Papers

  1. The Continuing Unevolving Model of Decency, Kennedy v. Louisiana in Peril

    Criminal Law Practitioner

    2025

    In 2008 the Supreme Court barred executions for child rape when no one died. Texas never repealed its own law. Professor Metze explains why he thinks today's Court is ready to undo that ruling.

  2. Never Hesitate to Ask a Friend for Help

    Voice for the Defense

    2025

    A Texas lawyer defending a discipline case without counsel kept contacting the other side directly and was suspended for five years. Professor Metze saw something of himself in it, and recalls the friend who represented him for free.

  3. Criminal Law (Year in Review)

    Texas Bar Journal

    2023

    Three Texas criminal law decisions from 2023 that changed the rules working lawyers practice under, reviewed for the annual Year in Review.

  4. Safeguards to Prevent Juveniles from Incompetent Representation

    Voice for the Defense

    2022

    Young people in Texas juvenile court have a right to effective counsel. A Texas Tech law student, Jessica Lieck, and Professor Metze ask whether lawyers who don't understand child development can provide it.

  5. Dissecting the ABA Texas Capital Punishment Assessment Report of 2013: Death and Texas, a Surprising Improvement

    Akron Law Review

    2017

    In September 2013, the American Bar Association published a 517-page report on Texas's death penalty.

  6. The Attorney-Client Working Relationship: A Comparison of In-Person Versus Videoconferencing Modalities

    Psychology, Public Policy, and Law

    2016

    When the pandemic shut down courthouses in 2020, judges and lawyers had to figure out, almost overnight, whether the constitutional guarantee of "the assistance of counsel" could be delivered through a video screen.

  7. Nothing Changes, It All Remains the Same: Modern Capital Punishment (Human Sacrifice by a Different Name)

    Texas Tech Law Review

    2014

    For Texas Tech's annual criminal law symposium, Professor Arnold Loewy gave the panel a single question to wrestle with: is capital punishment a good idea or a bad idea?

  8. Feed Me Seymour: The Never-Ending Hunger of the Criminal Process for Procedural Rights and Removing Children from Its Shop of Horrors

    Texas Tech Law Review

    2013

    Professor Patrick Metze was asked a simple question at a Texas Tech criminal law symposium: should children accused of crimes have more, fewer, the same, or different legal protections than adults?

  9. Plugging the School-to-Prison Pipeline by Improving Behavior and Protecting Core Judicial Functions: A Constitutional Crisis Looms

    St. Mary's Law Journal

    2013

    Texas tried a program that rewards good behavior in its juvenile lockup schools, and incidents fell. Meanwhile, it merged its juvenile agencies into one executive department. Professor Metze argues that merger puts judges' oversight of young people on probation at risk.

  10. Speaking Truth to Power: The Obligation of the Courts to Enforce the Right to Counsel at Trial

    Texas Tech Law Review

    2012

    The Sixth Amendment guarantees every person charged with a crime the right to a lawyer.