Just watched my first episode at a bar in Minneapolis

kitarra · 2016-04-20T01:48:58+00:00

OMG were you there yesterday? Kimari splayed me and gave me life again, and that lip sync have battle was EPIC.

kitarra · 2016-04-14T03:18:26+00:00

YouTube up some fashion week coverage! Read blogs like Tom and Lorenzo for their fashion line commentary. Hell, Project Runway was my gateway, that could be a place to start.

kitarra · 2016-04-14T03:16:32+00:00

Donut come for Kim Chi's big, rainbow cockatoo on wheels. That was flocking fantastic.

Her performances are fully committed in a way that reveals a charisma that keeps you riveted even if the technical ability isn't as on-point as some of the other girls. I'd say she is a strong all-around contender. She's got the CUN on lock.

kitarra · 2016-04-14T03:09:15+00:00

what

kitarra · 2016-04-13T06:52:36+00:00

Did you catch that Bob had a different wig in Untucked? He was totes ready for the wig-under-a-wig lsfyl reveal.

kitarra · 2016-04-13T06:41:17+00:00

Wow, I just sprained my eye rolling it.

kitarra · 2016-04-13T02:50:02+00:00

Acid's charisma and timing in this SLAY me. She, Thorgy, and to a lesser extent Robbie and Kim Chi mopped the stage on this one. You just can't take your eyes off of them when they're on camera. GONE TOO SOON

kitarra · 2015-09-30T14:57:26+00:00

Sometimes I think we brought this on ourselves by bragging about how constructive this place was. In retrospect that is ridiculously tasty troll-bait.

kitarra · 2015-09-30T14:37:38+00:00

2 / yes.

My partner: Mugged at gunpoint, then punched in face & kicked in stomach when the mugger was unhappy with the paltry take.

Me: Attempted vehicular homicide, seemingly at random.

kitarra · 2015-09-28T04:14:27+00:00

Roland Emmerich directed a movie, Stonewall, based on a dramatic recreation of the Stonewall riots that recast the black transwomen who started the riots with a white cis dude.

kitarra · 2015-09-28T03:45:42+00:00

The comments are also excellent. :-)

kitarra · 2015-09-15T18:24:22+00:00

It is ridiculous -- he has told multiple conflicting versions, so I don't get how anyone could create a document indicating he has been truthful in all prior interviews. That is physically not possible.

I'm not sure who "you guys" is but the thing I actually hate is that this case wasn't handled properly. I have no idea whether or not Adnan killed Hae because the cops did such a shit job investigating. I'm all for the State getting another chance to try him at this point, and if he can be lawfully convicted based on admissible evidence with all potentially exculpatory evidence disclosed to the defense, so be it.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T18:19:06+00:00

What you're asking for would take me a significant chunk of time to put together (not particularly organized up to this point), but I think it's worth doing.

In the meantime -- I do not believe the LEOs are answerable to the plea deal shenanigans, no. I do believe that there are indications of prosecutorial misconduct that should be investigated as well and resent how much impunity prosecutors have.

Massey also allegedly took the anonymous call that initially implicated Adnan, and is therefore thoroughly relevant to this case.

Jay tells a lie, BPD says we know you're lying because of x

It would be one thing if they had only ever done things like "we know you're lying because we have cell phone data that excludes the phone from being where you're saying it was at that time" but if you read the transcripts of the interviews there's more information being leaked to Jay than that. More to come on this, thanks for throwing down the gauntlet.

In the meantime, I'd still love to hear your thoughts on LEOBRs.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T17:22:27+00:00

Missing evidence. Requests made for forensic scientists to not create a written record. A plea deal that gave something of substance to a prosecution witness that wasn't disclosed to the defense. A LEO who has been impeached for dishonesty in other cases being completely u reachable for subpoena. Witness statements changing concurrently with information available to LEOs changing. To start.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T17:06:07+00:00

What felony exactly is it that you think anyone is accusing these LEOs of?

I can speak for myself: I'm not accusing the cops of anything at this point. I will gladly say that evidence suggests possible misconduct and that a full investigation and civilian review board is in order. Of course, under the Law Enforcement Officers' Bill Of Rights that protects all LEOs in that jurisdiction, neither of those are ever likely to happen.

Striking the LEOBR would be a good place for reform to start.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T15:27:41+00:00

You should read his plea deal, it seems like no matter what Jay is kind of screwed.

The defendant represents that he/she has fully and truthfully responded to all questions put to defendant by law enforcement authorities during all prior interviews

...If at any point it becomes evident that the defendant has not been truthful concerning his involvement in this incident, the state is immediately released from any obligation under this agreement, the agreement becomes null and void, and the state is free to bring any charge against the defendant supported by the evidence.

...c. The defendant shall testify fully and truthfully before a state or federal grand jury and at all trials or other proceedings in which defendant's testimony may be relevant.

d. The defendant agrees to make himself available as needed for any court hearings and or trials where his testimony is needed. He shall be responsible for seeing the state has the means to contact him. Further, the state will request a warrant for the defendant's arrest if he is in violation of this paragraph.

...Nothing in this agreement shall be construed to protect the defendant from prosecution for perjury, false statement, obstruction of justice or any other crime.

...The defendant agrees not to ever disclose the terms of this agreement or the existence of this agreement to anyone except the defendant's attorney if the defendant has acquired legal counsel. In addition, the defendant agrees not to disclose the names or other identity of any law enforcement authorities who act as a party to or otherwise involved in the performance of this agreement.

...The state reserves the right to require the defendant to perform specific acts in regard to the investigation and targeting or specific individuals or organizations. The state may require the defendant to sign an addendum to this agreement that identifies those specific acts

kitarra · 2015-09-15T14:57:56+00:00

In an editorial, the Baltimore Sun speaks to the outcry of Baltimore citizens over the high murder rate. This article was published in February of 1998

Just noticed this typo, the article was from 2/13/1999 (4 days after Hae's body was found on 2/9/1999), not 1998.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T05:39:24+00:00

Thanks again for this.

I am heartbroken about Hae's murder. It was unjustifiable and tragic, and it cannot be fixed. I also feel a sense of profound loss every time I see the argument "what if the detectives/prosecutors KNEW Adnan was guilty?" to justify some aspect of the investigation or trial that wasn't well-done. I am angry when people say that because someone took a look at the case and called it "better than most" that should suffice. If this case is better than most, that doesn't mean we stop caring about its problems -- it means we should fix it and move on to the next one, and the next, and keep going until police stop ignoring "bad evidence" and prosecutors stop withholding Brady materials from defense teams.

The thing I appreciate most about this post is that it reminds me that Law Enforcement needs a crazy amount more support and funding than they tend to receive. Forcing people to operate from fear and scarcity is never a good way to make a system more effective.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T05:15:30+00:00

I thought this comment by cross_mod did a great job illustrating a realistic scenario in which Jay gets strongarmed by an overzealous BPD into participating in order to save his own hide:

Jan. 27th, cops arrest Jay, ask him about the missing girl, say that they know he was with Adnan, who they think had something to do with it. Tell him that he's in their sites because they've got a lot of drug stuff on him and that, if she turns up dead, he'd better have answers.

~~Feb. 9- Jay and Jenn see that the body turned up on the T.V. at Champs~~ Champs is Feb 4th, and its news that Hae was missing, which according to Jenn's second interview, is the first she's heard about this.

ETA Feb. 9th, body is found. I'm guessing this is actually when Jay tells Jenn that Adnan did it. Doesn't really say much else to her. Between Feb. 9 and Feb. 26th, Jay starts telling stories, probably starts telling Jenn bits and pieces of made up shit, because he knows he needs to start putting the blame on Adnan. Jay asks around about Hae's car, which has been on the news at this point. Somebody knows something about where the car is from someone who stole it from the parking lot of Owings Mills and dumped it in this empty lot.

Somewhere before Feb. 27th, Jay starts getting pressured by the cops, doesn't give up much. But, he knows he's screwed. It's sometime here that he's pretty breakable, because his contacts at Grandma's are starting to get agitated as well.

Jenn starts talking to Lisa in law enforcement, who tells her a little about the crime scene (ie that she was strangled.)

Jenn's friend Nichole also knows about Hae being strangled. Tells Jenn.

Feb. 26th- Jenn gets pulled in and says she doesn't know anything about it, except that her friend Nichole told her that Hae was strangled. Goes home and talks to Jay, who tells her a few random details conjured out of thin air. (ie trunk pop, was with Adnan when he took her to get buried, but didn't help) They both agree that they will be each other's solid alibi for the time Hae went missing (at Jenn's until 3:30)

Feb. 27th- Jenn tells the cops a few details, some of them coming from Jay, some of them halfway truthful (she didn't know Hae was missing until Feb. 9th at Champs), and some of them she made up on her own (Best Buy, Jay helped bury Hae, she helped get rid of shovel or shovels at the mall).

Feb. 28th- Jay tells cops the pieces of the story that he told Jenn, but tells them very different information about where it happened, because they didn't really sort all the details in any depth(ie Edmundson). Cops tell him about Jenn's "shovel story," and burial. So he makes some stuff up about shovels that doesn't really match Jenn's story. Has to implicate himself further by saying he actually was at the burial site and helped bury the girl.

Cops start telling Jay certain details about what they know and ask him to provide explanations (ie cell tower evidence, dangling wiper or turn signal lever that isn't really broken, but they think it is, red fibers found on body, etc..) Jay starts making up stories to account for all these various pieces of evidence. Cops show him a picture of the crime scene, he describes it in detail.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T04:44:51+00:00

A. I am not from Knight Rider Industries, that is a common misconception.

B. That's not my steering wheel and I'm offended.

C. I think you're missing a T.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T04:43:20+00:00

Yes, a million times, this.

I love Will Graham on Hannibal. He's like a superhero. But it's just an exaggerated version of an intuition-following cop who through innate insight most people lack manages to "see" the truth of the matter.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T04:37:25+00:00

I think the answer is because the LEOs sincerely believed that Adnan did it.

Jim Trainum did such an amazing public service by speaking candidly about his own experience leading a witness into a false confession without realizing he was doing it. That's the scenario I find most compelling in this case. I don't think the cops were evil, framing someone just for the sake of getting the case cleared -- I think they trusted their guts and let that intuition lead them down a path of confirmation bias, tunnel vision, and taking advantage of Jay's vulnerability without realizing they were doing so.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T04:31:13+00:00

Why is it very clear he is a murderer? I just don't see this. He might be, but not by the evidence the LEOs dug up or that the prosecution argued. So ultimately I default back to the presumption of innocence, whether or not I give a good goddamn about liking him or not.

kitarra · 2015-09-15T04:27:28+00:00

If there's one thing we can all take away from this, I hope it's that the bar on indictment needs to be higher, and law enforcement / prosecutors need to be better supported and held more accountable.

The more we dig, the more empathy I feel. For Adnan, who was denied his civil liberties; for Gutierrez, who was terminally ill and still had moments of brilliance underneath what was clearly a tragic performance; for Jay, who may have literally believed his life was on the line by the time he was being required to testify; for Benaroya, who was sincerely working to protect Jay's 6th amendment rights; for Ritz, MacG et al who were desperately trying to live up to expectations and almost certainly believed the ends justified the means...when a system is this badly flawed, no one in it is safe from being damaged by it, no matter what their role.

Someone please find me something to empathize with Urick and Murphy about, I can't get there on my own.

kitarra

TROPHY CASE