“Fountain’s Pen” enters new phase

Regular readers of “Fountain’s Pen” (all five of you) may have noticed that after a flurry of posts earlier in December, my output has dropped somewhat. Partly that had to do with the holidays and the attendant drop in newsworthy events.

East End communities spotlighted in fight against oil pipeline

As steam rose from the stacks of the nearby Valero Energy refinery, environmental activists on Thursday described the dangers they say a proposed crude oil pipeline and its product pose to residents of east Houston’s Manchester neighborhood.

Appeals court orders stay in death penalty hearing

A Texas appeals court late Tuesday called a halt to the extraordinary hearing on the constitutionality on the death penalty in Texas heard over the past two days in a Harris County trial court. But that was after the judge in the case heard from two expert witnesses about problems associated with prosecuting capital offenses.

Harris County prosecutors “stand mute” in death penalty hearing

Perhaps the biggest news from the first day of a hearing on the constitutionality of the Texas death penalty is that prosecutors from Harris County — once known for sending more people to death row than any other jurisdiction in the country — have chosen to take no active role in the proceedings.

Jury finds Guedry guilty of official oppression

James Cody Guedry gave no outward reaction Friday as a Jefferson County jury found the Beaumont police officer guilty of official oppression in connection with twice using a Taser against Derrick Newman on the night of Aug. 24, 2007.

Guedry case goes to the jury

Following compelling closing arguments from both sides, a Jefferson County jury is now deliberating whether Beaumont police officer James Cody Guedry unlawfully and intentionally mistreated Derrick Newman by twice using a Taser against him.

Guedry takes the stand in official oppression trial

James Cody Guedry, the Beaumont police officer whose pat-down search of Derrick Newman ended in Newman being struck 13 times with a baton and shocked twice by a Taser, denied mistreating the man during his first public account of those events.

Newman testimony, gamesmanship mark second day of trial

The second full day of Beaumont police officer James Cody Guedry’s official oppression trial began with tense questioning of a detective by prosecutors, moved into compelling testimony by the complaining witness, and ended with a flurry of legal gamesmanship.