Althouse, Hitchens, Hughes

Ann Althouse writes:

What if everyone had 5 "keep alive" cards, that could be played over the course of a lifetime to save human beings — only those you don't personally know? Millions would have played a card to keep Hitchens with us. I would have.

I was struck by the possibility that I may have indeed been given a "keep alive" card.

My card is not nearly as nifty as the one fantasized by Althouse. I don't get to choose for whom I might use it. My card already has a name on it. The name is that of a stranger, someone I have never met nor even previously heard of. The name is that of someone reviled by society, to the extent society even takes notice.

My card is, by itself, insufficient. Even if I play it, the person is unlikely to be saved.

My card is, however, necessary. If I don't play it, the person will almost certainly die.

And my card is hardly free. It demands quid pro quo. It demands that I change my life so that I can somehow become responsible for the very survival of social outcast, one who claims to have literally been misjudged.

How many of you would care to have such a card?

So struck was I by Althouse's fantasy that I bothered to watch the video that prompted it. I almost passed. I didn't have the time. My card was then (and now) demanding my time. But I clicked on the video.

I was dumbstruck by its relevance in how I am attempting to play my card.

Reward yourself. Watch the video in its entirety. Learn from the man that Althouse and millions of others would save.

The Case of Preston Hughes III: The Gingerbread Man

"Run, run, fast as you can.
"You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"
                            - The Gingerbread Man

The Gingerbread Man had quite a story to tell. Sadly, he is no longer around to tell it, so I'll fill in the best that I can.

As The Gingerbread Man regained consciousness, after being subjected to a burning oven, a little old lady was preparing to eat him. He hopped to his feet and ran like the wind. Behind him, he could hear the little old lady yelling "Stop! Stop! I want to eat you."

It was at that time that The Gingerbread Man, hereafter known as TGM, uttered the taunt that would make him famous throughout the ages.

"Run, Run, fast as you can.

"You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

As he ran outside he encountered a little old man. The little old man also wanted to eat him, so he taunted the old man as well. I'll not repeat the taunt each time, but you get the idea.

Then TGM ran past the pigsty, and the pig wanted to eat him.

[Insert taunt here.]

Then he ran past a dog. Same story.

And a cow. Same story, same taunt.

Soon he came to a mighty river, and he was in a bit of a bind. Behind him were an old woman, an old man, a pig, a dog, and a cow. All of them wanted to eat him alive. In front of him was the mighty river, and he certainly didn't want to go in there. He would melt away for sure.

To complicate matters, there was a fox standing between him and the mighty river. TGM was a bit wary, since foxes are known for their cleverness and guile (C&G). In this case though, the fox seemed sincerely well-intentioned. It didn't want to eat him alive. It wanted only to help him. It offered to save him by allowing him to ride on its tail as it swam across the mighty river.

If TGM would simply hop on its tail, if TGM would only do that an nothing more, then TGM would be safely transported across the mighty river and would there be allowed to run free.

TGM was in a pretty tough spot. He had voracious mammals of all sorts pursuing him, and a mighty river before him. Now he had a fox offering to help, but foxes are well-known for their C&G.

But there's an amazing twist/turn to this story, one never before told. TGM had already once been saved by a fox. That's right. As hard as it is to believe, TGM had previously been in a quite similar bind. The voracious mammals behind him had not been so many, and the river before him had not been so mighty, but other than that the binds were quite similar. There had been a fox at that not-so-mighty river as well, and that fox had offered to help him gain his freedom.

And sure enough, in that earlier case situation, the fox had carried TGM to freedom.

Now it was happening all over again. All that TGM had to do was to sign a confession in which he described the stabbing as an accident hop on the fox's fluffy tail.

Having little choice, given the alternative, and having been previously granted his freedom for pleading guilty to a crime he did not commit hopping aboard a fluffy tail, TGM jumped at the opportunity.

With TGM now onboard, the fox eagerly leaped into the mighty river and began swimming across, all the while holding his fluffy tail high in the water, all the while causing TGM to believe he had been saved.

For TGM there was no going back. It was too late to change his mind. He was surrounded by the mighty river. And, as it turns out, the river was full of alligators and crocodiles. And water moccasins. And molten lava.

But TGM was confident he had made the right decision. Soon he would be on the other side of this fearsome river and he would be free. And that would be a good thing too, because his employer would be expecting him. He had already missed one day of work because that little old lady had arrested him cooked him, and he didn't want to get fired. So he pulled out his cell phone and called his boss. He told his boss that he had experienced a bit of bother, that he had missed work because of that bother, but that he would not miss any more.

The greedy, profit-driven, capitalistic boss said: "Okay."

TGM was relieved. He realized he should call his parole officer as well, and maybe even his mother. It never occurred to him that he should have called a lawyer earlier.

Particularly when he was dealing with the fox, for foxes are known for their C&G. 

Once they were well away from the shore, the sly and cunning fox suddenly reneged on the deal. It suddenly told him that he would have to sign a second, more damaging confession that it was unable to keep its fluffy tail above water any longer, and that he should hop inside the fox's mouth.

If he wanted to be free.

And, believing he had no choice, he did exactly what the fox instructed him to do.

And on November 15, 2012, the State and people of Texas are going to stick a needle in his arm and inject lethal chemicals the fox swallowed him, and smiled a contented smile. For foxes are known for their cleverness and guile.

*** THE END ***

Author's Note:

This story may have been inspired by a real-life murder case in which the suspect was threatened with life behind bars if he did not confess, and offered freedom if he did. The confession seemed innocent enough. The suspect would only need claim he had stabbed a 15 year old girl when he thought he was stabbing a black, male assailant. It wasn't an ideal situation for the suspect, but the suspect felt he had no choice. He had a mountain of manufactured evidence behind him, and a seemingly innocent enough confession in front of him.

So the suspect signed the confession. He then called his boss, just as the gingerbread man called his boss. The parallels are too striking to be coincidence. The suspect told his boss that he would not be able to work that day, but would be able to work the next. From the trial testimony:

[H]e just said he had been picked up by the police and that he would probably be able to be in to work the next day.

In the classic fairy tale, the fox seems to be a metaphor for the police, and the fluffy tail seems to be a metaphor for the first confession. In the fairy tail, the gingerbread man was told the rules had changed, that he could save himself only by jumping in the fox's mouth. In the murder case, the suspect was told that he would have to modify his statement, and not just by a little bit. The suspect would have to change his statement in life-threatening fashion.

As I said before, the parallels are simply to striking to be coincidental.

I quote once again from the trial transcripts. This time I quote from a co-worker of the suspect's mother. The suspect had not been freed after signing the first confession, as promised. Instead, he had been jailed. He was calling collect from a pay phone located in that jail, trying to reach his mother.

He was telling me that he had to change his statement and I was asking him, "You gave a statement?" And he said, "They're telling me to change my statement. I have to go to change my statement."

And the suspect did just as he was told.

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The Impending Execution of Robert Wayne Harris

Robert Wayne Harris sits on on death row awaiting execution by the people of Texas on 20 September 2012. I suspect he will not survive the day.

I provide the following summary of his case from the adverse decision in Harris v. Thaler (2012):

[Harris] worked at Mi-T-Fine Car Wash for ten months prior to the offense. An armored car picked up cash receipts from the car wash every day except Sunday. Therefore, [Harris] knew that on Monday morning, the safe would contain cash receipts from the weekend and the cash register would contain $200-$300 for making change. On Wednesday, March 15, 2000, [Harris] masturbated in front of a female customer. The customer reported the incident to a manager, and a cashier called the police. [Harris] was arrested and fired. 

On Sunday, March 19[th], [Harris] spent the day with his friend, Junior Herrera, who sold cars. Herrera was driving a demonstrator car from the lot. Although [Harris] owned his own vehicle, he borrowed Herrera's that evening. He then went to the home of friend Billy Brooks, who contacted his step-son, Deon Bell, to lend [Harris] a pistol. 

On Monday, March 20[th], [Harris] returned to the car wash in the borrowed car at 7:15 a.m., before it opened for business. [Harris] forced the manager, Dennis Lee, assistant manager, Agustin Villaseñor, and cashier, Rhoda Wheeler, into the office. He instructed Wheeler to open the safe, which contained the cash receipts from the weekend. Wheeler complied and gave him the cash. [Harris] then forced all three victims to the floor and shot each of them in the back of the head at close range. He also slit Lee's throat. 

Before [Harris] could leave, three other employees arrived for work unaware of the danger. [Harris] forced them to kneel on the floor of the lobby area and shot each of them in the back of the head from close range. One of the victims survived with permanent disabilities. Shortly thereafter, a seventh employee, Jason Shields, arrived. Shields noticed the three bodies in the lobby and saw [Harris] standing near the cash register. After a brief exchange in which [Harris] claimed to have discovered the crime scene, pointed out the bodies of the other victims, and pulled a knife from a nearby bookshelf, Shields became nervous and told [Harris] he needed to step outside for fresh air. Shields hurried to a nearby doughnut shop to call authorities. [Harris] followed Shields to the doughnut shop, also spoke to the 911 operator, then fled the scene. 

[Harris] returned the vehicle to Herrera and told him that he had discovered some bodies at the car wash. [Harris] then took a taxi to Brooks's house. At Brooks's house, he separated the money from the other objects and disposed of the metal lock boxes, a knife, a crowbar, and pieces of a cell phone in a wooded area. [Harris] purchased new clothing, checked into a motel, and sent Brooks to purchase a gold cross necklace for him. Later that afternoon, [Harris] drove to the home of another friend and remained there until the following morning, when he was arrested. Testimony also showed that [Harris] had planned to drive to Florida on Tuesday and kill an old girlfriend.

I oppose the execution of any person who might be innocent of the crime for which they are to die. Regarding the propriety of all other executions, I stand mute. In the case of Robert Wayne Harris, I stand mute.

ADDENDUM (20 Sep 2012)
Robert Wayne Harris was executed by the people of Texas as scheduled.

The Case of Preston Hughes III: Easy Peasy

According to the Urban Dictionary, the complete descriptor is "easy peasy lemon squeezy."

It comes from a 1970's british TV commercial for Lemon Squeezy detergent. They were with a little girl who points out dirty greasy dishes to an adult (mom or relative) and then this adult produces Lemon Squeezy and they clean the dishes quickly. At the end of the commercial the girl says "Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy".

Whatever the origin of the phrase, getting Preston Hughes to confess to capital murder was easy peasy lemon squeezy. It only took from 4:10 AM, when Sgt. Gafford entered the interrogation room, to 5:40 AM, when Sgt. Gafford confronted Preston with the impossibility evidence that Shandra identified her attacker as Preston, causing Preston to say "I don't want to go to jail" and then confess.

That's only 90 minutes. That's nothing. That's chump change time.

It took between 14 and 30 hours to extract false confessions from each of the five youths convicted of raping the Central Park Jogger. The five served between 6 and 12 years before being freed after DNA testing identified the actual rapist, who (by the way) raped another woman four months after the five confessed.

It took 9 hours to convince the first of the Norfolk Four to falsely confess to rape and murder. (For the best ever telling of this story, see my post The Unindicted Co-Ejaculator.) Not only did the first guy confess, he implicated another innocent person as an accomplice, and that person also falsely confessed to rape and murder. Not only did the second person falsely confess, he implicated two other innocent people and they both falsely confessed to rape and murder. The DNA from the victim matched none of the four. The DNA from the victim did, however, match the actual rapist murderer, who (by the way) continued to rape and murder as the four rotted away behind bars.

The Houston Police Department, on the other hand, managed to extract a false confession from Preston Hughes in just 90 minutes. That's because someone convinced Preston he could go home if he would just sign that silly, nonsensical confession. (See The Big Why for proof of that last claim.)

Now it may seem odd to you that anyone could be so naive, but I say au contraire, si'l vou plait. The State and people of Texas had trained Preston to believe such a thing was not only possible, but routine.

Three years earlier, Preston had pled guilty to charges of aggravated assault (third degree felony) and aggravated sexual assault (first degree felony). Preston claims he was innocent and accepted the plea to avoid prison. I have no particular insight into that case, and I don't claim to know whether or not he was innocent. I do, however, take note of the fact that the (alleged?) victim in the case was under age by a fair amount and that Preston (allegedly?) fired a gun at (or near) her to intimidate her, to keep her from testifying.

The charges could very easily have been rape and assault with a deadly weapon. Texas does not take kindly to people who rape and then threaten the life of young teenage girls. If Texas could have made a half-way decent case, I suspect they would have done so. Instead, they several times offered Preston a reduced sentence for a plea of guilty, lowing the sentence each time. Preston, however, insisted he was innocent and didn't want to go to jail. He held tough and refused to take a plea.

That is, he refused to take a plea until they told him he could go home.  If he confessed to a crime, he would be given ten years probation, and he could go home.

He confessed and he went home.

From Preston's perspective, he was framed once before for a crime he did not commit. He believed back then that they would attempt to convict him using falsified evidence, and he believed they might pull it off. When offered the opportunity to walk free in exchange for a confession, he took it.

It is therefore no big surprise that when confronted with false evidence of a murder he did not commit, and when offered the choice of life behind bars or a free walk, he took the free walk.

The decision was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

*** THE END ***

But wait! There's more!

The first confession was but a prelude. Preston Hughes would soon be told that he would have to sign a second.

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Madness!