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Yep, I actually wrote that on February 12, 2013. The list is now only a "Top 12" which, oddly, has 13 cases listed. None are from Wise County.
- The troubled sheriff to the north was suspended yesterday.
- Here are the money lines from the story:
- And in nearby Wichita County, a deputy pled guilty in another sex scandal which may or may not include a bondsman as a co-conspirator.
- The cross-examination of Alex Murdaugh continues this morning. (Live feed.) This is good stuff. I think the prosecutor is good. But I think Murdaugh is doing a really good job, too. And I loved how the first question out of the box from Murdaugh's own lawyer was "Did you brutally kill your wife?"
- I checked on the video this morning and got to see his lawyer hanging out with the deputies waiting for Murdaugh to arrive from jail in the paddy wagon.
- I told you Tarrant County would change with far right wing Tim O'Hare as County Judge. Yesterday he broke the tie as the county did away with mandatory county employee training for harassment and "unconscious bias." You know, that "woke" stuff like treating others with respect.
- Oddly, they also did away with, of all things, security training across the board. The sheriff addressed the commissioners opposing the training because he didn't want his deputies "running" or "hiding." “We want them charging in with the gust of a hound dog to absolutely neutralize that.” That's great, but I'm not sure how that's going to help, say, the county clerk staff in a different building.
- Speaking of the Tarrant County Sheriff, it was a slow start to the year, but he is back to having people die in his care again. There were at least 11 who died last year. This one occurred last week.
- Whenever you see "task force", you know (1) it will be absolutely ineffective and (2) is being done, first and foremost, for show.
- Let's check in on Wise County's crazy and troubled Congressman.
- The more I think about it, the more I like this legal maneuver.
- Nerdy legal stuff: There was a criminal case reversed on appeal out of Collin County yesterday because the judge told the jury panel during jury selection that "beyond a reasonable doubt" is like the prosecutor getting the nose of a football over the 50 yard line. Good lord. The opinion quoted the trial judge:
- I would have jumped out of my chair saying, "Judge, I'm going to have to respectfully object . . . ." when I really meant, "Are you out of your freaking mind!!!"
- The judge was Andrea Thompson out of the 416th Judicial District Court in Collin County.
- Amazingly, the defense lawyer didn't object to the judge's obviously wrong comments. That normally waives any error. But the appellate court really went out on a limb to help the defendant by saying that the due process error was so bad that he didn't have to.
- How did they solve it? You guessed it: By using a commercial site like 23andMe and finding relatives of the unmatched DNA profile.
- 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, 235 days.
