Boo, I see you

Fighting "La Eme", the Mexican Mafia, is sorta like shining a light into a bathroom and watching all the cockroaches scurrying away as you try to step on them as quickly as possible. With the Fed's help maybe more will get caught.

Racketeering charges hit gang
Guillermo Contreras: Express-News

A federal grand jury indicted almost two dozen alleged Texas Mexican Mafia members Tuesday on racketeering charges that involve more than 20 slayings in San Antonio, Austin and Atascosa County.

Most of the 23 defendants, part of the state's largest prison gang, already were in custody on lesser or temporary charges.

FBI agents, San Antonio police and members of a gang task force fanned out to arrest the remaining few only hours after the indictment Tuesday, according to law enforcement and legal sources.

The indictment ups the ante, with charges that could result in the death penalty against some of the defendants, if approved by the Justice Department. One lawyer representing some of the defendants said he learned the charges could include murder, racketeering, drug-conspiracy and money laundering.

The indictment, expected to be unsealed today, ends a four-year investigation into the gang, also known as Mexikanemi.

The gang, founded by San Antonio native Heriberto "Herb" Huerta in 1984, has been recognized as the largest in the Texas prison system. It's not directly related to the Mexican Mafia prison gang of California, which started in that state's prison system 50 years ago.

Experts, however, say Huerta was a member in that gang and eventually got permission to start his own version in Texas. He's serving a life sentence in Colorado for racketeering-related charges.

Outside prison, its members have an ominous presence and are blamed for at least 10 percent of San Antonio's total homicide rate, according to insideprison.com, a Web site about prison life in America.

The Web site estimates that the gang has 30,000 members across the United States.

read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA013008.01A.MexMafia.3764c49.html

Cage boy

OK, its not okay for him to poison you and the rest of the family, but its not okay for you to put him in a feces filled dog cage.

Sheesh! Maybe she wasn't present in class when they covered the part about raising children and not putting them in dog cages.

Woman Put Grandson In Dog Crate After He Laced Drinks, Police Say
10-Year-Old's Brother Also Charged In Incident

WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa. -- A Washington County woman is accused of locking her 10-year-old grandson in a feces-filled dog crate for about 90 minutes.

Police said 51-year-old Rhonda Lehman, of Washington, put the boy in the crate Saturday because the boy laced the family's drinks with lamp oil and household cleaner called "Bam."

Lehman has custody of the boy, who told police he did it because "he was angry because he didn't get to go on a trip" last year, said Washington police Officer James Markley. It is possible the boy had been spiking the drinks for a while, authorities said. Family members became sick, but were not hospitalized.

Police said Lehman also told a county agency if someone didn't come for the boy, she would bury him alive in the back yard. Lehman was charged with child endangerment and making terroristic threats.

On Saturday, the boy was put in a 3-foot-by-4-foot plastic dog cage with only a small metal door for him to look out, Markley said.

The boy's 24-year-old brother, Michael McCreery, is charged with punching the youngster.

"When I asked the brother, I said, 'Why would you punch a 10-year-old in the eye?' he said, 'It's better than what I wanted to do to him,"' Markley said.

Markley said the defendants told authorities they don't believe they did anything wrong.
"They were very calm, like this was nothing," Markley said.

The 10-year-old is now in the county's Children and Youth Services, which is treating him for mental health issues, authorities said.

Lehman and McCreery remain at the Washington County Jail on $25,000 bail. Preliminary hearings are scheduled for Feb. 5.

My cup runneth over

Another win for democracy, equal justice, equal opportunity and the American way!

Women get bra price equality

LONDON (Reuters) - Forty years after feminists threatened to burn their bras, British women have won another battle in the fight for equality.

Asda, Britain's second-biggest food retailer and owned by U.S. giant Wal-Mart, says it will no longer charge women more for bigger bras in its George fashion range.

"We're putting an end once and for all to one of the last prejudices -- that of the bigger-busted woman," said brand director Fiona Lambert in a statement.

"From now on, all bras at George will be exactly the same price from A cup through to F cup."

A public service announcement

As a public service message I am presenting you with the list of the world's top 10 most dangerous travel destinations. I think however, they should have added Nuevo Laredo, Mexico however, as a tie for the 10th spot due to the drug cartel war going on there. Maybe even add Detroit too, well, because its Detroit, I lived there, years ago, I lived to tell the tale.

BTW that is a picture of a house by Brush Park in Detroit. Looks like something in Berlin at the end of WW II don't it?

Travel Picks: The world's top 10 dangerous destinations

NEW YORK, Jan 25 (Reuters Life!) - People are opting for more unforgettable holidays but some countries can be risky even for the most adventurous travelers.
Forbes.com has compiled a list of the most dangerous destinations. The list is not endorsed by Reuters.

1. Somalia
This Horn of Africa country has been in the grip of warlords for the last decade, fighting for control of drug and weapon trafficking rights. Risks include military clashes, kidnapping, landmines and pirates.

2. Iraq
Military action, collateral damage, insurgency and suicide bombings are daily occurrences in the country. Security experts say unstable areas include Baghdad and stretch from Tikrit in the north to Hillah in the south and from Mandali in the east to Ramadi in the west.

3. Afghanistan
Even though the ruling Taliban regime was officially ousted in Afghanistan in 2001, attacks from those still loyal to it and to al Qaeda continue. Military personnel and civilians are killed by improvised explosive devices daily.

4. Haiti
Sharing the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with top vacation destination Dominican Republic, Haiti, the western hemisphere's poorest country, is plagued by civil unrest, police corruption and readily available firearms.

5. Pakistan
The country, which borders Afghanistan, suffers from ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Bomb attacks and rioting between Shia and Sunni Muslim communities are a threat. In December 2007, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated during a suicide bombing after months of strife over delayed elections.

6. Sudan
Despite a peace agreement in 2005, areas of extreme danger due to battles between government troops and militias and local insurgent groups dot the country. Areas to avoid completely include the western region of Darfur, Ethiopian and Eritrean border regions and all of southern Sudan.

7. Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
A civil war that formally ended in 2003 still affects the country. As Rwandan and Ugandan troops pulled out of DRC towards the end of the war, rival militias have been fighting each other to fill the power vacuum this created. Crime is rampant in major cities and security conditions can fluctuate drastically even within minor distances.

8. Lebanon
Culminating in the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, Lebanon is split by pro- and anti-Syrian forces vying for control of the government. Other risks include military battles in the south with neighboring Israel and civil unrest.

9. Zimbabwe
Anti-western sentiment prominently expressed by officials, out-of-control inflation and oppression employed by the government to silence dissenting voices are common in Zimbabwe.

10. Palestinian Territories
The region is caught in a brutal tug-of-war between pro-Fatah and pro-Hamas factions. Political and military battles with Israel, especially in the Gaza Strip, have made the security situation in this territory very unstable. Poverty and chronic violence add to the instability.

Helloooo, Mr. Obvious

Manager of the obvious.

Probably soon to be the former manager of the obvious.

Spears' manager says singer has "mental issues"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sam Lufti, the manager and companion of troubled pop star Britney Spears, has said the singer suffers from "mental issues" and has seen a psychiatrist, talk show host Barbara Walters revealed on Monday.

On her ABC television show "The View," veteran broadcast journalist Walters said she spoke with Lufti by phone after he reached out to her.

"He said that Britney is suffering from what he describes as mental issues which are treatable," Walters said on "The View." "He said that she has been to a psychiatrist and that she, I assume, is starting some kind of treatment."

Walters said Lufti has been staying with the singer "constantly" and added that Spears has been having "mood swings, she's been having trouble sleeping."
Walters said she did not know whether Lufti was indeed telling the truth.

Spears, 26, has seen her life spin out of control in the past year since her late 2006 divorce from ex-husband Kevin Federline.

She has exhibited bizarre behavior in public, including being photographed not wearing underwear, and she and Federline have waged a bitter legal battle over custody of their sons.
(how can we also forget her shopping nekid too!)

Late last year, Spears lost custody and visitation rights to Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1, and was ordered to undergo drug and alcohol counseling and parental coaching.

She has failed on numerous occassions to appear in Los Angeles family court for hearings dealing with her and Federline's custody issues.

Fly the naked skies

Okay. I think this is just wrong on so many levels. I'm not a prude, but think more like, air turbulence and hot coffee or tea. Got the idea? For all of those thinking I'll get to sit next to some fabulous looking hunk or gal, you might wind up sitting next to a guy like me and that ain't a pretty picture, trust me.

OK, you fly nekid if ya dare.

Fly naked on Germany's first nudist holiday flight

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German nudists will be able to start their holidays early by stripping off on the plane if they take up a new offer from an eastern German travel firm.

Travel agency OssiUrlaub.de said it would start taking bookings from Friday for a trial nudist day trip from the eastern German town of Erfurt to the popular Baltic Sea resort of Usedom, planned for July 5 and costing 499 euros ($735).

"It's expensive, I know," managing director Enrico Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's because the plane's very small. There's no real reason why a flight in which one flies naked should be more expensive than any other."

The 55 passengers will have to remain clothed until they board, and dress before disembarking, said Hess. The crew will remain clothed throughout the flight for safety reasons.

"I wish I could say we thought of it ourselves but the idea came from a customer," Hess told Reuters by phone. "It's an unusual gap in the market."

Naturism, or "free body culture" (FKK) as it is known in Germany, was banned by the Nazis but blossomed again after the Second World War, particularly in eastern Germany.

"There are FKK hotels where you can go into the restaurants and shops naked, for example," Hess said. "For FKK fans -- not that I'm one of them -- it's nothing unusual."

"I don't want people to get the wrong idea. It's not that we're starting a swinger club in mid-air or something like that," he added. "We're a perfectly normal holiday company."

You can (or should) trust the Man (or Woman) who wears the star

This is a continuation of the story I outlined in Trust and the Thin Blue Line yesterday. We entrust our lives and safety to those in law enforcement and for the most part the number of officers who respond positively to this trust is overwhelming. The vast majority of law enforcement officers I have been privileged to meet are hard working, well meaning and deserving of our trust.

All the more reason to make sure none but the best and trust worthy are hired into the force.

Blame ineptitude, not affirmative action, for SAPD's bad hire
Jaime Castillo: San Antonio Express-News

The story of former San Antonio Police Officer Joseph Evans is one full of baffling ineptitude.
Evans, whose checkered history was detailed in Sunday's Express-News, never should have been hired in 1994.

Cops in Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and even San Antonio took one look at his past and said he didn't deserve the opportunity to carry a gun and a badge.

Yet, a member of the SAPD brass at the time overruled a captain under him and cleared the way for Evans — and his rap sheet with drunken driving and hit-and-run convictions — to become a cadet.

To what should have been no one's surprise, Evans' 12-year run as a cop in-name-only ended when he pleaded guilty last year to looking the other way while his girlfriend dealt methamphetamine from their house.

Worse, nobody wants to own the mistake of his hiring.

According to several former police officials quoted by reporters Todd Bensman and Guillermo Contreras, Evans, who is black, was brought on "amid political pressure from City Hall to hire more black and female officers."

Bull.

Evans was hired because of one word: stupidity.

Four agencies, including SAPD in 1992, repeatedly rejected Evans' application.
Are we to believe that the supposed political pressure that existed in 1994, when Evans was slipped through the process at SAPD, wasn't there two years earlier?
Sorry, affirmative action might be an easy scapegoat, but simple incompetence is a more apt description.

Even the most passionate fans of affirmative action know that the worst thing that can happen under such a program is to make bad hires.
If rules are relaxed and corners are cut for a woman or a racial or ethnic minority, the failure of that person becomes an inglorious part of that organization's whisper mill.
"See. We took a chance on one of them, and look what happened."

To believe that Evans was hired to fill an unspoken quota is to believe that SAPD couldn't find any black candidates better than him.

Put another way, an organization built to investigate crimes couldn't find a single black man or woman who didn't have two prior convictions, who didn't try to hide a criminal trespass arrest and who wasn't investigated for sexual misconduct at a previous corrections officer job.
That's not believable.

But if it is true that SAPD recruiters in the early 1990s couldn't find better applicants than Evans, then they were downright lazy.

One can only hope that the community can take the comments of current Police Chief William McManus at face value.

McManus, who was not here in the 1990s, acknowledged that his office is under pressure to meet the goals set forth in the city's affirmative action plan.
But, while it should be the goal of every city department to reflect the community it serves, McManus said he won't do it the wrong way.

"We're way low on our numbers in terms of women and black officers, yeah," he was quoted as saying. "But you've got to look at some other method of retention, as opposed to lowering standards."

As the story of Joseph Evans proves, a bad hire is a bad hire. Hiring goals are there to encourage officials to try harder, to resist convention and to look for candidates in nontraditional areas.
Bluntly, they are there to stop bosses from saying, "We couldn't find any."

To lower the bar and then cry affirmative action when things don't go right is reckless and the coward's way out.

Trust and the thin blue line

Years ago in a civil case I reviewed employment records of a SAPD officer and wondered how come he got hired after being turned down twice by SAPD as well as agencies in Houston and I think Dallas, then got hired eventually at SAPD.

Later, he was involved in a shooting in San Antonio, while off-duty which many to this day believe was questionable.

We have to be careful folks on who we trust with the authority and power to protect us and society.

Law keeps public in dark on police hiring practices
Guillermo Contreras and Todd Bensman

Twenty years ago, police unions in Texas converged on the Capitol with a mission.
They found friendly legislators to push a bill that appeared to address only a mundane administrative matter about personnel record-keeping. It quickly passed in 1987 with little public notice.

But buried inside were provisions that ever since have kept taxpayers in the dark about some of the most important management practices of public institutions in Texas.
The law forever closed to the public whole sections of city personnel files.

Because of this change, known as Section 143.089 of the Local Government Code, most Texas taxpayers — with the exception of Dallas — never can know how their police departments carry out the vital functions of vetting and evaluating recruits. They also can't readily know how thoroughly officers accused of misconduct are investigated.

Through the years, 143.089 has impeded the public from exploring these practices.
Emblematic of the problem is the case of former Police Officer Joseph Anthony Evans who, the San Antonio Express-News has learned, was hired in 1994 despite a checkered past that disqualified him from being a cop. After 12 years on the force, Evans faces sentencing Wednesday for allowing his live-in girlfriend to peddle methamphetamines.

Documents in his personnel file, normally cloaked by the law, became public while he was being prosecuted. The city, citing the law, refused to release to the Express-News similar documents that would show whether other officers were hired despite a cloud.

University of Missouri journalism Professor Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, said Evans' hiring exemplifies how the Texas law "flies in the face" of a strong public interest in knowing how people given a gun and the authority to kill are being hired.

"Where people are invested with a fair amount of power, then you better be doggone careful about how you are selecting people," Davis said. "I think there is a very clear link between a transparent process and hiring good people. If these people's records cannot withstand public scrutiny then why are we hiring them in the first place?"

The personnel information that is public is limited to awards, misconduct resulting in suspension or higher discipline and periodic evaluations. The public can't see records that show hiring practices — applicant background investigations, recommendations for hire, academy scores and cadet field training evaluations.

Additionally, the law masks another kind of information that, if made public, could open to debate other important management practices: internal affairs investigations that are inconclusive or result in discipline lesser than a suspension.

read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA012708.17A.PoliceHiringSidebar.27e3aee.html

Congratulations Dr. Lofgren!

I am proud to serve with Dr. Ruth Lofgren on the board of the AACOG (Alamo Area Council of Government) Criminal Justice Advisory Comittee. She is always a consensus builder and a valued voice on the committee.

Good going Dr. Lofgren and congratulations.

Group selects ecology pioneer as S.A.'s first peace laureate
Tracy Idell Hamilton: Express-News

San Antonio has its first peace laureate.

Dr. Ruth Lofgren, 91, an early pioneer in the field of ecology, was bestowed the new title Sunday evening during the peaceCENTER's fourth annual Blessing of the Peacemakers.

The blessing marks the start of the Season of Nonviolence, a 64-day campaign between the anniversaries of the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. During the campaign, groups from around the world raise awareness of the power of nonviolence.
The idea of naming a "peace laureate" for the city grew out of "Soul of the Citizen," a conference convened in November to foster a dialogue about faith in public life.

"We're not, as a nation, very comfortable talking about the intersection of faith and politics," said the Rev. Ann Helmke, who led Sunday evening's blessing. "We wanted to foster that conversation."

From the conference came the idea of anointing someone in the community to be a voice for wisdom and experience, Helmke said. "So many of us are missing the connection to our elders. Ruth personifies that."

Lofgren, who came to San Antonio after a successful career as a scientific researcher and educator, has recently turned her still-sharp mind to the study of consciousness.
As the peace laureate, Lofgren will be available to speak to schools, faith groups and civic organizations, Helmke said. The peaceCENTER would also like to publish a book Lofgren hopes to write about her foray into the expanding study of consciousness.

"I want to be able to write about my search in a way that opens up my questions to the public," Lofgren said. "I want each person to find the creative, divinely guided self within them."
Lofgren is especially concerned with children, whom she first got close to when she taught science enrichment to troubled youths at a Quaker school in the 1970s.
It was there, she said, that she saw the healing power of the natural world work to relax young bodies tense with the various traumas of their situations.

Too many children are dulled by the demands of institutionalized learning, she said. "Even fourth-and fifth-graders, they're so passive already. They have no energy. They're shut down.
"I want to wake up parents, people in general," she said. "We have to stay whole to appreciate the individuality of people, the divine that comes through the mind."
Lofgren may be the first peace laureate anywhere.

Helmke said that when she told international organizers of the Season for Nonviolence about the idea, they were thrilled with it and may replicate it elsewhere.

San Antonio's peaceCENTER, an interfaith group working toward peace through prayer and education, has taken part in the Season for Nonviolence for almost a decade, Helmke said.

As part of the service, held in the Mennonite Church on South St. Mary's Street, the 70 or so who attended meditated on the concepts of community, commitment, compassion and clarity before hearing from Lofgren, who drew a standing ovation.

Tracking 'em down

They got their man.

Bexar jail escapee captured
Moises Mendoza: Express-News

David Sauceda, the Mexican Mafia gang member and murder suspect who escaped from Bexar County Jail in October, was back behind bars Sunday after he was apprehended by Mexican law enforcement officials, authorities said.

Sauceda, 28, was captured outside a house in Tangancicuaro, a remote city of about 30,000 in central Mexico, where he was living with his girlfriend and two children, who allegedly fled to Mexico with him, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Marshals Service, which held a joint news conference Sunday.

Sauceda tried to run but was quickly taken into custody by Mexican immigration officials and state police, who have been working with U.S. authorities, officials said.
"This shows exactly what can be done when there's cooperation between law enforcement agencies," Bexar County Sheriff Rolando Tafolla said.

Sauceda walked out the front door of Bexar County Jail on Oct. 28, in part by duping detention officers. He handed them the card of his cellmate, whose personal information he'd memorized, and bypassed the fingerprinting system.

read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/crime/stories/MYSA012808.01A.SAUCEDA.299a810.html

The sky is falling

Yes, I know the odds are very much against it striking a population center and it will either burn up or crash in the ocean or an uninhabited region. But it also feels a bit like playing celestial Russian roulette.

Dead Spy Satellite Could Hit Earth Within a Month, Officials Say

WASHINGTON — A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or early March, government officials said Saturday.

The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret. It was not clear how long ago the satellite lost power, or under what circumstances.

"Appropriate government agencies are monitoring the situation," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council, when asked about the situation after it was disclosed by other officials. "Numerous satellites over the years have come out of orbit and fallen harmlessly. We are looking at potential options to mitigate any possible damage this satellite may cause."

He would not comment on whether it is possible for the satellite to perhaps be shot down by a missile. He said it would be inappropriate to discuss any specifics at this time.
A senior government official said that lawmakers and other nations are being kept apprised of the situation.

Such an uncontrolled re-entry could risk exposure of U.S. secrets, said John Pike, a defense and intelligence expert. Spy satellites typically are disposed of through a controlled re-entry into the ocean so that no one else can access the spacecraft, he said.

Pike also said it's not likely the threat from the satellite could be eliminated by shooting it down with a missile, because that would create debris that would then re-enter the atmosphere and burn up or hit the ground.

Pike, director of the defense research group GlobalSecurity.org, estimated that the spacecraft weighs about 20,000 pounds and is the size of a small bus. He said the satellite would create 10 times less debris than the Columbia space shuttle crash in 2003. Satellites have natural decay periods, and it's possible this one died as long as a year ago and is just now getting ready to re-enter the atmosphere, he said.

As for possible hazardous material in the spacecraft, Pike said it might contain beryllium, a light metal with a high melting point that is used in the defense and aerospace industries. Breathing beryllium can lead to chronic, incurable respiratory problems.

Jeffrey Richelson, a senior fellow with the National Security Archive, said the spacecraft likely is a photo reconnaissance satellite. Such eyes in the sky are used to gather visual information from space about adversarial governments and terror groups, including construction at suspected nuclear sites or militant training camps. The satellites also can be used to survey damage from hurricanes, fires and other natural disasters.

The largest uncontrolled re-entry by a NASA spacecraft was Skylab, the 78-ton abandoned space station that fell from orbit in 1979. Its debris dropped harmlessly into the Indian Ocean and across a remote section of western Australia.

In 2000, NASA engineers successfully directed a safe de-orbit of the 17-ton Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, using rockets aboard the satellite to bring it down in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean.

In 2002, officials believe debris from a 7,000-pound science satellite smacked into the Earth's atmosphere and rained down over the Persian Gulf, a few thousand miles from where they first predicted it would plummet.

They made me do it

Just because you can make a charge "stick" does not mean you should always do it. The DA's office knows what the legislature has intended to implement here in Bexar County. There is discretion when one is a prosecutor, a prosecutor is to seek justice not convictions.

Is this an attempt to put a chilling effect on a program disapproved of by the DA, Susan Reed? Arguably, what they were doing was not within the purveyance of the proposed program but it sure seems like she is sending a message to those who will be putting it into place.

Trio's arrest pits prosecutorial duty against public health issue
Jaime Castillo: Express-News

It's not easy for a prosecutor to see criminal activity in shades of gray.
And looking the other way is especially difficult when, like Bexar County District Attorney Susan Reed, you have a reputation as the law-and-order type.

But it's hard to imagine the community is going to be a better place if the book is thrown at 73-year-old Bill Day, 67-year-old Mary Casey and 39-year-old Melissa Lujan.

The trio is more drive-by Florence Nightingale than Bonnie and Clyde.

Their trail of "criminal depravity" is spelled out in a recent police report.

On Jan. 5, an officer observed the group's minivan parked on a West Side corner and surrounded by "several known prostitutes and drug addicts."
In broad daylight, Day and his fellow members of Bexar Area Harm Reduction Coalition were trading clean syringes for dirty ones in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV and hepatitis.
Approached by the officer, Day explained what they were doing and produced a typical syringe kit for his inspection.

What happens next is where things get a bit tricky.

According to the report, Day presented himself as a county employee who had permission to pass out syringes. He also produced the business cards of two high-ranking local law enforcement officials to add to his air of credibility.

Trouble is Day is not a county employee. And his nonprofit organization is also not part of an official effort to create a pilot syringe-exchange program in Bexar County.
That program, which would be the first legally sanctioned one in Texas, has been put on hold until the attorney general's office rules on Reed's contention that the legislation that created it was faulty.

Day, meanwhile, has alleged that the police report contains errors, but hasn't offered specifics.
The upshot is this: On the day of the alleged offense, Day, Casey and Lujan were each cited on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia — a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500.

On Thursday, police refiled the case with Reed's office as a more serious Class A misdemeanor, distribution of drug paraphernalia, which carries a punishment of up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

Even if Day misrepresented himself, nobody in the public health community I talked to believes that a 73-year-old retiree and two "accomplices" in a minivan are trying to make it easier for junkies to do "smack."

Neel Lane, the group's attorney from the influential firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, said he thinks the charges have more to do with the politics of those who don't approve of such programs.

"There are needle-exchange programs in Austin, Dallas and Houston that are more or less open about it, and they have not been prosecuted," said Lane, who is part of a pro-bono legal team that includes high-profile criminal defense attorney Gerald Goldstein.

First Assistant District Attorney Cliff Herberg scoffed at the notion, saying Day and the others were cited by an officer on routine patrol.

"Nobody went out looking for this," he said.

A decision hasn't been made, but Herberg acknowledged the Class A charge could stick because the group was providing more than clean syringes.

The "kits" also included silver caps, which are used to "cook" drugs like heroin before they are injected.

While health officials argue it makes little sense to provide clean syringes to addicts who use dirty spoons, Herberg said the pilot program legislation does not provide for such items.

If there is punishment, let's hope it fits the crime and nobody forgets that a public health issue is buried here somewhere.

Shocking!

Uhh....no comment.

Kinky Sex, Shocking Death
Pennsylvania man charged with electrocuting wife during nip zip

A kinky sex escapade ended this week with the electrocution death of a Pennsylvania woman and the arrest of her husband for manslaughter. According to cops, Toby Taylor, 37, first claimed that his wife Kirsten was shocked by her hair dryer. But he then admitted that the couple was "into weird sexual behaviors," according to a probable cause affidavit. Taylor then explained that he hooks clips to his wife's nipples and "plugs the cord into a electric strip" and shocks her.

On Wednesday evening, Taylor said, Kirsten removed her clothes, attached the clips, and shocked herself. He then picked up the electric strip and shocked her several more times, adding that he had placed a piece of electric tape over her mouth during the jolts. After the last shock, Kirsten, 29, "fell over on to her face." Taylor initially thought his wife was joking, but quickly realized she was unconscious. He then dressed her in preparation for driving to the hospital, but instead called 911 when she stopped breathing. Taylor, pictured in the below mug shot, told investigators that the couple had "been engaging in electric shock sex and other types of extreme bondage for about 2 years."

He was charged yesterday with involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment and was jailed in the York Count lockup (where he remains in custody on $100,000 bail).

She who laughs last

I am trying to understand why the Judge still shaved one year off of the maximum sentence she could have received.

Laughing jailhouse phone call gets woman tough sentence
Arrington's attorney says she really is remorseful about bicyclist's death

TUCSON, Arizona (AP) -- A judge sentenced a woman to nearly the maximum prison term for negligent homicide after hearing a recorded jail conversation in which she made light of the bicyclist she killed.

KGUN: Listen to recording of Arrington's phone call

Melissa Arrington, 27, was convicted two months ago of negligent homicide and two counts of aggravated DUI in connection with the December 2006 death of Paul L'Ecuyer.

She could have gotten as few as four years behind bars, but Superior Court Judge Michael Cruikshank sentenced her Tuesday to 10½ years -- one year shy of the maximum.
Cruikshank said he found a telephone conversation between Arrington and an unknown male friend, a week after L'Ecuyer was killed, to be "breathtaking in its inhumanity."

During the conversation, the man told Arrington that an acquaintance believed she should get a medal and a parade because she had "taken out" a "tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot."

Arrington laughed. When the man said he knew it was a terrible thing to say, she responded, "No, it's not."

Assistant Public Defender Michael Rosenbluth told the judge his client has never been "cold, callous or flippant" about L'Ecuyer's death and has always felt remorseful.

Arrington said words couldn't express how she feels, and that once she's out of prison, she hopes to share her story with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

L'Ecuyer, 45, was riding his bike the night of December 1, 2006 when Arrington swerved off the road, hit him and then continued for 800 feet before stopping, according to Deputy Pima County Attorney Jonathan Mosher.

Arrington's blood-alcohol content was .156 percent, nearly double Arizona's .08 legal limit. She had been driving on a suspended license for a prior DUI.

Someone call a Texas Ranger

What a mess and a prime example of why politics, grand juries and prosecution are never a good mix.

Judge blisters Harris County DA over Medina case

Says Rosenthal's error nullified the grand jury's work

By BRIAN ROGERS and DALE LEZON: Houston Chronicle

A judge criticized the Harris County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday for not supporting a grand jury's decision to indict a Texas Supreme Court justice and his wife for a 2007 arson that destroyed the couple's Spring home.
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Why did they bring the case to the grand jury if they didn't want the grand jury to do its job?" state District Judge Jim Wallace asked. "At that point in time, you ought to stand by, and abide by, what the grand jury wishes to do."

Adding another twist in a case that has brought accusations of political favoritism and juror misconduct, Wallace disbanded the grand jury that last week indicted David Medina and his wife, Francisca, citing a procedural error by Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal's office. At least two months of grand jury work is now nullified because the District Attorney's Office failed to file the proper paperwork to extend the jury's term, the judge said.

The ruling added to growing frustrations among the grand jurors who believe their efforts were wasted, while the prosecutor in charge of the case defended his actions to have the Medina indictments dismissed Friday.

The case should have been investigated further before dismissing the indictment, Wallace said.
"The unusual aspect of this case is that it was dismissed so quickly," said Wallace, a Republican judge who has served for 14 years. "It should have been allowed to run its course."
The procedural mistakes by the DA's Office also make it more difficult to find citizens to serve on grand juries, he said.

"That's my concern, because I know how hard it is to impanel grand jurors," Wallace said. "They think 'Why waste our time?' "

In all, Wallace ruled that the Medina indictments, plus more than 30 others in an unrelated mortgage fraud case, are now null and void.

'This is sheer lunacy'Grand jury foreman Bob Ryan said he is frustrated that the jurors' work on the Medina case, and others, is now irrelevant.

"I think voters of Harris County are entitled to a more competent staff in the District Attorney's Office than they have today," Ryan said Tuesday. "This is sheer lunacy and incompetence on the part of the elected district attorney. If it weren't so serious, I would be amused."
Ryan, along with seven other grand jurors, met with reporters Tuesday and criticized Rosenthal's office for frittering away time and resources by presenting evidence to a grand jury that lacked legitimacy.

The foreman and other jurors have already criticized the prosecutors for their decision to dismiss the indictment. David Medina's attorney, Terry Yates, requested a hearing to find them in contempt for speaking about grand jury proceedings, which are secret. That request is now moot, the judge said.

Assistant District Attorney Vic Wisner, who presented the arson case to the grand jury but also sought to dismiss the indictment, stood by his decision Tuesday.
"Regardless of my personal belief in the merits of a case, I cannot ethically proceed forward if I believe the prosecution will not survive an instructed verdict of not guilty and be an exercise in futility," Wisner wrote in an open letter to the Houston Chronicle. "I do not, nor should any prosecutor, conduct show trials."

Wisner's statement also addressed accusations of favoritism.
"If I wanted to help the Medinas and bury the case," he said. "I would never have brought it to a grand jury in the first place."

Wisner wrote that he has asked an "outside investigative agency to pursue the remaining investigative leads" in the arson case. Reached Tuesday by phone, Wisner declined to identify that agency.

His statement also notes that Ryan was a foreman of a previous grand jury which, despite the wishes of the prosecutor, returned several indictments of public officials.
"They were of course also immediately dismissed," he wrote.
Wisner would not identify the case. Ryan said later Tuesday that he recalled the case, but could not remember who it involved.

The DA's Office plans to move forward on one case Wallace dissolved Tuesday. Assistant District Attorney Lester Blizzard, whose division is handling the mortgage fraud case, said new indictments would be sought and secured today.

The grand jurors, including the foreman, had said they would consider reindicting the couple. Investigators have determined the fire was intentionally set.
Rosenthal on Tuesday denied that politics played a role in the decision to dismiss the case.
"Absolutely not," Rosenthal said. "It's part of my oath that I don't prosecute people if I don't think there's enough evidence to do so."

Rosenthal said there isn't enough evidence to justify pursing an arson charge against Francisca Medina and an evidence tampering charge against the judge, but that his office continues investigating.

He said the procedural mistake occurred when the prosecutor who was handling the mortgage fraud case asked that the grand jury be held over, beyond their three-month term. Rosenthal said the prosecutor didn't file the correct paperwork.

He said the chief of his grand jury division retired about a year ago and the new chief didn't catch the mistake.

He said he didn't think other grand juries have been held over for the past year, so there aren't any other cases that might suffer the same procedural snag.

The grand jurors' charge of political favoritism comes at a time when Rosenthal is battling to save the rest of his term. He withdrew from seeking a third term in office after e-mails surfaced with notes of adoration for his secretary, racist jokes and sexually explicit images.

Rosenthal also answered charges from fellow Republicans and community groups who have asked for his resignation.

"They've got their First Amendment rights to say anything they want to. I don't think it's true," Rosenthal said. "I think that people who have known me for a long time know that I'm neither sexist or racist. I haven't changed."