Texas Admonishes Judge For Posting Facebook Updates About Her Trials 95
An anonymous reader writes: Michelle Slaughter, a Galveston County judge, says she will appeal a public admonition from state officials that criticized her Facebook posts about cases brought before her court. From the article: "The State Commission on Judicial Conduct ordered Michelle Slaughter, a Galveston County judge, to enroll in a four-hour class on the 'proper and ethical use of social media by judges.' The panel concluded that the judge's posts cast 'reasonable doubt' on her impartiality. At the beginning of a high-profile trial last year in which a father was accused of keeping his nine-year-old son in a six-foot by eight-foot wooden box, the judge instructed jurors not to discuss the case against defendant David Wieseckel with anyone. 'Again, this is by any means of communication. So no texting, e-mailing, talking person to person or on the phone or on Facebook. Any of that is absolutely forbidden,' the judge told jurors. But Slaughter didn't take her own advice, leading to her removal from the case and a mistrial. The defendant eventually was acquitted of unlawful-restraint-of-a-child charges."
Re: (Score:2)
You do realize that that is a "chamber of commerce" type website? That it is slow to update, and the law firms website is now down. Presumably it was put up before she became a judge.
In-depth political analysis (Score:5, Funny)
I wish to subscribe to her twitter feed.
I bet that maintaining a Twitter and Facebook presence will help with her re-election campaign.
Also, she's not bad looking as far as judges go. In American politics, good looks count for a lot.
Meanwhile, Slaughter emerged on top from a field of four Republicans, which includes Mallia, but she too did not earn the more than 50 percent vote to win her respective race.
Slaughter accumulated 10,015 votes while Mallia finished the race with 7,654.
Mallia was first elected as a Democrat in 2000, but switched to the GOP in November.
Their rivals, Zachary Maloney and Paul Lavalle, combined for approximately 12 percent of the vote.
Slaughter is actually the perfect name for a judge in Texas. I bet she got 3,000 votes for her last name alone.
And Maloney sounds too much like baloney, that poor guy was doomed from the start. Why did he even run? I have no idea.
Re: (Score:3)
Slaughter is actually the perfect name for a judge in Texas. I bet she got 3,000 votes for her last name alone.
And Maloney sounds too much like baloney, that poor guy was doomed from the start. Why did he even run? I have no idea.
Yeah well lets see how see does against Mr. Noose next election.
Re: (Score:2)
And Maloney sounds too much like baloney, that poor guy was doomed from the start. Why did he even run? I have no idea.
And here I was reminded of comedies from the eighties for some reason...
Re: (Score:2)
Also, she's not bad looking as far as judges go. In American politics, good looks count for a lot.
Fortunately, they really don't. Sarah Palin has had limited success. Michelle Bachman too. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has almost been President once, and may be yet.
Politics truly is hollywood for the ugly, and attractive politicians are as much the exception as unattractive stars.
Just goes to prove what we knew already (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: Just goes to prove what we knew already (Score:2, Interesting)
Its about time that someone of "important" was held to the same standards as the "rest of us".
Now if we could have consistency (both in accountability and sentacing). Here in my area one guy was sentanced to 20 years for pick a bar fight (aggravated assault with some kind of intent) while the same court sentanced a DWI in which someone was killed in a HIT and RUN to 5 years with optional probation at 3 years.
Justice is still blind but she is starting to realize that not everyone else is.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Bars are filled with adults who should know better.
You seem unaware of the fact that bars serve alcohol, which affects people's behaviour, sometimes for the worse.
FTFY (Score:2)
When it comes to Politicians of all kinds including Judges and Law Enforcement, they both think the rules apply to somebody else.
Had to fix that for you. You could not have possibly missed out on Baltimore, NYC, Ferguson, California, etc.. etc...
Re: (Score:2)
Or executives, or pirates, or anyone with a "clever" idea...
Pretty much, it's the natural state of humans to believe themselves to be better than everyone else.
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Texas Judges (Score:5, Funny)
Michelle Slaughter
Earl Gallows
Trigger Winchester
Otis Hangem
Billy Bob Guilty
-
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget Mike Judge! Probably the only one I'd like to see on the bench.
Re:News about a dumb, selfish bitch. Prob a slut t (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Your "opinions" are all made up nonsense based on conjecture and probably some kind of mental disorder. Where are you getting this world view of liberals running around rampant calling conservative women sluts inbetween feminist protests? You need to calm down, man.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Where are you getting this world view of liberals running around rampant calling conservative women sluts inbetween feminist protests?
Where indeed?
Why It's Not Smart to Call Women Conservatives 'Whores' [motherjones.com]
When Alan Grayson called a female corporate lobbyist a "K-Street whore" -- and was attacked as crude and sexist at the same time that he was lauded as gutsy and honest -- he played a role in a familiar script: hero of the left (MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Bill Maher) attacks female villain (Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin) using sexist language. Progressive feminists soul-search about liberal misogyny. Mainstream media talk about sexism for 5 seconds. Then the media move on, and no one learns a thing. Repeat.
It happened again just two weeks ago, when Olbermann called Malkin a "big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it" during the "Worst Person in the World" segment of Countdown. The creepily fleshy insult followed Olbermann's rendition of Malkin's e-mails....
So there's obvious problem No. 1 with leftist firebrands dipping into sexist imagery and language to bash conservative women: nothing's more fun than highlighting the hypocrisy of your opponents.
The war on conservative women [michellemalkin.com]
If I had a dollar for every time libs have called me a "Manila whore" and "Subic Bay bar girl," Iâ(TM)d be able to pay for a ticket to a Hollywood-for-Obama fundraiser. To the HuffPo left, whore is my middle name.
Self-serving opponents argue that such attacks do not represent "respectable," "mainstream" liberal opinion about their conservative female counterparts. But it was feminist godmother Gloria Steinem who called Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a "female impersonator." It was NOW leader Patricia Ireland who commanded her flock to only vote for "authentic" female political candidates. It was Al Gore consultant Naomi Wolf who accused the late Jeane Kirkpatrick of being "uninflected by the experiences of the female body."
It was Matt Taibbi, now of Rolling Stone magazine, who mocked my early championing of the tea party movement by jibing: "Now when I read her stuff, I imagine her narrating her text, book-on-tape style, with a big, hairy set of (redacted) in her mouth. It vastly improves her prose."
It was Keith Olbermann, then at MSNBC and now at Al Goreâ(TM)s Current TV, who wrote on Twitter that columnist S.E. Cupp was "a perfect demonstration of the necessity of the work Planned Parenthood does" and who called me a "mashed up bag of meat with lipstick on it." He stands by those remarks. Olbermann has been a special guest at the White House.
Some of us have not forgotten when liberal Wisconsin radio host John "Sly" Sylvester outrageously accused GOP Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch of performing "fellatio on all the talk-show hosts in Milwaukee" and sneered that she had "pulled a train" (a crude phrase for gang sex). (Earlier, he called former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a "black trophy" and "Aunt Jemima.")
Or when MSNBC misogynist Ed Schultz called talk show host Laura Ingraham a "talk slut" for criticizing Obamaâ(TM)s petty beer summit. Or when Playboy published a list of the top 10 conservative women who deserved to be "hate-f**ked." The article, which was promoted by Anne Schroeder Mullins at Politico.com, included Ingraham, "The View's" Elisabeth Hasselbeck, former Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino, GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann and others. Yours truly topped the list with the following description: a "highly f**kable Filipina" and âoea regular on Fox News, where her tight body and get-off-my-lawn stare just scream, 'Do me!'"
And then thereâ(TM)s the leftâ(TM)s war on Sarah Palin, which would require an entire national forest of trees to publish.
You've got me curious as to how it is that you miss this kind of stuff?
Re: (Score:3)
You do realise that calling someone a whore isn't necessarily sexist, as it simply means "prostitute" - a person willing to perform various favors for money. That is a perfect description of lobbyists, who are paid to do just that. As for Malkin's insane ramblings, they carry no weight, as she has a terrible track record for intentionally causing offence to others through vitriolic and highly vicious language. Calling someone a slut, however, is sexist, as slut specifically means a woman with many casual
Re: (Score:2)
There are other words that one could use instead of whore when paid sex and prurient su
Re: (Score:2)
"Slut" is a term liberals use on conservative women
If someone uses "slut" as a sexist insult, they're not what I would call a liberal, but I know the US has its own interpretations of the English language when it comes to politics.
Re: (Score:2)
Ah yes, the "no true Scotsman" argument".
Re: (Score:2)
Don't most single men want a woman that will have sex with them without a whole lot effort
Sure. But just with them though.
There's no allure to the woman who also slept with their best friend, and the mailman, and the neighbor, and the guy at 7-11, that weirdo on the bus...
Re: (Score:3)
Men almost never use the term; women are the ones who say it.
Re: (Score:2)
Don't most single men want a woman that will have sex with them without a whole lot effort and without having to have something as burdensome as a relationship with them in order to get it?
Not men with good character.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Wow, a fallacious application of "no true Scotsman" in the context of morality. What a "surprise."
Guilty of violating the laws of physics (Score:5, Insightful)
Is anyone else curious how the guy fit his [presumably 3-dimensional] son into a two-dimensional (6'x8') "box"?
Re: (Score:2)
Well played sir
Re: (Score:2)
The actual box was 8'x6'x7'.
Presumably 8'x6' is the floor size.
Re: (Score:2)
ppppfffft!
Back in the old neighborhood, some of the bedrooms were SMALLER than that...
Re: (Score:2)
ppppfffft!
Back in the old neighborhood, some of the bedrooms were SMALLER than that...
Eh, you were lucky to have a room! We used to have to live in t' corridor!
Re: (Score:2)
I was, somewhat sadly, more interested in that story than the judge one... how is putting a child into a 8'x6'x7' plywood box (aka. a room) a bad thing? I'm guessing there was other awful attributes left out for some reason, which would be just about as bad if the child was placed anywhere else (ex. resting on a 4"x2'x1/8" strip of rubber - aka a swing).
Re: (Score:2)
Or indeed was the 'box' the child's self-built toy fort, and the whole case complex nonsense that should never have reached court.
Can't tell without research, and I'm too lazy.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
That's because you're a damned idiot.
...says the fucking moron lacking a sense of humor.
You must be fun at parties.
Re: (Score:1)
Is anyone else curious how the guy fit his [presumably 3-dimensional] son into a two-dimensional (6'x8') "box"?
There's no mystery, he is obviously a Time Lord. As to the "box," it is more of a galactic trivia question than a mystery. Since it has to fold in an extra dimension a normal TARDIS won't do, it is in fact a RETARDIS.
Re: (Score:2)
I think you'll find that this answers your question: http://science.slashdot.org/st... [slashdot.org]
Reason for not talking to people (Score:5, Interesting)
The summary (didn't bother to read the article) doesn't understand the point of not letting jurors talk about the trial to others. Its not so they don't give out trial details to the public, its so the public doesn't give them things from outside the court.
The judge ISN'T BOUND by that and is in fact REQUIRED BY LAW to hear things first (when requested by attorneys) to verify if its even okay for the jury to hear it. The judge posting on Facebook is not a problem for the trial itself, its just unprofessional, trials are public you know, unless deemed otherwise by the judge.
Telling the jurors not to talk to others about the case doesn't make it a private case, its just normal to not have the jurors getting data from other places.
The mistrial was for entirely different reasons if anyone bothered to know anything about the actual trial.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
TFA was a bit sketchy on details, but it did seem to indicate her Facebooking had something to do with the mistrial, and eventual acquittal... whether or not this is factually accurate,
it's probably safe to say this was poor judgement on her part.
Re: (Score:3)
It's partially that, it's partially that jurors are not supposed make up their mind till the end of the trial and talking to others tend to make you form opinions.
A judge is expected to be more disciplined when receiving evidence. For example, in a bench trial a judge will hear all evidence including inadmissible evidence. After all it's not inadmissible until the judge rules it so. The judge is then supposed to be able to ignore the inadmissible evidence when reaching his decision.
You are also wrong abou
Re: (Score:2)
Articles from last year suggest that the Facebook posting was exactly what led to it. After the defense attorney saw the post by the judge, he motioned for recusal and mistrial. Slaughter was removed from the case, and soon after, the new judge declared a mistrial.
http://www.houstonchronicle.co... [houstonchronicle.com]
The accused was found not guilty, and looking at the details of the case, it's not hard to see why. The child was (and probably still is) severely disturbed, allegedly killing small animals, making threats again
Re: (Score:1)
Jurors are not even supposed to talk among themselves about a case (until deliberation I guess).
I served on a jury in an auto theft case. The judge told us not to talk to anyone about the case. During break another juror asked me if the judge meant even among ourselves. I said I wasn't really sure. After all wouldn't we be discussing it in just a couple of days? We did NOT discuss the case though.
At the end of the 2nd day as we were leaving the courthouse one juror made a comment that he thought the d
Re: (Score:2)
She is a liberal communist no doubt.
I forget, are they better or worse than the illiberal communists?
Shoddy work by Ars. (Score:2)
The title of this story would have been better as Ars writes a poor researched story to bash Texas judge.
hell the writer couldn't be bothered to find out the judge's first name or or the name of the fathe in the 'boy in the box' case.
The remarks she made online were basically innoucous, and the judges she was sanctioned on were all probably from Austin.
Re: (Score:2)
This is why bloggers aren't taken seriously in the journalism world.
The problem is that they are still taken seriously by the masses.
Am the only that imagined she posted this? (Score:2)
Proper and ethical use of social media by anyone (Score:2)