Saturday, October 6, 2007

Ramblings

Well, it has been a while, but then I have been busy. I think of things I should talk about occasionally, but I am too tired by the time I have a chance. Tonight, however, I have the time and a little bit of energy but not much in the way of things to say.

I guess first off, I am alive and doing well, as is Sam. Now that things are in good shape on the house, she is back to looking for work. The job market isn't the best out here, but I am sure she will find something soon.

I am sitting here watching the Florida vs. LSU game and I must confese, I feel quit torn. An LSU win would likely move Oregon up in the standings whereas an LSU loss would not. And yet, I hate LSU. I don't know why, but I always have. Maybe its because Shaq went there, I don't know. Maybe its because I resent Death Valley's being so much louder and more intimidating than Autzen... Damn fans actually caused an earthquake in 1988. I guess I should look at it as a no lose situation.

This is actually the first game I have watched today. I spent most of the day on the road driving into Portland to buy bamboo flooring and kitchen cabinets. It is looking like we should be done with most of the major renovations on the house done within the next month. (As for what he have gotten done, see the sideshow at the end of the post.)

Work is going well. We had one of the two new people start last Monday, and we have another starting this Monday. While I will miss the chance to get my hands on felony work as often, it will be nice to have the help. It has been pretty absurdly busy the last few weeks.

Of the work highlights recently was my 4th jury trial. (HOLY FUCK!!! Stanford drops USC!!!)
It was 2 day DUII trial against a former chief deputy of our office (she was the defense attorney, not the defendant obviously). The facts, frankly, were weak for my case. It was the investigating officer's first trial and only his 2nd solo investigation. He didn't see her driving (we did have strong circumstantial evidence on this point), she didn't give a breath test and she had a nice big sympathy card in that she had been at friends memorial service the day of the arrest. On top of all that, the officer made an error during one of the Field Sobriety Tests (FSTs) and one of the jail deputies testified that the defendant didn't seem that intoxicated. In essence, I had two FSTs (they weren't bad, but they weren't great) and some strange behavior by the defendant. Somehow, and while I have my theories I am not sure of any of them, but somehow I won. It took the jury just about two and half hours to return a guilty verdict.

Alright, that would be all I have to say at this point I think. I will close with a couple pictures of the house.

3 comments:

Seph said...

Gee, Beau, thanks for that inspiring endorsement of the US criminal justice system. "I didn't have much evidence, and I probably shouldn't have gotten the conviction, but the suckers bought it." I think I'm going to go cry now.

On the other hand, good job on the house! At least you're doing something with your time that you can be proud of... *ducks*

Beau said...

For what its worth, the defendant was guilty. She had popped a vicodin on top of a couple of drinks, and the jail deputies observation was probably 2.5 hours after the fact. Unfortunately, the vicodin evidence was inadmissible. And maybe I am just a fantastic trial attorney! >_>

Anonymous said...

The house looks a lot better. Any heat yet? I enjoyed all of the pictures. Glad you won your cases. Glad to see you still have time for football. Don't tell Sam I wrote something on here. Thanks