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TMZ, which is normally surprisingly accurate in its reporting, whiffed on this one. The lead paragraph said the child was in "critical condition" which turned out to be wildly untrue. But Peterson had punished the child with a "switch" which would eventually lead to a two year probation. His attorney was Rusty Hardin.
- We have a ruling in the Tanner Horner Wise County capital murder case which has grinded to a halt -- but not a final ruling. Recall that the question on this pre-trial appeal is whether the district judge properly removed his court appointed lawyers from the case and replace them with a Regional Public Defender's Office (RPDO).
- Yesterday, Texas highest criminal court didn't say yes or no but instead said it wanted more information. Specifically, it wants to hear from Defendant Horner as to who he wants for lawyers. And they are telling our local judge to go find out for them. Here is the money part of the ruling (Respondent = Our Wise County judge. Real-Party-in-Interest = Defendant Horner. RPDO = The new lawyers):
- This is very weird. Last week, the RPDO filed a response in the court as to why it should be left on the case, and they attached an unsworn statement from Horner that he wanted them to represent him. I jumped on that when I saw it. Apparently, the court didn't like it being unsworn either. They want to hear from Horner.
- But how is this going to work? The appellate court says they want our local district judge to "communicate directly" with Horner and "ask him" if he really wants the new lawyers to stay on the case. That's very odd and bizarre language. Is this supposed to take place at a hearing with Horner under oath? It should. But is the judge supposed to ask the questions instead of the lawyers? What's the judge going to do if Horner just refuses to cooperate or answer -- hold the guy who is already in jail in contempt?
- Well, whatever is going to happen, has to happen in seven days. It now looks like a hearing on the case is scheduled for Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. in the Wise County court.
- The Decatur PD Police Chief and his family were the focus on WFAA last night. Story here. Fundraiser link here.
- The shooting happened in Forest Hill at 6:50 a.m. in an elementary school parking lot, but the amazing thing is they didn't call off school despite the fact that no arrests were made.
- Wait a second. Is Dan Patrick now the spokesman for the West Texas Oilmen PAC? (He might as well be. He received $3 million from it before the Paxton trial.)
- Some Republicans in Austin continue to go after Jonathan Stickland, the head of the Oilman PAC. Honestly, I don't know how those West Texas guys don't fire him.
- There is a ton of bad information about the Israel situation right now, and the New York Times has a great article (free) collecting some of the online falsehoods.
- But the President didn't help yesterday. That atrocity may very well have happened, but don't say it until you confirm it.
- We will spend another week focusing on the viciousness of the Hamas attack (25 Americans now confirmed dead, by the way), but once Israel opens up its full scale attack and invasion of the Gaza Strip, I don't know how we can ignore the 2 million citizens - about half who are under 18 years old -- which are trapped within it without food, water and electricity. This is part of Gaza yesterday:
- The House still doesn't have a Speaker. Behind closed doors yesterday, a majority of Republicans decided to nominate Steve Scalise by a vote of 113-99. But he will have to win a floor vote, and will need 217 votes of the entire Congress. There are only 222 Republicans so he has no room for error -- and it doesn't look like he is even close yet. Chaos continues.
- Oh, my.
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- Messenger: Above the Fold
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