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He eventually would get an 11 year prison sentence. As always, a detailed recitation of the facts can be found in the later appellate court opinion affirming his conviction. He was found to be incompetent three times before finally, and miraculously, being found competent to stand trial.
- The jury is deliberating in the Aaron Dean case. I'm sure these two prosecutors are good, but they might want to ratchet their closing argument down a bit. No jury wants to see a prosecutor acting like they are ruled by emotions.
- Remember I told you what a big burden the prosecution has? They are in a deep hole when they have to put this instruction in front of the jury during closing to try and explain it. Once again, they have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that self-defense, or defense of the other officer, did not exist here.
- The jury was also given the opportunity to convict on Manslaughter (reckless, not intentional, killing). Neither the State or the defense argued to the jury that it should be considered. If the jury convicts him on that, it was a compromise that wasn't justified.
- Legal nerdy: I am of the strong belief that the option of Manslaughter shouldn't have been given. No one disputes that the officer intentionally shot and killed Jefferson. It's a self-defense case. It is not a case about whether the death was the result of any form of an accident based upon recklessly handling or firing the gun. If there is no evidence of a reckless killing (there's not), then the option to convict on that lesser-included offense shouldn't have been given.
- The case is filed in the Wise County district court under cause no. CV22-12-895.
- The attorney is listed as R. Jason Bowles who lists a primary office in New Mexico. Running him through the Texas State Bar website reveals he is a solo practitioner but lists his practice areas as "Criminal."
- Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist", has suspended the account of the Twitter bot that tracks his private plane as well as the account of the person behind it. The plane information is all public record. You can track any plane in the air here.
- Flashback:
- Yesterday, Musk cashed out another $3.58 billion in Tesla stock. That stock is down 51.50% for the year.
- What's the next step for our AG? Having them wear a yellow star on their sleeves or some other identifying info? Story.
- The party might be over for Trump. A new poll by the Wall Street Journal of Republican likely voters in the primary:
- But Trump has ratcheted up the cringe. No one knows what this is about . . .
- This is the new District Attorney in El Paso now in charge of prosecuting the mass murdered.
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| That caption is wrong. He doesn't need Senate confirmation. |
- The gun debate really did end with Sandy Hook. Once we decided that dead elementary school children were acceptable collateral damage, it was over.
- We just now getting around to this?
- Random chart of how almost all the bowl games are in the south half of the country.
- Legal civil nerdy stuff: Is "suicide by cop" still "suicide" and thus excluded from life insurance coverage? Held, yesterday: Yes. Side note: For some reason the beneficiaries in that case stipulated with the insurance company that it was, in fact, "suicide by cop." I don't know why they would want to concede that and not fight it.
