Restraining Order Halts Email Destruction

After Houston's embattled prosecutor, Chuck Rosenthal, came under fire for his sexist, racist and romantic emails, the Sheriff's office decided to have their emails deleted. That decision, however, has now been put on hold:

A judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Harris County Sheriff's office Friday evening, forbidding the department from deleting e-mail.

The department announced this week it was automatically deleting e-mail after 14 days, part of a plan to ease a shortage of computer storage space.

In his request for the restraining order, KTRK reporter Wayne Dolcefino cited concerns that the office was "destroying electronic mail that is responsive to pending Texas Public Information Act requests," according to court documents.

It seems that whatever they wanted to hide may eventually come to the surface.

Fed's Four Year Investigation Turns Up Empty

After a four year probe into lawyer Roy Rodney's business dealings, the feds have come up with nothing regarding any wrong doing concerning former Mayor Marc Morial.
Perhaps the quotes from a TV news report, given by Tulane law professor, Dane Ciolino, says it best:

“To be put under the microscope for so many years and for the government to invest such resources into the investigation and to come up with their equivalent of very little is interesting."

"Rodney’s plea agreement resembles the deal made by Jacque Morial in September when the former mayor’s brother admitted to failing to file tax returns for three years. He was sentenced to probation and six months of home detention."

“Given the misdemeanor count that Mr. Rodney will plea guilty to, it's highly unlikely that he will receive any jail time,”.

“So, like Mr. Morial – Jacques Morial – I think it's likely to see he will get a probated sentence.”

"Today’s agreement may signal the investigation into the former mayor and his close associates could be coming to a close."

“Obviously, Mr. Rodney and Jacques Morial were very close confidants of the former mayor, and the fact that neither one of them was able to provide any information of any use to the government in its investigation of Marc Morial, is probably telling about the course of that investigation.”

So there you have it folks; this long, expensive drama has turned up empty.

Texas Supreme Court Justice & Wife Indicted

Justice David Medina, 49, a Republican appointed in 2004 by Gov. Rick Perry to fill a vacancy and elected to a six-year term in 2006, was indicted by a county grand jury on one count of tampering and fabricating physical evidence, and Mrs. Medina on one count of arson.

But after their attorney planned to have the Medinas surrender in Houston on Friday and plead not guilty, Chuck Rosenthal, the district attorney, stated that he would go into court Friday to have the charges dropped.

District Attorney Charles A. Rosenthal Jr., who has been fending off calls for his resignation over amorous e-mail messages to his executive secretary and other sexually explicit and racially charged messages, issued no statement.
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It appears that ole Chucky boy is looking out for one of his fellow Republicans. Resign Chuck Rosenthal now; you are such a huge embarrassment.

HANO Shifts Disaster Voucher Program To Houston

The Housing Authority of New Orleans has shifted the responsibility of running the post-Katrina housing voucher program to Harris County Housing Authority here in Houston. It appears that HANO believes Houston got what it takes to do a better job:

"They've gotten this down to a science," said Dwayne Muhammad, a HANO administrator who oversees the voucher programs. "They already had an infrastructure. We didn't have the human resources to manage DHAP."

Maybe one day HANO will get it down to a science.

Indictment Dismissed Against Innocent Houston Man

Can you imagine facing indictment after being found innocent by DNA evidence? Can you further imagine being compensated for a pittance as a result of the incompetence of criminal lab technicians? Well, that is exactly what happened to a Houston man:

The Harris County district attorney has dismissed a rape indictment against Ronald Taylor, a Houston man who was freed in October after a DNA test showed he was innocent of a rape for which he spent 12 years in prison.

Mr. Taylor is the third innocent man released from prison because of mistakes made by the Houston Police Department's crime lab.

Once District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal sends a letter to the state Board of Pardons and Paroles, Taylor will be eligible for up to $50,000 for each of the 12 years he spent behind bars. Rosenthal's letter probably will be sent Tuesday, said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Innocence Project, a New York-based legal center that specializes in overturning wrongful convictions.

What should be the punishment for those lab workers?

May The Murderer Rot In Hell

When I first read this story, I could not stop crying:

ELDERLY VICTIM FOUND IN ARABI


An 83-year-old man was found bludgeoned to death outside his Arabi home Sunday night, just a few days after contractors had finished repairing damage from Hurricane Katrina and he moved back in, authorities and neighbors said.

Sheriff's deputies found Peter Ruiz's body behind his house in the 400 block of Sable Drive about 8 p.m. after relatives reported him missing, said Col. Richard Baumy, a spokesman for the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff's Office.

If anyone knows who committed this crime, please turn the low life bastard in.

Convicted Felon May Be Questioned

A former New Orleans' resident, who fled to Houston after Hurricane Katrina, may be questioned by Houston police regarding a string of unsolved crimes he is suspected of committing before he fled to Federal Way, Washington.

This is good news for Houston residence since they will finally feel more comfortable once these crimes are solved.

Waking Up Cold In Houston

This morning I overslept and I woke up extremely cold. I was so tired from yesterday's activities that I cannot even recall what time I went to bed. I woke up just in time to catch the end of Joel Osteen's sermon.

I usually try to catch his sermon every morning. I will have to make this post brief because I just heard a disturbing question on FOX News: Are Hillary and Bill playing the race card against Barack Obama?