6.04.2024

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts





A Georgia deputy was indicted for lying in a search warrant about drugs being in the home. He was later acquitted.


  • This jury verdict that got my attention.  The capital murder charge rejected by the jury would have resulted in an automatic real 40 year sentence.  Now the jury will deliberate on punishment which includes anywhere from 5 to 99 years in prison (eligible for parole after 1/2 the term but not to exceed 30 years) and they will also have the option of probation. The defense lawyers are Jack Strickland and Steve Gebhart, and the prosecutors are Larry Whelchel and A. Salinas.

    • I would have thought Strickland was retired and living a life of luxury by now. He prosecuted Cullen Davis in the 1970s.

  • For some reason, the Republicans held hearings yesterday on COVID and Dr. Fauci.  It's about a relevant as Hunter Biden's laptop. The hearing went about like you would expect.


    • I'm not sure what a person convicted for his involvement in the January 6th Insurrection was doing in the background making faces. His name is Brandon Fellows and was sentenced to 42 months in prison in 2021 but was released a few days ago. 

  • Proper PD got what?

  • This grandson of Rep. John Rose went a little viral yesterday but . . . 

    • . . . then you realize Rose is known for this . . . 

  • The Hunter Biden gun case continues today with the first witness being called. The trial deals with checking of the  "no" box on purchase form 4473 when asked if he was an illegal user of, or addicted to, illegal drugs. Honestly, that's a weird question. Couldn't anyone just honestly believe, "I did and I was, but I quit for good last week." 

    • It seems kind of important that three years after the form was filled out on the day of purchase, the gun dealer made an alteration to a portion of that form -- at least to the part the store had previously filled out.
    • But yesterday the judge ruled that alteration evidence was inadmissible. 
  • Whoa. In Minnesota: 

  • The sale of the Mavericks by Mark Cuban, a known Trump hater, to this lady gets curiouser and curiouser.

  • It's official: There will be no more Trump trials for the rest of the year.

  • Legal nerdy stuff:  New templates for domestic violence temporary orders -- civil TRO's that judges can enter when faced with a claim of domestic violence once he/she makes a finding that violence is "likely" to continue in the future -- were released yesterday by the State of Texas. Note who has an exception for gun possession once the judge makes that finding:

  • The Entertainment News Second™. Netflix releases Hit Man, directed by Richard Linklater, on Friday. It is loosely based on this Skip Hollandsworth article from Texas Monthly in 2001.  The reviews are glowing. 



at 8:30 AM

6.03.2024

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




A deserting Army soldier who was held captive by the Taliban for five years was exchanged for five prisoners out of Guantanamo Bay.

  • The West Fork of the Trinity River in Jack County which feeds into Lake Bridgeport is in flood stage (and expected to be higher tomorrow because of yesterday's rain.)  The lake is rising but slowly.

  • The prosecution of Hunter Biden for allegedly lying on a gun purchase form begins today. Until this weekend, I didn't know the back story of how the cops got involved in it back in 2018, but the story is pretty crazy.

  • Story.




  • Trump now says he never said, "Lock her up."  The capacity of the man to lie knows no bounds.

  • This guy was campaigning in Bridgeport with presumptive state rep Andy Hopper last week.


  • But I didn't expect President Biden to don a Chief's helmet on Friday.

  • Both Trump's lawyer and the Speaker of the House have no idea how the Supreme Court works. Video and video.



  • The crazy far right head of the Republican Party of Tarrant County now has the Aggie Law School in his crosshairs.


  • Here is a tremendous thread on the procedural history of the case and the consequences the man was facing. Amazing and amazingly sad.

  • The Business Second™.

  • I missed this arrest when it happened. Were drugs involved? No. Alcohol? No.  The former sheriff of Knox County is charged with manslaughter for "driving at an unreasonable speed at the time of the collision and not looking out for traffic controls."


  • Quick hits: Mexico elected a female president yesterday, and North Korea says it will stop sending garbage-filled balloons to South Korea.

at 8:30 AM

5.31.2024

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A Plano bar got in hot water for a domestic violence joke. The bar was Scruffy Duffies which would later that year become part of the sensational murder case of Christina Morris. 

  • When I'm wrong, I'm wrong. And, man, I did not see this coming. 


    • So how did I screw this up, and what did I not put enough stock in? Upon reflecting about it:
      • You can't go out in the hallway and personally insult the jury during the trial and expect them not to hear about it.
      • You can't insult the judge daily and not expect the jury, which always respects the judge, to not hold that against you.
      • And you can't put on a stupid defense. To have any credibility, you have to admit the obvious and fight the key points. If it's a DWI case, you don't deny you were driving but you instead fight on whether you were "intoxicated." Here, Trump should have admitted the affair and the payoff but fought on (1) whether "attorney's fees" is a false statement, (2) whether there was intent to deceive, and (3) no intent to commit any "another crime".   Instead, Trump and his lawyer lost all credibility by denying everything. 
      • That being said, I'm still very surprised. But I also learned decades ago to never predict what a jury will do. 
    • One of these things is not like the other. 

    • It's absolutely shameful, embarrassing, and downright dangerous that Texas politicians have no respect for the criminal justice system.  I expect it from Paxton, but Abbott is former district judge, Texas Supreme Court justice, and attorney general.


    • Any chance he thinks that this post, from two days ago, came true?

    • Legal nerdy stuff: There has been some misinformation that the jury didn't have to unanimous about the verdict. That's wrong. They just didn't have to be unanimous on which of the three "other" crimes Trump intended to commit so long as they all agreed there was at least one.  Texas law does this on a ton of crimes. 
  • Lake Bridgeport has rise about 1 foot over the last week but still sits -10.79 low. It's gained about 4 feet over the entire spring. 
  • You probably have to see it to appreciate it, but the Valley View Volunteer Fire Department chief did a heck of job on Fox 4 last night.  Without waffling, he admitted a tornado warning siren didn't function. He also admitted taking down a prior Facebook post  (below) where he had made that admission. Was he trying to cover up the malfunction?  Nope. "I’m the one who said, ‘Alright, take it down. Let’s delete it because we were getting bashed .  And it’s not something we needed to have."  He could teach a PR class.


  • Tree limbs are heavy. Seriously. 

  • A Google search under their "news" tab is royally screwed up today.  I finally did a test with this:

  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 4 years and 332 days.

at 8:30 AM
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