Potential Wise County Beauty Queen

Although she's from Louisiana.

My Brush With Fame

D Magazine has a blog that I steal from all the time called "Frontburner." Today they unveiled a list of blogs on their homepage they considered interesting. Lo and behold, little Liberally Lean is listed among some heavy hitters. (Listed on the right under "BlogRoll".)

Not Exactly Court TV

It'll be a little slow today. They are making me work. As I type this, I'm sitting at a table with two prosecutors about to begin a DWI trial. It's also awkward as I have 32 potential jurors staring at us. But it'll be a short trial. One officer. No video. Makes it tough from the defendant's standpoint. Edit: Jury selected. Four women. Two men. Went about as well as could be expected. Edit: Officer's direct examination is over. Now lunch. It's hard to get a feel for this thing without the video. But when an officer says "he was intoxicated", it can cause some problems. Edit: And as eat my crummy microwave sandwich, I just heard on the news of a "rock spill" at 287 and 114, That sounds not-a-good . . . . Back to courthouse. Edit: Jury went out to deliberate at 3:35 p.m. Quick case. It went well but it's always a tossup. I hate this time. The waiting. My client is a good guy which makes it even more stressful. Edit: 4:37 p.m. No word yet. Not even a note. I really thought that if I was going to win this thing that it would be a quick verdict. I'm getting a little worried now. But you could try a DWI case to two different juries and get two different results. I argued to the jury that the lack of a videotape (which was admittedly the fault of the State) was enough to acquit my guy. The jury was forced to pass judgment on someone else, I told them, and wasn't provided the necessary tools to do their job. "You have a right to want the tape. But you also have the right to be a little angry for being put in this position." I meant it. Edit: 5:23 p.m. There is now a jury note, "We are not unanimous. What is the next step?" Judge releases jury for the night. Will resume at 9:00 p.m. -------------------------Wednesday-------------------------------- Edit: 8:50 a.m. Headed back to the courthouse. This will be a bit tense. Oftentimes a jury will announce it is hung, be sent home for the night, and then come back and have a verdict within 30 minutes. It's a strange phenomenon. If it ends up in a hung jury, it's kind of a hollow victory. Yeah, there's no conviction but the State can retry the case. Edit: 9:15 a.m. We've learned that they are deadlocked 4-2 (but we don't know which way they are leaning.) The judge read them a "dynamite charge" which only benefits the majority. Edit: 9:58 a.m. Another note: "Does the FST [field sobriety tests] prove intoxication?" The judge can only give them a generic response to that one which is neither yes or no. Frankly, that's an odd questions since a great majority of the defense was arguing that the standardized field sobriety tests are silly and don't prove a thing. Not sure what to think about that. Edit: 10:15 a.m. Wow. The jury has reached a verdict. Waiting. Edit: 10:25 a.m. Guilty. Disappointing. I wasn't very optimistic going in but felt pretty good during deliberations. Once again, disappointing. Edit: Noon. Can't end this post without saying congratulations to the County Attorney's Office and Decatur officer Delvon Campbell. Both did a good job. And Judge Melton Cude, as always, gave me a fair trial. That's all I can ask for.

The Most Evil Person In The World

Heather Mills is crazy. Paul McCartney married her a couple of years ago, and I remember them appearing together on Larry King Live. Even then, I thought she could suck the life force out of anyone - including a Beatle. The greatest Beatle, I might add.

Anyway, if you don't know the story I won't bore you with it. Suffice it say, they are going through a divorce and she's trying to rob Paul in a divorce settlement. She was giving interviews all over the place last week in an effort to do some damage control over her horrible (and justifiable) image. Even her lawyers quit on her this week because she's so nutty.

I'm strangely turned on.

A Blog For The Common Man

The site has you enter your blog's URL and it will "analyze" it to determine what educational level is required to understand it. I didn't know you needed a high school education to appreciate Britney pics.

Saw This On Channel 8 Tonight

A garbage truck goes through a brick fence and ends up in a pool in North Richland Hills.

Monday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Mavs Dancers. And the only interest I'll give to the Mavs until April.

Taken This Weekend Near Montague

"It was just walking across the road." That's Assistant County Attorney Thomas Aaberg. I don't know the dog.

Edit: Getting reports that the turtle might be a missing Decatur resident. I'm working on it.

Edit: Well, I've got the feel good story of the year. A lady left a message for me today saying that was her lost tortoise in the picture. I told Thomas who tracked her down and they went back to the scene of the Big Turtle Sighting. Couldn't fine the monster. But Thomas knew one the people that lived in the area so they checked in with that homeowner. Amazingly, he had seen the tortoise and picked it up. Result: Tortoise returned to its rightful owner.

Edit: Sheesh, we've now got Turtle-Gate going on. We've got four different people claiming the turtle. Developing . . . .

Good Stuff

Ate here on Friday night and really liked it. Did some experimenting by ordering the quail. Those little suckers are hard to cut up.

But be prepared to be distracted by a slew of wide screen high definition televisions.

In Honor Of The Orange Bowl Closing . . .

. . . I bring you this melee from last year.

But the funniest bit is how the sports blog Deadspin isolated "Ned" - a player who entered the fray on crutches - and made him a folk hero.

Trouble In . . .

Ok, I'll admit I did that for shock value. It's not our dear little Paradise, Texas. But the first sentence is a doozy:

The head cheer mother of the Paradise Junior Bobcats Cheerleading team was arrested Thursday afternoon on suspicion of molesting a 14-year-old Midget Bobcats football player.

Jump Start

The courthouse is closed, and it's a slow news day (it seems.) But Verne Lundquist did a little dance this weekend. I love Verne.

State Meet Cross Country Results

Boys:

Girls:

I Don't Know What's Real Any More

(Thanks to Tony for the email.)

A Game I Didn't Go To But Wish I Did

Link.

A list of the multitude of records set is here. (63 points in one quarter is one of them.)

Edit: Get that scoreboard fixed, too.

November Football When It's 80 Degrees

As I wait for Oklahoma to hang half a hundred on Baylor tonight, I'll check in on The Pirates vs. The Evil Empire.

The Dark Angel Returns

Just saw that Decatur will face Abilene Wylie in the first round of the State Playoffs. Recent history:

2006: Lost 36-35 (Playoffs)
2005: Lost 43-33 (Regular Season)
2004: Lost 14-13 (Playoffs)

Welcome To Beverly Hills Southwest

Channel 8 News ran a story about the Barnett Shale's impact on Bridgeport - describing it as a "modern day boomtown" with virtually "no unemployment." Also, there are now "many million dollar houses."

Video here. (Although I difficulty getting it to play smoothly.)

Edit: I forgot to thank the emailer for pointing this out to me. I had missed it.