Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Busting into the New Century!
Today was a real personal breakthrough. I fired up the Commodore 64 (pictured here) and, for the first time, electronically filed motions in a criminal case.
Sure, I was nervous, and fumbled around for a while, but in the end I figured things out. The federal Western District of Texas' ECF system wasn't too tough to decipher-- once I was done with the hour or so it took to figure out my password.
Now that I know how it works, I can see the obvious advantages of electronic filing, and look forward to skipping not only the drive to the courthouse but the printing, collating and stapling, all of which I am bad at.
Come to think of it, is seems like electronic filing would have saved Sharon Keller a lot of trouble. As I understand it, one of the (now many) allegations she faces is that she closed the clerk's office of the Court of Criminal Appeals knowing that lawyers for a man about to be executed were trying to file a motion. The reason they needed the office to stay open? Printer problems.
Comments:
<< Home
I actually look forward to the day we transition away from using so much paper. I like trees.
On the other hand, I feel the intuitive pull toward "hard copies," because people believe that a paper trail is better evidence than an "electronic trail." I almost always preferred to e-mail my assignments to my professors, that way I had a return receipt with a timestamp on it to prove I handed it in on time. Paper can be lost, but an electronic copy always has a record of where it is, when it was made, and when it was last changed.
So I'm all for conducting things electronically.
On the other hand, I feel the intuitive pull toward "hard copies," because people believe that a paper trail is better evidence than an "electronic trail." I almost always preferred to e-mail my assignments to my professors, that way I had a return receipt with a timestamp on it to prove I handed it in on time. Paper can be lost, but an electronic copy always has a record of where it is, when it was made, and when it was last changed.
So I'm all for conducting things electronically.
Off Topic. Osler, the guy who sexually assaulted the 78 year old and then set her on fire in Grand Prairie came to my front door two weeks ago selling magazines. Neighbors ran him off.
Neighbor who is former cop confirmed that it was the same guy.
The caught him last night.
Neighbor who is former cop confirmed that it was the same guy.
The caught him last night.
# posted by 
: 7:33 PM
: 7:33 PM
Because that last bit is so awful it's too painful to think about (re: the judge closing the courthouse knowing the defense attorney was going to file a motion to save his client), and because I missed joke day, I am contributing the following, totally out of place:
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=63742888014&h=vOhC5&u=qPaXL&ref=nf
(it's a Youtube video entitled "Swiss Even Clean their Mountains")
Post a Comment
http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=63742888014&h=vOhC5&u=qPaXL&ref=nf
(it's a Youtube video entitled "Swiss Even Clean their Mountains")
# posted by : 11:01 PM
: 11:01 PM << Home
