7.02.2019

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts


  • This is an update on some old news, but you may recall the Wood County DA Jim Wheeler resigned abruptly last year. Now we know why: He was being investigated after allegations of sexually harassing a female employee.  He was allowed to resign "in lieu of prosecution" (which some would see as favorable treatment and others would consider to be a fair exchange.)
  • I was looking through the obituaries in the recent edition of the Texas Bar Journal and stopped down when I saw that of Paul Isham.  When I was with a law firm in Fort Worth circa 1990 we formed a softball team for a lawyers' league. Our team was all young (late 20s or early 30s) with the exception of some "old guy": Mr. Isham who would have probably had been late 40s. He was our pitcher -- a good one -- who just came out to have fun. I remember that he looked athletic and this from his obituary tells me why: "He ran 35 marathons, skied,  and . . .  climbed Mount Kilimanjaro." I hadn't seen him in 30 years. He was 77.
  • And not that I'm going all heavy on death here, but right beside his obituary was that of Marla D. Jones, 58.  I'm bothered by this because I learned she graduated in my very small Baylor law school class in May of 1986. I cannot place her, and it disturbs me to no end. I learned she even worked in downtown Dallas right out of law school for a big firm so that would have caught my attention back then -- I went to work in downtown Dallas as well.  (She kept a pretty low profile and ended up with Anadarko Petroleum in The Woodlands "until her retirement.")
  • I almost made a bullet point out of Anadarko last month when there was a bidding war between Occidental Petroleum and Chevron to buy the company .  Occidental won with a bid of $38 billion. 
  • In a weird lawsuit, Sen. Ted Cruz decided to sue over election financing campaign laws because he was only able to withdraw $250,000 instead of the $260,000 that he lent it. Yep, he's suing to get back $10,000 from his campaign. That wouldn't normally make news, but it did yesterday when his legal team compared his plight to that of Rosa Parks.  Lawyers can be dumb.
  • I would think cameras like Ring would make it hard for the old school type home alarm systems to survive.  (Although an ear piercing alarm is probably still a pretty good deterrent.)
  • Trump appeared on State TV last night with Tucker Carlson. Look at this wild and rambling answer to a "question" about the homeless in California. He is not well.  (He ended homelessness in D.C. by just saying, "You can't do that"?)
  • You've heard about the death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs in a Southlake hotel, and I really don't have anything to add. This was the scene outside of Angel's stadium less than one hour after the news of his death broke:
  • Then again, maybe you haven't heard about Skaggs' death.
  • There was one trial in the Waco Twin Peaks/Biker Fiasco, and it ended up in a hung jury. Now in an odd twist the defense lawyer has been suspended by the State Bar for three years "and must pay $59,000 in restitution to clients she failed to serve." The suspension seems unrelated to the Waco case, but its really unclear what happened. I should note it's hard to get suspended by the State Bar.
  • Look at Trump's announcement yesterday and compare it to what his designee said three years ago. 

  • Let me guess: You're really not going to buy Nike gear in protest this time. (The flag apparently is used by some White Nationalists. You know, it's a we-were-much-better-when-there-were-thirteen colonies-and-had-slavery kind of thing.)

  • Amazingly, the Governor of Arizona got mad at the Betsy Ross shoe controversy and has ordered "all financial dollars" to be withdrawn as an incentive for Nike to locate in the town of Goodyear. Taking jobs away from Arizonians is a weird flex, but OK.    (Side note: Nike won't sue Arizona but they could. This is a perfect example of government punishing an entity for the content of their speech.)
  • I have no idea how you can be an assistant County Attorney in Williamson County and make a shocking $132,000 and, to boot, keep a lucrative private practice on the side. 


at 8:31 AM

7.01.2019

Random Monday Morning Thoughts



  • A plane crash in Addison took a dramatic turn yesterday afternoon when it was announced that 10 people had died. I still haven't seen who was on board -- reports just said it as a nine-seat rental starting at $1,800 an hour. (Side note: I don't know what I was expecting, but this crew from NTSB just casually strolling into the airport with only one guy with anything in his hand isn't exactly what I envisioned.)
  • I've seen a handful of tickets issued by game wardens on Lake Bridgeport for operating a personal water craft "after sundown." Hey, a warning probably would do the trick. 
  • I saw a boat just like the one below on Lake Bridgeport this weekend occupied by a couple and three children. I thought, "that's a nice boat" and, being me, I wondered what it cost. Google told me a new one "starts as" $133,200.  Good, lord. 
  • Sarah Sanders had her last day in the office on Friday. 
  • And Trump Jr. proved he is just like his daddy (as if we didn't know) as he fired of a racist tweet and then deleted it. 
  • Two teens were murdered in Dallas last night. That brings the number to at least 108 this year (and I probably missed a couple of others over the last three days.)
  • Trump wrap up from the weekend: (1) Thought "school busing" was actually about just getting kids to school via bus, (2) thought "Western-style liberalism" meant left wingers from San Fransisco and Los Angeles, (3) cozied up to MBS, the Saudi Prince who ordered the literal butchering of a reporter, calling him a "friend of mine" who is doing a "speculator job", (4) Begged dictator Kim Jong Un, whose regime murdered Otto Warmbier, to meet him in North Korea and did so with getting nothing in return. (5) Wants tanks at the Washington Mall for his hijacking of the 4th of July. 
     
  • Random tweet I saw.  I've started carrying a black backpack a few years ago but just between the car and the office. But I wouldn't slap it on to go to the courthouse.
  • From the Runaway Bay 4th of July parade.  That's hard to pull off without knowing whether it is a pro or con position, but they did it.  
  • The Mets honored their 1969 Championship team on the field over the weekend but listed two players in an In Memoriam tribute who were not dead. The flashed up this apology the next day. One of the two guys, Jesse Hudson, had his name misspelled. 
  • Ivanka made news at the G20 Summit (why was she there?) by butting into a conversation with world leaders (shown in a video released by France) and by posing for a picture wearing a $4,590 dress.
    Those expressions. Justin Trudeau is basically Jim Halpert.
  • Oh, my. (Video.)
  • A free lance political cartoonist may or may not have lost his job over this one.
  • Just yesterday I read an incredibly moving Texas Monthly story about a bond between a home schooled Christian kid and a Muslim from Pakistan who ended up in the middle of the Sante Fe school shooting.  It's related yet unrelated, but this came out today: 
  • Messenger: Above the Fold
From Seoul, South Korea




at 8:32 AM

6.28.2019

It's Friday. Let's Get Out Of Here.














at 2:00 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

  • I saw a plea yesterday in the Wise County district court for 40 years to do in a child sex abuse case. (Chad Beland, CR-21418). He'll be eligible for parole in 20 years. That's one of the highest accepted plea bargains I've ever seen, but I can't say it's a bad deal. He was facing 25 to life with no possibility of parole on his original charge. 
  • Trump lost his Census citizenship question case yesterday before the Supreme Court as they said his Administration was lying about the question's purpose (calling it "contrived reasons.") Trump immediately wanted to delay the Census "no matter how long" despite the Constitution expressly saying it must take place every 10 years. 
  • Let me not explain all of this:
  • In the debate last night, Chuck Todd asked the candidates what their first call would be as president. I can't stop watching the answer of Marianne Williamson. "Girlfriend!"
  • We've all seen the heartbreaking picture of the dad and his child laying face down and dead in the Rio Grande. But why do almost all news organization block out the child's identity in this photo which was found. What's the purpose? If we are trying to protect the child, it's way too late for that.
  • The State Prosecuting Attorney's Office represents the State on cases that go to Texas' highest criminal court. They gave us a heads up yesterday about one the court decided to hear which got everyone's attention. (The guy got 40 years. The facts of the case can be found attached to this document.)
  • The Dallas DA picked up the phone last night and groggily asked, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"
  • Most of you know I'm a sports genius. And faithful readers will recall that I predicted the Rangers would have a season that was "all downhill from here" after they won their first game. However, they've been doing well. I want to alert the masses who don't have my sports intellect that something ain't right with this team. I've been tracking the Ranger's team ERA against the American League team ERA all season long. I've even created a fancy Google Sheets graph which I update daily. The Rangers not only do not have a good ERA, they been below average all season long. My hot prediction: Since it always depends on pitching, the Rangers can't keep this winning pace. It's a mirage. 
    As of yesterday
    Blue is Rangers' ERA. Red is AL average. 
  • When you lose a morality battle to Bank of America, and you don't even realize it:
  • While you were sleeping, Trump and his Overlord got together. A reporter shouted to Trump about warning Putin "not to meddle" in the 2020 election. Trump replied: "Yes, of course, I will", which caused Putin to laugh. Trump then mockingly pointed a finger at Putin and said,  "Don't meddle in the election, please." 
  • If English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for those Dirty Libs!
  • I specifically remember my Constitutional Law professor at Baylor lecturing on the "Political Question" doctrine and me thinking that it was a really interesting yet surprising concept. Little did I know that the next time the Supreme Court would use it, and the next time I would think about it, was yesterday in the partisan gerrymandering case. (I just looked up the doctrine and saw there were "six factors" to be used in deciding to invoke the doctrine as set out in Baker v. Carr. I'm sure I memorized those six factors in law school without understanding what they meant. I still don't.)

at 8:29 AM

6.27.2019

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts



  • Our DA's office filed a brief the other day which was well done and very high tech (the PDF even had internal hyperlinks). But I was struck with something in the mandatory "word count" certification at the end:  "WordPerfect X9 was used to prepare this document . . . . " WordPerfect? I had no idea it still existed.
  • A guy died in a Texas prison from heat exhaustion (he had worked outside.)  He was serving a 12 year sentence for Intoxication Manslaughter for killing a 71 year old man riding a motorcycle in Fort Worth. He might have needed to do time for his crime, but he didn't need to die. (And the prison is already blaming methamphetamine use -- something they cannot possibly know with any degree of certainty at this early stage.)
  • Justice Gorsuch, the Trump appointee to the Supreme Court, is now officially a great criminal defendant advocate. Not because of empathy mind you, but because he believes the Bill of Rights actually means something. Yesterday, he wrote for the Court in a child pornography case where federal law required extra years on a sentence when a person violates his parole even though there is no requirement that a jury find he violate the parole.  Just read how this begins (I love the way this guy writes) as he says the law is unconstitutional: 
  • Trump got mad at our nation's premier women's soccer player, Megan Rapinoe, for saying she wouldn't go to the White House. In typical Trump fashion, he tagged the wrong person in his Tweet. (He has the nuclear codes.)
  • And this is today's America: An American competes on the world stage representing the world's beacon of freedom, expresses her opinion, and then that nation's leader slaps her down for all the world to see. 
  • Is it proper for a Texas D.A. to brag about how one of his county's juries didn't really spend time thinking about a case?
  • A school district outside of Texas has now set first year teacher salaries at $60,000.
  • "A substitute teacher has been fired from El Campo High School in El Campo, Texas, after she uploaded several videos of her . . .  inside the school to a porn site. According to KPRC in Houston, the woman — who had been with the district for about three months — was fired, although no charges have been filed. 'We can’t find a law that she violated,' El Campo police Chief Terry Stanphill said."  I think he's right. I can't think of any crime.
  • What happens in your head when you calculate 27+48? For me, I go 20+40=60. 7+8=15. And then 60+15=75. (The link has far more ways people do it than I would have thought.)
  • Legal nerd alert: Here's an update to the unintended consequences of Texas's new marijuana law which changed the definition of marijuana based upon the amount of THC. We now have dismissals in Tarrant County with 235 cases no longer in existence. Here we go:
    • The new law makes the possession of weed to only be a crime if it contains  0.3% THC. It was passed to make it clear that stuff like CBD oil is legal. 
    • But it had unintended consequences because simple marijuana possession cases now require the State to prove that the weed it actually illegal. That is, it's got have more THC than 0.3%. Hey, probably 99% of all weed possession cases meet that threshold, but it will now take a lab report to prove it.
    • In the past, marijuana cases would be filed without the weed even being sent to the lab because the case could technically be proven with a cop saying, "Yep, I know weed when I see it and that was weed." Yeah, it's nice to have a lab report to cover all basis, but technically the State didn't need it. (That's been the law since at least 1956.)
    • Now the part I'm confused about. The new law took effect of June 10th. Normally, any changes in criminal law concern offenses occurring on or after a law's effective date. But these Tarrant County cases, if the story is correct, are being dismissed because they were filed after June 10th regardless of when the offense was committed.  That's confusing especially since the DA said in the story that the cases could be refiled if they get a lab report showing that the weed had the requisite amount of THC. 
    • So why dismiss them at all? Why not just keep them pending and wait for the lab (even if that could take a while). She seems to be bothered that the cases have been filed without a lab report -- something that used to be commonplace. You wouldn't file a cocaine case without a lab report. So I guess the DA is saying, "I don't want to charge someone with violating the marijuana possession law unless we are sure that they actually violated it by possession weed with 0.03% THC or higher." Once again, for offenses committed before June 10th, it shouldn't matter. Maybe she is just being cautious. 
    • You want to know what the biggest problem going forward? Lab costs. Specifically, who is going to pay for it in simple marijuana cases? The agency or the prosecutor? This is going to be a major, major issue. 
    • If I remember correctly, this used to be a problem in Wise County because the weed in every marijuana case was actually sent to the lab. It's was just the common practice. However, some agency balked at paying for every lab report (I can't remember which one).  I think the problem was resolved by a policy change by the prosecutor where weed wasn't sent to the lab unless it looked like a case was actually headed towards trial.  But if every case now has to go to the lab, and it does, the cost is a big problem. 
    • There have been exactly 150 misdemeanor marijuana cases filed this year in tiny Wise County as of yesterday. That is 25.15% of all of their cases. Houston, we have a problem.  It's going to be a financial standoff.
    • Could Texas practically legalize marijuana because no one wants to pay the lab costs so no marijuana case can be successfully prosecuted?
  • Bad lawyer (allegedly):
  • This is literally right out of a Black Mirror episode ("Hated in the Nation") or  kind of like the robotic spiders of the police out in Minority Report but smaller and with the ability to fly:
  • Trump is in Japan but before he left a reporter asked him what he would say to Putin about election interference. His response? "None of your business." Incredible. 

at 8:32 AM
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