- Today, for only the third time in our nation's history, the President of the United States will be impeached. (The vote should be in the late afternoon or early evening.)
- He fired off a Tweet-In-A-Letter yesterday which had more exclamation points than a high school break up letter. It needs to be displayed in the National Archives if for no other reason that to show how absolutely insane this time in history was.
- For a man who cares about the "Trump brand" more than anything else, he can't be having a good day.
- And since I am Fair and Balanced™:
- I've got questions.
- And even more questions.
- The Christmas light on the Wise County courthouse aren't kept on overnight or fired up for the early morning hours before dawn. (I've got a $6.99 outlet timer for mine.)
- Former North Texas State coach Hayden Fry has died. That's a name I heard all the time as a kid, but never really knew much about. Yesterday I was surprised to learn that he was born in Eastland and played football at Baylor. But the most confusing part was learning that after graduating from Baylor he joined the Marines and played football again for the "Quantico Marines" who went to the Poinsettia Bowl. Let me tell you something; I had never heard of the Quantico Marines but, I'll forego Space Force to bring that college team back. (It was disbanded in 1973.)
- The Division I Six Man Championship high school football game starts at 11:00 a.m. in Jerry World. Not only will it be televised, but they'll have the overhead skycam on duty. McLean (13-1) vs. Blum (12-2). I thought I'd look up downtown Blum, population 444, on Google Streetview:
- I completely missed that the kidnapping in the Bronx of a 16 year old caught on security cam was a hoax. I mean, I didn't even know about the kidnapping. The whole thing sounds weird. I didn't need any more questions.
- Apparently it is early signing day for college football recruiting. All the schools are tweeting its signings this morning with cool graphics and highlight clips. Baylor is using muppets. That is, the player's voice is heard through a muppet. I think I'm OK with this.
- Messenger: Above the Fold
- This front page makes me think of the Butterfly Effect on that lady.
- The "Wise County Crime Report" published by the Messenger is a collection of incidents responded to by the Wise County Sheriff's Office. Normally they are funny or goofy but every now and then I'll see something newsworthy. A faithful reader sent me one yesterday which is more than worthy of multiple bullet points. Preface: If you are a, "If you ain't doing nothing wrong, you ain't got nothing to worry about" person, you can move along.
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- In that blurb, somewhat innocently, we learn the Sheriff's Office uses "The Vigilant System" (not "Vigilante" but "Vigilant" -- although I justifiably keep reading it that way) that not only reads your license plate but also links into some kind of database of other license plate reader entries.
- We learned in this one random drug story that the system reading the license plate is capable of informing a deputy that the vehicle had been "in South Carolina within the last two weeks along with a trail back to California." Wow.
- What's the reason it's a big deal? First, I've read hundreds of WCSO reports over the years (and DPS reports) and not once have they mentioned The Vigilant System. I've suspected it existed, but I've never seen it admitted it print. (I really want to know how the Messenger reporter so easily stumbled on this information.)
- I'll admit that a license plate reader in a cop car isn't that big of a deal in itself. The cop can read your license plate with his own eyes. But it's the collection of data that The Vigilant System hooks into that really gets my attention.
- For years, I've suspected there are data collecting license plate readers not only in cop cars but also along the side of the road that we might not even be aware of. Heck, some are obvious. I've mentioned a couple of times about the reader over 287 as you are about to merge with southbound I-35 right past Harmon Road in Fort Worth. Even if you don't take the new toll road (by exiting to the left), you go under a license plate reader before you merge onto the normal/free I-35. Why?
- You know what I think really happened in this case? Before the stop for the "equipment violation", the deputy's car automatically scanned a car's license plate and it told him him it had been from South Carolina to California. That car obviously had had its license plate scanned by other cops and/or license plate readers above/along highways in other states and counties and fed into a database. The deputy then wanted to stop the vehicle because we've got a cross country traveler and cross country travelers might/possibly/who-really-knows-if-they-do have drugs on them. But you can't stop someone for simply traveling cross country so he stopped the vehicle for an "equipment violation." From there he asked for consent to search and, when refused, brought in the magic drug dog.
- But this is what is happening all the time in Wise County and here's the bigger picture ever since Colorado has legalized weed: We've got Sheriff's deputies, who used to promptly respond to burglaries and disturbances of rural Wise County citizens, patrolling 287 in cars equipped with The Vigilant System. If the System alerts them that the car is coming from Colorado, they find a pre-text reason to stop the car like an "equipment violation." Others include: Three miles over the speed limit (I've seen it), in Left Lane Not Passing (that's a big one), and Changing Lanes Without Signaling. They then ask questions unrelated to the traffic stop of questionable constitutionality, persuade the driver into giving consent, and, if they don't get it -- and praying that a judge will say they have a "reasonable suspicion" to justify continuing to detain the driver -- bring in a drug dog of questionable skills which always seems to "hit" even on drugs that don't produce a smell (i.e, Colorado edibles, "vacuum sealed" weed, or pills.)
- Legally speaking, the most critical aspect of the cop's interaction with the driver in that scenario is the moment he doesn't consent to search. At that point, the cop must write him a ticket/warning and let him go unless there is a reasonable suspicion to continue to detain him for other possible crimes. That's what bugs me about the "secret" existence of the Vigilant System. It's the real reason why the cop stopped the car and wants to search it in the first place. But they can't legally do that on Vigilant data alone. That's why every report I've read doesn't mention it. Instead, I read "independent" reasons like "the driver seemed nervous", "his carotid artery was pulsing" (yep, really), he "wouldn't make eye contact", and "breathing heavily." Throw in a past arrest for weed or a passenger not giving the exact same explanation as to "where you headed" or "where you been?" and they try to create the existence of reasonable suspicion. Sure they might throw in that the driver told them they were coming from Colorado (heaven forbid!) to try and bolster their claim of a "reasonable suspicion" but the cops already knew that from the start.
- For all of you who like legal stuff, all of this is right out of Rodriguez vs. United States. Read it with the above scenario in mind and ask yourself: What exactly can the cops legally do once they stop you? (And are the questions of "Where you headed to" and "where you been" really related to the purpose of the traffic stop?)
- Should you care about all this? You should. But I can't make you. And I suspect most of you won't. It's the new human nature not to care about anything unless it impacts you directly.
- And you want to know the scary part? I only learn about the cases where drugs are found. You and I aren't going to hear about the guy coming through the county for work or for vacation who was subjected to an hour long search of his personal stuff -- a search that led to the discovery of nothing and the driver is sent on his way. But you'll dang sure see it happen if you drive up and down 287 with any frequency.
- #RantOver
- In other normal bullet points:
- The Richard Jewell movie bombed with only $5 million at the box office.
- A concurring opinion came out from the Fifth Circuit by a Trump appointee which is a Pro-Life proponent's dream.
- I don't know why this makes me giggle so much:
- A month ago, there was a school bond election in Midland that passed by 11 votes. Now they found another ballot box full of votes.
- Bad lawyer.
- Yesterday, “Curtis Flowers walked out of jail at 4 p.m. Monday, 23 years, six trials, and four death sentences after the day he first walked in.” That's a lot to digest. If you want to go down a rabbit hole, start researching this case where the same Mississippi DA kept excluding blacks from the jury, getting reversed, and doing it all again. The Supreme Court, just last year, was the most recent court to reverse his conviction.
- Let me go back to the "No Defense Defense" case in the Lottery/Sexual Assault Case in Wichita Falls. Remember when I said I thought this had occurred before out of Collin County? A faithful reading lawyer from Abilene pointed out that not only did it occur but the case actually went to the Court of Criminal Appeals. So what happened with it?
- Calling the case "rare", the court reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial.
- But it was a 5-4 decision.
- That case involved a DWI prosecution where the defendant was convicted and received an 18 months probation. That attorney still appealed claiming the defendant was only convicted because of his ineffective assistance of refusing to do anything and he swore/asserted/promised he sat silent because he wasn't ready for trial. Did the court believe him?
- But wouldn't a reversal of the conviction just encourage other lawyers to do the same thing? The court didn't thinks so. Future lawyers (1) could be punished by the State Bar, (2) they could get sued, (3) the trial court could hold them in contempt
- Did the DWI lawyer suffer any consequences in that case?
- So what happens out of Wichita Falls? Will it be reversed, too? I have no idea. If not, are we OK with just affirming a life sentence in situations like this? But what can the appellate court say on appeal when the lawyer argues, "Hey, I was in the exact same position as that Collin County DWI lawyer, and I did the same thing he did. You took that lawyer 'at his word' so what about me? Is my word less valuable? Why not?"
- Any chance he gets a spot with Hannity/Levin/Limbaugh to discuss how the liberal media doesn't understand Federalism, States' rights, and the 10th Amendment?
- Naval cadets on ESPN's GameDay flashed the White Power symbol. (Video.) In response, "U. S. Naval Academy officials have appointed a preliminary inquiry officer to conduct an internal investigation into the hand gestures . . . . " (And, no, it's not a "punch me game" played by kids. And any cadet who is so dumb to not know it's a racist symbol doesn't deserve to be in the Academy. Spoiler alert: They aren't that dumb.)
- Trump was especially grumpy this weekend when a new Fox News poll showed that 54% of the public wants him impeached.
- I told you he was grumpy.
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| #BeBest |
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| Flashback |
- This is a case out of San Antonio. It's pretty wild.
- In other true crime, I began reading this 2017 book this weekend. I had always heard about the Austin Yogurt murders but never got into the detail about it. Murder. Arson. DNA. Sloppy police work. Bodies arranged. Bad memories. False convictions. A continuing mystery to this day.
- Mac Thornberry, the Congressman who represents a portion of Wise County in a district which is bigger than many states, announced a couple of months back he wouldn't seek re-election. Did a couple of people file to take his place? Yep. More than a few:
- OAN is getting to the bottom of this Ukraine controversy by swearing in some Ukrainians on TV. Really.
- And Rudy was also there! Russia was so impressed that they replayed the OAN segment on their State TV. And Trump wonders why most of America wants him impeached.
- The Hallmark Channel has announced that it's sorry it pulled a commercial showing a wedding of two women and has reinstated it. You can see the commercial here. (NSFW!: I'm not sure, but it might be as graphic as a Stormy Daniels' tape.) And Merry Christmas to Zola who received the biggest gift this season that any advertiser could hope for.
- If you bet on Redskins to cover or the Under in Falcons/49ers, you lost on two crazy last plays of the game -- scores which were otherwise meaningless. The Eagles, who were already winning, scored on a fumble on the last play of the game to win by 37-27 when the line was Redskins +6.5. (Video.) And the Falcons, who were also already winning, recovered a fumble in the end zone on the last play of the game, a kickoff, to win 29-22 when the Over/Under line was 49.5. (Video)
- Messenger: Above The Fold (Side note: They've been slow getting their Update up every morning the last few days.)
- Well, after 20 minutes of jury deliberations, the defendant in the Lottery Sexual Assault case received life in prison yesterday. Final thoughts:
- The case had some bad, bad facts with evidence of abuse of other victims. It had Life in Prison potential written all over it regardless of the defense strategy.
- "According to court documents, [the defense team] pursued a no-defense defense in hopes of winning on appeal." I'm still confused by this. I want to see those documents.
- Edit: I found this in a different story: "Barbieri claimed a 'last-minute document dump' from prosecutors meant they couldn't give Carlile the effective defense he is constitutionally entitled to, according to court records. Barbieri and Nimz even filed a motion to withdraw as Carlile's attorneys Dec. 3, saying they were unprepared for trial. Fudge denied it."
- I don't think I've ever written, deleted and revised so many bullet points about one subject like I did about this case yesterday. If I knew 100% the reason behind the "no- defense defense," I'd probably have some hot opinions. But I've got to reserve judgment because I don't know exactly what is going on.
- Rightly or wrongly, this story has the absolute potential to go national. The headline, "Lawyers Charge $600,000 And Do Nothing As Client Receives Life In Prison," while perhaps misleading, is the the type of thing that goes viral.
- Folks out of Austin were already taking notice last night. Below is a tweet from TDCAA (prosecutor's organization). But TCDLA (the defense organization) quickly fired back in the thread pointing out that TDCAA "knows nothing about the procedural posture of the case" and "two of the best defense lawyers in the state [received] a rousing small-town experience."
- TCDLA also referred to the defense lawyers as "Ken Paxton's lawyers." I didn't know that.
- Trump set a record with 248 tweets and retweets yesterday. Anyone else gets fired for jacking around that much of his work day, right? Here's his tweet numbers by month (not including this month.)
- Hey, moms and dads who have kids with difficulties, he decided to mock a 16 year old girl on the autism spectrum. That is not normal from an adult. Any adult. #BeBest
- Her quick response shows she's smarter than he is:
- My staple of "And Another" bullet points have slowed down because they don't seem to be making the news as much. But we had one out of Oklahoma worthy of note because of the regular photo vs. book-in photo contrast.
- Wise County had an interesting case filed in JP2 yesterday (CR-19-02221-2) for "THREATENED SPECIES UNLAWFULLY TAKEN (TIMBER RATTLE SNAKE)."
- That reminded me of one of the weirdest moments in Wise County Criminal Justice history. I was at the DA's house for a fantasy football draft and innocently posted a picture of him killing a snake which had come slithered up near the house (where kids were around.) The Game Warden saw it online, decided that it was an endangered snake, and wrote him a citation. And he paid it!
- People make errors in judgment. We've all done things we regret. And it's very common for very, very good people to get arrested for DWI -- I've met thousands of them. But I don't know a single one of them who would accuse someone else in a public forum -- much less mock them -- for having a substance abuse problem. Yesterday, Florida
Man Congressman Matt Gaetz did it as Trump nears impeachment. He was quickly slapped down.
- The Aggies are treating the Baylor mascot who has been diagnosed with a benign tumor. Really.
- The impeachment process is certainly weird when the jury foreman is already working with the defendant's lawyers before the trial begins. He really could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and the result would be the same. They don't care.
- Did I mention Zeke's new contact of $50 million guaranteed yesterday? Worth it?
- The firing of Star's coach Jim Montgomery is still a mystery. If I heard Tyler Seguin on The Ticket correctly, everything was fine at a Christmas Party the night before the firing -- a firing which he thinks went down at around 6:00 a.m. So what "unprofessional conduct" happened during the short window of time? (And I get the feeling that a lot of the people in the media know but, for whatever reason, aren't saying.)
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