Not for the faint of heart

… a blow by blow account of Breda “Fallacy” being raped.

Not genitally, thank God. But definitely violated.

It gets my male protective hackles up, the mores so since the Ferrous One has titanium in her leg and will doubtless get the same treatment if she ever flies.

UPDATE: More here, and here.  Proof of “National security kabuki”.

Stupid losers

G’morning! My ma-in-law would be 81 today, if not for a drunk driver.

I hate TV in general, but occasionally I can be suckered into watching something with the wife. And last night I hit the couch (with some chocolate, lol!) for The Biggest Loser. The high point was the elimination of Carla and Joelle, easily the most disturbed individuals I’ve ever seen on that show. And I use the plural intentionally. The other teams were all like “We love you Carla, but Joelle has to go.”. No. Carla was a bully. And it really was “all about her”, and every time she accused Joelle of that, it was screaming rampant projection. Not once did I ever see her try to help Joelle through her issues; indeed, I think she perpetuated them through her actions. And when they met months later, much thinner, and could have been reconciled, she still had to dump her hate and anger, and Joelle did the right thing when she got up and walked. Anyway, now that they’re out, we shouldn’t have any more flashbacks of Carla swearing, which was not pretty.

Not over ’til it’s over

Here’s the sentence.

Sicuro is doing his job. Here’s his motion to vacate, on the grounds that “entry does not conform with the sentence imposed in open court”. Hmm, sounds like what I heard in open court. No license or firearms, but if those are automatic, he might not need to mention them. And yes, it sucks that Nelly loses her right to bear arms, because she’s a little thing, and she might well need it someday. But I didn’t write the law. And I doubt this is going anywhere.

UPDATE: there’s no link to the actual search results, but putting in the proper name here returns things like a number and a mug shot. Rusty spent the afternoon researching the State of Ohio’s accommodations for women.

Cuffed and stuffed

We got at the courthouse about 7:45 (Rusty had been awake since 3:30). They don’t open until 8, so some of us piled into a nearby cafe for coffee (regular; their espresso machine had exploded and its replacement hadn’t arrived). We went over at 8 and got coached in court protocol by the victim advocate. An order for the Victim Impact Statements was set. The judge was to be retired (sitting)judge Joseph R. Kainrad, as rumor had it that Judge Pittman was at the party in D.C. Events were set for 8:30, but were delayed because the prosecutor was late. There were 17 of our guys and about 15 on Nelly’s team (I counted as they came through the door; it would have been rude to look back.) The reserved front bench contained a young woman from the Record-Courier (presumably Marci Piltz, author of this.) and 3 members of the Warren team invited to come up as there was no room in back. The only decoration in the court was a plant and a picture of Abe Lenin Lincoln on the wall.

Proceedings began at 8:52. The judge briefly reviewed the charges. He was curt and no-nonsense, though not in any way hostile, and seemed ancient(he’d been on the bench 40 years). The Victim Impact Statements followed: Rusty, Jessie, Ada, Laurie Ann. Rusty got weepy, but plowed ahead. Hers was longest (as befits the only true victim to still be incarnate), and fact-oriented, as well as having a bit of humor (“We were looking for her next husband”). Then Jessie up with her husband. She was halting at first, but got going. The Nelly crew was audibly pissed when she accused Nelly of deliberation in the homicide; I hadn’t suggested an edit when they were over, because I know better than to step between a woman and her fury; even though statements were to be addressed to the judge, there was plenty of third-person abuse of Ms. Perp to go around. Ada was with hubby and her son Dustin. She got talking about “the holidays” which elicited a “Jeez” from somebody behind me. Laura’s was shortest and dealt principally with the medical bill. This was all done by 9:16.

Then the defense lawyer had his say: Nelly has a loving family too. Weather conditions were not good, Nelly had wanted to turn around (whoops, he’s getting into trouble here with the judge, as Nelly was going home; where would she turn around to? Uh, the bar?), the most remorseful client he’s ever had (probably true; there were those phone calls while Rusty was still in the hospital), these things are a matter of fate — 30 seconds earlier departure by either party would have avoided this (hmmm, wouldn’t that just change the location of the accident?). Then he put Nelly on to apologize. The emaciated woman cried her way through…and I did feel sorry for her, and for her family. That could have been me, when I was young and stupid, though I never got a DUI. And they’re going to lose her. It sucks. But that doesn’t change ultimate responsibility, which nobody was trying to duck (not even the lawyer who was blaming the weather).

The prosecutor then had to clarify the license situation for the judge (as she was driving on a valid license, contrary to the original writeup). The judge philosophized about how hard these cases are, saying “I wish I’d stayed down on the farm in the dairy business”. Then BOOM- the verdict:
For the aggravated vehicular homicide: 4 years
aggravated vehicular assault: 1 year, to be served consecutively
Five years!

They cuffed her, her family shouted “We love you, Nelly!” And one graceless lout from our crew shouted “She got off easy!”

Then they brought her back. Rusty thought for a moment that they were going to lighten her sentence because one of our folks was rude. No… the judge being old-school had neglected some modern niceties, like explaining post-release control and the penalties for probation violation (Doing maximum time: 8 and 5, respectively.) All done by 9:25 or so.

There was some hand-wringing afterwards, as she’ll be up for judicial review after 2.5 years, and the militant wing of the family took this as “She only got 2 years” (as opposed to “Hanging’s too good for her”, which was their sentiment.) The family lawyer set them straight on this. Oddly, since it’s my wife after all who now has trouble with those “romantic walks around the block”, I felt very dispassionate about things, and think 5 years was a reasonable sentence. 2 would have been a slap in the face, but 8 would have been inappropriate due to mitigating factors. Yes, I want her to serve it all, but I’m more optimistic about that happening than some are (and I’m the guy who doesn’t trust the government, remember?). I’d rather see money than revenge.

There was a brief meeting with the lawyer about insurance stuff (He met today with our first lawyer, who called for the first time in 5 months last night), then 14 of us were off to Cracker Barrel to stuff face. I took Rusty home, got lunch together, and it’s done.

Knife-sharpening and confusion

This afternoon I had all 4 sisters in my kitchen, going over their victim impact statements, reading and crying and joking. Also, apparently the sentencing has been continued until the 21st…no reason given. I thought it had something to do with That Man perjuring himself before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (nothing personal; most presidents of this century have perjured themselves about upholding the Constitution), maybe the courts being closed for fear of terrorism (or just because that lot of ‘Crats wanted to see their god ascend the Cherry Blossom Throne) but they are having sentencing on the 20th. And Nelly is schedued then, so the message that it’s been moved to the 21st might be misinformation. Some clarity would be nice, as Rusty would like me to be there.

Jessie’s last conversation with her mom: Ada had asked for water, and Jessie had to tell her she wasn’t allowed any. And Ada said, “You’re full of shit.”

Something good scheduled for Inauguration Day

On January 20th, we’ll all be sentenced to 4 years. But Nelly Warren (Ms. Perp) will be sentenced twice. She’s on at 9; with any luck, she’ll be locked away by the time Obama takes the Lie of Office.

Loverly, we have a killer in the hood.

A 29-year-old Windham Township man was arrested Thursday on charges he murdered his girlfriend’s five-month-old daughter Wednesday while the child was under his care. Kenneth B. Shears, 29, of 10011 North Ashington St., was arrested on a charge of murder, an unclassified felony, Portage County Sheriff Duane Kaley said Thursday. According to Kaley, the child suffered physical violence while under Shears’ care at the North Ashington Street address. She was later taken to Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, where she was pronounced dead.

This guy lives in the back of the trailer park near where my wife’s accident was.

Ms. Perp cops a plea

Today was the pretrial for Ms. Perp. Rusty sprung out of bed at 6, saying “It’s Tuesday!” as if it were Christmas. she’s been pretty keyed up.

We were concerned because the assistant prosecutor Muldowney had screwed up royally. The charges as written involved Nelly driving under suspension, because her record said she was under suspension. But she was not driving under suspension at the time of the accident; her license was automatically suspended when she refused a breathalyzer test on the night of the accident. My wife tried to tell him this, but she’s just a poor unedumacated veteran while he’s part of the class that gets 44% on their civics exam. We were fearful that that would cause her to walk, or at least that it would send the whole matter back to the grand jury. But somehow, they amended the charges. I’m not sure how they can do that, but since it was amended down rather than up, I guess it’s OK. She pled guilty to 2 of the 7 charges: vehicular homicide 2 and vehicular assault 3. Sentencing is later: we’re hoping for Feb. 4, which would have been Ada Vanhorn’s 81st birthday.

Nelly looked terrible, and her family looked terrible. One cannot take joy in somebody throwing a good chunk of their life away. On the other hand, getting closure is something worth doing the Happy Dance about, insofar as you can jump up and down on a leg full of screws and metal. Nw we can talk about her apology, about forgiveness and prayer.

The sisters are off at Cracker Barrel. I told Rusty to eat some grits for me.

Justice delayed is justice denied

Nelly Warren got another continuance for her pretrial. Her lawyer said she had to “digest” her case.  (Digest this, lawyer!). Translated: he could get more money by appearing again, and lightning might strike and he might figure out how to win his unwinnable case. And the judge, who had WAY too many cases to hear, was just as cool with that.

Get it over with. Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass Mac’s Tavern. Do not collect $200.

UPDATE: Mommy (who has had issues with cars n’ bars herself) comes to the defense of her daughter.

Latest accident news

Rusty was in court again Monday. It was supposed to be the pretrial, but Judge Pittman had only ruled that morning on Nelly’s motion to have evidence from the blood test suppressed. Given that the prosecution had 2 witnesses that proper procedure was followed, Nelly had none, and there was certainly probable cause to do one, it was a legal Hail Mary pass, and Mary, I believe, is not fond of drunk drivers. Officer Herman is now a sergeant and working out of Lisbon, so Rusty didn’t get to tell the good news. She also said that Nelly “looked like hell.” Pretrial has been continued to the 7th. We suspect there’ll be a plea bargain, though it would neither surprise nor annoy me if Ms. Perp bulldozed her way into all 7 charges.

Meanwhile, Rusty got a replacement title to the Kia (she can’t find the original) so we may finally settle on that (since the lawyer told her the economics of contesting the settlement).