Brandon Scott Lavergne - Guilty Plea and LWOP

[txlams]

Whaaat?! I mentioned today that this was the first day in three months that I haven't checked into WS. It took me a while to catch up in just one day! I'm just sitting here, waiting, waiting, waiting. I feel like that old Mervyn's commercial, "Open, open, open." It's been just a bit windy all day, and I don't look forward to tomorrow at all. For Gustav, we were out of power for four days, so YES, thank you to all those that are scurrying around trying to restore everything.

Also, I continue to think of Mickey every day. We got to see the UL football helmets the other day. How awesome?! I will assume her family has had her services already, and I know much of the public is waiting for their turn; but, yes, how tragic for Mickey's sweet family to have to deal with her passing and then turn right into a hurricane. It might not seem like much to many, but that is for sure a lot of emotional stress just compounded.

Blessings and prayers to all.

 

[Donamena]

When I was a kid Betsy broke the sea wall by where we lived in Miami, and I remember seeing a sailboat floating in the middle of a road afterwards. My sister and I were young enough that we just thought it was all very exciting.
I hope your power stays on. Stay safe!

I guess its too late for you to get any St Jude candles from Our Lady of Guadeloupe....

 

[Donamena]

Sorry, I meant that for Bessie....ever the Luddite.

 

[chicken fried]

RE: rabbit ears and digital converter box for the TV

'Don't forget the aluminum foil for the rabbit ears'.. Reynolds Wrap works best, lol..

Stay safe..

If I lose power, I'm thinking I'm going to drag the big RCA TV from the '80s in from the porch. I had a Chinese TV taking up space in my closet along with the PA mixer and French horn for 8 years waiting and waiting for the RCA to die (because I like to squeeze the last strip out of the toothpaste tube) and it just wouldn't. Finally, in April I got some new DVR, etc., equipment and the RCA didn't have the connections in back, so I sadly moved it out front. NO ONE will take it. It works. Great booming stereo sound from original cardboard speakers I sealed up with RTV silicone. Knobs everywhere to adjust every little thing you want. Has a fuzzy line at the top of the screen that's been there for 10 years but after a few days you don't even see it and can't find it if you try. A poor family could watch TV until Armageddon. Goodwill refuses to come get it, it's too heavy for me to lift (I have to drag it around), and I don't have the heart to drag it a few hundred yards to the street for trash.

That big ol' "Made in USA" TV has handled the spiky generator DC current pulse, hurricane after hurricane. I just know that if I hook the Chinese TV to the genny, it's going to fry - don't ask me how I know, but I know.

Remember Harrison Ford hiding from the atom bomb inside the fridge in the last Indiana Jones movie? That's the TV I'm talking about.

Anyone want to drive here and take it, you will have TV as long as you have $$ to pay for electricity. I want it off my porch, but darn, if I haven't developed a strange respect and reverence for the TV on the porch that WILL NOT QUIT.

 

[chicken fried]

CF ~ Yall always lose power, but hope not. Are you on a farm ? Or am I able to ask such here ? Sounds like a real interesting life you have. An old truck, horses. I envy you ! Hope you weather the storm well !!

Not a farm, per se, but I take care of some acreage for an old man; Lafayette grew up around it. Basically have a shotgun shack for dirt-cheap rent and cutting brush, branches, etc. on the acreage and enjoying what peace and quiet can be found in an ever-growing town.

 

[chicken fried]

Keith Stutes, the lead prosecutor in the Mickey Shunick case, confirmed to IND Monthly Tuesday that he is retiring after 28 years with the 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. His retirement comes less than a month after successfully negotiating the plea deal that sent Brandon Scott Lavergne to prison for the first-degree murders of Shunick in May of this year and Lisa Pate in 1999. Perhaps the most effectively orchestrated prosecution ever handled by the local DA’s office, Lavergne’s plea agreement was reached just 20 days after Stutes and his co-prosecutors secured an indictment for the two murders.
.......
There have also been some firsts in Stutes’ career that involved very complex prosecutions: The 1998 conviction of Dr. Richard Schmidt for attempted second-degree murder was the first time in forensic history that viral DNA was used to prove a link between two people with HIV at trial in a criminal case. In 1994, Schmidt used a sample of blood taken from one of his AIDS-infected patients and injected it into his girlfriend. Observers say Stutes was brilliant in the courtroom; Schmidt is serving a 50-year sentence.

The Shunick case is another that was particularly wrenching, Stutes says. Before Lavergne was brought into the courtroom Aug. 17 to enter his guilty plea and explain how he killed the young UL student, the prosecutor went over to Shunick’s parents, who were seated in the front row. “They choked me up,” says Stutes, the father of two daughters and grandfather of three, one 5-year-old and two 2-year-olds. “This could have been anybody.”

http://www.theind.com/news/11251-after-28-years-ada-stutes-calls-it-quits

I saw Mr. Stutes talking with the family outside after the hearing. It was obvious that it really affected him. The family's appreciation was obvious while giving him their thanks. What a great job he did.

 

[chicken fried]

What the HECK, the power just went out! No weather around.

Dang.... time to tromp around with flashlights and see what happened :-(

 

[chicken fried]

Power back on. Hmmmm.

Check in later. Just found out that the battery back up for the computer works; totally forgot I had it and it was weird to see only the computer working :-/

 

[bessie]

He's in a small area of the lakefront that didn't flood. Near Marconi & Leon C Simon. I got a text a few hrs ago that the power was out, then nothing. He's w/ family...mommy here is not getting any sleep tonight. I'm close to the Mermentau river.

Donamena, you might know this already, but you can check here for power outages in NOLA.

http://viewoutage.entergy.com/la.aspx

The streets surrounding us are out, and we just heard a big boom. I think it's going to go here pretty soon. :sigh:

 

[chicken fried]

bessie,

nothing like a hurricane to break out the old kerosene lamp and a book and just listen to the wind and rain. Peaceful in a way.

 

[bessie]

bessie,

nothing like a hurricane to break out the old kerosene lamp and a book and just listen to the wind and rain. Peaceful in a way.

I'm down with that, cf. :thumb:

 

[Ihavenoname]

CF, you are getting rain in Lafayette? I am by the Mall of Acadiana and no rain here, just breezy.

 

[gngr~snap]

::doh: I meant to quote Ihavenoname ...
~sorry

I'm down with that, cf. :thumb:

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/
here is an interactive map where you can enter your address and get real time weather...
kinda cool...
Here is Stilletos in NO...
325 Bourbon Street New Orleans, LA 70130

 

[Ihavenoname]

Thanks, I have that bookmarked but never think about using it.

 

[FOTOBUG]

Not a farm, per se, but I take care of some acreage for an old man; Lafayette grew up around it. Basically have a shotgun shack for dirt-cheap rent and cutting brush, branches, etc. on the acreage and enjoying what peace and quiet can be found in an ever-growing town.

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit."

DESIDERATA
MAX EHRMANN 1927

 

[kkdj]

I own a patent on a roof that has been tested by htl(hurricane testing laboratory) that withstands in excess of a category 5 hurricane.
Want to help with damage and future building.

 

[kkdj]

bessie,

nothing like a hurricane to break out the old kerosene lamp and a book and just listen to the wind and rain. Peaceful in a way.

Chicken fried,
I just want u to know I look forward to and respect ur posts.
Am thinking of you during the hurricane. It will all be alright.
U r most certainly a caring person!

 

[gngr~snap]

Wow!
theadvertiser (twitter)
218,995 without power statewide, Louisiana Public Service Commission reports

https://twitter.com/theadvertiser

 

[Crimson clover]

I believe that every act of homicide causes a slight unbalancing in the world, and that it diminishes life’s universal equation. In the interest of justice, it is imperative that someone try to right that imbalance. But the task of fighting evil can take a terrible toll on the people who are charged with it. It can cost them their families, their equilibrium, their capacity for joy.
Roger L. Depue

Thanx, FF... Mr. Depue speaks wisdom!
Woohoo! Only 2 days without a post...after bidding you all farewell. Sorry, a moment of weakness on my part! LOL!

 

[SteveP]

I believe that every act of homicide causes a slight unbalancing in the world, and that it diminishes life’s universal equation. In the interest of justice, it is imperative that someone try to right that imbalance. But the task of fighting evil can take a terrible toll on the people who are charged with it. It can cost them their families, their equilibrium, their capacity for joy.
Roger L. Depue

Thanx, FF... Mr. Depue speaks wisdom!
Woohoo! Only 2 days without a post...after bidding you all farewell. Sorry, a moment of weakness on my part! LOL!

I thought you would be back, crimson, and I am glad you are. You are one of us now. We all need to back off at times, if only for our own sanity, but the work that remains to be done wont allow us to stay away for long. I think you are discovering that even now. Someone has to be a voice for the missing, and I think you will be one of those voices. Welcome back.