innocence

I’ve been reading quite a bit about the Knoxville shootings. Two people dead, hundreds of people seeing a man give his life to save theirs, a day where children woke up, excited to be in a musical in front of their friends, their family and their fellowship.

I was peerusin some humor site this morning when I came across a list of "13 things you won't believe are against the law somewhere."

Two of the laws stood out and I thought they deserved to be shared;

At approximately 10:00 a.m. this morning, Paul House was released from Lois M. Deberry Special Needs Facility. An anonymous donor provided Joyce House, Paul's mother, with the bail money in order for Paul to be released into the custody of his mother.

This past Friday, Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood reduced Paul House's bail to $100,000. This reduction has allowed Joyce House, Paul's mother, to post a property bond to satisfy the bail. Paul House will be released into the custody of his mother--this week.

The world's oldest profession - and the most highly prized "trophy" of some of that profession's clientèle - goes high-tech, but not without risk...

I suspect this activity will increase, too, given the current state of the economy and the difficulty in finding employment for the younger among us.

We received word yesterday from the Tennessee Department of Correction that Richard Austin, the state's oldest and longest serving death row inmate, died at DeBerry Special Needs Facility in Nashville on Sunday. Austin was sentenced to death in 1978 after a conviction in Shelby County of accessory before the fact to murder.

In Sunday's Tennessean, columnist Gail Kerr wrote a great piece concerning Paul House's upcoming bail hearing scheduled for Friday in Union County. The purpose of bail is to assure the appearance of the defendant at trial while assuring the safety of the public.

A three judge panel in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in the appeal in the case of Paul House. Paul House remains on Tennessee's death row though new evidence indicating his innocence (including DNA) has been uncovered. He has been on death row for over 22 years.

I ran across this couple-day-old "Past Deadline by Ray Richmond" post while googling a while ago. This picture caught my trained eye...remarkably poignant, not the 'Hannah Montana' vapid-hyped look I'm used to seeing at all. There's something else here, something Anne Leibowitz captured, the 'innocence wronged' look. Just...wrong.

Folks are up in arms because they think it’s too sexy. I hadn’t seen it until late last night, and I have to say I find it jarring.