“Justice 1, Hollywood 0.”
—Shanna Nugent, granddaughter of Marjorie Nugent, who was shot and killed by Bernie Tiede in 1996. Nugent was speaking to reporters while surrounded by her family outside the courthouse in Longview, where Tiede had been re-sentenced to 99 years in prison for murder. The story of the murder and its first trial had been made into a movie, Bernie, in 2012, and its director, Richard Linklater, had long lobbied for Tiede’s release from prison. Prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General secured another long sentence during his resentencing trial. (http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2016/04/how-the-family-of-bernie-tiedes-victim-helped-send-him-back-to-prison.html)
“We decided to throw the book at him—we might as well throw the whole library.”
—a Haskell County jury foreman, explaining the jury’s sentence for a habitual DWI offender who went to trial on his fifth felony DWI charge. (He also had robbery and escapes in his criminal history.) The jury had no trouble deciding on a life prison sentence but had wavered on whether to give the defendant a fine. They ended up returning with a $10,000 fine on top of prison. (Submitted by Luke Griffin, DA investigator in Haskell County)
“It was the worst injury in my six-year career as a police officer, but it was pretty funny.”
—Dan German, one-time peace officer with the Bryan Police Department and now a Blinn College Criminal Justice professor. In 1975, German and another officer, Ernie Wentrcek, were investigating a call about a prowler. The women who made the call told the officers that it wasn’t in fact a prowler but a ram—the 200-pound mascot for Allen Academy, to be exact—which had gotten loose. As German was writing up the report, the ram rounded the corner, reared up on its hind legs, smacked German in the knees, knocked him down—and sent his partner into hysterical laughter. German was fine once he could ice his knees. (http://www.blinn.edu/news/2016/may/criminal-justice-professor-inspires-students.html)
“About a month after I moved here, a 41-year-old man named Mark Stroman told Texas that he loved Texas, just before Texas killed him. … It was a jaw-dropping moment that set a theme for me.”
—Manny Fernandez, reporter for The New York Times newspaper based in Houston since 2011, in an article entitled, “What Makes Texas Texas.” In it, the Brooklyn transplant marvels about Texans’ deep pride in being, well, Texans. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/us/what-makes-texas-texas.html)
“I’m just talking here without a lot of knowledge.”
—A Washington County criminal defense attorney during a hearing on a motion to lower bond. The State had objected during the defense’s closing argument regarding a clear misstatement of fact, and defense counsel conceded that he had misspoken. (submitted by Derek Estep, Assistant District Attorney in Washington County)
“They want the job, but they still want to be in that lifestyle. And they have to choose.”
—Kevin Canty, 55, an employee of Gaster Lumber and Hardware in Savannah, Georgia, on how hard it is for certain industries to hire workers who can pass drug tests. The percentage of U.S. workers who tested positive for illicit drugs has crept up since 2013 (to 4.7 percent), and employers gripe about the shortage of drug-free workers—many can’t fill their job openings because of it. (http://ireader.olivesoftware.com/Olive/iReader/DMN/SharedArticle.ashx?document=DMN\2016\05\18&article=Ar00301)