Friday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Decatur Rumor

Decatur Police had a report of "shots fired" on Main Street in Decatur shortly before noon. They had trouble locating the source but a guy showed up at the Decatur Hospital (or whatever its name is) with some kind of injury a short time later. They think the two are connected . . .

Developing.

(Thanks, uh, "good looking emailer")

Edit: Crime Scene Van? Decatur has a Crime Scene Van?



From a comment:

Trial Update

Success. A "not guilty" verdict came in within 15 minutes.

As you can tell, the breath test was .085 and .083 and it was taken an hour after the stop. The rest of the facts really favored my 21 year old client with no criminal history. He was followed by the trooper for throwing out a lit set of firecrackers in downtown Boyd (yep, while driving) but for the next 2 and 1/2 miles he only "touched" the yellow line with his driver's side tires one time and "barely crossed" the white fog line one time. Other than that, the driving was fine.

The field sobriety tests, in my opinion, were great. And, quite frankly, I think that's what won it. Even using the trooper's interpretation, (1) on the thirty second One Leg Stand test he put his foot down one time, and "swayed" and "raised arm for balance" one time at Count 29; (2) on the Walk and Turn test, he stepped off the line one time (I couldn't see it) did not touch heal to toe four times, and made an "improper turn." According to the Manual that all the troopers and cops use, that is failing. To your average person, that's pretty darn good. I promise you, if you saw the tape you would not have thought the guy was intoxicated.

But these things can go either way. I felt good about it, but I've been surprised before. Thankfully, this time there were no surprises.

Edit: One new wrinkle was to utilize Google's Powerpoint equivalent during the cross-examination of the trooper and technical supervisor. It won't make much sense, but they are both here and here. Me loves me some Google. (And the first presentation contains one heck of an algebra problem that I asked my secretary to calculate for me. And she did.)

Fox 4's Good Day . . .

. . . is funny. (And I'd watch it even if I wasn't obsessed with Megan Henderson.)

Case in point: This morning they run a video of Victoria Secret models on a runway in connection with some story about the head of the company claiming they had become "too sexy." Tim Ryan says, "Oh, come on. This is just a cheap grab for ratings, isn't it?" Two seconds later you hear a Homer Simpson drop of, "Yooo Hooo!" Then, moments later, we get another drop of: "How you doooiiiinnnnn'?"

Good times.

People In Cages

For the first time ever, more than one in every 100 Americans is either in jail or prison - thats 2.3 million people. We lead the world. Texas leads America.

Right wingers begin the Slow Clap.

You Mess With The Bull And . . . .

PETA protests the "Running Of The Bulls."

Ladies, I find your argument very persuasive.

Oh, My

Fort Worth Star Telegram story.

The death had already been reported by the Messenger and other sources a couple of weeks ago. The big news is that the death has been determined to have occurred in Decatur. That means that the Wise County Courthouse now has jurisdiction over the case.

Because the child is under six, it qualifies as capital murder. I'm not sure we've had one of those in quite some time.

Edit: Fox 4 video here.

Hey, Now

Hey, I'm tired.

Hey, Now

So I'm in trial all day only to find out people would think I would be interested in the Star Telegram's pictures of Brazilian girls in their underwear.

I'll incorporate it into closing argument tomorrow. Maybe. Or not.

Slow Again

Yep, another DWI trial in the same week. As I write this, I'm sitting in the courtroom with two potential jurors in the gallery (and it's before 8:00 a.m.). I try to get here earlier to at least give the jurors the impression I'm prepared and ready to go. This case will be a little trickier because it involves a breath test. But it's both a comfortable and stressful life practicing in Wise County. On the way up to the courthouse, I was able to look over to see if the prosecutor's car was in its normal spot behind Sweetie Pie Ribeye's (it was.) Then the judge honked at me as he drove by. And I entered the courthouse to see the same friendly faces as I always do. I'll try to keep you updated. Edit: Jury picked. Three men. Three women. Trooper has finished direct examination. Break for lunch. We'll show the video when we get back. Followed by officer cross. Then the "technical supervisor" of DPS who is allegedly in charge of the Intoxliyzer 5000. Had two clients on the jury panel. They didn't make it on the jury. Edit: Officer done. Video played. Edit: Ok, both sides rested and closed. It went much quicker than I thought it would. Technical Supervisor testified (she drives me nuts, but was fairly cooperative today.) And then my guy testified. Closing arguments tomorrow morning followed by jury deliberations. I'll let you know more tomorrow. I seriously doubt any of the jurors read The Blog but, just in case, I'll let you know more about the facts once this thing is over. Edit: Friday morning. Closing arguments begin at 9:00 a.m. Feel like I'm catching a cold.

Mugshot Is Gold

Story behind the mugshot is golder-er-er.

I'm Talking Denton?

I don't know anything about the Denton County race for a particular county commissioner position, but when one candidate runs this pic of his opponent, it makes me sad that Wise County is so civil.

Hugh Coleman v. Cynthia White. In the octagon. Now.

An Open Letter To U.S. Senate Hopeful Rick Noriega

Dear Rick:

LBJ called. He wants his hat back.

Love,

Barry

Meet Eric Gahagen

I saw this story of Fox 4 last night and now the Star Telegram has picked it up. This 27 year old guy from Pennsylvania had a buddy drive him to the home of a 14 year old girl in Bedford that he had met on The Internets. He stays with her on Sunday night (she kept him in the closet) but the jig was up when the girl's mother found him sleeping in the teen's bed while she was at school.

I keep picturing Mom walking by her daughter's room and having a huge question mark form over her head when she saw this fine fellow asleep on her sweet daughter's bed.

Four? Count 'em, Four?

The Messenger's paper edition today has four letters supporting Phil King. (I'll save you time: Vote for him because he supports "family" and "traditional" values and he doesn't like gambling. Yep, Phil King hates blackjack.)

Edit: Tison's latest shot across the bow.

Love and Marriage

While waiting to enter a plea this morning in district court, I had to wait until some "temporary orders" were entered in a divorce case. It's not that unusual. A couple, normally with lawyers, dictate their agreement into the record regarding property and children until a divorce can be finalized.

This one was unusual because the young soon-to-be-ex-wife was crying pretty hard. It was sad. I looked out in the gallery and saw a couple of people wiping their eyes.

Upon reflection, I surprised I don't see that more often.

Randomly Interesting

A spare talk show hosts introduces John McCain by trying to rev up the crowd. He refers to Obama's middle name. McCain backtracks.

CINCINNATI, Ohio—A conservative radio talk show host who helped introduce Senator John McCain before a rally here Tuesday used Senator Barack Obama’s middle name, Hussein, three times, while disparaging him, prompting Mr. McCain to apologize and repudiate the comments afterward . . . .

“It’s my understanding that before I came in here a person who was on the program before I spoke made some disparaging remarks about my two colleagues in the Senate, Senator Obama and Senator Clinton,” he said. “I have repeatedly stated my respect for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton, that I will treat them with respect. I will call them ‘Senator.’ We will have a respectful debate, as I have said on hundreds of occasions. I regret any comments that may have been made about these two individuals who are honorable Americans.”

That should bring out the nut cases.

Greatest Publicity Stunt Ever?

I could not care less about Starbucks closing across the nation for three hours yesterday for "training" (I haven't bought a Starbucks coffee in three years). But that bit was nothing more than a publicity stunt. You don't need to close all the stores at the same time to school your employees. It was done to get attention.

And, man, did it work. That story is everywhere. (I saw it on the local news, on ABC's World News Tonight, and now The Today Show). The amount of free advertising dollars had to be astronomical. (And I guess I'm part of it.)