i'm sure many folks have had experience with criminals who do stupid things. i just thought i'd share one incident that i just came across. i was reviewing a probable cause statement this morning and one of the defendants had a marijuana pipe, a little plastic baggie of marijuana, another small bottle with some xanax in it all in a blue, clear window zipper bag with his name on it. apparently he didn't want anyone to steal it.

David, I'm sure it is a case of mistaken identity. Some mean individual must have put those items in that bag and placed the suspect's name on it just to get him in trouble.

Happy Thanksgiving, btw.

Sounds like something a mother would do for a son. Some pack lunches, some provide entertainment!

yeah, i had the same thought myself. Mom sending him off with a pat on the head. "Here you go honey, make sure you share, and if someone tries to take yours, don't throw a fit, politely ask for them to return it."

That reminds me of a guy I arrested on a bond forfeiture warrant a few years ago. I went to his home and knocked on the door. A guy who was not wearing a shirt answered the door. He told me the guy I was looking for was not there. A woman then walked into the living room and asked what was going on. When the guy turned towards the woman I saw my suspect's name tattooed on his back. The moral to the story is, put on a shirt before you answer the door STUPID!

Man Accused in Nail-Gun Killing Arrested
Man Accused of Killing Estranged Wife With Nail Gun Arrested After Release From Hospital

The Associated Press

NEVADA CITY, Calif. - A man accused of killing his estranged wife with a nail gun last month was arrested after spending five weeks in a hospital for nail gun wounds to his own chest and abdomen.

Nevada County Sheriff's deputies were waiting to arrest Richard Williams, 51, a landscaper from Grass Valley, when he was released Friday.

Williams had been hospitalized since Oct. 22, when authorities found him injured and his wife, teacher Hetty Williams, 48, dead from two nail-gun wounds to her head.

At the time, Nevada County Sheriff's Lt. Ron Smith said authorities found a suicide note in the home indicating Williams' estranged wife was seeing someone else. The note said the author, believed to be Richard Williams, wanted their bodies cremated and the ashes spread together, Smith said.

Law enforcement had been stationed outside Williams' hospital room 24 hours a day since his admittance, waiting for him to recover.

If he had been arrested immediately after the Oct. 22 incident, the county would have been at least partly responsible for costs associated with his health care, officials said.

so he shot her in the head and himself in the chest?

Nope. He nailed her, then he nailed himself.

It just goes to show that maybe the plot lines on CSI: Miami et all are not so far-fetched after all. About three weeks ago they showed an episode, undoubtedly filmed months ago, where a woman was murdered by being shot with a nail gun.

Janette Ansolabehere

Slightly off-topic, but I had one defendant who had the word "stoopid" tatooed across his chest. Maybe he was just planning for his place in this thread.

-JTL

that sucks when tattoo artists don't know how to spell.

When I was in Fort Bend Co I had a defendant on felony deferred who unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide via nail gun, resulting not in the desired result but in brain damage and paralysis. I spoke with his dr at the VA who said a remarkable number of folks who use nail guns in an attempt to commit suicide fail, and end up just seriously injuring themselves. I guess it works better when you are nailing someone else.

Ok...earlier today a male in his early twenties walks into my office to speak with my investigator. He shows him a badge from our local p.d. and states that he is a new peace officer with the p.d. and he needs to get the clip on the back that is broken fixed.

He doesn't get a new clip, but instead gets arrested.

Man, that was too easy, he gave himself away, asking a D.A.'s investigator to do manual labor. Might have just as well said, "Say, I'm new with the P.D., and the plastic on my decoder ring is starting to crack, can you fix it?"

In my first capital murder trial, the defendant murdered an 85-year old woman in Clarksville and then stole her cadillac and drove it, with his accomplices, to Dallas. When they got there, my guy decided that they needed more money, so he and another of the four took off on foot to find someone to rob leaving the other two with the car. After a while (and an aggravated robbery), the defendant returned to where he left the car and found it gone. (An alert police officer thought the two in the Cadillac late at night in the area where they were parked looked suspicious and ended up arresting them and towing the Cadillac). My rocket-scientist defendant, discovering the car missing, goes to a phone booth and calls the police to report that his car had been stolen. Of course, the police by this time were looking for two other suspects. The dispatcher told the defendant to stay right where he was and an officer would be by shortly to take his report. He was arrested moments later at the phone booth and the weapon he used to kill the victim was recovered from his coat pocket. Pretty quick death sentence.

I recall a rape case in Fort Worth where the two defendants spent time playing pool with the barmaid victim before taking her to the bathroom. They were both wearing workshirts with their names on the front and their workplace on the back. Next morning, the local PD picked them up--at their place of work wearing the same shirts!!!!

In another case, the defendant had grabbed items from a convenience store and was in flight on foot. When the police discovered him hiding in the rafters of a garden shed and before they explained why they sought him, he was good enough to say he hadn't stolen anything.

[This message was edited by John Stride on 11-30-05 at .]

A few months back a hero came to the courthouse to make a payment for a previous criminal case. When he went through our security checkpoint, he emptied his pockets of the normal items one might have: coins, keys, cell phone and of course crack rocks. One of our county's finest noticed the rocks and made the arrest. At his sentencing, the judge reminded our hero that he would have to set up a payment plan for the costs related to the case once he was released from state jail. Next time however, he needed to leave his crack rocks in the car.

I always bless the dumb defendant. Just think how much harder it would be to make the boat payment if they were bright.

Grand Juror

We had a grand juror come through the checkpoint with cocaine in his pockets. We only had 11 that day and a substitute juror at the next meeting.

A local thief stole 24 rolls of Aluminum siding of a distinctive color from a building site. The next day he called the victim and offered to sell the siding to him (he evidently forgot to check the sign at the building site). The next day he arrives to meet with the victim (now an undercover police officer), and in his truck is not only full of the siding put about 24 stolen radios (implicating him in a rash of car break ins), and sweet set of thief�s tools, as well as a set of locksmiths tools stolen from a local locksmith. Cleared up a large part of our docket.

One of our many town drunks wanted to go to the bar. But his daughter was not home to take him. So he decided to drive himself. He had had quite a few and was also LEGALLY BLIND! Luckily he had the way to the bar memorized, Unluckily he struck a Constable�s car on the way. He made it to the bar with enough time to enjoy one last drink, and confess to the bartender that he was drunk and blind and at just struck something (he could not make out the Constable�s car). Hope his last one was a double.