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Oh, My!
Rebecca Simpson's sentenced reduced to 5 years! (Star Telegram story).
This is odd. There is no question that a lawyer must inform his client of any plea offers and failure to do so is ineffective assistance of counsel. The very unique aspect of this case is that the judge ruled the plea bargain offer was still valid so that the defendant could still accept it. If the judge had denied the motion for new trial but an appellate court had reversed the case for ineffectie assistance, the remedy would simply have been a new trial.
And check out this reason the defense lawyer gave for not communicating the plea bargain offer:
"I don't believe for a moment that she would have ever entertained any plea offer that would have involved a prison sentence," Jack said. "She signed a contract on a house, paid for a $83,000 Mercedes in full six weeks before the trial, and was planning to get married in Hawaii after the trial was over.These are not the actions of someone preparing to go to prison."
8.18.2006
Lost in the News . . .
. . . was a district judge declaring unconstitutional President Bush's secret telephone call spying program. The decision was a 44 page opinion that gave me Triple Tired Head. But the image above is the last sentence of the opinion. Pretty much sums it up.
Fergie Has A New Album
I can't decide if she's hot, and I can't decide if her new single "London Bridge" is good or a Power Down.
FBI Profilers
With all the talking heads going on and on about the JonBenet Ramsey case, there have been quite a few appearances by "FBI Profilers" or "criminal profilers."
I've always thought that was a bunch of bull.
Slight Rant
We wrapped up a defense in a criminal case in Jacksboro today that involved a special prosecutor. (The DA's office had to recuse itself since a family member of the defendant had worked in that office). In any event, I feel sorry for Jack County due to the expense that was involved for the prosecution. The case ended up involving a trial which could have been avoided by a reasonable plea bargain offer. The end result would have been the same and thousands of dollars could have been saved. (And I think there is another bill, in addition to the two listed above, that is coming.)
"I'm Down With The Bruthers"
| Tramm Hudson, running to replace Katherine Harris for a Congressional seat from Florida, has a hot sports opinion.. | |
"I See Police Officer People"
What part of this paragraph doesn't fit:
"Haley Joel Osment was charged with four criminal counts today including: driving while having a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher with the special allegation of having a blood alcohol content of .15 percent or higher (especially bad!), and possession of marijuana while driving. Osment's blood-alcohol content was 0.16 (double the legal limit) and the charges come from an incident last month when he crashed his 1995 Saturn, flipping it and breaking a rib."
8.17.2006
Poll Results
But I'll admit that we might have some over-voting going on. The results are about as valid as the final recount in Florida in 2000.
Let's Tap The Brakes
(Click to enlarge.)
The Drudge Report is always changing, but as the screen shot above shows, the arrest of the suspect in the JonBenet case may have some holes.
I Love The Decatur Courthouse . . .
. . . because it doesn't have cameras in the courtroom!
I blogged a while back about a lawyer that showed up for trial drunk in Las Vegas. Incredibly, that courtroom was equipped with a ton of cameras and has an audio system that is stellar.
The videos of the event are all posted here. Quite frankly, they are huge to download and probably not worth your time. However, if you want to see some tension between (an overly nice) judge and a buzzed (but not drunk) lawyer. check it out.
Edit: If you love reality TV, this stuff is pure gold.
The Greatest Movie Of Our Generation
(Graphic taken down because that hissing was getting on my nerves.)
Alleged Killer Speaks - Amazing
This accused killer of JonBenet Ramsey is either the real killer or a certified nut job.
I'm Gonna Kill Webcom.com
Yep, www.wisecounty.com remains down because the boys in California don't know their head from their tanned butts.
They have a "status" page which is updated every two hours to simply tell me the problem will be corrected in two hours.
If I made money from this site, I'd be losing money.
Huh?
Say What?
This headline is everywhere: A suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey murder has been arrested in Thailand, Denver TV station KUSA reports. CNN working to confirm.
This will be interesting. (Google news links.)
Random Thought
I think I'd rather be called a "Drug Lord" instead of a "Drug Kingpin." It just sounds cooler.
Happy 76th to Frank Gifford (On Ground)
And to think that was a better day than his wedding day to Kathy Lee.
Kids' Songs Drive Me Insane
But I'd be happy to use the fake U2 singing, "Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" if I had six kids.
The heck with The Wiggles.
www.wisecounty.com . . .
. . . is still down. It's host, www.webcom.com out of California, apparantly doesn't have any idea that it might want to tell its customers what the heck is going on.
Kill me.
Edit: At least I found out they were working on it at 5:15 in the morning.
8.15.2006
Insert Picture of Pudge Here
A weird lineup issue and an injury caused Pudge Rodriguez to find himself in an odd place tonight:
Rodriguez had to move from catcher to second base, with Vance Wilson taking over behind the plate. Rodriguez had never played second base in 2,256 previous major and minor league games.
Movies
I finally got through with The Godfather, Part II. Sorry, folks, ovvvvveeerrrated.
Now I'm the process of watching The Deer Hunter - I had only caught a few scenes of it before. The first 70 minutes are excruciatingly boring crap. Then I was fast-forwarded to the Russian Roulette scene which may be the most intense ever. And I couldn't believe it was Christopher Walken and Robert DeNiro that were involved. That part was shocking and great. (Youtube.com has the clip of that scene but it's R Rated - so kids, go get your parents permission.)
Now I Have No Reason To Put Up With Terry Bradshaw
Horrible news: The very perky Jillian Barberie, who served as the weather girl for Fox's NFL Pregame Show, won't be back this year.
Hollow Victory
Story from the Dallas Morning News.
Hey, the Plaintiffs weren't after Goodrich (he's been broke for a long time), they were after the Silver City Cabaret for allegedly serving him drinks causing him to become intoxicated. They just forgot one aspect of their case: Proof. Every one "guesses", "surmises", and "speculates" that Goodrich was drunk, but there is no evidence of that.
A lot of lawyers these days seem to have a hard time understanding that.
Wise County On The Web is still . . .
Edit: At 5:53 p.m., we came back to life.
Edit 2: Sheesh, it's down again.
Yahoo! Music
I finally started experimenting with Yahoo! Music and I have to say, I'm amazed.
The concept is this:
(1) For $4.99 a month, you can search and listen to basically any song you want on your computer (or home networked computer). Want to listen to every song on REM's 1988 Eponymous album? Bam, there it is. There is hardly a one second pause before the music comes flowing. I cannot stress enough how large the library of music is.
(2) For an extra small monthly flat charge, you can download all the songs you want (unlimited number) to play on your MP3 player.
(3) If you want to download the songs to burn to a CD (and keep them "forever") the charge is 79 cents a song.
(4) By ranking songs and artists you like, Yahoo! Music begins to suggest bands to you that you've never heard of - and you'll love 'em.
(5) Throw in an Internet radio package which has 150 commercial free stations, and you've got yourself a heck of a deal. (Even odder: Yahoo "creates" a radio station designed just for you based upon your music rankings).
The Yahoo site is here.
A PC Magazine review of the service is here.
(3)
Hornbuckle Trial
The defense in the hip hop pastor sexual assault case in Fort Worth rested this morning without calling any witnesses (including the defendant).
Yeah, the State has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. Yeah, the defendant has a right not to testify. Yeah, the jury can't hold it against the defendant if he doesn't testify.
But . . .
I think that's a dangerous strategy.
Only To Be Followed By Perry Como (or not)
I walk through WinStar Casino on the Oklahoma border about two years ago and almost died of lung cancer.
But, as I listen to one its radio ads this morning, I wonder exactly what demographic they are appealing to: Their headline entertainer for Labor Day Weekend is . . . Chubby Checker. The ad had text of "Come do the Twist at WinStar Casino . . . . "
Can you imagine that crowd when he actually fires up the Twist?
Power Down
And I'm not sure what the problem is with the server at www.wisecounty.com this morning.
I'll dispatch 100 well trained engineers to come up with an answer.
Don't Let The Bedbugs . . .
The Today Show is doing another feature on bedbugs this morning. I swear they do this story every two weeks!
There was even an interview of Gary Alpert of Harvard University to discuss this "problem". And they even brought a bed on stage to show how you should examine it to look for the little critters.
And they assigned, appropriately enough, Ann Curry to do the story. I can't help but picture Ann with bedbugs devouring her body.
Big Bag Of Nothing
I've looked around but there is very little interesting happening out there. I saw Boy George sweeping the streets of New York, a quasi-revealing pic of Lindsay Lohan, a recall of Dell computer laptops, and Kate Hudson separating from her husband.
None were worthy of a link.
I promise to do better.
8.14.2006
From A DMN Blog:
The Cowboys-Seahawks exhibition game pulled a ridiculously high 14.2 rating on Saturday night.
How ridiculous is it?
That's better than Game 2 of the Mavericks-Suns playoff series, which pulled a 13.7. Heck, the 6-game Mavericks-Suns series averaged a 16.4.
The complete cast of Dancing With The Stars 3:
Shanna Moakler (I have no idea)
Jerry Springer (genius)
Vivica Fox (not sure who she is)
Emmitt Smith (used to play for the Arizona Cardinals)
Willa Ford (fallen pop star)
Joey Lawrence (Star, if you want to call it that, of Blossom)
Tucker Carlson (idiot)
Sara Evans (country singer I think)
Harry Hamlin (bad actor)