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The State's district and county attorney message board has gone crazy today over a situation in Dallas. For some reason, a newly elected (yep, Democrat) judge has been watching too much TV and set a trial date two weeks after a defendant bonded out and, to make it more interesting, doesn't tell the D.A.'s office about it. Now the D.A. has learned about the trial date, but it is set for tomorrow morning. The prosecutor isn't ready (and there is no way to expect him to be ready.) The D.A. can always dismiss a case at this stage of the proceedings and refile it later, but it requires the judge's signature. The judge says "nope, I'm not going to sign it. If you don't call any witnesses tomorrow, I'll tell the jury to find the defendant not guilty." (Paraphrased, but that is exactly what is going on.)
The thread is here. Trust me, they don't teach that in law school. And no one really knows what to do. Interestingly, one prosecutor essentially says "Call the Dallas Morning News and have a reporter there tomorrow." Probably the best advice.
