Borderline Sensationalism And Irresponsible

Watching Pete Delkus right now who is harping on a tornado over Decatur "that is trying to form."

Actual News

The Update has the story. We have the picture (thanks to a news-sniffing emailer).

Sheesh

If you want to know how (some) prosecutors think these day, check out this debate on the prosecutor's message board.

Georgetown DA John Bradley (who posts by the initials "JB") thinks the case should be referred to the grand jury. It's crazy attitudes like this (and that guy is a moral Nazi) that get the criminal justice system involved in everything.

Random Political Thought

Mindy Montford (daughter of John T. Montford - big Texas Tech guy who has a place on Lake Bridgeport up at the north end) raised $564,371 in order to try and win the DA's job in Austin being vacated by Ronnie Earle.

She lost.

I Wonder If You Can Walk On Those Center Planks?

Notre Dame Pitcher: Duck!

He's fine.

My Next Run

In Decatur. Good times.

Random Old Judge In Jack County Courthouse

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

- Fox 4 News Gem From Last Night: Some restaurant owner was interviewed after a group of cops decided to arrest an accused serial rapist (who just happened to be black) in his parking lot. "It looked like a good old boy convention."
- Fox 4 Faux: In reporting about the cop who was allegedly found passed out in his patrol car in Burleson, reporter Dionne Anglin said, "Because he refused the breathalyzer test, the officer's driver's license is automatically suspended for 90 days." It's hard to make more mistakes than that in one sentence. It's 180 days, not 90. It's not an "automatic" suspension because it will only take effect in 40 days if he doesn't request a hearing, and it's "intoxilyzer" - not "breathalyzer." Other than that, fine job Dionne.
- Final Fox 4: The alleged shooter in the drive by in Fort Worth that killed a five year old at her birthday party was named "Davila." Around here, we call if DA-ville-ah. Lari Barager, probably correctly so, pronounced it Dah-vee-LA.
- Brett Michael's Rock Of Love is one goofy show. But me loves me some Brett Michael women. Edit: Oh, my!
- Ok, I downloaded the audio book The Fountainhead last night. It's huge. It'll take me until the beginning of the Obama Administration to finish it.
- I didn't know that putting out the Olympic torch would end oppression in China. That's easy!
- The Commenter on this blog that ends his posts with "The End" makes me laugh.
- The existence of the "Polygamist Compound" (which is what I'll call my retirement ranch some day) is nothing new. Two and a half years ago I attended a legislative update seminar where I learned how all the Texas incest laws had been tricked up because of the place.
- But, man, that compound has some nice lawns.
- Random Republican run off last night in Fort Worth for a district judgeship that you probably don't care about: Melody Wilkinson beat Mike Hrabel 5,279 votes to 5,259. That's, uh, really close. (And I used to hang out with Melody back in the good old days.) Edit: Heck, she may not have won.
- Oh, my.
- People that get a hang up call but (after seeing their number on their caller ID) call that number to make sure they weren't trying to be reached, are nuts.
- The Plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Sheriff's Office yesterday testified with an untucked button-down-the-front shirt. And not in a hip, untucked sort of way.

Note To Self:

Substituting Firearm for Craftsman Drill = Bad Idea

Think The Owner is High Tone?

When I was up in the district courtroom today, the bailiff showed me a set of missing keys he had found. Next to the Lexus key chain was a miniature bottle of hand sanitizer connected to it.

Repo Man

Odd case going on in the district court in Decatur right now. And, like always, I'm not 100% clear on the facts, but it appears that the Sheriff's Office is being sued by a guy who is claiming false imprisonment when a deputy came to repossess a horse. The guy claims he didn't have anything to do with the horse but was "forced" to take a ride to a different county to go look for it. Don't know if that's true. Not really sure that's the exact claim. But I did hear the defense lawyer ask, "How much money do you want for this two hour ride that you said they made you take?"

Good question. But not a bad answer: "I'll leave that up to the jury."

Tuesday Afternoon Pick Me Up

Me? A Pop Culture Idiot? Say It Ain't So!

I think I should know this but I don't. What did Jim Nantz mean by "Rock. Chalk. Championship!" last night?

His Worst. Day. Ever.

An off-duty Fort Worth police officer was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after a Burleson officer found him asleep behind the wheel of his marked patrol unit at a Burleson intersection Sunday.

Link.

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

- I went to opening day for the Rangers one time. It was good stuff. I won't be going today.
- I had the NCAA Championship game on last night but wasn't really watching it. Until the end.
- The government's raid on the "polygamist compound" in Texas just seems a bit odd. If those kids weren't being abused (who knows), I'm not sure why Texas officials are ripping them out of there. Yeah, their lifestyle is odd but so is the Amish lifestyle. But the funny part is that kids won't identify themselves, give wrong names, or give the identical names giving rise to another government cluster.
- Pic of Fergie and the big girl from Heart.
- I'm not surprised or offended that the Clintons have made $109 million since leaving office. In this day and time, I'm surprised it is not more.
- After four weeks of use, I'm convinced the iPhone is one of the greatest inventions ever.
- My car was kept overnight by James Wood for repair. I was given a loaner car that was a PT Cruiser. I'm a middle aged pimp daddy.
- Any newscast that features any interview with McCain, Obama, or Clinton is a waste of time. "They never say 'nuthin."
- One of these girls likes cheeseburgers.
- I downloaded that crazy song from the Nike commercial which features Reggie Bush saying, "My better is better than your better."

Gone Baby Gone

Movie Review: I thought this thing was great. I'm a fan of Casey Affleck (who is a krillion times better actor than his brother, Ben), and he does a great job in this flim.

I really had not heard anything about it, but rented it due to a couple of friends giving it the Thumbs Up. The plot completely caught me off guard. And it cemented my view that this world is far more shades of gray than it is black and white.

Sometimes You Just Have To Shake Your Head

Today a court appointed client, with me at her side, entered a guilty plea in exchange for 25 years in TDC. It's the longest plea bargain I've ever consented to. Her crime? Dope. Her minimum possible punishment had she been convicted by a jury? 25 years. Yep, she pled for the minimum of 25 years.

We've got some goofy laws in Texas and one of them is the so called "habitual offender law". It basically says that (1) if you've been convicted of a felony, sent to the pen, and got out, (2) then convicted of another felony, sent to the pen again, and got out, and (3) then commit another felony (third degree or higher), you are then subject to an "enhanced" punishment of no less than 25 years and no more than "life."

I know what you're thinking. Don't cry for me Argen-three-time-tina. (Poor joke, I know.)

Yeah, my client, who wouldn't hurt a fly, has had a couple of trips to the pen. (Once again, for dope.) So a couple of years ago she gets stopped in Bridgeport for a traffic violation, has an outstanding traffic warrant, and then readily admits she has some meth in the car. It was a cut and dry case. Obviously guilty. Obviously had been to the pen twice before. Obviously subject to the "habitual offender" law.

A jury would have no choice but to pick a number between 25 and life. It's an awful position to be in. Bad for me. Worse for her.

The really only loophole would have been to convince the prosecutor, out of a sense of right and wrong, to "waive" one or more of the enhancement paragraphs and, thus, allow her to enter a plea for less than 25. In a sad twist, I actually managed to pull this off a year and half ago when I got the plea bargain down to 20 years. Unfortunately, my client didn't show up for the plea. So the 20 years was off the table. (She was, obviously, arrested later.)

Parole, you ask? Well, she becomes eligible once her real time + good conduct time = 6.25 years. Being eligible for parole doesn't mean she'll be granted parole.