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Rejected Security Officer Went on Rampage

David Logsdon, who was turned down for a private security license, killed his female neighbor and stole her car. After the car was reported stolen, a patrol officer stopped it. Logsdon escaped by shooting but not killing the police officer. Logsdon then went to a Kansas City shopping mall where he shot and killed two shoppers. When the police caught up with Logsdon, they shot and killed him.

Process Serving

Service of process is the procedure used to give legal notice to a person (e.g., a defendant) of a court or administrative body's exercise of its jurisdiction over that person so as to enable that person to respond to the proceeding before the court, body or other tribunal. Usually, legal notice is furnished by delivering to the person a set of court documents. Each jurisdiction has rules regarding the means of service of process. Typically, a summons and related documents must be served upon the defendant personally, or in some cases upon another person of suitable age and discretion at the person's abode or place of business or employment.

Service of process initially establishes personal jurisdiction of the court over the person served. If the defendant ignores further pleadings or fails to participate in the proceedings, then the court or administrative body may find the defendant in default and award relief to the claimant, petitioner or plaintiff. In past times in many countries, people didn't have the right to know that there were legal proceedings against them, and in some cases would only find out when magistrates showed up with the sheriff and seized their property, sometimes throwing them into debtor's prisons until their debts were paid. When the United States was founded, the Constitution said that everyone is entitled to due process of law, therefore the process server upholds a defendant's constitutional right to due process of the law. (Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia, www.google.com.)

Polygraph Tests Not Admissible in Texas

A letter sent to the Lufkin Daily News said, "A man in Lufkin was convicted of a crime he did not commit, but was convicted with testimony of a sheriff deputy that has been shown to make up testimony in other trials and cases before. If the convicted man passed a lie detector test now that a jury has convicted him and the appeals court has found no reason to give him a new trial, can the judge overturn the conviction himself? This man is truly not guilty, and it is a shame deputies can get away with lies on the witness stand. The lie detector should have been done and presented as evidence. And that brings up another point. If the man did have a lie detector test done, would it be considered new evidence and could that get the man a new trial?" In a reply to the letter, Angelina County Assistant District Attorney Art Bauereiss said, "Polygraph tests, also known as lie detectors, are not admissible in criminal cases in Texas. So no, the fact that a person passes (or fails) the polygraph examination does not affect the result of the case. If an appeals court does not reverse the conviction, the trial judge does not have the authority to overturn it later. If there is proof that the deputy lied under oath at trial to obtain a conviction, then the deputy could be prosecuted for aggravated perjury." (Source: The Lufkin Daily News, www.lufkindailynews.com.)

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