If you are like most people, you will rarely, if ever, be brought in to face a criminal charge. Most people go on living their lives, feeling safe that they are protected from crime and criminals.

But what if you are arrested one day? What if you are falsely accused of minor crime? What if you are falsely accused of murder?

Who will protect your rights?

Think it can't happen? Think again!

Ricardo Rachell's rights were supposed to be protected by the police. Ricardo Rachell's rights were supposed to be protected by the judge in charge of his trial.

Ricardo Rachell's rights were not protected!

Ricardo Rachell went to prison because he was falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit. You can find the story in the Houston Chronicle at http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6159775.html.

This is the sad result of what happens when the police, judge and jury do not protect the accused. The founding principle of our criminal justice system is that the the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The ONLY person in the criminal justice system that enjoys the right to a fair trial is the accused citizen.

I sometimes deal with prosecutors that believe the State has a right to a fair trial but I can assure you that the State does not need any protection from itself! The ONLY person entitled to a fair trial is the accused.

It is vitally important that the accused's rights be protected in every phase of the criminal justice system. In this case an innocent man was imprisoned. The real criminal was allowed to remain free and sexually assault other children wreaking havoc on more families and devastating many other people's lives. Ricardo Rachelle lost years of his life that he will never get back. And now, it's possible that another trial and the attendant expense involved with that, will have to be held for the real criminal.

It makes so much more sense to do it right the first time. The accused is PRESUMED INNOCENT and we should reinforce that at every phase in the criminal justice system.

But sometimes, the police think they are allowed to be the judge, jury and executioner and decide that they have the right to pick and choose who is guilty. They lie on search warrant affidavits or embellish the truth so a judge will unwittingly sign the search warrant because the police KNOW when someone is guilty. So it's OK if they lie to get to the evidence they need to prove their case.

Or is it?

I am sure the police in Ricardo Rachelle's case thought they were doing the right thing. Unfortunately, they weren't.

Take a look at this report by Kopbusters where police were caught lying on a search warrant affidavit to get a judge to sign the warrant to enable them to justify searching a house where they knew they had no probable cause to search.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Raw_footage_from_KopBusters_first_sting_1207.html

The scariest part about this is that it happens all the time in Montgomery County. Judge's turn a blind eye to this type of official oppression, police get away with lying to get a conviction and you're rights aren't protected.

Sadly, the only good that happens when the police lie and a judge rubber stamps this type of activity is that the appeals court will review the case and hopefully, overturn the conviction just like for Mr. Ricardo Rachelle. But the appeals rate to win a case on appeal is less than 7%!!!!!

So how does it help when innocent people are convicted? How is that serving the ends of justice?

It doesn't. It wastes money, time, resources and ties up the courts with cases that never should have been brought into the system.

So, are you protected - only if you hire a competent criminal defense attorney that knows the local jurisdiction and will fight for your rights because the police, judges and a jury are not going to protect you, only convict you!

Think about that when you sit down to dinner with your family tonight and the phone rings or you have a knock on your door in the early evening. Think about it as if the police were the one's calling on you because they had a warrant to search your house and arrest you. Think how it would feel to be falsely accused and arrested, and removed from your house, in front of your family and neighbors all standing around outside leering at you while you are in handcuffs being helped into a police car with your arms cuffed behind you. All the while, you are confused, upset and scared because you know you didn't do anything wrong. The police treat you as a criminal and they are rude, condescending and certain they have a real criminal they have caught. Maybe they'll call the media to get some credit for the criminal they took off the streets and your face and name will be on the news for all of your friends and coworkers to see and talk about the next few months. Maybe your distant family will see it and be scared and frightened.

Sound like fun? It happens every day when no one really protects the rights of the accused!

Recently an article I wrote was chosen as the "Staff Pick" on the website Avvo. The article was also published in my blog previously and you can review it at http://www.avvo.com/legal-guides/ugc/what-do-stopped-driving-while-intoxicated-Texas.

I thought it was important enough that I needed to make it available again since I have had so many people make the mistakes that I warn against in the article.

I am pleased that my article was chosen by the staff at Avvo and hope that Texas residents will heed the advice and exercise their Constitutional Rights at every opportunity.

Two Interesting news stories can be found in the Houston Chronicle today.

Some prosecutors get walking papers ahead of new boss
First assistant among casualties in house-cleaning
By BRIAN ROGERS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 2, 2008, 11:32PM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6144099.html

and

A cultural exchange for prosecutors?
COMMENTARY
By RICK CASEY
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 2, 2008, 11:03PM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/casey/6144075.html

Both of these stories have similar themes and I find it interesting that after 20 years of tolerating illegal and unethical prosecution and prosecutors in both Tarrant and Harris Counties that newly elected District Attorneys have made a platform and been nationally recognized for efforts in curing past behaviors from the offices they now oversee.

Think this only happens in other jurisdictions? Think again. Whenever someone holds absolute power, they can be absolutely corrupt. It usually begins under the guise of bending the rules because they cannot win without doing it.

But that's where the root of the problem lies. When a prosecutor decides that they are judge, jury and executioner, they have crossed the line. Hiding evidence or secreting evidence or denying the existence of evidence that would tend to show someone was innocent is the most vile form of unethical behavior that exists.

If you are on a jury and it is brought to your attention that the prosecutor has engaged in unethical behavior, don't wait for the judge to dismiss the case. Approach the judge and make him or her aware of the problem.

Unethical prosecutors should be in jail and charged with criminal action. They should be disbarred and prosecuted.

To think that someone with a sworn duty to "do justice" would twist their self-righteous attitude into allowing themselves to believe they are actually serving a purpose by cheating, lying and hiding evidence is repulsive.

Someone that is that hell-bent on winning at all costs has no place prosecuting because without the common sense that the job requires, it is only a matter of time until a truly innocent person, you, is prosecuted, convicted and jailed.

That is not what the criminal justice system was designed to do. It is better for 10 guilty to go free than 1 innocent be jailed. I ask jurors about that and they invariably make a joke saying that they don't agree. They think it would be better if everyone accused were locked up - until they or one of their family members is wrongfully accused.

It makes a difference to you if you are the 1 innocent person that gets convicted. That's why at each and every instance we have to follow the procedures and laws and statutes given to use when prosecuting with a healthy dose of common sense.

Maybe some of these revolutionary changes will make their way to Montgomery County with our new District Attorney.

Of course if the same Assistant District Attorney's remain, then maybe not.