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- A rare murder trial began in Wise County yesterday (background), but the case never has garnered much interest.
- The McKinney officer in the Pool Party Incident Of The Century has resigned. It certainly sounds like that was done under pressure since the Chief Greg Conley said in a news conference yesterday that the officer's actions were“indefensible” and he was “out of control.” In this day in time, the officer and the agency could have ridden this out. With any controversy like this, there's a media firestorm for a few days and then everyone forgets about it.
- Did the officer make a statement or apologize? "It was just a simple resignation: ‘I resign,’” Chief Conley said. That's either weird or that question caught the chief off guard.
- Many have noted that if you think the officer acted appropriately then you must also say that the 11 other officers at the scene didn't do enough. I don't know about that. I just get stuck on the fact McKinney PD had 12 officers respond to a pool party.
- Final McKinney thought: Did you know only one kid was arrested and it wasn't Bikini Girl? And McKinney PD later "dropped" the charges against the kid. (Very Boring Inside Technical Legal Note: News of "dropping the charge" by the police got my attention. Any Texas police agency must report any arrest to DPS by a "CJIS" form. After that, the only way to report the charges were dropped is to refer the case to the prosecutor who also is obligated to send in his actions on a CJIS form for that case. There's actually a code for "Charges dropped by arresting agency." But the prosecutor actually has the discretion to ignore the agency and pursue the case. It won't happen here, but the point is that once there is arrest the police are out of the loop as far as how the case will proceed.)
- "Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law an $800 million border security package that will mean more state troopers, cameras and a spy plane to patrol Texas’ 1,200-mile border with Mexico." To be specific, $325 million of the $800 million will go toward hiring and training 250 additional troopers and 110 support staff."
- I didn't know that very-long-shot presidential hopeful Sen. Lindsey Graham is a lifelong bachelor.
- According to the Update, FEMA has finally added Wise County to its disaster declaration list because of our recent flooding. But get this: To receive federal aid for damage, "Only homeowners with no insurance are eligible to apply . . . "
- Sports question I couldn't answer yesterday: Why is it so many high school kids are taken in the first round of the Major League draft instead of established college players? Isn't drafting an 18 year old the ultimate gamble?
- Finally Some Movement But Still Less Than Half: Of the 170 Waco Twin Peaks bikers jailed, 99 have reached agreements with prosecutors for their release on bail and 70 of those have already been released. (Source: The Texas Lawyer which is behind a paywall.)
