Photo by Leslie Minora

Anti-death penalty demonstrators plea for Watkins to stop seeking the ultimate punishment.

Rick Halperin, head of SMU's human rights program, has been saying for years what became nationally recognized this week: "Yes, America, We Have Executed an Innocent Man," to borrow a headline from the Atlantic. Halperin has spent his career doing the academic equivalent of banging his head against the wall trying to get people to recognize that it is possible to kill innocent prisoners and hosting event after event with death penalty exonerees sharing their stories.

Finally, a lengthy report released this week by Columbia University's law school concludes what Halperin's been saying all along: America killed an innocent prisoner in 1989. Or, more specifically, Texas killed an innocent prisoner in 1989.

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​Noticed on PACER this morning something that's gone unnoticed since its filing at the end of last week: That heated lawsuit pitting Dallas County constables against the Dallas County Commissioners Court -- the one involving allegations of retaliation and corruption, the one that dragged everyone in and out of federal court last fall -- is over. Not with a bang, but with a brief order of dismissal signed by Senior U.S. District Judge Royal Furgeson six days ago. It says, in total:

The Court has considered the Stipulation of Dismissal filed by all parties in this action and having been advised by counsel that the parties have agreed that this action should be dismissed without prejudice and that all parties bear their own costs of court, expenses, and legal fees, it is ORDERED that this cause is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE to the refilling of the same; and each party shall bear its own costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees incurred in conjunction with this litigation.

This, you may recall, is the suit filed in August by Beth Villareal, Ben Adamcik and Roy Williams and other unnamed deputies, who claimed the county's at-the-time-forthcoming vote to fire 100 deputies and shift some constables' duties to the Sheriff's Department was in retaliation for their having blown the whistle on constables Jamie Cortes and Derick Evans in 2008 and '09. They also weren't particularly pleased with how the county handled those cases involving deputies accused of pretending to serve notices when GPS records showed that they, ya know, didn't.More >>

Richard Miles is not only free, but officially cleared of a 1995 murder conviction.

​Free for two years, Richard Miles has nevertheless waited and waited for today -- the official acknowledgement that he did not commit the  murder and attempted murder at a Texaco near Bachman Lake in 1994 for which he was sent to prison. The detailed 52-page opinion handed down from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reads like the outline of a Hitchcock film, detailing two police reports that weren't disclosed at the time of Miles's conviction, a 2010 recantation from the only uninvolved eyewitness and the determination that the small amount of gunshot residue on Miles' hand was inconclusive. All of which amounted to the decision that the wrong man spent 14 years behind bars.

"When we balance the newly available evidence ... with other exculpatory evidence and the evidence of guilt presented at trial, we are satisfied that Applicant has shown by clear and convincing evidence that no rational jury would convict him in light of the new evidence," reads the court's opinion released today.

The Dallas County District Attorney's office recommended Miles's release in 2009 after they determined that flaws in his trial violated his constitutional rights. Since his release more than two years ago, he's been working, piecing his life back together and finding support in other exonerees as he waited for a decision from the state court, which must rule on all exoneration cases. But finally, as of today Miles can file for state compensation for his years spent locked up.

"This is going to be great for him because now he can do some of the things he wanted to do" like help his mother, said Charles Chatman, an exoneree who was released in 2008. Chatman and the other exonerees, including Miles, meet monthly, and Chatman tells Unfair Park that he and the other guys have given Miles a helping had since his release.

"We have helped him," Chatman says, quickly adding that Miles isn't "the kind of person who just depends on nobody." Miles has been getting by working at a hotel, Chatman said, but even finding a job was difficult without a declaration of "actual innocence."More >>

​It's been close to five months since Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins went after Mortgage Electronic Registration System over what Watkins claimed were "tens of millions in uncollected filing fees owed to the citizens of Dallas County." But since then little has been said about the suit, which was filed in county court and moved to the federal docket in October. Turns out, there was quite a bit of action involving the suit only yesterday.

For starters MERS had tried to get the court to move Dallas County's case to federal court in Arizona, where a judge in October dismissed dozens of suits filed by homeowners against MERS. But Dallas and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania -- which is trying to get $15.7 million from the company tasked with recording and transfer mortgages on behalf of, among others, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- didn't want that to happen. Neither does John G. Heyburn, a federal judge for the Western District of Kentucky, who signed an order yesterday refusing that motion, writing:

While Dallas County shares some general background questions of fact regarding the formation and operation of the MERS system, there are important distinctions that weigh against including Dallas County in [the Arizona cases]. Most importantly, all existing [Arizona] actions were brought by homeowners or borrowers who brought suit concerning their impending or completed foreclosure. In contrast, Dallas County involves the propriety of the MERS system's failure to pay recordation fees under Texas's recording statutes.

Then, based on that ruling, U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor here told Dallas County and MERS to huddle up by no later than February 22 and sort this thing out -- or, more accurately, "consider the nature and basis for their claims and defenses [and] the possibilities for a prompt resolution of the case." He wants a joint report from them by no later than March 7, which should answer: Do they still want to go to trial, or are they willing to consider mediation to settle the suit? We'll know soon enough.

Like Oz. But real.

​Back in November the Dallas County Commissioners signed off on part2 Productions' pitch to shoot a season's worth of Hard Time in the Dallas County Jail on behalf of the National Geographic Channel, which would have taken some 120 days and netted the county upward of $120,000. Alas, we find out via the briefing agenda for commissioners court tomorrow that deal's off -- "due to scheduling conflicts."

Which works out well: As you'll see below Electric Sky Productions, a British production company that brought its 3D equipment into the county jail for a look-inside tentatively called Outsiders, is ready to come back and stick around for a while. Per the pitch:

The planned production is a ten (10) part documentary series exploring life inside Dallas County Jail. The production would also follow inmates through the court process. In each episode, the cameras would catch the real day-lo-day experiences, challenges and the pressures officers face dealing with a variety of unpredictable inmates from new arrestees to maximum security. The series would allow the public to be immersed into the reality of life inside jail and the courthouse to help viewers understand the issues involved in running such a facility.

The earlier short will air on Discovery Channels' 3Net in the spring. Not sure when or where the tentatively titled Inside Dallas Jail will air, only that Electric Sky's getting a price break: Where part2 was to pay $1,000 a day, the Brits are only on the hook for $750. All the details are below. Shooting starts February 13. Pardon ... filming begins February 13. So we're clear. Long story short: Get tossed in county jail in the coming months, and chances are you'll be asked to go on TV. Which is better than appearing in Electric Sky's other Dallas-based doc: The Castration Cure.More >>

​This morning Schutze wrote about John Wiley Price's stalled re-appointment of New Black Panther Aaron Michaels to Dallas County's Homeland Security Advisory Committee -- "whatever the hell that's supposed to be," as Jim put it. Now comes word that Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins is about to indefinitely retire that committee altogether. At next week's meeting of the commissioners court, Jenkins and Scott Greeson -- interim Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, following Jenkins's controversial dismissal of Lisa Chambers in October -- will put forward an agenda item that sidelines the HSAC for ... well, for the time being.

Says Jenkins in a statement dispatched by county spokesperson Maria Arita moments ago:

"Based on this memo and other information, I will place a briefing item on next week's agenda seeking to suspend appointments to and meetings of the HSAC committee until further notice. The briefing will not inhibit continued meetings of any of the working groups of county staff and other government professionals. "

Writes Greeson, well, he's with Schutze, which is to say: Dallas County has a number of committees that handle emergency management, and, well, he too isn't sure what the HSAC does ... or how it does whatever it is it's supposed to do whenever it does it.

After meeting with the committee in November to discuss their past role and the direction they see the committee moving towards it became apparent to me that we have multiple challenges. The first is that in the past two years the committee did meet but did not follow the protocol arranged by the by-laws. There has been little structure in regards to the committee and how they are supposed to operate. The committee also was confused on what its intent was and what it was that they were being asked to do. Committee members advised that past meetings were no more than presentations with little value to the department or to the committee itself. The committee was unsure of how to proceed. The members themselves advised that they could not remember making any recommendations or providing input to the Court in the 6 years that it has been established.

So on ice it goes. For now.More >>

​Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins was mighty proud of himself on February 1, 2011: While everyone else 'round town was bundling up and staying in thanks to the cabin-fever-inducing ice storm, Dallas County remained open for business. (No doubt Jenkins pressed ahead with commissioners court that morning to cut down the number of mad-as-hell Bruce Sherbet supporters willing to risk life and limb.) In the end, the county only shuttered for a single day: February 4, when the ice gave way to snow.

Per an item on tomorrow's commissioners court agenda that single-day shutdown came "a cost of $512,000." But, writes Jenkins, other county offices did close during the ice storm, and that too had a price tag: "Last year, Dallas County spent an additional $468,000 in inclement weather pay for the hours not worked by employees due to office closure by independently elected officials." And while the Texas Attorney General's Office has given those officials discretion to close their offices when they see fit, Jenkins wants the commissioners court to weigh in when doors are locked and for that time off to be counted against employees' comp or vacation time. As in:

When an elected county official closes his or her office due to inclement weather or other circumstances for a period that is normally a part of a regular work period, and intends to compensate those employees, the Office of Budget and Evaluation will: (1) notify Commissioners Court of the department that closed, (2) the reason(s) the department closed and (3) the cost of the department closure during the first posted meeting after the closure.

In order to reduce the monetary costs to the county, the Dallas County Commissioners Court requests that any time off from work granted by a county official due to office closure due to inclement weather or other circumstances be entered in the county's timekeeping system, Kronos, under the code "holiday."

As you may recall, Jenkins broke his leg on February 2 -- slipping on the ice, on his way to work.More >>

Last week was a bit embarrassing for Craig Watkins as his personal debt to Citibank became a public matter when The Dallas Morning News reported that he owed more than $15,000 in credit card bills, the latest in a history of financial whoopsies. The district attorney explained to Unfair Park that he took a significant salary cut when he was elected to public office and that his finances caught up with him. He said the matter would soon be resolved -- and it almost is, pending his signature on an agreement between Watkins and the bank.

The proposed aragement essentially boils down to this: I won't sue you if you don't sue me.

Citibank filed a non-suit that puts the case to rest, and the bank will automatically deduct monthly payments from Watkins's bank account. As long as his account stays on the positive side of the ledger, he stays in the clear as this matter is concerned. Citibank's notice of non-suit reads, "Plaintiff and Defendant previously entered into a settlement agreement concerning the subject matter of this lawsuit, and wish to continue under their prior settlement agreement."

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​Speaking of the Dallas County Commissioners Court (or at least I was, to myself, since you're probably doing something far better with your last holiday-break day off) ...

Late last night Cecile Fernandez sent word that she wants to replace back-to-BBQ Maurine Dickey as the commissioner for the new-look District 1. Which we already knew: Fernandez, who also goes by Cecile Newberry-Fernandez, had officially filed a few weeks back, along with Larry Miller (though, sadly, not this Larry Miller). And there was this note in November: Fernandez told Channel 11 she doesn't much care for commissioners court rules that demand you give your home address and phone number before speaking -- a rule that's been in place for a long while. Bud Gillett asked if she was raising her concern now because she's running for county commissioner, to which she replied: "I've been a patriot for a long time, and I think free elections and free speech are important."

Speaking of, first time we ever mentioned Fernandez was in February, back during that whole dust-up over County Judge Clay Jenkins and JWP's maneuvering to oust longtime County Elections Administrator Bruce Sherbet. Fernandez -- who Sam described at the time as "a Republican fund-raiser and consultant [and] former community outreach coordinator for Commissioner Maurine Dickey" -- was among those trying to pressure Jenkins into explaining the move to replace Sherbet with Toni Pippens-Poole. She wrote a lengthy piece about Jenkins and Price and Sherbet, which included the line: "Using Jenkins as the puppet that he has proved himself to be, Price is attempting to all but shut down any recourse from the public."

Now she wants to take Dickey's role as Price's chief antagonist, insisting in last night's email:

"In the new District 1, the split between Republican and Democrat voters in the 2010 elections was very close to 50/50, with the Democrats barely receiving a majority of the vote. I am confident that the recent and ongoing FBI investigations, indictments, and corruption trials of so many Democratic elected officials in Dallas County is going to result in a victory for Republicans county-wide in 2012. Dallas County voters have had enough and are demanding a change."

TNT/Warner Horizon

Larry Hagman and director Michael Robin on the set of Dallas

​Twice in November the Dallas County Commissioners Court approved requests from reality-TV crews to film inside the county jail -- first from Brits bearing 3D cams, then from the National Geographic Channel. But tomorrow, Dallas comes to Dallas County: Per the commissioners court agenda Warner Horizon Television, which is behind that next-gen Dallas reboot set to bow on TNT this summer, is asking the county commissioners for their OK to shoot on county property. In return, Horizon will fork over a $25,000 security deposit and $1,000 for every day camera roll and cast John Wiley Price as J.R.'s long-lost son. Or, perhaps, not.

As you may recall, the city council OK'd spending $235,000 last summer to finish out Jack Matthews's South Lamar warehouse; council was told Horizon would go elsewhere without a proper facility. Principal photography began in October, with the expectation that they'd be here till "the end of January." Per the contract, Horizon wants to shoot on county property early this month. And where? "Locations could potentially include unoccupied jails, court space, and general office buildings." Too bad they weren't here June 27.