Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

Still true.

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• What's the first thing the new Republican DA in Tarrant County wants to do? Increase the budget by creating four new higher up positions at a whopping price. "The total personnel cost of the proposal is $847,414 a year." The current county commissioners told him no. For now. 
• And it's interesting tp guess who he wants to bring in: "I have people wanting to come back to this DA’s office to work these cases." 
   
  
  
  
• The jury gets this case today. The most important thing I want to know is what's going to be in the Court's jury instructions.  I'll try to capture them this morning.
  
  
  
• Think about how different this case is from the Amber Guyger case - but the key difference might not be obvious. What got her convicted was not that she went to the wrong apartment. Nope. It was that even if we believe she thought she was in her own apartment (she did), the jury found there was no need to use deadly force against an unarmed Botham Jean.
• And there's the big difference!
• Aaron Dean testified he saw Atatiana Jefferson with a gun (she undisputedly did, in fact, have one) and mistakenly took her for the intruder. Unless the State can disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the last sentence is not true, the jury has to cut him loose. 
• And he's in much better shape because we don't have the factual messiness of the Guyger case. He was on duty. He was responding to a burglary in progress call. He was where he was supposed to be. He was acting in good faith. Unlike Guyger, that backdrop sets him up to get a huge pass for making mistakes -- especially mistakes in the line of duty.
• All the testimony of "experts" yesterday about "proper police procedure" was really irrelevant. It boils down to whether Dean was reasonably in fear for his life and, more importantly, whether the State can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he did not believe that. That's a hell of a burden of proof.
• This should be a not guilty verdict. Ten years ago it wouldn't have even been indicted. 
• Two thoughts about this story: (1) The recommendation needs the  approval of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, and I'm not 100% sure that's going to happen. (2) What's up with the glamor shot of one of the Texas Seven?
  
  
  
• The federal law guaranteeing that every state must recognize same sex and interracial marriage lawfully conducted in any other state was signed into law yesterday. The Supreme Court can no longer take that right away. The White House last night:
  
  
  
• New Chief of Staff Mark Meadows' texts related to the Trump Coup are being released this week. The one below might be my favorite so far. Once the audio was released of Trump trying to strong arm the Georgia Secretary of State ("I just want to find 11,780 votes,") in order to steal the election (still freaking amazing), Congressman Fred Keller came up with a plan to lie about what Trump's crime. Yes, Trump was really just a secret double agent. It was a Confederacy of Dunces.
  
  
  
• News began to circulate last night that death row inmates in Texas now have access to iPads and email, with some limitations. 
  
  
  
• This was confirmed by the author of a book I just read who is a former drug-related inmate and now a criminal justice reporter.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I suspect not everyone is as thrilled as those two ladies. 
• One faithful reader pointed out to me that I shouldn't have been surprised that Don Huffines would have been Kari Lake's chief of staff in Arizona. Huffines arranged for her to fund raise in Colleyville of all places in September:
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Thinking about the old Texas Monthly cover.
  
  
  
• Messenger: Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of Sandy Hook. Above is what I posted that morning which was the first indication I had of how bad it was. Those numbers turned out to be exactly right. 

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• Athena Strand tidbits I've picked up.
• It looks like Bill Ray of Fort Worth has been court appointed as the defendant's attorney per county records.
• The feeling I'm getting is that authorities do not believe portions of the original confession are true -- I mentioned Friday that I didn't believe parts of it either. 
• There is a subsequent statement given by the defendant.  I don't know what's in it. 
• Nothing like waking up to a tornado warning. Decatur even fired off the warning sirens at 7:12 a.m. The official warning was set to expire at 7:45 . . . 
  
  
  
• . . . but they refined and narrowed the area to east of Decatur around 7:20 a.m.
  
  
  
• Edit: There are some reports of damage southeast of Decatur. This looks like a video of roof damage.  Here's a video with some very colorful Wise County language of what appears to be two guys filming a tornado this morning.
• Edit: This is the bulletin from FEMA hot off the presses. We've got a possible serious injury.
  
  
  
• Edit: 287 south of Decatur closed due to debris (?) per National Weather Service at 8:29 a.m.  And FM 703 south of Decatur is closed due to downed power lines and debris.
• Two people were injured, but not killed, in a small plane crash in Carrollton last night. Honestly, I'm surprised these images are from the same story but they are. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• I told you I thought the officer in his Fort Worth murder trial should testify, and he did. This should be enough to obtain a not guilty verdict. But don't run off to Vegas to bet big money on it.
  
  
  
• Crypto is a scam.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• "Let me just have a grand jury indict a guy with two of the most heinous offenses imaginable, destroy his life, and then just dismiss the cases later for 'insufficient evidence'." - Some prosecutor's attitude in this case.
  
  
  
• Even an arrest that doesn't result in charges causes immeasurable damage. From yesterday:
  
  
  
• I thought I was keeping up with the chaos out there, but I completely missed that the El Paso District Attorney flat out resigned a few days ago. A capital murder case against a mass murderer is just languishing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Special Master is officially gone in Trump's Document Case after an appellate court had to tell a renegade federal judge she was out of her mind for not dismissing the case from the beginning. She dutifully complied yesterday. All she did was muck up the works for a couple of months. 
  

  

  
  
  
  
• Holy cow. Crazy Texas's own Don Huffines would have become crazy Kari Lake's chief of staff.
  
  
  
• And how crazy is Huffines? Here's a recent example: 
  
  
  
• Wow. It was just announced Mike Leach has now passed away. He was 61. 

Random Monday Morning Thoughts

The fallout to the Intoxication Manslaughter wreck involving the Dallas Cowboy was big news

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• This does not sound good at all. It's heart-breaking. He is 61. 
  
  
   
• Breaking news out of the University of Texas:
  

  

  
  
  
  
• WFAA had a report on the story behind the casket. A private funeral was Friday followed by a cremation afterwards.
  
  
  
• Motorcyclists road from Azle to Wise County yesterday.
  
  
  
• "Brady lists . . .  are compiled and maintained by prosecutors to monitor law enforcement misconduct and disclose information pertaining to the credibility of law enforcement personnel to counsel during the course of a trial." Also included in the list is a former Bowie police officer and a Chief Deputy from that neck of the woods.
  
  
  
• A QAnon sitting member of Congress said on Friday that she could have won the Insurrection if she and Steve Bannon had been in charge because the rioters would have all been armed. Video. Incredible. January 6th was just a test run. They'll do it again. The proof is right there in front of us. 
  
  
  
• The guy on the left got 4 years on Friday. It's not enough. The guy on the right has pled guilty and expected to receive the same sentence. 
  
  
  
  
• Elon Musk, who is acting crazier and crazier, goes forward with his pay-for-a-blue-checkmark plan today, but it will cost more than he initially said. 
  
  
  
• The Texas legislature keeps getting dumber and dumber.
  
  
  
• As we head to a future right out of Black Mirror . . . 
  
  
  
• $858 billion for one year, and we don't even blink an eye anymore. And historically about 55% of that goes to private contractors like Lockheed-Martin. It truly is a military–industrial complex.
  
  
  
• Clean up a couple of mistakes and Decatur could have won that thing. 
  
  
  
• One of the wildest games of the year was Friday night in the lower playoff division with Incarnate Word coming out a winner.
  
  
  
• Weather: A dry cold front comes in for the last half of the week.