Legal Stuff

A lady dumps her newborn child in a dumpster in Jefferson County, Texas with his "arms . . . secured across his chest with duct tape." The child dies. A jury convicts her of capital murder and sentences her to death. In order to impose the death sentence, the jury had to find, as they did, that in the future she would "commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society." She had no criminal record.

Today, the highest Texas court reversed the punishment and held that she should instead be assessed life in prison. The reason: There was simply insufficient evidence that she would be a continuing threat. Or, put another way, any rational juror would have had a reasonable doubt about that issue.

Wow. That's a 5-4 decision by an all Republican court that had been as pro-State as the Third Reich for the last 15 years. I have no idea what is going on other than perhaps even the hard-liners are beginning to question the way we impose the death penalty in this country.

(Opinion is here. News story is here. )

Preach On, Bruther

"But [Ricky] Williams is seemingly just a harmless and hopeless pothead on the verge of being drug-tested out of the league because NFL powers-that-be have declared marijuana to be evil. I can just hear the NFL muckety-mucks now as they sit at the big mahogany bar at the owners meeting ordering single-malt scotches and vodka martinis and lamenting to each other, "Why in the world does Ricky Williams need marijuana to get through the day?" - Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel

.08

That's the legal limit for Texas in DWI. Over the years (many years, that is), I've seen lots of cases between .10 and .19, and a couple of times a year I'll see something between .20 and .29 (that's pretty rare, and normally gets everybody's attention.) I saw one case over .30 when I was a prosecutor in the Tarrant County DA's office and that was my first year there. I kind of wish I could look at the file again - I didn't know it was going to be such a rarity. I have always heard that "over .40" can kill you. I honestly can't recall a specific situation where I've seen that to be true. But today I read about one in Dallas.

I Wonder If His Buddies Finished Out The Round?

The guy works hard all his life. Probably a model citizen. Showed up to work even when sick. Put in some overtime. Had to listen to a crappy boss yell at him all day. Stocked away his cash in a 401(k). All so that he could reach 65, retire, and play a little golf with his buddies.

And then this happens.

And for all of you that have driven a golf cart in a crazy and careless way (which is all of us), this is our biggest fear. You know I'm right.

Hey, Now

Jessica Alba's promo poster for her upcoming movie, "Good Luck Chuck."

Catfight!

Rosie and Hasselcrack Fight! Uploaded by TheDlisted

From today's The View. It's about 6:00 minutes long but it's good stuff. And I think I was strangely turned on. Edit: Sheesh, this is the topic on Larry King Live tonight. But I did learn that ABC decided not to not go to a commercial break during this argument. Who ever made that decision knows exactly what they are doing.

And She Even Uses Just One Ski!

A loyal reader passes along that former Wise Countian Michelle Simpson, who polished her water skiing skills on the mean streets of Lake Bridgeport, will be competing in the 48th U.S. Masters in Waterskiing & Wakeboarding at Callaway Gardens in Pinedale, Ga. this weekend. Michell is currently ranked 4th in the world by the IWSF (International WaterSki Federation).

If so inclined, learn more here. (She will perform at around 10:00 a.m. on Saturday with a live webcast.)

I Think . . .

. . .Mark Cuban might be a third grader.

I'm Offended By This

WBAP

Funny moment a second ago on WBAP. Sports guy Steve Lamb teases an upcoming segment with Tom Hicks. Hicks owns a soccer team in Liverpool which apparently is playing in the equivalent of the Super Bowl today in Greece. Lamb even points out that there will be a "Watching Party" of the game at the AAC beginning at 11:00 a.m. today.

So Hicks comes on the radio about 10 minutes later and past-his-prime DJ Hal Jay introduces him and says, "Tom Hicks live from Greece . . . So how did your team do?"

Insert incredibly awkward pause here. Then Hicks points out, "Uh, the game's tonight."

I think Hal Jay was so embarrassed that he couldn't even do his wheeze laugh.

Edit: I wasn't there, but people actually showed up to that watching party. And, by the way, I bet the Victory Plaza (or whatever) is cool.

Politics and Criminal Justice

An illegal immigrant got a 15 year sentence yesterday from a judge in Tarrant County in an intoxication manslaughter case. This caught my eye: "The national events of the day, with border security, were brought home in this case," prosecutor Miles Brissette said "Had this defendant not been in this country illegally, the victim in this case would still be alive today, most likely." Just a guess, but Miles might get called into his boss's office today and told, "You might want to keep politics out of your statements to the press." (This was the exact same issue that caused the huge blow up between Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera a few weeks back.) The story also highlights the strange world of criminal justice sentencing in Texas. The range of punishment was 2 to 20 years. Didn't a white guy get a 3 1/2 year sentence in an Intoxication Manslaughter case a couple of weeks ago by a plea bargain after a jury had found him guilty?

Finally Got To Me

Maria Sotolongo is Fox 4's "on the scene" reporter for coverage of American Idol. The lady thinks she's covering the cure on cancer. Annoying. And she's listed on the station's web site as "Weather Anchor."

Not Sure About This

I just learned this blog archives every photo I upload. And keeps them here and here.

This Is Myleene Klass

I'm not sure who she is. I've heard she's from Alvord. But I bet that's a lie.

What The?

So I'm sitting here with the Ranger game on in the background and hear something that instantly causes me to grab the TIVO remote and hit rewind. Broadcaster Tom Grieve is recalling his first grand slam with play-by-play man Josh Lewin as the Rangers are batting in the 7th.

Josh Lewin : Who did you [hit it off of]?

Tom: It was in Seattle. Mike Kekich . . . I ended up playing winter ball with him a couple of years in Venezuela. Great guy . . . Pretty good pitcher, too. Unfortunately for Mike, he was probably [sic] his big league career being know as the guy that switched wives with Fritz Peterson back in the '70s.

Josh Lewin: Yeah, that was an uncomfortable moment for the sport. [With a tone of incredible tension.]

Tom: Both Fritz and Mike ended up at one time pitching for the Rangers. Both of them started with the Yankees - that's when they had their wife swapping incident. We always kidded Kekich that the reason it didn't work out with Fritz Peterson's wife [was] because she had to take such a pay cut to come to Kekich . Whereas Kekich 's wife went to Fritz Peterson who was making three times as much money.

[After a few awkward jokes]

Josh Lewin : I'm really glad I asked you who you hit your first grand slam off of.

OMG.

Edit: I've learned the incident made the #6 most shocking moment in the MLB history according to ESPN.

Inside The Evil Empire

This won't appeal to all of you, but it's a youtube.com clip of Texas' coach Mack Brown's post game locker room speech after their National Championship win a year and a half ago.

Thoughts:
- I cannot believe Brown would let Matthew McConaughey inside the locker room, much less recognize him
- I have no idea what chant Vince Young does with about a minute left in the clip
- Brown gets credit for saying, "Don't let this be the most important thing that ever happens in your life."

If You Haven't Heard . . .

. . . whether Arlington/Dallas will host the 2011 Super Bowl, think about a drumroll and click here. Edit: Found this elsewhere: "If you listened, I found it quite humorous that Jerry Jones did not thank Laura Miller by name while thanking [Fort Worth Mayor Mike] Moncrief and Arlington's mayor [Dr. Kenneth Noisewater] specifically by name. Instead he thanked 'Dallas City Government.'" Edit #2: (From the Dallas Morning News)

The voting was by secret ballot.

Mr. Jones declined to discuss the voting, beyond saying that it went to the maximum fourth ballot. (On the first three ballots, the votes of three-fourths of the owners are needed. After that, it becomes a simple-majority contest between the two top contenders.)

Jim Irsay, owner of the Colts, said he was told the final vote was 17-15 in favor of North Texas.

Cue The "Bad Boy" Theme

Actually, Sheriff David Walker reports that Cahill heard there was a warrant for him on "a local radio station" and he turned himself into in to [edit: grammar police duly noted] the Bowie Police Department.