After five years of litigation, U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap recently approved of a consent decree that puts an end to an alleged "stop and seize" practice used by defendant law enforcement officers — including a district attorney — that allegedly was used to target minorities traveling through a small East Texas town.
While Gilstrap was prevented from awarding compensatory damages by a previous ruling in the case, his August 8th approval of the consent decree in James Morrow et al. v. Barry Washington et. al. puts strict conditions on the defendants' law enforcement actions including that they: record all traffic stops on video; limit those stops to 15 minutes or less; and a stipulation that they won't use drug sniffing dogs unless the plaintiff lawyers agree, among other things.
