On when not to speak
The author of Ecclesiastes insisted, in chapter 3, that there is a time for everything, including: "a time to be silent and a time to speak..." (vs 7). That was certainly true for a defendant in Texas.
I was contacted this week to see if HFP would be willing to help a Texas inmate who has already served 20 years on a charge of cattle rustling.
His cousin told me that the judge told the defendant that he had to be quiet during the trial. But, said my contact, he insisted on trying to explain that a veteran cattle rustler had masterminded this crime and he just played a minor role. The judge evidently didn't like his interruptions and stated that every time he spoke up she was going to give him another life sentence. Before the guy stopped talking she had given him 7 life sentences! And they stood.
Governor Perry speaks very highly of his Texas judicial system, and one can certainly empathize with a judge who has a short temper when it comes to court interruptions, but 7 life sentences. Does that seem like a bit much?
And lest we start pointing fingers at Texas, I can tell you that stories about judges in other states also funnel into the HFP office, including confirmed reports of a judge who used to keep dirty magazines on his lap WHILE WORKING ON THE BENCH. And this was in Michigan. I won't say where, except to give you this hint: It was in a county where you just might expect that sort of thing.
Robert Green Ingersoll said, "...by being made judges,...their intelligence is not increased."
I was contacted this week to see if HFP would be willing to help a Texas inmate who has already served 20 years on a charge of cattle rustling.
His cousin told me that the judge told the defendant that he had to be quiet during the trial. But, said my contact, he insisted on trying to explain that a veteran cattle rustler had masterminded this crime and he just played a minor role. The judge evidently didn't like his interruptions and stated that every time he spoke up she was going to give him another life sentence. Before the guy stopped talking she had given him 7 life sentences! And they stood.
Governor Perry speaks very highly of his Texas judicial system, and one can certainly empathize with a judge who has a short temper when it comes to court interruptions, but 7 life sentences. Does that seem like a bit much?
And lest we start pointing fingers at Texas, I can tell you that stories about judges in other states also funnel into the HFP office, including confirmed reports of a judge who used to keep dirty magazines on his lap WHILE WORKING ON THE BENCH. And this was in Michigan. I won't say where, except to give you this hint: It was in a county where you just might expect that sort of thing.
Robert Green Ingersoll said, "...by being made judges,...their intelligence is not increased."
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