rodney Ellis, in a late night session with the state senate, pushed through a bill for a $20 million dollar indigent defense program.

Like most of you I believed in the system until I spent 171 days behind bars in a small county federally funded jail at which point a federal court in Lufkin, Texas signed a Writ of Habeaus Corpus to release me.

Unless you are willing to hear a truth you aren't prepared to accept, don't ask, don't investigate, and don't question. Just realize there are many cases dealing with injustices that will never be heard in a courtroom in Texas because lawyers (and judges) do not want to deal with the truth. The truth is worth less when you can pays better to lie.