Since I Have To Deal With . . .

. . . prosecutors all the time, I can't stop staring at the headline.

My Excuse

I am tormented by dreams. Every night (and the best I can tell they occur around 4:00 a.m. or 5:00 a.m.), I'm involved in some kind of dream-state trauma. The dreams are never life threatening, but it's always a serious problem that I can't solve. (Missing law school finals, house's foundation cracking by a foot, teeth falling out, relationship falling apart, etc.) I wake up every morning shortly before dawn and I'm exhausted. My body is tense, I have to take 15 seconds to figure out my life is still the same, and I feel like I've been through the ringer. It happens every night. And I never have a pleasant dream. Edit: I had another one Friday nght/Saturday morning. Weird. I went to some "Mad Max" type place, was stripped down, spray painted with a protective latex coat, and then sent out amongst burning cars, makeshift tanks, and warriors. (I have no idea where that came from.) Edit #2: My dream Saturday night was that I had to explore a house I just purchased. It was the house of the murders described In Cold Blood. And in an odd twist, I was doing the exploring with Fox 4's Lari Barager.

Don't Forget, Folks

The State Track meet is this weekend in Austin. (You can thank me for this PSA later.)

Edit: One of the many, many sources here and here.

Fox 4 . . . (pause) . . . News

Fox 4 put Jeff Crilley on the case of the missing 12 year old girl from Paris, Texas who was allegedly sexually assaulted by William Rhone of Jacksboro.

The highlight of the story was the interview of neighbor Jean Wolfe who talked to the missing 12 year old for an hour and half before she later went missing: "I asked her again about her family . . . and she was very evasive. And I asked her 'So you're eighteen?' and she said 'yeah' and she had told William she was eighteen . . . . He made a . . .uh . . . mistake, trusting someone and believing somebody. But he did not harm her."

Fox 4 has the video of the story here.

The Spawn Of The Evil Empire

Noticed that a possibly hot girl robbed a bank in Austin wearing, ahem, a Longhorn hat. Let that be a lesson to you kids.

Internet Ads

This one is at the top of the Drudge Report tonight. I can't imagine how much that cost, but it has to be a huge pile of cash.

I'd never click on it, for obvious reasons:
1. First it gives the indication that it is some type of poll. But if you hover your mouse over it on Drudge, the hyperlink (where it would take you) is the same whether you click on "yes" or "no". It's not a poll at all.
2. The question is designed only for the small minded. "Do you agree with President Bush?" Huh? On what? Immigration? Iraq? Abortion? Sexual Preference? Choice of underwear? Who would answer such a question.
3. Get a "free* laptop"? Puuuleeeezzze. At least they give you some idea there's more to it that clicking on the ad. But, not for a second, do I believe I could get any laptop computer that was worth a crap for free.
4. By all of the above, I can tell the sponsor of the ad (and I have no idea what they are selling) is deceptive. I distance. I distance hard.

It's A Little Blurry, But You Girls Look OK To Me

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- Several female students at Framingham State College are accused of stealing about one-thousand copies of the student newspaper, apparently because they thought they looked fat in a front page picture.

The color photo in "The Gatepost" shows seven female students at a women's lacrosse game wearing tank tops and shorts with the name of a player spelled out on their bare bellies.

Source.

Another Jacksboro Connection!

Story here. (Although the use of an Amber alert for a girl who hasn't been seen since March seems a little unusual.)

I think that's blue sky

Hey, Now #2

So Wrong On So Many Levels

I saw this story on Fox 4 News this morning so it's newsworthy (as well as seedy.) Akon, who has some pretty good stuff, did a crazy bump and grind on stage a couple of months ago. The bad news is that he went into that torso grinding rant with a girl who turned out to be 14 15. That's them above. Not sure what a 14 15 year old is doing dressed like that but all the stories refer to her as "the daughter of a preacher."

The story became news because he has now apologized for the event.

If you want to see the crazy event that got him in trouble, you can here. (And although there is no nudity, it's kinda shocking.)

Edit: Paula Zahn showed the video on CNN, and I just Bill O'Reilly talking about it at lunch on the radio.

Hey, Now

Hey, Bridgeport........Duck!

It's moving north. (But the rain should help Lake Bridgeport which has gone from 18 feet low to 5 1/2 feet low - full is 836 feet sea level.)

Edit: I shall acknowledge my poor math skills. Either that, or I had just downed a bottle of Paxil as I realized I'm halfway through my 10 year battle with depression.

Tammy Faye

Just saw a story about her cancer struggle which I had heard about but since forgotten. Shockingly, she wrote over the last couple of days that she now weighs 65 pounds (!) and the doctors are no longer treating her.

Despite all the damage that she and her ex-husband did to the Christian community in the 1980s, that's still sad to hear about what must be incredible suffering.

(And, if interested, check out the documentary about her called "The Eyes Of Tammy Faye.")

'Get a divorce' billboard gets dumped

And it's an all female law firm. (Story.) But if they wanted publicity, they're getting publicity.

The Beach

It would be nice to go to the beach.

My Last Rambo Post

I posted earlier this week about this Intoxication Manslaughter case of Ray Rambo in Fort Worth. After a jury ended up deadlocked, a plea bargain was struck for 3 1/2 years in the pen.

More details about the deal came out today in the Star Telegram. Amazingly, the prosecutors never offered a plea bargain before trial. I think that is shameful. Every victim goes into the criminal justice system expecting there to be a trial and expecting there to be a maximum punishment verdict. But that's a fantasy. It's the prosecutor's responsibility to at least advise them to other possibilities. In this case, the jury could have sentenced the defendant anywhere from 2 to 20 years in prison. BUT, they jury could also give the defendant probation.

A responsible prosecutor would go to the victim's family and say, "Look, I think a jury will send him to the pen, but I can't guarantee it nor can I guarantee for how long. And even though I represent the State and not you, I want you to have some input into the plea negotiations. I could offer the defendant, say, 12 years in prison with a deadly weapon finding. A jury might give him more, maybe not. But if he took 12 years, you won't have to go through a trial. Think about it. And think of what number you feel is reasonable. I'm not obligated to follow your wishes, but I want to know what you think." (Note: I have no idea what the prosecutor in this case said to the victims.)

Under the facts of that case, any reasonable defense lawyer would have had to seriously consider any plea bargain offer of 8 years in the pen or less. More years than that, and the decision gets tough.

I can guarantee to you that if 3 1/2 years had been offered before trial, the defense would have jumped on it. In fact, I'd be stunned if the prosecution could not have gotten more. But after a grueling and emotional trial, the victim's family just wanted to be sure the defendant would spend some time in jail. And 3 1/2 was good enough for them.

Bottom line: I believe a grueling trial could have been avoided AND a plea bargain for more than 3 1/2 years could have been obtained. Everyone gripes about plea bargains, but sometimes they work in favor of the victims.

Finally, it was interesting to note that the prosecutor said that the Defendant would have to serve at least 1/2 of his sentence (21 minutes months) before becoming eligible for parole. I respectfully disagree. Any prison sentence that has a deadly weapon finding (as did this one) requires a defendant to serve, at the minimum, two real years in prison. See Texas Government Code § 507.145 (And I'll credit Decatur lawyer Paul Belew for pointing that obscure law out to me about five years ago.)

A Rare "Receive Comment And Post It All By Itself" Moment For Me

Found under this topic.