10-06-00

Dumb Crooks^TM

LAS VEGAS

A Las Vegas man has been convicted of smuggling a dozen lizards into the United States in his underwear. Don Astorga, 31, was arrested at the airport in June after police looking for drugs noticed unusual bulges around his groin.

In his underwear were several tube socks stuffed with nine dead lizards and three live ones, including a Nile monitor lizard, a water monitor and several geckos, all of them native to Southeast Asia and Africa.

Astorga was found guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act and failing to declare the lizards. He could get up to six months in prison.

FORDYCE, Ark.

If only inmate Sherman Lee Parks had known what was going on in a nearby judge's office, he might not be behind bars today.

A Jefferson County judge had ordered the release of Parks and another man the same day the 50-year-old inmate escaped from jail, authorities said. ''The judge ruled that since they had been locked up for nine months to let them out,'' Dallas County Sheriff Donny Ford said. Parks had served nine months for burglary.

Parks, now wanted for an escape attempt, was re-arrested the next day, a sheriff's department dispatcher said. Parks is back in the Dallas County Jail.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa

A 76-year-old ex-convict walked into a bank on Monday and handed a teller a note demanding two $50 bills.

As the man left the bank, he said he would be sitting in his car smoking a cigarette, waiting for police to come take him back to prison.

ATTENTION ALL YOU PRESCRIPTION GETTERS! As of October 1, there have been some changes in our co-pay. Doctor Visit: $10. Prescriptions: Generic, $5; Regular Name brands, $15; Non-formulary, $30. (Ask your physician or pharmacist about the difference between name brand and non-formulary). Contact our provider at 1-800-825-9355 for further information.

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This week, an article appeared in the Bridgeport Index about the County Attorney. In the article, it quotes Todd Durden saying a local reporter had advised him a Sheriff’s Office employee had told her that cases presented to Durden’s office for prosecution were being “thrown in a big brown box” and nothing was being done about them.

The Sheriff and I hope that this is a misunderstanding and that no Sheriff’s Office employee is “burning bridges” for the Sheriff. We do not conduct our business in this fashion.

As there is no identification in the article or the letter, we have to make a “scattergun shot.” We are all Deputies of the Sheriff and any action we take as Sheriff’s Office employees directly reflects on our Sheriff, and the office as a whole.

HEREIN FAIL NOT TO ABIDE! If you have problems with any elected or appointed persons we will sit down and discuss the matter and try to resolve the problem through the appropriate chain of command. If the problem is of such a magnitude that it cannot be resolved in-house and it concerns the ethics, professional demeanor, or operational conduct of the Sheriff’s Office or his Deputies, the Sheriff will make a determination of what to do and how to handle it.

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Any of you who are new to politics and have never endured a local election, all I can say is “Welcome to the NFL!” Many of you will be questioned by various candidate supporters on the “Pros and Cons” of all the candidates. Some of you may be contacted by those seeking information about the Sheriff and/or the department. All we ask is that you tell the truth! If you have an “axe to grind” with any of the other candidates running for local office, we request that you limit your comments to the facts and not inflammatory rhetoric.

There will be some persons that will try to “bait” you by making derogatory remarks about the Sheriff, other employees, and the department. Be professional, calm, and collected. If their claim is that something is “crooked” or illegal, then refer them to the FBI or the Attorney General. If they need the number, then get it for them!

The defendant was a passenger in a pickup truck that was stopped for speeding. When the driver was arrested for driving without a valid license, the officer asked the passengers if any of them had a license and could drive the truck.

The defendant gave the officer her identification card and told him she did not have a driver’s license. When the officer checked the defendant’s name, the dispatcher reported that there were outstanding warrants for the defendant.

The defendant was arrested after the officer “confirmed” the warrant. In a frisk of the defendant, the officer discovered an empty .45 caliber clip in her front jacket pocket. In response to the officer’s question, the defendant denied that she had a gun in the truck or on her person.

In a subsequent search of the pickup truck, the officer found a loaded .45 caliber handgun on the left rear floorboard, in front of the place where the defendant had been sitting.

The defendant objected at trial to the introduction of any evidence following the officer’s testimony regarding the outstanding warrants for which she was arrested. She contended that the State’s failure to produce the warrant and supporting affidavit prevented the court from evaluating their validity.

The State responded that probable cause supported the arrest, and that the officer acted in good faith reliance on the representation that warrants existed for the defendant’s arrest.

Holding: A defendant is not required to object to the introduction of evidence by filing a pretrial suppression motion. The defendant, as in this case, may object to the introduction of evidence when it is offered during trial.

When the validity of an arrest warrant is in issue, the State must produce the warrant and supporting affidavit so that the trial court may review the documents for probable cause.

In the absence of the warrant and affidavit, the State may offer testimony from someone familiar with the factual basis for the warrant, and that person may be cross-examined by the defendant. The State did not produce such a witness in this case.

Even if no warrant is produced, and no testimony about the basis for the warrant is elicited, evidence obtained during or after an arrest may be admitted if the taint from the arrest is sufficiently attenuated.

In order to determine whether the taint was attenuated, courts consider whether Miranda;

warnings were given; the temporal proximity of the arrest and the seizure of the evidence; the presence of intervening circumstances; and the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct.

Although the defendant answered a question about the origin of the clip without having received Miranda warnings, but while she was under arrest, her statement was not “confessional in nature” and did not implicate her in the offense. Therefore the statement was admissible despite the tainted arrest.

The recovery of the clip was close in time to the arrest, a factor that weighs against the State. There were intervening circumstances, however, that offset this factor.

The officer stopped the pickup late at night and while on patrol by himself. The stop was a valid traffic stop for speeding. Because the officer was placing the driver under arrest and was confronted by several occupants of the truck, it was reasonable for him to frisk the defendant and recover the clip.

There was no evidence that the officer engaged in misconduct. He was justified in arresting the defendant on the basis of the dispatcher’s report that warrants existed for her. His recovery of the clip was not tainted by “purposeful or flagrant misconduct.”

COMMENT: A report from a dispatcher that a warrant is outstanding is not enough by itself to validate an arrest. If it is later discovered that the underlying warrant was not based on probable cause, the arrest is invalid despite the good faith of the officer. The officer usually will not be held liable in such cases, but neither is a defective warrant “cured” by the arrest. If the warrant is not produced at trial, and the defendant contests the arrest , the court may be forced to consider the arrest unjustified, and to rule that any evidence seized incident to the arrest is inadmissible. Oliver v State, 10 S.W.3^rd 411 (Tex. App. – Waco, 2000.

Keep it simple. Don’t plan so many things for each day.

Spend less than you earn. It’s hard to do, but you will gain peace of mind and contentment.

Learn to be flexible. Listen. Try to see the other’s point of view.

Be grateful. Count your blessings.

Rule your moods. Yes, you can. It will make your life much more pleasant if you are at peace with others.

Give generously. Give of your time , your talents, and yes, even money!

Be sure you have the right motive. Look for God’s hand in everything.

Be genuinely interested in others. When you serve others, you find contentment you never knew you could.

Make the most of every day. Live it as if it were your last.

Stay close to God. If you are God’s child you have His promise of peace and contentment.

I want to tell that little boy, his Mom will be just fine
I want to tell that dad, we got his daughter out in time
I want to tell that wife, her husband will be home tonight
I don't want to tell it like it is, I want to tell them lies.

You didn't put their seat belts on, you feel you killed your kids
I want to say you didn't ... but in a way, you did.
You pound your fists into my chest, you're hurting so inside
I want to say you'll be ok, I want to tell you lies.

You left chemicals within his reach, and now it's in his eyes
I want to say your son will see, not tell you he'll be blind.
You ask me if he'll be OK, with pleading in your eyes
I want to say that yes he will, I want to tell you lies.

I can see you're crying, as your life goes up in smoke.
If you'd maintained that smoke alarm, your children may have woke.
Don't grab my arm and ask me if your family is alive.
Don't make me tell you they're all dead, I want to tell you lies.

I want to say she'll be ok, you didn't take her life
I hear you say you love her and you'd never hurt your wife.
You thought you didn't drink too much, you thought that you could drive.
I don't want to say how wrong you were, I want to tell you lies.

You only left her for a moment, it happens all the time.
How could she have fell from there? You thought she couldn't climb.
I want to say her neck's not broken, that she will be just fine.
I don't want to say she's paralyzed, I want to tell you lies.

I want to tell this teen, his buddies didn't die in vain
Because he thought that it'd be cool, to try to beat that train.
I don't want to tell him this will haunt him all his life
I want to say that he'll forget, all the damage that's been done.

You left the cabinet open and your daughter found the gun
Now you want me to undo the damage that's been done
You tell me she's your only child, you say she's only five.
I don't want to say she won't see six, I want to tell you lies.

He fell into the pool, when you just went to grab the phone.
It was only for a second, that you left him there alone.
If you let the darn phone ring, perhaps your boy would be alive.
But I don't want to tell you that, I want to tell you lies.

The fact that you were speeding, caused that car to overturn
And we couldn't get them out of there, before the whole thing burned.
Did they suffer? Yes, they suffered, as they slowly burned alive.
But I don't want to say those words, I want to tell you lies.

But I have to tell it like it is, until my shift is through
And then the real lies begin, when I come home to you.
You ask me how my day was, and I say it was just fine
I hope you understand, sometimes I have to tell you lies.

~ Kal The Rebel ~

Dedicated to all the Police Officers, Firefighters, EMTs, Paramedics, Emergency Flight Crews and all civil servants who deal with the tragedies of life and death. The saddest of all, being those that involve children, and could have been prevented. Wear your seat belts... Keep poisons, flammables, fireworks, etc. out of reach of children...Keep your smoke alarm in operating order, if you don't have one, get one...never, ever drive if you've been drinking ... never leave your toddler unattended...teens, be responsible drivers, obey all traffic lights, posted limits, warnings and signals at RR crossings ... keep your guns locked out of reach, buy a trigger guard.... Protect our children, they are our future... Am I preaching? Am I nagging? I guess I am just telling it like it is.... Or I could just tell you lies.

Peace Love and Light

Kalvere

Copyrighted to Kalvere. Please do not reproduce without author's permission. Kalvere, the author, is a Minnesota firefighter and would welcome any comments at the following email address: KalTheRebel@aol.com.