Articles Posted in Oops

Sweet Fancy Moses. As reported in The Dallas Morning News, here’s what Dallas attorney Catherine Shelton has been up to:

Ms. Shelton has been convicted of aggravated assault for shooting a former boyfriend.

She was also convicted of assaulting a pregnant former friend.

At an “Arrive Alive” road safety briefing, before an audience, in an apparent attempt to really drive the point home, Chief Constable Richard Brunstrom included two pictures he really shouldn’t have: one of a headless body, the other of the head. The family of the victim (a 40-year-old father of three) was horrified, and filed a complaint. So what do you think the Police Complaints Commission concluded? The report was 84 pages! They concluded that no rules were broken. To his credit, the Chief said:

I bitterly regret the distress my actions have caused.

I think I was stupid – a single bad decision, taken in haste, with wholly unintended consequences.

It was an error of judgment and one I will not repeat.

But, to his discredit [?], the Chief also said:

I placed too much trust in the behaviour and integrity of journalists.

So much for fully accepting responsibility. You can read more (a little) here.

Maybe I got this from TV, but I thought that each time you escaped, you were sent to a higher security facility. Such was not the case with Texas resident Debra Ann Murphey. Over a 2-year period, she escaped 6 times, with the last escape occurring 33 years ago from the Georgia Rehabilitation Center for Women, not the Georgia Ultra-Supermax Penitentiary. Her crimes? A string of armed robberies. And it’s not like she was real good at it, either. Two of them resulted in a haul of … $54.00. In fairness to Ms. Murphey, adjusted for inflation, that would be about $259.00 today.

As usual, neighbors described her as a quiet, law-abiding lady. (That must have been before she went back into the house and got a shotgun when the police came to get her.) As a fugitive, Ms. Murphey became a nurse, got married, and raised two kids. So how did she feel after her arrest? “Relieved,” according to the police. She is awaiting extradition to Georgia.

It’s September 11, 2001, you’re staying at a hotel in New York City, you’re an Egyptian named Abdallah Higazy, and, in your hotel room closet, a device that allows for communications with airline pilots is found. Not surprisingly, he was picked up and questioned. Surprisingly, he confessed. Why is that surprising? Well, because a pilot returned to the hotel and asked for his radio back! Higazy was promptly released.

So why did Mr. Higazy confess? We know why because he sued the hotel and the FBI. They tried to have the case tossed and they … lost! The Court of Appeals ruled that the case may proceed. The 44-page opinion was posted on the Court’s website, as reported by Psychsound, who was amazed to read that the FBI obtained the “confession” through some serious coercion.

Higazy alleges that during the polygraph, Templeton told him that he should cooperate, and explained that if Higazy did not cooperate, the FBI would make his brother “live in scrutiny” and would “make sure that Egyptian security gives [his] family hell.” Templeton later admitted that he knew how the Egyptian security forces operated: “that they had a security service, that their laws are different than ours, that they are probably allowed to do things in that country where they don’t advise people of their rights, they don’t – yeah, probably about torture, sure.”

Higazy later said, “I knew that I couldn’t prove my innocence, and I knew that my family was in danger.” He explained that “[t]he only thing that went through my head was oh, my God, I am screwed and my family’s in danger. If I say this device is mine, I’m screwed and my family is going to be safe. If I say this device is not mine, I’m screwed and my family’s in danger. And Agent Templeton made it quite clear that cooperate had to mean saying something else other than this device is not mine.”

So you can check out the opinion on the Court’s website, right? Wrong! As Psychsound was reading it, it disappeared, only to appear the next day in redacted form! I’m sure you can guess what was redacted. (Hint: EVERYTHING about how the coerced confession was obtained). Just one small problem – someone managed to download the opinion in its entirety before it was yanked. You can still read it here on the How Appealing website. To read A LOT more about this incredible case, check out Psychsound’s blog here.

… of how not to conduct yourself! David Wichlinski was 18 years-old when he was elected to the Porter Township Board. He was clearly not ready for prime time. First, he was accused of flipping off a police officer. Okay, that one was dropped. A few months later, he was busted for underage drinking and possession of drug paraphernalia, thus ending his political career (he resigned). Wichlinski avoided the pokey, promising to cool it for 6 months. Think he did? Nope. A few months later, he was busted again for underage drinking! A judge will determine his fate on November 29th.

As reported by the Associated Press:

A man was arrested after a government agent allegedly found him in an office building restroom lying next to an inflatable, anatomically correct doll with his pants down.

Seems he’s got a thing for mannequins, too.

As reported in The Murfreesboro [Tennessee] Post:

A retired Murfreesboro woman reported a man identifying himself from Publisher’s Clearing House notified her she received a $200,000 prize but she needed to pay $857.75 in taxes before receiving the money. She sent a $857.75 money gram to a Smyrna address. Once the money gram was received, the callers asked for $1,200 more for interstate taxes. Instead of sending money a second time, she called police.

You know that old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you …” Or, as President Bush phrased it [really]:

“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” —President George W. Bush, Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002

No sir! Not on my watch! Charlotte, North Carolina State Highway Patrol Commander Fletcher Clay announced a zero tolerance policy for officers doing the dirty sexy while on duty. Get caught, and you get fired. The Commander Clay scorecard? Per The Charlotte Observer:

When a trooper on duty exposed himself to a woman in his patrol car and allowed her to show her breasts to him on a second occasion, Clay supported a three-day suspension.

In another case, when two friends of a woman said they saw a trooper having sex with her on the hood of his patrol car, the result was a one-day suspension for neglect of duty.

And when did details of these incidents come to light?

…during Clay’s testimony in March in the now-infamous case of a trooper who admitted having sex in a patrol car and an office.

Zoinks!

FIVE! Since May! Fortunately, California resident Tiffany Anne Adamo did not kill anyone, though her most recent DUI resulted in a 7-year-old kid getting pinned against his mom’s car. Why has it taken so long to pull Adamo’s license? Because she was driving while drugged, not drunk, prosecutors said the blood work had to be processed. But since May? That’s insane, especially since in prior arrests police determined she had taken Soma, Vicodin, hydrocodone and marijuana! And they couldn’t speed up the bloodwork? Please. Finally, Ms. Adamo’s license has been yanked. She pleaded not guilty to one felony count and four misdemeanors of driving under the influence of drugs. Her bail was jacked up to (cue Dr. Evil) one milllllion dollars. For more on Ms. Adamo, click here.