LaCresha’s Neighborhood

Posted on 29 December 2009

By John Brummett

It says so in the state constitution. A sitting judge who seeks a
non-judicial political office vacates the judgeship automatically when he
files for the other office.

Surely you see the wisdom.

Let’s say a circuit judge was running for governor. You wouldn’t want him
weighing matters of justice in the context of personal campaign
considerations. At the very least, you’d have a glaring appearance of a
conflict.

Let’s say you were a defendant in his court. You might wonder if it would be
a good idea to contribute to his gubernatorial campaign.

The only reason retired Circuit Judge David Burnett of Osceola may sit as a
specially assigned judge for post-conviction issues arising in the famous
case of the so-called West Memphis Three is that the filing period for the
state Senate won’t open until March 1. So Burnett has merely declared his
intention to run next year for a term-limited vacancy arising in the state
Senate. He keeps right on judging.

There’s a rule of judicial conduct that requires a judge to avoid even any
appearance of impropriety. But Burnett has disregarded that and the Arkansas
Supreme Court has dismissed perfunctorily a request from a lawyer for one of
the West Memphis Three to remand the issue for Burnett to reconsider his
decision to stay on the case.

Burnett retired this year after a long career that found him, in 1994,
presiding over the original trials in which Damien Echols was convicted of
capital murder and given the death penalty while Jason Baldwin and Jessie
Misskelley were sentenced to life in prison.

They were found guilty in the mutilation and slayings of three young boys in
West Memphis in 1993. The strongest evidence was that Misskelley, with an IQ
of 72, had made contradictory confessions to police. The community was
horrified and the three defendants, then in their late teens, were weird and
seemed to have an interest in the occult.

After retiring in January, Burnett agreed to appointment as a special judge
solely for post-conviction issues that are still percolating from these
highly publicized West Memphis cases. The reasoning was that the files were
so thick that a new judge would have faced a mountainous learning curve.

Burnett should have had the good grace to decline this appointment if he
knew he was running for the state Senate. And he certainly should not have
whined to the Jonesboro Sun in tones perhaps suggesting prejudice.

But there it was Sunday — Burnett telling a Sun reporter that, yes, he was
intending to run for the Senate; that he was sick and tired of this West
Memphis case; and that he regretted letting documentary filmmakers into the
courtroom in 1994 because their “Paradise Lost” turned out to be biased for
the defendants.

An appellant might feel better if the judge did not tell the newspaper he
was sick of the case.

Burnett admitted his misjudgment in a phone conversation Monday. “I
shouldn’t have said that, and I’m sorry,” he said.

Surely you see the problem with a declared state Senate candidate serving as
a judge. Is Burnett getting quoted as a judge or as a man trying to defend
himself in the context of his candidacy for the state Senate?

If Burnett rules against these defendants in their latest pleading, will
they have reason to be satisfied that they got full and fair consideration?

I shouldn’t think so.

Already there is an article in the University of Arkansas Law Review saying
Burnett erred in denying Echols a new trial on new evidence that there was
no DNA evidence putting him at the scene. Burnett said the absence of
evidence was not innocence.

It might not have served a state Senate candidacy well to side with a Death
Row inmate.

Burnett told me Monday the political vulnerabilities work both ways. I told
him he was thus in a fix of his own making. He said he guessed so.

http://arkansasnews.com/2009/12/29/judging-david-burnetts-blunders/

 

Lydia does not have many marvellous things to write about in comparison with other countries, except for the gold dust that is carried down from Mount Tmolus.

- Herodotus, The History, 1.93

http://www.fleur-de-coin.com/articles/oldestcoin.asp

 

 

As I recline, hopefully recuperating,  my mind has turned to indulgences, and my selling therein of. For those of you late to St Flamingo Dancer flock, my New Year’s intention is to bestow upon myself sainthood. I am so wonderful, already a goddess,  that it is a natural extension of my fabulosity.

 

 I am also in it for the money.  I shall sell indulgences. Not the kind of indulgence that gets you a good after life, or anything of that nature, for that side of the market is already taken. No, I shall sell indulgences that perpetuates happiness in this world, and revenge upon those who wrong against my “clients”.

 

I thought about what currency I should use, and thought about the Electrum Stater Of Miletos or the tripodes", "axes" or "skewers"  of the pre-Numismatic Age, but eventually I arrived at the conclusion that Herodotus, sometimes, was right and so I shall use gold dust as my currency of exchange.

 

So I am thinking of setting the base rate of 14 grams of gold dust per smiting of employers, mothers in law and generally anyone who gets in your way in the supermarket. I set a lower price for smiting as I gain a certain large degree of pleasure from it myself!

 

28 grams of gold dust for the general sending of plagues and boils upon the person who annoys from the neighboring work cubicle, former university friends who now have 1. better jobs, 2. more money, 3. beautiful partners, or 4. has had cosmetic surgery though pretends otherwise.

 

32 grams will get you traffic free highways on the commute to work, no waiting in line for doctors, at banks, government departments, or checkouts, and wait, there’s more - no grey hair. In the case of the gentleman, you will be granted hair that remains on your head and never on your ears, but it may be grey. 32 grams of gold dust only goes so far!

 

The big stuff, a gold bar, will get you three wishes, as long as you remember your place and don’t expect to rise above me, as my fabulosity will not be undone!

 

Other indulgences upon request. Price non negotiable, no guarantees or warranties. Non returnable.   Responsibility and risk upon the requester.

 

 

An indulgence, in Catholic Theology, is the full or partial remission of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven. The indulgence is granted by the church after the sinner has confessed and received absolution. The belief is that indulgences draw on the Treasure House of Merit accumulated by Jesus' sacrifice and the virtues and penances of the saints. They are granted for specific good works and prayers.

 

Indulgences replaced the severe penances of the early Church. More exactly, they replaced the shortening of those penances that was allowed at the intercession of those imprisoned and those awaiting martyrdom for the faith.

 

Abuses in granting indulgences were a major point of contention when Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation (1517).

 

Finished Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb.

This is set in 1964, from October up through what is quite possibly the best (read: outrageously funny) school Christmas pageant ever.

Felix Funicello (Annette's distant cousin) is in fifth grade and is trying to deal with scary nun teachers (he's in a Catholic school), two older sisters and the odds that the new girl in school is a Communist spy (she's from Russia). 

There are no words for how fantastic this book is.  It's very funny and sweet (in a weird way) and all around wonderful.

And how can you not love a book that has this for its first two sentences:  "The year I was a fifth-grade student at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial School, our teacher, Sister Dymphna, had a nervous breakdown in front of our class.  To this day, I can hear Sister's screams and see her flailing attempts to shoo away the circling Prince of Darkness."

(The rest of the book is awesome, too.)

Definitions of colonoscopy on the Web:

• visual examination of the colon (with a colonoscope) from the cecum to the rectum; requires sedation
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

• colonoscope - an elongated fiberoptic endoscope for examining the entire colon from cecum to rectum
  wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

• colonoscope - a flexible fibreoptic endoscope used to examine the colon and obtain tissue samples
  en.wiktionary.org/wiki/colonoscope

• Examination of the entire colon with an optic fiber tube inserted through the anus and rectum.
  aspirus.org/aboutAspirus/index.cfm

• a test that uses a long, flexible tube with a light and camera lens at the end (colonoscope) to examine inside the large intestine.
  www.childrenscentralcal.org/HealthE/P03012/Pages/P03011.aspx

• A procedure in which a long flexible viewing tube (a colonoscope) is threaded up through the rectum for the purpose of inspecting the entire colon and rectum and, if there is an abnormality, taking a biopsy of it or removing it. ...
  www.medicinenet.com/virtual_colonoscopy/glossary.htm

• Examination of the interior of the colon using a flexible viewing instrument.
  www.everydayhealth.com/gerd/understanding/glossary.aspx

• a diagnostic procedure in which a flexible tube with a light source in inserted into the colon (large intestine or large bowel) through the anus to view all sections of the colon for abnormalities.
  www.womenshealthzone.net/glossary/c/

• colonoscope - A thin, lighted tube used to examine the inside of the colon.
  www.pbs.org/secondopinion/episodes/coloncancer/medicalglossary/story283.html

• colonoscope - The long flexible lighted instrument used for performing Colonoscopy.
  www.ostomy.evansville.net/terms.htm

• colonoscope - Flexible, elongated tube that can be inserted through the anus allowing the inside of the colon to be seen.
  www.hollister.com/anz/ostomy/resource/glossary.html

• (col-un-AH-skuh-pee) examination of the colon with a long, flexible, lighted tube called a colonoscope. The doctor can look for polyps during the exam and even remove them using a wire loop passed through the colonoscope.
  www.mesothelioma-line.com/articles/glossary/

• An examination of the large intestine utilizing a long lighted fiberoptic or video scope.
  www.ostomy.evansville.net/terms.htm

• Visualization of the lining of the anus, rectum and colon through a rigid proctosigmoidoscope or a flexible fiber optic endoscope (types of viewing tubes). This procedure allows diagnosis of tumors and inflammatory diseases.
  www.abbottdiagnostics.com/Glossary/index.cfm

• Procedure that allows inspection and tissue sampling of the rectum and large intestine by inserting a flexible tube with an attached camera through the rectum.
  www.barrx.com/Patients_and_Families/index.cfm/55

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR - I think not! I was gong to say that I am really pissed off, but under the circumstances that might not be qute the right descripton!

Finished The Dreaded Feast: Writers on Enduring the Holidays, edited by Michelle Clarke & Taylor Plimpton.

This is basically the anti-Christmas book, and if you have a dark sense of humor, odds are you'll love it.

The first essay is by John Waters, and it's my favorite of the bunch.  But there are also essays from David Sedaris (but not, sadly, The Santaland Diaries), Augusten Burroughs, Hunter S. Thompson, Dave Barry, Robert Benchley, Mark Twin, Jonathan Ames and Chris Radant (the short story that inspired Home for the Holidays), plus a ton more.

Also, the cover is fantastic. 

By George Jared

JONESBORO — Judge David Burnett will not decide before the end of the year
if two men convicted of the 1993 slayings of three West Memphis 8-year-olds
will get new trials.

A decision in the Rule 37 hearings for Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley
Jr. was expected by the end of the year, but Burnett said he’s given
attorneys until Jan. 15 to submit briefs. Burnett said he will rule shortly
after the briefs are submitted.

A controversial and ridiculed figure in the so-called “West Memphis Three”
saga, Burnett said he’s grown weary over the interest of the national and
international media in the case. He’s also remaining mum about his ultimate
decision.

“I can tell you one thing, I’m tired of this case,” the judge said.

The bodies of Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Steven Branch were found
in a West Memphis ditch on May 6, 1993, one day after they were reported
missing.

A month later Misskelley, Baldwin and Damien Echols were arrested and
charged with capital murder. Prosecutors said the then-teens had occult
beliefs that led them to subdue the boys near the ditch.

Misskelley confessed to police, and he confessed several more times after
being convicted in 1994. Since then he has recanted those statements —
Misskelley, who has an I.Q. of 72, said that police coerced him. Each of the
confessions offered slightly different, sometimes competing versions of what
happened to the victims, according to court documents.

During Misskelley’s trial and the subsequent Baldwin-Echols trial, Burnett
allowed documentary filmmakers to record the proceedings. In 1996 the
documentary “Paradise Lost” was released by HBO, bringing international
attention to the case.

Burnett said he erred in allowing the filmmakers into the courtroom — “the
producers of the film were very one-sided, and it was a mistake,” the judge
said.

The filmmakers argued that many of the things Misskelley described in his
confessions — the time of the murders, the victims being choked and how they
were bound — proved to be false. Misskelley also stated that two of the boys
were sodomized, but the state medical examiner was unable to find any
evidence of it. A slew of defense forensic pathologists affirmed that when
they testified at the recent hearings.

Misskelley’s confession was the key evidence in a case where little forensic
evidence was found.

The judge has been vilified for the convictions and for not granting Echols
a new trial after his Rule 37 hearing in 1999.

Judge’s response

Burnett pointed out that despite the intense criticism of how the case was
handled, the Arkansas Supreme Court has affirmed every decision he’s made in
the trials.

“I’m not ashamed of any ruling I made in the 27 years I sat on the bench,”
he said.

The judge also said that the defense’s evidence in the 1999 hearings
ultimately proved false. The defense argued that human bite marks were on
the faces of the victims that didn’t match teeth impressions of the
convicted, but authorities said no bite marks have ever been verified.

Burnett also said two juries found the West Memphis Three guilty in court —
not him.

“There’s been a lot of spin in this case, for sure,” he said.

Since the guilty verdict, Echols sought another trial based on 2007 DNA
testing results that indicated none of the West Memphis Three’s DNA was
found at the scene. Burnett denied that motion, saying the absence of
evidence does not prove innocence.

Being the judge in such a high-profile case has hurt his reputation, Burnett
admitted. Earlier this year he said he was considering a run for the state
Senate, but his involvement in the case might prove to be a liability. He
still plans to seek political office, he said.

Although he retired as a Circuit Court judge at the end of last year,
Burnett was appointed as a special judge to finish off the work he started
16 years ago.

If Burnett denies the motion for new trials, that ruling will almost
certainly be appealed to higher courts. No matter what he decides, Burnett
said he knows the sensationalism will continue.

“This case will never end, no matter what,” the judge said. “It’ll go on
forever.”

http://www.jonesborosun.com/story.php?ID=41229

By Stephanie Chen, CNN
December 28, 2009 10:44 a.m. EST

(CNN)  -- There was a time that Pamela Hobbs believed justice had been
served for her young son's murder.

But 16 years after the mutilations and killings of three 8-year-old Cub
Scouts, including her son, she has more doubts than ever.

Tear-stricken and angry, Pamela Hobbs sat through the original trial of the
three accused teens -- Damien Echols, 18; Jessie Misskelley Jr., 17, and
Jason Baldwin, 16.

They were convicted of murdering her son, Stevie Branch, and two other neighborhood boys,

Michael Moore and Christopher Byers. The second-graders' bodies were found bruised and
mutilated in a West Memphis, Arkansas, ditch; their arms and legs were bound by shoe laces.

The killers became dubbed the West Memphis 3.

When interviewed by media and documentary crews after the trial, Hobbs
believed justice had been served. Misskelley and Baldwin had life sentences.
Echols was on death row.

But recent developments -- including new eyewitness statements and DNA
evidence from the defense -- have uprooted her faith in those prosecutions.
Once a staunch believer that the teens were guilty, now she says the teens
accused of killing her son in the West Memphis 3 deserve a new trial.

"I wanted to believe in our justice system," said Hobbs, now 45. She moved
to Blytheville, Arkansas, shortly after the 1993 trial. "But time heals all
wounds, and you start looking at things differently."

Her public change of heart has been supported by new evidence presented by
the defense over the past few years. In 2007, DNA and forensic evidence
tests revealed no physical evidence at the crime scene that linked the three
teens to murders. The evidence was presented to the state.

Furthermore, DNA that might belong to two other men was found in the knot
used to tie Christopher.

One of the men is Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Stevie, the defense says.
In 1993, such advanced DNA testing had not been available, attorneys said.

The defense continues to argue the results of the DNA evidence. In
September, the Arkansas Supreme Court received an appeal from Echols,
requesting a new trial after the lower courts denied his request to submit
new DNA evidence. This month, an Arkansas Law Review article
stated Echols should be granted a new trial based on the 2007 DNA
evidence.

The Arkansas Supreme Court will likely hear oral arguments for a new trial
for Echols in February, say officials representing him.

Three eye witnesses, who resided next to one of the victims, filed
affidavits in October with the Arkansas Supreme Court. The witnesses said
they saw the second-graders with Terry Hobbs the night before the bodies
were found by police.

The statement from the witnesses contradicted Hobbs' statements to police
and in court that he never saw his stepson, Stevie, on the day of the
murder.

"They [authorities] never really did any investigation," said Dennis
Riordan, Echols' defense attorney out of San Francisco, California. "They
never interviewed Hobbs. The fact that the witnesses saw him, and they
realized for the first time, it was very significant."

Pamela Hobbs was divorced from Terry Hobbs in 2004 because of marital
problems stemming from the pain that followed her son's death, she said. She
declined to comment on whether she thought her ex-husband saw the 8-year-old
boys.

Hobbs has adamantly rejected the defense's allegations that he saw his
stepson that day. Hobbs, 51, who still lives in West Memphis, said the
defense is attempting to make him the target because Echols is on death row.
There is no execution date set.

He raises the question many skeptics of the three men's innocence have
echoed: Why would the eyewitness evidence surface 16 years later? Why didn't
the witnesses come forward sooner?

To this day, Terry Hobbs says he believes the rightful killers are in
prison.

The State's Attorneys Office and prosecutors won't comment about the
defense's claims. Mike Walden, prosecuting attorney for Craighead County,
where the original trial took place, said the affidavits are weak.

"I think most people will tell you these affidavits are insufficient to
justify filing charges against someone else," Walden said about the three
new eyewitnesses presented by the defense. "They don't contain enough
evidence to enable a prosecuting attorney to make a charging position."

Critics of the defense attorneys say there has been too much finger-pointing
over the past 16 years. The defense "can't get their story straight," said
Tracy Ripple, who started a Web site criticizing supporters of the West
Memphis 3.

West Memphis Police Department declined to comment. An officer said they
were told by the state's Attorney General's office not to comment on the
West Memphis 3 case.

During the original trial in 1993, prosecutors argued the three teens were
part of a satanic cult when they murdered the three children. They said
punctures and cut marks on the victims were argued to be to be part of a
sadistic ritual. After the trial, some forensic examiners argued those marks
were animal bite marks.

The prosecution relied on the confession of Misskelley, a 17-year-old with
learning disabilities and an IQ of 70. He confessed after an untaped,
three-hour interrogation by police without his parents or an attorney
present. Misskelley later recanted his confession.

The teens, now men serving time in the Arkansas penitentiary system, have
maintained their innocence. They have tried appealing, arguing that they
weren't adequately represented in the original trial. Echols remains on
death row, and no execution date has been set.

Pamela Hobbs hasn't been the only parent of the victims to shift to the side
of the West Memphis 3 supporters.

Mark Byers, the father of Christopher, lives in Millington, Tennessee. He
said he began to think the three men might be innocent, particularly after
the 2007 DNA tests results were released. His wife, Melissa, passed away in
1996.

After the murders, Byers announced to the media fervently that he believed
the West Memphis 3 were guilty. But by 2005, he began to question the
original trial. He said parts of Misskelley's confession did not match up
with actual crime. For example, the confession talks about committing the
crime in the woods, but medical examiners found few traces of blood in the
woods.* *

"The worst part about it is the three real victims that deserve justice, the
three 8-year-old children have not been given justice," Byers said. "They
got a hack job for a police investigation. It was a rush to find someone who
they said did this."

Todd and Diana Moore, parents of Michael, say the West Memphis 3 are guilty.
Todd Moore, now divorced from Diana Moore, says he can't believe the
eyewitness affidavits because they are based on memories from 16 years ago.
His ex-wife declined to comment.

"They [witnesses] may have seen something," said Moore, who now lives in
Marion, Arkansas. "But May 5, 1993, wasn't the day."

The murders of the three boys remain etched into the community even years
after the trial ended. The case inspired two HBO documentaries, "Paradise
Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" and "Paradise Lost 2."

As years passed, the West Memphis 3 continued to live in the media
spotlight. The case gained notoriety among celebrities such as the Dixie
Chicks and actress Winona Ryder, who have publicly said the three men should
have a new trial.

Over the years, the parents of the three boys have watched the headlines
return. Some hope for a new trial for the three men, who have languished
behind bars for their young adult years behind bars. And other parents pray
the men will stay locked up for good.* *

"I want someone to put a stop to this," said Terry Hobbs. He fondly recalls
the memories with his stepson -- the two of them swimming in the backyard
pool.
"I'm tired of this stuff. No one understands or cares what this does to us
as parents over and over again."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/28/west.memphis.three/

For the New Year,  I am going to grant myself sainthood - Saint Flamingo Dancer the Wonderful - and throw a bit of fabulosity about the world. I will also sell indulgences for financial gain (mine). Stay tuned for price lists.

 

 

Someone may have awoken in the early dark hours of Christmas Day feeling somewhat ill. Sadly it was not from any excess of Christmas Eve festivities, though we had eaten brandy soaked chocolate cherry cake for dessert and downed several cocktails.No, the hostess with the very mostess went down with boring old diverticulitis, so the mission for the day was not to let anoyone else know. I battled through lunch anvd the afternoon. I even allowed Neice aged 4 1/2 to paint my fingernails and toenails with nail polish. I am a fantastic great aunt, naturally.

I got to about 6pm and everyone had drinkies and I set The Boy to carving more ham for a dinner when I found a quiet corner on the floor and fell asleep. At this stage I had confided to Daughter2 that I was ill and instructed her to remove my nail polish should I die in the night, as I would prefer not to go into eternity attired so.

About 2 hours later apparently I was still asleep and Daughter2 was making noises about me being really tired to cover for me, when someone joked that "maybe she dead!" Ha Ha Ha.

This is when Daughter2's FD genes  showed to their best. D2, knowing that I was actually sick, thought "what if she really is dead? What if we are one of those horrible famillies who joke about someone dying on Christmas Day and they really are lying there dead? Will we be all over the papers tomorrow morning? Should I go and check? No, I don't want to go near dead people." So, she just went on enjoyng the evening! I could have actually died and no one, not even the fruit of my own womb, would have cared. Revenge will be sweet.

I did rise from the dead, with everyone joking about how they thought I might be dead. I remember muttering a reply along the lines "did anyone attempt the kiss of life on me, or draw a moustache on my face?  Ha Ha Ha" , and wandered off to bed, letting Daughter1 into "the secret" wth instructions to play the game wth D2.

The flaw in my plan was telling MR FD when he came to bed, for first thing in the morning he walks downstairs and announces in his best town cryer voice that anyone in a 5 street radius would have heard the "FD is ill!"

Well in the blink of an eye, my mother and sister, who had stayed overnight, were racng each other up the stairs and at my bedside. Mother started her hand ringing routine "oh it's so unfair" and Sister her "I'll spring clean your bedroom and organise your closet into the colours of the colour spectrum" and both being so utterly annoyng that I gave into the pain and wished for instant death. They left several long hours later...Merry Christmas.

 

Daughter 2 went for a long walk on Boxing Day and a man was opening his car to put his two bulldogs into the back, when they saw D2 and raced across the street to greet her. The man called the dogs back and they went back to the car, but as he was putting one into the car, the other dog raced back to D2. He called out to her "Pick him up!" D2 is however not comfortable around dogs and so she replied to him" I am not very good with dogs" and so in a panic tiptoed daintly across the street saying "here doggie, doggie" in the hope that the dog would follow her. Luckly it did. D2 is always having weird things interactions with the general public. 

 

Yesterday Mr FD, Son and D2 went to do their duty with Mr FD's parents. Apparently Grandpa was in the toilet a long time and D2 told me later that she was a little concerned that he might have died in there "but as you know, I don't check dead people!" so she went and sat down again! Compasson is a big thing in our family, obviously!

Son arrived home and told me that Uncle Adulterer  and Cousin Dropkick, had done us a great favour because Grandpa hates Uncle so much, and has such a low opinion of cousin that "we look like the prodigal family in comparison"

Don't you love Christmas? 

 

 

 

 

My head is absolutely buzzing with ideas and planning, goals, projects and lists. I should be a professional project creator. I have come to the conclusion that there are simply not enough hours in the day. What should one do? Sleep less? Hardly!  But managing my time more effectively would probably go a long way towards helping me accomplish every harebrained scheme I think up.

 

 

What a delightful weekend we just spent. Sherlock Holmes was interestingly done and well worth a watch. I remember my mum reading Sherlock Holmes to me and my sisters at bedtime. The story of the speckled band scared the proverbial crap out of me.  I remember reading the story to Jesse and Libby when they were still quite young (we were living in Hawaii at the time) and they were completely unruffled by it.

 

 

I wanted to go to the zoo today (yes, in December) but the snow was coming down thick and fast.

 

 

 Todd didn't fancy negociating icy roads all the way to Indianapolis so we stayed close to home.

 

 Ice skating wasn't the same without our English cousins but we're planning to get them stateside next winter.