Assorted Stupidity #82

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  • “I can tell you this—it’s been an eye-opening experience to see what my clients have been going through for the past 15 years.” —Tom Hudson, author of “The Drinker’s Guide to Driving: The Secrets of DUI [Defense] From One of America’s Top DUI Lawyers,” after being arrested for DUI in November. He declined to comment when asked why he had agreed to take breath and blood tests, something his book apparently advises drinkers not to do. I’m no expert, but would guess alcohol played a role in those decisions.
  • Are live snakes admissible as evidence? Sure, theoretically, but I bet it doesn’t happen in this case. True, the buyer claims the seller failed to disclose that the house was a hibernaculum, and “hibernaculum” means “snake den.” But the presence of snakes itself doesn’t seem to be disputed, and so the creep factor of bringing a live one in might outweigh any actual relevance to the case. On the other hand, if they have to live with snakes now, maybe the jury should see what kind.
  • Jonathan Turley reports that the Seventh Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of Jose Banks’s lawsuit in which he blamed the federal government for allowing him to escape. In 2012, Banks and his cellmate somehow made a rope and escaped from a 17th-floor cell. They weren’t free for long. Banks later sued the government for negligence, claiming it should have stopped them and seeking damages for “spiritual injury,” embarrassment, and the mental trauma incurred by dangling on a makeshift rope while trying to escape from a 17th-floor cell.
  • It’s nice that Frank Blake’s wife came to visit him while he was in jail, but a little awkward that his other wife came to visit at the same time. Turned out he had another other wife, too, as police learned when investigating the poorly scheduled visits. He was not married to all three at the same time, but overlapping marriages made him a double bigamist, or whatever. He pleaded no contest, which was probably a good idea.