Steph Stradley's Blog: Law, Criminal Law and More
Roger Goodell Should Explain Reasoning for Saints 2013 Second-Round Draft Penalty
In his reddit AMA with Saints fans, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was asked whether there was any chance the Saints would get their second round pick back. To date, he had not answered this question publicly. His answer? "No, the penalty will continue to include the 2nd round draft choice in 2013." This was news to Saints fans because after the Saints and the coaches appealed the penalty, the NFL released the following statement rejecting the appeal (from April 2012) that suggested that the pick might not be forfeited if the team cooperated with the NFL: "The club and individuals [...]
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Deb’s Story: An American Health Insurance Tale
A true story. My late sister Deb lived her life as a very responsible American. To take care of herself and her young daughter, she had a responsible job at a big company, which meant that she had about the best insurance an American can have unless you are in Congress. One day she woke up with a terrible headache and her arm numb. She went to the ER and discovered she had a rare form of leukemia. This meant immediate treatment and vast amounts of time in the hospital. She could no longer work, so she kept getting paid [...]
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Gregg Williams “Bountygate” Declaration Raises More Questions Than It Answers
Received a number of questions about the former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams' declaration about so-called "Bountygate." (A "declaration" is similar to an affidavit as it is legally binding but not notarized). This blog post hopes to answer these questions. What is The Content of The Gregg Williams Statement? Here's a copy of the Gregg Williams' declaration that you can read for yourself. Declarations and affidavits are typically written by lawyers to reduce a person's recollection/views to written form. They are often written in a self-serving way, to avoid saying things that look bad for a person, and the Gregg [...]
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Saints Bountygate Litigation and The Death of Reason
Sadly, sensible legal maneuvers are often incompatible with common sense. That is likely reason 2,366,254,863 people don't like lawyers. The posturing involving Saints "Bountygate" makes little real sense, but settlement of the lawsuit is very difficult due to issues of ego, power, opposite viewpoints, and lawyering. I have a hard time figuring out what the NFL's goals are other than a demonstration of power over the NFL Player's Association. For example…. Increasing Punishment Based on Retaliation? This weekend Jason Cole wrote on Twitter that NFL sources suggested Jonathan Vilma's suspension would have been reduced to maybe 4 games instead of [...]
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Celebrating Vinyl Records With Houston’s Cactus Music
The husband Bill has recently got enthusiastic about playing albums through an old school turntable into old school speakers. I must confess initial feelings of skepticism that any of that would sound any better than iPod stuff. Mark it on your calendars…Bill was right, I was wrong. Thought I wouldn't be able to tell a difference, but with some of the stuff in particular, it sounded gorgeous and warm. You feel the music like a good hug. (We still do need to hide the speaker wire better though, which is such a wife thing to say). As I wanted to [...]
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Audition Tips for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
The syndicated version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is coming to Houston on Monday to audition contestants. I participated in auditions in Houston almost 11 years ago, got the call to be on the show, won $64,000 (minus way too many taxes). I ended up doing this because my very cool mother-in-law encouraged me to try out. The show experience was one of the most surreal things that has ever happened in my life. I've helped other people get on the show since then, and thought I'd share some Who Wants To Be A Millionaire audition tips. Audition [...]
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Books to Read: The Bum Phillips Autobiography
I've been catching up on my summer reading, and very much want to recommend the autobiography, "Bum Phillips: Coach, Cowboy, Christian." It's a quick read, and something worth sharing with your pre-teens, teenagers too. He would likely be embarrassed by folks saying this, but he has lived a very very badass life beyond just the Houston Oilers stuff. I also love how earnest it is in a time when earnest isn't always appreciated. Bum Phillips tells his whole story: From growing up in East Texas during the Great Depression His Marine times in the Pacific during World War II Texas [...]
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The Texas Political Robocall Shame List
I'm not sure why politicians think that robocalling the electorate is a good idea. One of the most popular pieces of federal legislation was the establishment of the National Do Not Call Registry in 2003. Sadly, one of the exceptions to the bill allows for political calls, and increasingly those calls are made by recordings. I can't fathom that there is any data that suggests intentionally annoying people in their houses with recorded messages during dinner is an effective campaign strategy. So this blog post is my windmill tilting to make them go away. Political Robocall Apology: A Story A [...]
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‘Online Impersonation’ is a Crime in Texas
Did you know that "Online Impersonation" is a crime in Texas? I thought I knew a lot about the web, but ran across this relating to a legal case I know about. Enacted into law in 2009, here's the complete Texas 'Online Impersonation' statute. In key part: "Sec. 33.07. ONLINE IMPERSONATION. (a) A person commits an offense if the person, without obtaining the other person's consent and with the intent to harm, defraud, intimidate, or threaten any person, uses the name or persona of another person to: (1) create a web page on a commercial social networking site or other Internet website; or [...]
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United Airlines Goes to the Bud Adams School of Public Relations
Who advises United Airlines on their public relations in Houston? Former Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams? Saw this comment after the Houston Chronicle article reporting that United Airlines was cutting jobs after the Houston counsel vote allowing international flights out of Hobby Airport: Hey United, you're not the first one to try and coerce the citizens of Houston into something they didn't want to do. Go ask Bud Adams how that worked out for him. He bailed on the 4th largest city in the country because he didn't get his way. His team now plays in the 20th largest city [...]
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Roger Goodell Moves the Goal Line: Part 2 Saints Bountygate Q&A
Before reading this Q&A, please read Part 1, "Saints Bountygate is Now Saints Litigate: Common Q&As." Documents relevant to the "Bountygate" issue are located there, along with answers to a lot of talk radio type questions. Please read the documents yourself and draw your own conclusions. Here are my answers of additional questions received from NFL fans: Will the failure of the players to participate in the June 18th hearing in front of Roger Goodell work against them? That's the question posed by the Pro Football Talk Mike Florio's blog post, "Failure to participate in appeal process could come back [...]
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Saints Bountygate is Now Saints Litigate: Common Q&As
This week in dysfunctional labor relations pits the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) against the NFL. Unsurprisingly, after the NFL came out with their final determination in the so-called Saints Bountygate bounty/pay for performance issue, the NFLPA filed suit against the NFL on behalf of all the penazlied players except Jonathan Vilma. This is after Saints player Vilma had already sued Roger Goodell for defamation, and Goodell and the NFL to stop his punishment. If you are a NFL fan who wants to have an informed opinion about these matters, I suggest reading the actual legal documents. Some people believe that [...]
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NFL Exit Strategy for Saints Bountygate Mess?
As I noted last March in my blog post entitled, "Why the New Orleans Saints Bounty Penalties are Too Harsh," the NFL was likely going to face issues with the Saints Bountygate investigations and if they extended the penalties to players as well. As I explained then, I am not a Saints fan, nor am I advocating bounties or pay for injury or pay for performance pools. No one is. If there ever were a "culture of bounties," such a thing is dead. Not just because of the unprecedented NFL penalties but because of public stigma and the prohibition against [...]
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Awesome Things in Houston: Great Breakfast Tacos Everywhere
Back in the day, when I was trying to get my first real job, I put Tex Mex on my resume as an interest. In school I didn't have too many interests other than watching/playing sports, studying, and well, cheap Tex Mex food. Also a way to signal to employers that I had no interest whatsoever of leaving Texas. Turned out that in short interviews with various people, we ended up talking about Tex Mex food a lot. Employers are often just trying to find out if you have decent BS and that you won't be an horrible person to [...]
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Texas v Rodriguez: ‘Stand Your Ground,’ CHLs, Self Defense – Facts and Law
Houston criminal lawyers Neal Davis and my husband Bill Stradley represented Raul Rodriguez, a man convicted of murdering his neighbor in a confrontation relating to loud music from a party. A jury sentenced Mr Rodriguez to 40 years in prison. There have been many media reports about this case. It is difficult to find ones that are entirely factually accurate. Public Interest in Stand Your Ground Laws, Gun Policy. This case has generated public interest for many reasons: 1. The 22:03 minutes leading up to the shooting are all captured on video. 2. Kelly Danaher was a widely-beloved teacher, husband, [...]
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My List of Top Houston Restaurants
Very much enjoyed reading Alison Cook’s Top 100 Houston restaurants list. As she noted, it isn’t not her Houston best restaurant list, but the ones that she really finds memorable, for whatever personal reasons that speak to her. Her list is particularly good in identifying ethnic food restaurants that you might not be familiar with. Inspired by her list, I tried to come up with my own list to see if I could even come up with 100 restaurants that I really love. I couldn’t. My criteria for my list? My list criteria was a combination of these factors: Is [...]
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Sex in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center?
The Harris County Criminal Justice Center often contains unsual sights. Brian Rogers, a Houston Chronicle courts/crime reporter, put together a tumblr of face tattoos. Often you can marvel at the informal clothing people choose to wear to their court appearances. The husband Bill often sends me picture of food (I like food) and strange things he encounters. But the picture below defies explanation. Without cropping this closer to make it crystal clear what this is in its grotesqueness, the picture below is a used condom that Bill saw near the elevator bank of the court house. Yuck, sorry, but whoa. [...]
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That’s a Clown Question Bro: Evil Clown Meme
"That's a clown question bro." The response the underaged Nationals' baseball player, Bryce Harper gave when asked about what his favorite beer in Canada was. Every time I hear the word "clown," I think of this odd clown painting I discovered at The Antique Guys in the Montrose area. It was such a disturbing painting that I wanted to buy it and put it in my husband's office as a prank. Even with the cracked canvas, they wanted over $1000 (!!!!?) for it. Um no. The reason? Apparently it came from some estate sale from some Houston manse, and he [...]
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A Different Kind of Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog…
Greetings to readers from my old Houston Criminal Law blog location or from other parts of the web. This is the new location of my personal blog where I park non-Texans writings. I will continue and enjoy blogging for the Houston Chronicle online about the Texans, but sometimes I want to write about things that don't fit there. This blog is hosted at StradleyLaw.com because 1. it allows to write without doing the techical website support stuff that I don't like to do; 2. maybe it means people can find our law firm in the vastness of the web. It's [...]
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Why the New Orleans Saints Bounty Penalties are Too Harsh
I can't say I am a fan of the NFL-enacted penalties against the New Orleans Saints for bounties and the cover-up of the bounty program. Though much has been said and written about this, nothing really captures my fan-focused thinking. Here's some thoughts: 1. Bounties are bad. I'm not defending bounties, or that it is a good idea to lie or cover up things to the NFL Commissioner's office. Just getting that thought out of the way. 2. What is the purpose of NFL punishment? The NFL, unlike the legal system, doesn't have a set of penalties for different offenses. [...]
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