I kid you not.   I mean you cannot make this stuff up.

See what happens when a juror independently tested the famed “Fruit of the Loom” defense:

Underwear test by a juror puts murder verdict in doubt

The “Fruit of the Loom” defense didn’t work for an accused murderer in January, but attorneys are taking another shot at it after learning a Snohomish County juror experimented with his own underwear during the trial.

In a rare move, a judge on Tuesday said she will order all 12 members of the panel back to court April 9 to get to the bottom of things by asking a few questions.

She’ll then decide if any juror misconduct warrants a new trial for Daniel Jay Perez, 21.

Perez was convicted of second-degree murder for using the drawstring from his sweatpants to strangle his cellmate at the Monroe Reformatory in the Monroe Prison Complex.

Perez confessed after the body of Cory Garzina, 24, was found in their cell, saying the marks on his hands came from the drawstring.

I blogged this back in 2005 (reposted below) as it was happening, and now 2 years later the end is drawing near, but even as it is, nothing is settled, and the closure seems impossible.  How can you move on from something so horrific?

Joseph Duncan, the guy who commiitted this indescribly horrible crime pled guilty in state court previously, and has now pled guilty in Federal court.

Duncan pleads guilty to all counts (emphasis mine)

 Joseph Duncan this morning pleaded guilty to all 10 counts in the federal indictiment against him for kidnapping and molesting two North Idaho children and killing one in 2005.

“I just wanted to say that since my arrest I have never attempted to deny responsibility,” Duncan told the court.

The convicted killer faces a possible death sentence for kidnapping Dylan and Shasta Groene in 2005 and for killing Dylan at a remote Montana camp site.

 Possible?  Good God, if ever there was a poster child for the death penalty, this is it.

This is not a completly criticism free finding, but the firing of the taser itself was justified.

Traffic-Stop Taser Cop Acted “Reasonably”

 Utah trooper who used a Taser to subdue a stubborn motorist who was walking away from him during a traffic stop felt threatened and acted reasonably, state officials said Friday.

…

We found that Trooper Gardner’s actions were lawful and reasonable under the circumstances,” Davenport said at a news conference, joined by Scott Duncan, commissioner of the UHP’s parent agency, the Utah Department of Public Safety.

The investigation was conducted by officials in the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the highway patrol. The officials have asked the Utah attorney general’s office to also review the case to determine if laws were broken.

Not all of the actions were justified however.

Moments later, when another officer arrived, one of them said, “Oh, he took a ride with the Taser.”

Davenport said that comment was inappropriate.

Yea, I see no reason to excuse mocking.

Let’s state early, I don’t listen to him very often and i don’t like the brand of show he runs, the demagoguing incite the masses kind of talk show.

I prefer intellectual discussions to his “psychological nudity”.

But I am impressed at his gumption, his chutzpah, as he sues CAIR and labels them for what they are.

Savage lawsuit calls CAIR ‘vehicle of international terrorism’: Accuses group of seeking ‘harm to those who speak against violent agenda’

Trend-setting radio talk show host Michael Savage has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against the Council on Islamic-American Relations, and has accused the organization of being a “political vehicle of international terrorism” that seeks to do “material harm to those voices who speak against the violent agenda of CAIR’s clients.”

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in California, seeks damages equal to the ongoing donations from CAIR supporters “who expect CAIR to act in this manner in exchange for continuing financial support” as well as “actual damages according to proof.”

Watch the clip below.  This involved a guy who was stopped for speeding, and when he refused to sign the ticket he was being arrested.  He refused orders and was tased.

Normally I favor the police, and in general I think the guy deserved what he got.  But the cop made two mistakes (IMHO) which also make me have to agree he needs a reprimand.

More afterward.

OK, observations.

The cops initial approach was non confrontational, he calmly advised him he was going too fast and to produce his license and registration. 

The cop’s second request for LAR was a bit surly.  The driver was non compliant and argumentative.  Roadside arguments over tickets never work. 

The guy deserved the ticket, he admitted to the officer he was going 68 in a 40.  At that point the radar was irrelevant.  If you admit your are speeding, guess what?  You get a ticket. 

The guy refused to sign the ticket, which may or may not be a violation of the law.  Signing is not admission of guilt it is essentially a bail agreement and promise to appear, and if you do not sign, they have the right to compel your appearance by arresting you.

It is a serious question and one I am admittedly bothered by.  Let me explain, but first I want to make it clear that I abhor Phelps and his protests at Soldiers funerals, and his entire anti gay campaign.

To be double clear, Phelps and his church are among the most vile extremists to ever call themselves Christians.  For those who are not in the loop, Phelps and his church are on a campaign against gay people.  In their infinite insanity, they decided that God hates gays, and there for anything bad in American is God punishing America for tolerating gays.  This includes the war in Iraq, so they put 2 and 2 together, split it 6 ways till Tuesday then multiply the result by the number reasons they think God hates fags, and they take to the streets.  Their goal?  Military funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq.

Now would someone tell me how it makes sense to protest a funeral of a dead straight Marine and claim that God hates fags, and that’s why the Marine died.

Unfrigging believable.

judge halts Iraq war objector’s court-martial

A federal court judge has temporarily blocked a court-martial scheduled to start Tuesday for an Iraq war objector based at Fort Lewis.

First Lt. Ehren Watada is charged with refusing to deploy to Iraq. His lawyers argue the Army is violating his constitutional rights by trying him twice for the same crime.

U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled he has jurisdiction to issue the stay and that Watada’s double-jeopardy claim is not frivolous

The matter is under appeal in the Military Court systems, the Judge should have stayed out of it until that appeal was exhausted.

This is just wrong.

 Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Big Dog’s Weblog, , Right Truth, The Populist, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, The Amboy Times, Adeline and Hazel, third world county, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, CommonSenseAmerica, Right Voices, Church and State, The Random Yak, AZAMATTEROFACT, 123beta, DeMediacratic Nation, Adam’s Blog, Webloggin, The Bullwinkle Blog, Cao’s Blog, , Conservative Cat, Nuke’s, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Blue Star Chronicles, High Desert Wanderer, Public Eye, The Yankee Sailor, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Some OJ thoughts.

First, the past.  Great athlete, OK actor.  Whoopee.

The infamy:  Did he kill his wife?  Honestly I don’t know, even if It seems likely.  First of all, from a legal perspective, he was found not guilty.  And while many believe that was a failure of the system, I do not.  The reason?  Our legal system is dedicated to the premise that it is better to let the guilty go free then convict the innocent, and the fact is there was some reasonable doubt in his case.

While the evidence was pretty damning, some was circumstantial, and some was tainted.  Dusty Laker in this column saw many of the flaws in the case I did.

He saw as I did all the grand screw ups by the LA PD.  He saw blood evidence in peoples pockets and some missing.  He saw blood then magically appear where no one saw it before.  He didn’t mention the Bronco that was impounded, sat for  3 weeks and was broken into in the impound lot.

He saw a racist cop witness who admitted to disliking OJ personally. 

I blogged this not long ago, the tacky book that OJ wrote and the bickering of who gets the money for it if published.  In it I made two observations.

So…let’s suppose OJ does get the book published and the book makes 38 Million+.  Then what?

The Browns and Goldmans get the money.  OJ’s debt would be settled, and the families would be forced to accept that Justice had spoken and the scales were now balanced.

OJ Should fight to get it published on those grounds, just to settle the suit. 

And…

But what then? No amount of cash brings back the dead, nor does it change anything. They will never NOT hate him. Fred Goldman particularly strikes me as someone who has sacrificed his own happiness and life for a cage of hate.

He has cause, but he is poisoning himself in the process, and to me it is just more evil to come out of this ugliness.

So the question is, aside from punishing him, which it does not do as he still lives cushy on a $40,000 a month pension, what is the point?

First up: OJ’s book was tacky. Period.

Second: OJ is an arrogant jerk. Period.

O.J. Simpson Criticizes Goldman Family

O.J. Simpson lashed out Tuesday at the family of the late Ronald Goldman, a day after they won the rights to Simpson’s canceled “If I Did It” book about the slayings of Goldman and Simpson’s ex-wife.

A federal bankruptcy judge in Miami awarded the book rights to Goldman’s family Monday to satisfy a $38 million wrongful death judgment against Simpson.

“I find it sort of hypocritical that they talked everybody in America to boycott the book: it was ‘immoral,’ it was ‘blood money,’” he told interviewer Kate Delaney. “But we now see it wasn’t ‘blood money’ if they got the money.”

God I hate this, but in a sense he is right.  The book profits, were there actually any, would be the tackiest form of blood money.

Granted, OJ doesn’t deserve a penny of it, but in a sense, aside from showing what an ass OJ is, all this really does is showcase the depths of Fred Goldman’s hatred and his terrier like determination to squeeze every penny out of OJ.