1.31.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts




I don't think it was/is. But that D.A. wasn't the brightest bulb in the box.

  • The Winter Storm Warning has been extended into Thursday and Wise County is the worst part of it. My Liberally Lean Winter Storm team tells me tomorrow will be the worst day:

  • I-35 northbound at FM 407 just south of Denton last night. A sheet of ice.  

  • Fox 4 had this shot last night of traffic "at a standstill on 287 northbound just at the Tarrant and Wise County line."

  • And if this lady is telling the truth (you never know), 287 in Alvord was/is a mess this morning. She posted this message several times tagging many cities and entities. I presume she also picked up the phone:


  • This seems a little weird from last night.

  • Is there some animal rights activist who works inside the zoo? Something very odd  is going on there.
  • A real photo from Maryland a couple of days ago.
  • I'm a fan of the Zillow Gone Wild account and it featured this Southlake house yesterday. More pics here.

  • Legal country news tidbit: Buried in this story is the statement that Montague County District Judge Jack will retire on May 31st. 
  • Legal dark news: Two young lawyers in different big firms in Houston have died in a murder-suicide. Every story seems to be behind a paywall, but from what I've been able to piece together is that Candace Rechtmann, who worked for a firm called Germer, and Tyler Greenwood, who worked at Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, both died in an apartment in the Montrose area. This link says that they used to date each other and identifies Greenwood as the shooter. Greenwood's profile has been deleted from his firm's profile. Rechtmann's has not.

  • He embarrasses himself every day. 

  • During the Bills/Bengals game on CBS, the network identified the Super Bowl as being be played on February 29th and will be aired by Fox.  The game is actually on February 12th, and there isn't even a February 29th this year. 

  • Thirty years ago today the Cowboys won the Super Bowl over the Bills, 52-17. These photos almost make it surreal. 
    Jerry and Jimmy liked each other.

    Michael Jackson did the halftime show.

    O.J. was working for NBC (and, oddly, did the coin toss.)

  • The Big 12 releases its 2023 football schedule today at 1:00 p.m., but TCU accidentally leaked their schedule last night. Noteworthy is that they don't play OSU or Kansas and, of the new four teams, they play UH and BYU (but not Cincy or UCF.) Others can expect a similar conference format with different matchups. 


at 8:30 AM

1.30.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




How wild this was. An assistant DA in Kaufman County was murdered by his car. And the killer wasn't finished. A couple of months later, the elected D.A. and his wife would be murdered in their home. Here's the Wikipedia page about the whole ordeal which is still hard to believe. Spoiler alert: A former Justice of the Peace was the killer. 

  • The Liberally Lean Weather Center is issuing a Wise County Weather Triple Alert warning. We were supposed to have an official Weather Storm Warning to start today at noon but, in a shocking move, the National Weather Service this morning moved it up to 6:00 a.m. The freezing rain will be on and off today, with the worst of it starting tonight.  I bet every school district in Wise County will be shut down tomorrow, and I think everyone should consider an early release today. 


    • Example of the trouble this morning: Shortly before 6:00 a.m., freezing rain fell on 287 going into Fort Worth.

    • That was due to a small batch of showers which developed and wiped out traffic all along its path. Once again, we will see this all day.


  • Quick hits on the senseless killing of Tyre Nichols in Memphis.
    • If you watch anything of the video, these few seconds of blows to his face should be it. Five cops. They could have had him in cuffs in two seconds. But they played with him so they could beat him for fun. 

       
    • But what did you expect of a group called the "Scorpion Unit"? Good gawd. 
    • Have you heard Trye Nichols speak? He just happened to be interviewed in California. If you thought he was some "hood rat", you're wrong. Link

    • The Google Streetview of the intersection is great. And you can see the camera that just happened to be there which caught it all.


            
  • The unedited video of Nancy Pelosi's husband being attacked with a hammer should make every right wing conspiracy nut ashamed. 

    • The guy swinging the hammer called a local TV station after the video was released on Friday. He said, on recorded audio, "I messed up . . .  I'm so sorry I didn't get more of them." Thoughts and prayers to his lawyer.
  • The MyPillow guy lost his bid to become Chairman of the National Republican Committee. He was so close.

  •  I actually tracked down and watched Trump's speech in New Hampshire this weekend. Let me tell you something, he's wilder than he's ever been. And if you thought he was unhinged from the truth in the past, get ready. He's ramped it. Oh, and he has some nutty ideas: 
  • Wise County's representative in Congress continues to be as nutty as a fruitcake.
  • Lisa Loring, the actress who play the original Wednesday Adams, has passed away. 

  • Wins a National Championship and then comes to the metroplex to rub it in TCU's face. Side note: He was arrested at 6:00 a.m. knocking on doors in a neighborhood.  
  • UT's fired basketball coach has put his house up for sell. Here's the listing. 
  • 80 for Brady looks like the worst movie ever made.


at 8:25 AM

1.27.2023

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

at 2:30 PM

Random Friday Morning Thoughts




Update: He received 90 months in prison and was released in July of 2019. But the man could kick.

  • The video of the beating which led to the man's death will be released this evening on YouTube. The way everyone is asking for calm makes you think it must be very, very bad. 



  • Remember those high gas prices? Chevron suddenly just has billions for a stock buy-back. We're all suckers.

     
  • More Russian bombs dropped on Ukraine . . . 

    • . . . Correction: 

  • Government gigs are the best gigs. Especially when they run you off.  

  • A suspended police officer was found not guilty in Wichita Falls yesterday. You don't have to get too far into the story before you realize why: What a convoluted mess. Defense lawyers were Reagan Wynn of Fort Worth and David Guinn of Lubbock -- pretty big hitters. The special prosecutor was Ted Steinke. (I knew I had heard Steinke's name -- most recently because of his connection to a case involving a wheels off Dallas judge.)

  • Passing courtroom observation. I haven't watched a great deal of the sensational murder trial going on in South Carolina right now against attorney Alex Murdaugh but, from what I've seen, the prosecutor (Creighton Waters) is really, really good.  And everyone's southern accents are fantastic. 

  • Legal nerdy stuff (which is important to criminal practitioners): The other day I received a general Brady notice from the prosecutors office - a notice that something is very wrong with a witness -  concerning a chemist from DPS. He had ended up being sanctioned by DPS for the mishandling of evidence. But get this: I learned yesterday that the the chemist's name does not necessarily appear on the lab report for the case even though the chemist was exclusively in charge of the blood tubes during the process of analysis. There's absolutely no way to know the chemist was involved unless the prosecutor's office tells you. Fortunately, in Wise County, our prosecutors will do this. I bet that's not the case elsewhere. 
  • Legal nerdy stuff: The Fort Worth Court of Appeals yesterday enforced an arbitration clause in a complicated legal malpractice case filed in Wise County. I mention it only because some local lawyers are involved in the litigation (but not the subject of the malpractice claim).
  • This is right on point. Dak had his chance for "the" moment. Instead it was a miserable three and out. 

  • 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, 206 days.
  • Messenger: Above the Fold.

at 8:31 AM
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