9.28.2023

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts




I had forgotten this. The District Attorney who hid evidence in the Michael Morton case, and who was  subsequently elected district judge, was still on the bench after Morton had been exonerated and released from prison in 2011. He didn't resign in disgrace until two years later. He would later be sentenced to a whopping 10 days in jail -- of which he served 5 days.

  • Ok, what's this alleged murder about? The booking into jail occurred yesterday by the Wise County Sheriff's Office shortly before noon.  Pure speculation: It's a juvenile that might have been transferred from juvenile court to adult court.  There was a shooting in Cottondale in 2021 which might be it. But I'm just guessing. (The last name is missing a letter if that is it, however.)

  • A Texas Criminal Justice Play In Two Acts:
    • Act I from January of this year: "The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to reconsider its decision to let a death row inmate be executed even though prosecutors now agree his conviction should be thrown out because it relied on potentially faulty DNA evidence."

    • Act II, yesterday, performed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: "We don't care. Kill him anyway." The vote was 6-3.

    • Encore: I've not seen one single news story about this which seems to be a pretty big deal.
  • Dateline: Houston. This is kind of a reverse Amber Guyger situation.  It sounds like a guy got confused as to which apartment was his and ended up getting shot by the trooper/resident who was inside.

  • Dark headline of the day. 

  • Debate highlights and lowlights:
    • The best three second sound bite from last night's debate came from Nikki Haley.  Here it is. It's funny.
    • The absolutely worst joke of all time came from this guy. Watch. 

    • Second place for worst joke goes to Mike Pence. 
  • Can we all stop down for a second and think about how insane this is? The current Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America is asked for his reaction to the leading contender for the Republican Party suggesting that he should be executed.  Have we lost our minds? How did this become normal? 

  • I follow a Twitter account for the statewide police union, CLEAT, which gives real time missives whenever it dispatches one of its lawyers to go to the scene of an officer involved shooting. This morning: 

  • New and Relevant: From the group that did the podcast series on Southlake, there is a new one on how the Ultra-MAGA extremists took over the Grapevine ISD school board.  

  • Last night we learned we have a Secretary of State who can play the guitar and sing very well. Video.

  • Assistant District Attorney's get in trouble and get arrested all the time. You don't see many assistant United States Attorneys, even former ones, get picked up. 

  • Random sports fact about a guy who drives me nuts. (I just came across this video of the punt return for #3 on 9/28/93. They got that graphic up really quickly.)

  • Messenger - Above the Fold

at 8:30 AM

9.27.2023

Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts




A Bridgeport man paid $943,000 to lease land which gave him the right to make the jump. Alas, it never happened. But some other guy did it. 

  • In a civil penalty case brought by the New York Attorney General against the Trump Organization, a judge has found that Trump fraudulently overvalued his Trump Tower condo and Mar-a-Lago and that a trial wasn't necessary on that issue. My gut reaction was that was a bad look, and that a jury needs to decide it regardless of the merits of the judge's ruling. But for a reason I don't understand, the case was set for a trial next week before that judge and not a jury. So the judge was going to decide the case anyway. Why no jury? Regardless, this will all just play into Trump's campaign of, "They are all out to get me."


  • Oh, my.

  • President Biden supported the autoworkers in their strike yesterday in Michigan.  When I was growing up, unions had a bad reputation in general.  But with the realization, especially by young people, that most workers everywhere are getting screwed, unions now have a popularity rating of 63%.

  • Unlike the crazy Amarillo judge last week, an 84 year old Reagan appointee knows that guys dressing as girls is protected speech and any law prohibiting it better be strictly and constitutionally worded. But now we wait for the crazy Fifth Circuit to get ahold of it. 

  • The Official Liberally Lean Girl dancing with knives has me a tad bit concerned.

  • The cover of The New Yorker is getting lots of attention this week. 

  • This dog knows he's the one dog in America that cops can't shoot, and he is going to take full advantage of it.

  • I can't believe Fox News aired this. Video. I don't think it played out like "Judge Jeanine" thinks it played out. 

  • The Business Second™. A new CarMax will go in right by Alliance Town Center.  How much do you think they paid for a tract of land at I-35 and Heritage Trace (northwest corner)?

  • Ticket Fans: After the Washington Post article about the case, and after the transcript of the TRO hearing was released online yesterday, The Ticket has settled its case against Dan and Jake.  We don't know the terms, but certainly they can continue their podcast, but we don't know if their non-compete preventing them from going to another radio station for few months is still in effect. But, regardless, this has been a PR disaster for the little Ticket. 

  • Extremely very legal nerdy civil stuff: You hardly ever see an opinion out of a Texas appellate court where a writ of mandamus is actually issued instead of a judge just complying with the ruling on his own. But it happened this week to a Houston district court judge. Opinion.

at 8:32 AM

9.26.2023

Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts






This recording-a-coach-in-a-locker room case involved Argyle ISD. Story. Man, I ended up being right about the prosecutor screwing up by not getting a waiver of appeal. She appealed to the appellate court (and won - conviction reversed) which caused the State to have to appeal to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (where she lost and conviction reinstated, 6-3) and then she appealed to the U.S. Court (which refused to hear the case). Sheesh. That's a lot of work. 

  • Wise County Judge J.D. Clark posted this fantastic picture of the district courtroom's current state of restoration. There will eventually be balconies on both sides. By the way, that's a wide angle lens which makes the room look smaller than it is. From front to back, I'm guessing it is 40 to 50 feet deep.

  • New this morning. I probably wouldn't have done that it I were him.  

  • From the campaign trail:
    • During a campaign stop to appeal to gun-lovers, Trump said on camera yesterday that he wanted to purchase this gun. The problem is, as an indicted felon, he can't legally buy a gun. The law applies to anyone under state or federal indictment for any felony. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(n).

      • But he would have had a defense based upon a Trump appointed federal judge's opinion. Flashback:

    • Trump talking about windmills and whales was far more bizarre than I expected. (37 second video). Close your eyes and you would think it's a comedian doing an impersonation. 

  • Now that the Ken Paxton's impeachment trial is over, everyone still wants their money.


  • The near future will be very weird. 


  • Let me tell you, I find something mysteriously attractive about this lady.

  • Extremely nerdy legal stuff: There's a typo in a recent Court of Criminal Appeals opinion. It's "canons" not "cannons." It's authored by Presiding Judge Keller. 

  • Very random sports fact I missed: The Cowboy's cut QB Will Grier, even after a fantastic last pre-season game, to make room for Trey Lance. Last week, the New England Patriots, who play the Cowboys this week, signed Grier to the practice squad.

at 8:31 AM

9.25.2023

Random Monday Morning Thoughts




That was, in fact, a tremendous joke.

  • This is interesting. The Decatur ISD is advertising on social media that the upcoming bond election will not involve a tax increase even though the language on the ballot is required to say that it will be a tax increase. 

  • Tarrant County not guilty verdicts: 
    • On Friday, a jury found a defendant not guilty in a capital murder case in Tarrant County. A guilty verdict would have resulted in an automatic life sentence. The jury also rejected the lesser included offenses of murder, manslaughter, aggravated assault and deadly conduct. It was a wonky case where the victims were running a prostitution business out of their house and one of them died from his injuries almost five years after the shooting -- a shooting which the jury ruled was in self-defense. Defense lawyers were Mark Daniel and Matthew Smid. Prosecutors were Allenna Bangs and Samantha Fant.

    • There's no news story about it, but I also noticed there was another not guilty verdict in a Tarrant County trial of a man charged with Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child Under 14. Defense lawyers were Rob Hayden and Rob Cowie. Prosecutors were listed as "P Nguyen" and "M Blair" (The Tarrant County D.A. Trial Board, where I got the info, no longer lists the full names of prosecutors.)

  • Curious Friday news dump announcement by a guy whose party affiliation doesn't even show up on a municipal ballot. And he can't run for Dallas Mayor again anyway due to term limits. He's up to something. 

  • Trump over the weekend called for (1) the execution of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that he appointed, Gen. Mark Milley, and (2) that next time his administration would shut down NBC because he doesn't like their coverage. You know, normal American values.  He's dangerous and deranged, and I cannot believe that I am watching Hitler reincarnated right before my eyes. 

  • The crazy Trump judge out of Amarillo, Matthew Kacsmaryk, who single handedly outlawed the abortion pill, ruled late last week that guys dressing up as girls is not free speech.  This is laughably wrong but, if affirmed, it is where we are heading.

  • A faithful reader tipped me off to this review in Texas Monthly of a restaurant in . . . wait for it . . . Newark, Texas. That does look like a tasty burger. 

  • Jerry better be careful or Ultra MAGA will turn on him for stunts like this. Side note: What's Chris Christie doing in Arizona?

  • The craziest screenshot from any college game came from Aggie/Auburn. Video.

  • Odd Media observation: I noticed that a reporter for the Wise County Messenger has a side gig writing for the Pro Football Network covering the Denver Broncos.

  • Ticket fans: Dan and Jake are in a long feature story in the Washington Post this morning. (Free link) By the way, here is the court's order where they won The Ticket's attempt to stop immediately stop their podcast - a full opinion will be written which should be juicy.

  • Usher will perform at halftime in the Super Bowl which will be in Las Vegas. Not a bad choice. 



at 8:30 AM

9.22.2023

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

at 2:30 PM
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