Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

You don't hear the James Taylor version very often.

---

• The Liberally Lean Winter First Alert Weather Team™ has issued a Triple Weather Bomb Cold Alert™.  As I hit the publish button with the winds howling and the temperatures falling . . .  

  

  Not sure what that sun is doing there

  
  
  
  
  
• Look at what it did to the temperature in a 30 to 40 minute window in Cheyenne, Wyoming yesterday:
  
  
  
• Three new charges have appeared against Tanner Horner. All we know is that they are out of Tarrant County and "Court records indicate the offenses occurred in 2013 — one in June, one in August and one in December." There was a lady on Facebook who was vocal about an assault years ago, but she described it as a one time incident.
  
  
  
  

  
• He has returned.
  
  
  

  

  Him

  
  

  

  Not him. Don't know what happened to him.

  
  
• Southbound I-35 in North Fort Worth was shut down for over an hour this morning around Heritage Trace.  Also, here's a random Dallas wreck this morning that looks like a mess.
  
  
  
• You can tell it's holiday season because the one lone local TV reporter on duty has been sent to DFW Airport to cover the "rush of travelers." That's just filler. (And the airport rush is a myth I've yelled about for years.)
  
  
  
• But poor Dan Godwyn got sent out by Fox 4 this morning to stand beside a highway to talk about the electric grid. 
  
  
  
• A reminder that a wild mystery still exists.
  
  
  
• I don't have any trouble with this. If you sue me,  I'm not letting you on my private property either.  
  
  
  
• The most interesting part of the story is the facial recognition software. The lawyer is just part of the firm working on the lawsuit "but is not directly involved" in the litigation. I suppose that the firm's online photo roster was scanned and that's how she was detected. Pretty wild.
• I love NBC's headline. It's not a lawyer who was kicked out, but a "girl scout mom."
  
  
  
• Legal nerd stuff. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals agreed to hear a case yesterday, but this is the way the winner at the lower court framed the issue in an attempt to persuade the court to decline the review.
  
  
  
• Over the top legal nerdy stuff: If you are a criminal practitioner who deals with Rodriguez "prolonged detention" issues, check out this blog post which cites this opinion. Sure it's a state court opinion from Idaho which we normally wouldn't give the time of day, but it is getting lots of attention nationwide. The opinion's author created and discussed the second by second chart of the traffic stop reprinted below. It maps out the irrelevant questions which were asked by the officer and when a drug dog was called in, without reasonable suspicion, and "hit" on the car (as they always do). The State won in that case, but only by 20 seconds.  Good stuff. I've done this type of mapping myself. The State won't always win when you do this. 
  
  
  
• With all the remembrances of Franco Harris and the Immaculate Reception yesterday, I saw this photo again. It really is amazing that he got to the ball.
  
  
  
• Clemson coach Dabo Swinney with the quote of the year yesterday: "We built this program on NIL . . . . In God's name, image, and likeness." (Video.)   

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

The joys of Christmases past. "Fort Worth police estimate 300-400 people crammed on top of each other and pushed their way to the entrance to try to secure a spot in line for Nike's newest shoe -- the Air Jordan Retro 11.  The shoes cost around $200 . . . . "

---

• Let me tell you, I seriously whiffed on this one. I didn't think he would be convicted, and if convicted, I thought he would get probation. 
  
  
  
• Introspection on how I got it wrong: (1) I still don't think he would have been convicted in Wise County, but I misjudged that Tarrant County is no longer anything like Wise County -- assuming it ever was, (2) For almost all of my career, criminal charges for "mistakes" were unheard of. Now the public, and juries it seems, welcome it. (3) I thought cops would still always be given the benefit of the doubt. 
• I'm torn on the bizarre particulars of the sentence of 11 years, 10 months and 8 days. I don't know if is the result of reasoned consideration or a jury being a bit too cute. 
  
  
  
• When it first happened:
  
  
  
• I said the other day that I thought there was a serious chance the case gets reversed on appeal because the shooting was an intentional and not a reckless act. I'm now rethinking that. I'm not sure the elected judges on the Fort Worth Court of Appeals would have the nerve to do it.  It's just a political fact of life. You can serve forever in obscurity on a Texas appellate court unless you do something to call attention to yourself. 
• Trump's tax returns have been released if interested. For reference, he took office in 2018:
  
  
  
• Ukraine President Zelensky is making a surprise visit to D.C. today to make an address to a joint session of Congress. Serious question: Are any of the Representatives and Senators there? I would think they would have left for the holidays. Edit: They may be in town for last second budget stuff.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Wichita Falls news where an ex-deputy was found not guilty of Official Oppression.  Reading between the lines: The story says it was a trial before a judge and not a jury. The only way that happens is if both the defendant and the State agree to waive a jury. This tells me the State pretty much thought it was a lost cause but didn't have the guts to dismiss it.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The Washington Post, in a fantastic multi-media presentation, reported yesterday only two ambulances made it to Uvalde Elementary one hour after the shooting started. And no one was Careflighted to a remote hospital. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Checking in on Fox News to see what they were outraged about yesterday.
  
  
  
• Here is 40 seconds of fantastic MAGA craziness as they celebrate a judge's ruling in the Kari Lake election challenge. 
• The judge actually tossed 8 of 10 claims but will allow Lake to try and prove that election workers intentionally fixed the election.  It's a guaranteed loss. From the ruling: "The Court takes no position as to the evidentiary weight it will give Plaintiff’s proffered experts at trial and notes that, at trial, it must indulge all reasonable assumptions in favor of the election when weighing the evidence before it."  It's over. But the video of delusion is great fun. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
• This is a big one for my generation. He was a Super Bowl killer for the Cowboys. "Harris' death comes just two days before the 50th anniversary of the 'Immaculate Reception' [video] and three days before the Pittsburgh Steelers planned to retire his number [at their game on Saturday]." I once visited, and took photos of, the site of the Immaculate Reception which is now on a sidewalk outside the new Pittsburgh stadium.
  
  
  
• It's college national signing day. I'm not even paying attention because I'm too mature for that. <checks screen> Wait. I'm I'm being told that an 18 year old has just ruined my Christmas. 
  
  
  
• With the transfer portal, I suppose National Signing Day is actually just an announcement of a one year commitment. 
• Messenger - Above the Fold

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

Everyone got bent out of shape over a video showing a full body cavity search of a woman who was stopped by a DPS trooper for throwing out a cigarette. A lawsuit followed which was settled six months later for $185,000.

---

• A Criminal Referral that was well deserved. Democracy was on the brink. A hammer needs to fall. Hard.
  
  
  
• And it is not only only about the riot on January 6th where he brought his MAGA minions to DC because with the promise that it was going to "be wild" -- prefaced by telling the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" on national TV. 
• It's also about the 187 minutes -- as the rest of us watched in horror -- where he did nothing other than to rile the crowd up with a tweet about Mike Pence. 
• It was prior to that day when he attempted to coerce Mike Pence to throw out the constitutionally submitted electoral votes. 
• It was the actual submitting of Fake Electors.
• It was tampering with the will of the Georgia people by telling its Secretary of State to  "find 11780 votes."
• It was his continuous lie, taken from the toolkit of Nazi propaganda wars, that he won the election. 
• We finally heard from Trump-favorite Hope Hicks yesterday. She said those around Trump told him to send out a tweet before January 6th to tell the mob not to be violent. He refused. And there are texts to back her up.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Rumor on the streets is that local Methodist churches, especially in Bridgeport, are having some big time fights. It's about an issue sweeping the country.  
  
  
• That's a long time to deliberate on punishment -- especially on Christmas week. They decided to spend another night in a hotel and come back today.  
  
  
  
• This is how it works. Legal nerd warning. 
• The jury has to pick a prison time number between 2 and 20 years. Even if they want to give him probation, they still have to pick a number. 
• The punishment verdict form will tell them that if they want to give him probation, however, that (1) the number they pick must be between 2 and 10 years and (2) they have to indicate by their verdict that probation should be granted.
• If they grant probation, the judge sets the length of that probation. He has a cap of 10 years, but that's what I'd guess the judge would do. So you could theoretically have a sentence of, say, 5 years in prison (the number the jury picked) probated for 10 years (the number the judge picks). In that scenario, if Dean violates the probation during the 10 years, he would then he is subject up to the jury sentence of 5 years, but not longer than that.
• If the jury grants probation, the judge cannot overrule them. But he can be sneaky and order a maximum of 180 days in the local county jail as a condition of the probation. 
• What if they can't agree on punishment and are hung? That's possible. In that scenario, the Manslaughter conviction still stands and there could be another jury empaneled for the sole purpose of deciding the punishment.  But he can never be retried for Murder. He was acquitted on that once the jury found him guilty only of Manslaughter. 
• If Dean is sentenced to prison instead of probation,  how long will he actually serve? This is the extremely nerdy part.
• Normally, I would say he has to serve one-half of his actual sentence before becoming eligible for parole. And I'll still say that.
• But I only hesitate because I've not heard anything about there being a "deadly weapon finding" which must be present in order to trigger the 1/2 rule. It's automatic for Murder, but not for Manslaughter. If there is not a deadly weapon finding, he has to serve only 1/4 of his time but he also gets good conduct time (normally three to four days for one real day) calculated into that 1/4.
• I'm stunned I haven't' heard anything about a deadly weapon finding. The only thing I can think of is that the jury specifically found him guilty of using a "firearm" when they found him guilty of the lesser included offense of Manslaughter. If so, that's the equivalent of a deadly weapon finding and the 1/2 rule applies. But I've not heard if the Court's charge/instructions were that specific.
• If there is a prison sentence, can he get out of the hoosegow pending appeal by posting an appeal bond? 
• Generally, if the prison sentence is for less than 10 years, a person is entitled to an appeal bond. (See art. 44.04(b)). 
• But the appeal bond is not mandatory in that situation (as a case released last week by the appellate court in Fort Worth pointed out, see footnote 4) -- the judge can still deny it in his discretion. (See art. 44.04(c)).
• But that same statute also says that you can never get an appeal bond if you are convicted for any offense listed in art. 42A.054. And although Manslaughter is not listed in it, that article also includes any felony where the jury has found the defendant used a deadly weapon.  Again, that's why a deadly weapon finding is important, and I'm bugged I've not read anything about it.
• Bottom line: I don't think he is getting out pending appeal if he receives any amount of prison time. 
• In Trophy Club? YouTube video. He backed off the accelerator in a hurry or this could have actually have been bad.
  
  
  
• Missing Aggie:
  
  
  
• You knew it was coming. The grift from Kari Lake officially began yesterday. It's always about the grift, and the preying on the gullible, with these people.
  
  
  
• Trump may end up making her wife #4. Video.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• The difference between the big ailments out there right now:
  
  
  
• And another x 2.
  
  
  
• Below is an example from yesterday yesterday of why the Transfer Portal is ruining college football. It's how I felt in 2000 when I saw Randall Cunningham start for the Cowboys at QB soon after free agency was brought to the NFL.
  
  
  
• I'm watching the first season of White Lotus. I really like it. And I got an extra jolt when it dawned on me that it has a tinge of being a modern day dark comedy reincarnation of Fawlty Towers.