12.19.2022

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




As there should have been, there was a ton of fallout from Sandy Hook in the days following the shootings. Back then, I thought this picture would become famous, but it didn't. ("Jillian Soto, identified by USA Today, breaks down as she learns the news about her sister, Victoria Soto, who was killed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. (Jessica Hill/AP)")

  • Thursday won't be pretty, and Friday morning these will be the lows . . .  

    • Right now my Liberally Lean Weather Team™ is projecting the front to hit with a vengeance around 7:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. At that moment, winds will dramatically hit from the north (mostly around 25 mph the rest of the day), and temperatures will drop from the morning high of 42 degrees to 26 degrees by noon, 19 degrees by 4 p.m., and 11 degrees by midnight. 
    • Baylor and Air Force play in Fort Worth in a bowl game on Thursday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. 
  • Oh, my! Not the Baby Jesus!

  • The jury deliberates on punishment today in the Aaron Dean trial, but we had a weird event happen on Friday when a guy was arrested for failing to take the oath as a witness. Video.

    • This is how it went down. He was sitting in the gallery and the defense just stood up and, out of nowhere, "called him as a witness." It's entirely unclear if he had anything of merit to testify about, and he had been seen in groups outside the courthouse demonstrating against the officer. Thinking it was a just a stunt, he refused. The judge then had him arrested under the bizarre pretext of on-the-spot "declaring his bonds insufficient" -- bonds that were in existence on unrelated criminal charges. 
    • Here's the kicker: I don't think he was under subpoena. I'll be honest, I have no idea whether a person has to comply with a defense "request" to be a witness even if that person is sitting in the courtroom. My gut reaction, with doing absolutely no research, is no. 
    • The late Judge Fostel used to amuse me when, during trial, an attorney would ask him if a witness "could be excused" or "could be released" after testifying. Fostel would always ask, "Is he under subpoena?" If the answer was "no", he would always give an answer which implied that he didn't have any control over a witness if they weren't compelled to be in court in the first place. 
  • We had the fourth largest earthquake in Texas history (and the second 5.0+ one one in the last month) on Friday, and most people don't even know about it. 

  • Amber Heard announced moments ago she will settle the defamation suit brought by Johnny Depp which she has on appeal. Her insurance company will pay $1 million.  Bad decision. That was constitutionally protected speech. 
  • Some people go to Christmas parties, drive around and look at Christmas lights, or perhaps stay home and watch It's A Wonderful Life. Others, on the other hand, spent their weekend . . . 

  • Imagine spending $44 billion just to show the world that you are one weird guy. And he might just jack around and end up losing every dime of it before it's all said and done.  

  • The January 6th Committee holds its final meeting today.

  • Elon Musk and Jared Kushner were hanging out at the World Cup final yesterday. No surprise.

  • We've got a new leader in the clubhouse. 
    Graphic source: New York Times.

  • But the QAnon Congresswoman has found a new cause.

  • This may have had a a top five crazy ending to an NFL game late yesterday afternoon. Video.

  • The high school playoffs wrapped up at Jerry World on Saturday. Below was the scene from the media's sunny perch later in the afternoon. (The best of all the 12 games involved China Spring, who beat Decatur in the semis. They were down 21-0 at halftime and came back to win it 24-21 on a last second field goal.)


  • That was really a pretty fancy sign for what was supposed to be a less than ideal area of housing. 

  • This is what I use to select which front page to post every day. Panola County maybe the tiniest publication on that list. It is Carthage to which they refer to here . . .  

at 8:30 AM

12.16.2022

It's Friday -- Let's Get Out of Here

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




A little fun fact that I had forgotten.

  • Let me explain why this is wrong. Stay with me here. 

    • Murder is an intentional act. Manslaughter is not. But let's first be very clear about the legal definition of Murder. It means you intended the "result" (a dead person). It's not that you intended your "conduct" (pulling the trigger.)  You have to focus on whether the defendant intended the result.   In law, that is why murder is considered a "result oriented" crime. I can't stress this enough.
    • There are situations where you could intend to pull the trigger of a gun (conduct) but not intend to kill anyone, yet someone dies (result).  That might be Manslaughter (more about that in a minute), but it's not murder. 
    • Take this situation. You wake up at night in your apartment and see an intruder. If you intend to kill the person, take your gun, and fire at him and kill him, you have committed the act of murder. Now there are a number of legal defenses available to you (self-defense, defense of property), but it starts out as technically murder.
    • But what if you didn't want to kill the intruder but just wanted to scare him? To do so, you fire your gun through the ceiling. Unfortunately, the bullet strikes and kills your upstairs neighbor. Did you legally murder the neighbor? No. Why? Because you didn't intend the result: your neighbor's death.
    • But have you committed Manslaughter? Maybe. Manslaughter is, by definition, an accidental homicide, committed with recklessness. If firing into the ceiling of an apartment complex is a reckless act, then it is Manslaughter if it results in death. 
    • Other manslaughter examples:  Drag racing though a school zone at 3:00 p.m.  but a child dies in a cross walk.  Forgetting your gun was still loaded and pointing it at a buddy and pulling the trigger during stupid horseplay. Screaming "boo" directly behind someone who is standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. In all situations, you didn't intend the death of anyone but you may very well have committed Manslaughter.
    • Now let's go to Aaron Dean. 
    • He testified he saw Jefferson in the home with a gun, thought it was a burglar who was going to kill him, so he shot at that person with the intent to kill them. He intended the result: Her death. That's murder unless he had a defense. The prosecution's case was based 100% on the allegation that he shot at her with the intent to kill her. 
    • And no one -- not the State, not the defense, not the witnesses, not the experts --  disputed he shot at her with the intent to cause her death. 
    • The whole trial was exclusively over the issue of self-defense to the act of murder. It was hotly contested. That's why the prosecutor spent her time putting this slide up during closing argument: 

    • But was Aaron Dean guilty of Manslaughter? No way.  He intended to kill her.  He didn't accidentally kill her by doing something reckless.  Now if he had said, "I didn't intend for my gun to go off" or "I just wanted to fire into the floor to scare her", then it might be Manslaughter if his acts of handling and firing the gun were reckless. But those aren't the facts here. 
    • Neither the State's prosecutors or the defense lawyers even argued to the jury that they should could consider Manslaughter. 
    • People get understandably confused by all of this and say it's Manslaughter because he was "reckless" for assuming the person in the house was an intruder.   While he might have been reckless in his decision-making, it doesn't make it Manslaughter because he still intended the result of death. The fact that he was reckless about determining the identity of who he was shooting at goes instead to the issue of-self defense. See that screenshot above? That's exactly what the prosecutor was arguing: She said Dean did not "reasonably believe" force was necessary because he was unreasonable in assuming it was an intruder he was firing at.
    • So if you been following the Dean story and want to argue "he should have known better!", you aren't arguing that he should be guilty of Manslaughter. Your really saying that his claim of self-defense to murder wasn't justified because he acted unreasonably. A murder conviction would be your only option. 
    • I think there's a good chance the Manslaughter conviction could be reversed and rendered on appeal for insufficient evidence for the reasons explained above. If so, he can't be tried for that again (or Murder, for that matter, because the jury implicitly acquitted him of that.)  Nerdy stuff: I don't think it matters that the defense did not object to the Manslaughter option being submitted to the jury -- they can still raise an insufficient evidence claim on appeal.
    • Final Aaron Dean thought: The jury can give him probation today. They might very well do it. 
  • Whew. Moving on.   
  • The pleadings in the Wise County lawsuit brought by Jacob Stand against Fed Ex and others also has a local lawyer on the pleadings in addition to the New Mexico lawyer: Paul Belew. 
  • In what may be the most embarrassing moment ever from Trump, his "big announcement" yesterday was an NFT scam. For $99 bucks, you can buy one screenshot of the following bad photo-shops. They aren't even real cards. No one grifts more than him. No one insults his MAGA disciples more than him. Even Steve Bannon said he can't take it any more. 




  • Speaking of grift for dollars. I'm sure you've seen the crash of the Lockheed Martin F-35B plane. It ends with the very confusing act of the pilot ejecting after the plane is on the ground. Video.

  • I hope you weren't using 114 through Grapevine yesterday. It was shut down for hours due to a truck fire.

  • Elon Musk went (more) crazy yesterday and started blocking his critics.

    • Hey, it's a private company. He has every right to do this. Just don't lie so badly. Flashback: 

  • This didn't get enough news for all the nutcases out there with their conspiracy theories about the brutal assault of Nancy Pelosi's husband. The video of it was played in court two days ago.

  • The establishment named Roastaurant on the square in Decatur is closing
  • Time which has passed since the Wise County Sheriff's Office, despite having a full male DNA profile, has failed to solve the murder of Lauren Whitener in her home at Lake Bridgeport: 3 years, 164 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold


at 8:32 AM

12.15.2022

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




He eventually would get an 11 year prison sentence. As always, a detailed recitation of the facts can be found in the later appellate court opinion affirming his conviction. He was found to be incompetent three times before finally, and miraculously, being found competent to stand trial.

  • The jury is deliberating in the Aaron Dean case. I'm sure these two prosecutors are good, but they might want to ratchet their closing argument down a bit.  No jury wants to see a prosecutor acting like they are ruled by emotions.


    • Remember I told you what a big burden the prosecution has?  They are in a deep hole when they have to put this instruction in front of the jury during closing to try and explain it. Once again, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that self-defense, or defense of the other officer, did not exist here.

    • The jury was also given the opportunity to convict on Manslaughter (reckless, not intentional, killing). Neither the State or the defense argued to the jury that it should be considered. If the jury convicts him on that, it was a compromise that wasn't justified.
    • Legal nerdy:  I am of the strong belief that the option of Manslaughter shouldn't have been given. No one disputes that the officer intentionally shot and killed Jefferson. It's a self-defense case. It is not a case about whether the death was the result of any form of an accident based upon recklessly handling or firing the gun. If there is no evidence of a reckless killing (there's not), then the option to convict on that lesser-included offense shouldn't have been given.
  • The case is filed in the Wise County district court under cause no. CV22-12-895.

    • The attorney is listed as R. Jason Bowles who lists a primary office in New Mexico. Running him through the Texas State Bar website reveals he is a solo practitioner but lists his practice areas as "Criminal."


  • Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist", has suspended the account of the Twitter bot that tracks his private plane as well as the account of the person behind it.  The plane information is all public record. You can track any plane in the air here. 
    • Flashback:

    • Yesterday, Musk cashed out another $3.58 billion in Tesla stock. That stock is down 51.50% for the year. 
  • What's the next step for our AG? Having them wear a yellow star on their sleeves or some other identifying info? Story.

  • The party might be over for Trump.  A new poll by the Wall Street Journal of Republican likely voters in the primary:
  • But Trump has ratcheted up the cringe. No one knows what this is about . . .  

  • This is the new District Attorney in El Paso now in charge of prosecuting the mass murdered. 

That caption is wrong. He doesn't need Senate confirmation.

  • The gun debate really did end with Sandy Hook. Once we decided that dead elementary school children were acceptable collateral damage, it was over. 
  • We just now getting around to this? 
  • Random chart of how almost all the bowl games are in the south half of the country.
  • Legal civil nerdy stuff: Is "suicide by cop" still "suicide" and thus excluded from life insurance coverage? Held, yesterday: Yes.  Side note: For some reason the beneficiaries in that case stipulated with the insurance company that it was, in fact, "suicide by cop." I don't know why they would want to concede that and not fight it. 


at 8:30 AM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)