Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Hearings I Plan to Attend Next Month

January 9th I plan to attend the (supposedly) last joint pretrial hearing for the retrials of the so-called Yogurt Shop murders' Michael Scott and Robert Springsteen.

Oral arguments are set to be heard in the Third Court of Appeals in The State of Texas v. Colton Aaron Pitonyak on January 23rd. I have no experience observing appellate hearings, so I called the Third Court of Appeals' clerk just to make sure the general public is allowed to observe such oral arguments.

I have no idea what issues will be argued or in what format, but I plan to go, especially since I attended Pitonyak's trial, in which Pitonyak was found guilty of murdering Jennifer Cave then fleeing to Mexico.

2 comments:

freelaurahall said...

I belive that all trial and related appellate proceedings are public, up to and including oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court.

Things such as grievance proceedings are generally private / secret.

If, for example, the grievance process against McFarland and Bishop become "formal proceedings", then and (I believe) only then, will they the proceedings become public -- even news cameras and what-not. I don't remember ever seeing such a spectacle in Texas, let alone anywhere, save the Mike Nifong matter.

...see you there

Anonymous said...

Thought he was going to be where he belonged... in jail!