AllenA07

I just made my way through the update, looks like you all had a great time.

Years ago I was at the Grand Canyon... I watched a man jump (climb) over a barrier because he wanted to get a better picture. Barriers are there for a reason!

I've heard they're planning on removing the entire back half of the park (Riddlers on over to Deja Vu) and they're planning on putting in the worlds largest Dippin Dots stand. Needless to say I'm very skeptical that the park has any plans to remove Log Jammer. The ride is still popular, and I can remember many hot Summer days where basically all I would ride at the park was the different water rides. My guess frankly is that all the rides that are currently operating will be doing the same at this time next year!

Wow... Did somebody's RCT dream somehow transform into a rumor that Viper is coming out??? As far as it goes Viper is safe for the foreseeable future. The ride is popular, had great capacity, and (as far as I know) relatively few maintainance problems.

I think recently it would be the girl who lost her legs on Superman while at Kentucky Kingdom. I don't think I've seen anybody mention Mindbender at the West Edmonton Mall, however I think that ranks as one of the worse derailments I've heard of. A wheel came off causing the ride to derail and smash into a post. I believe it killed a few people.

Generally it really isn't all that much more difficult, in fact it may be easier. There are a huge number of studies out there that talk about how unreliable eye witness testimony is. DNA evidence which everybody is so in love with is circumstantial. I can bet you that had they found a knife out near the body that had both Casey's and Caylee's blood on it (when you stab somebody you often will cut yourself in the process) this would have been a whole different outcome, despite still being based on all circumstantial evidence. For what it's worth considering that I didn't watch a lot of the trial, I do understand that Baez promised several things during his opening statement that he didn't actually deliver on. If that was the case there is some case law out there which would suggest that his actions there may have been considered ineffective assistance of counsel. So I promise you that I'm not one of those people out there saying that the man is a genius. He frankly was just in the right place at the right time.

So there was this one time at band camp...

I wish I could take credit for the cake example, but it has been going around for a long time! Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if that example is older then I am! She should walk free today. Even if they max out her sentence (which they likely will) my guess is they're going to release her due to good behavior time. I know part of the sentance was in regards to another crime, but I would guess that the court will essentially "stack" those sentence. That means that she was doing jail time for more then one crime at a time. As long as that is the case, with good behavior time I can't see them holding her beyond today.

You can absolutely base a case on nothing but circumstantial evidence. It happens every single day and there is nothing at all wrong with that. Circumstantial evidence is, technically, no better or worse then direct (eye witness) evidence. It's just a different type of evidence. In fact I can tell you that given my options I may actually take a case of all circumstantial evidence over a case of all direct evidence. I've seen this example in the past (and have used it in court) and I think it works well. Look at it this way: While home alone with your young daughter one day you decide to make a chocolate cake (so clearly Brandy is the person we're talking about here ). When the cake is finished baking you put the frosting on and then leave it out on the counter. You walk into another room and 10 minutes later come back into the kitchen. Much to your shock the cake has gone missing. It's then you notice the little chocolate hand prints on the counter, followed by the little chocolate foot prints on the floor. Mustering your best detective skills you follow the chocolate foot prints into the living room. The footprints lead you to the corner of the living room where you find your 4 year old daughter. She is covered in what appears to be chocolate cake as she smiles back at you. On the other side of the room you see the battered remains of your cake. Who ate the cake? Of course the little girl did. However because you personally did not witness it, nor did anybody else tell you about what they witnessed, you're going to base your conclusion that your kid ate the cake on nothing more then circumstantial evidence. is it possible that somebody broke into the house, ate the cake and then set up an elaborate scene to frame your innocent daughter? Sure it is, but we all know it's not very likely. In that case without any direct evidence and only circumstantial evidence to go on you're going to be reasonably sure who ate the cake. I'm just saying guys don't get too hung up on the fact that the case was based wholly on circumstantial evidence. It really isn't that big of a deal and frankly gets way more attention then it deserves.

It is hard for me to say anything right there without knowing more about the evidence. However I was a little surprised that they didn't end up cutting her a deal that would have spared her life in return for life in prison. I don't even think a plea to a 2nd degree felony would have been so out of the question here. If it were me I would have tried to work the angle of motive harder. While it's not an element of the crime and you don't need to prove it, the jury sure likes it. The lack of forensic evidence was a killer here, modern day jury's eat the stuff up and it is getting very hard to convict without it (Google The CSI Effect). Personally knowing what I know now about the evidence the State actually held I don't think I would have pushed this as a capital case. Being a prosecutor is a very political job, and as such, things like elections can cloud judgment, which likely lead to this case being forced through as a capital case. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the evidence just wasn't there to begin with. This case should have never been brought with such insufficent evidence, and it especially should not have been brought as a capital case. I get this comment all the time. The "how can you defend the guilty?" Well the answer is that everybody deserves a fair trial. Sometimes my job is nothing more than just making sure that the prosecution meets its burden and that the punishment fits the crime. A lot of attorneys will tell you that defending the guilty is the easy part, defending the innocent is where things get a whole lot more complex. Finally Jose Baez shouldn't really be getting any praise here. The State lost this case far more than Jose Baez won it.

Circumstantial evidence isn't really all that big of a deal, but for whatever reason it has become this huge thing that freaks out jurors. Whenever I pick a jury (or help another lawyer pick a jury) I always make sure to cover the differences between direct and circumstantial evidence. I have worked on several cases (some of which were extremely serious charges) where there was only circumstantial evidence, and it was still fairly easy to convict. One of the things I have helped on is the prosecution of crimes against children. In those cases we more often then not were dealing with cases where we had nothing other than circumstantial evidence. In cases like that the person who is being accused is going to control the place and time of the crime, which will generally eliminate the hope of any direct evidence. In my opinion the death blow in this case was that the State played things loose and sloppy. There was too much focus placed on how Casey acted after the alleged murder. Just because she has a wild side, and partied it up, and lied to police doesn't mean she is a killer. Her attorney frankly didn't do that good of a job (actually he did a rather terrible job), he promised several things during his opening that he failed to produce. However that is the great thing about being a defense attorney, we don't have to prove innocence, we just have to instill a reasonable doubt. I wonder if the prosecutor has cleaned out his desk yet? I can bet you almost anything that Casey Anthony will just happen to be his final case on the prosecution side of things. Depending on his age he is either going to "resign" to pursue other projects, or if he is old enough he will "retire." You don't lose a case like this however and expect to have a job the next morning. Also as a last note both sides played very dirty at times, and from what I understand both will be getting a call from the State Bar.

I'm glad the jury came back with a not guilty. The State left loose ends in their case, it was not as clean as it should have been. I don't think that the defense did that wonderful of a job, however the State left enough holes in their case that some doubt remained. Unlike the rest of the world I don't think this proves that our justice system is broken, rather I think it proves that it works!

I decided to go out for an hour last night with my telescope to do so Milky Way observing. I wasn't really looking for anything however as soon as I swung the scope skyward I found a globular cluster. Turns out it was M13. This is generally exciting because it is the first time I've just stumbled across an object like that, normally finding these things requires me to make a plan and then spend some significant time hunting the object down. This one was at complete random!

I'm pretty pleased with Richards coming to LA. Now my hope is we can snag Brad Richards if only so we can have a line of Richards, Richards, and Richardson.

I've given up on Infamous. Not sure what it was but I just wasn't feel the game.

Such a sad thing to hear, I feel terrible for the parents. I personally hate ferris wheels, for whatever reason they fall into that category of illogical fears for me. Keeping this very short in terms of any legal liability, assuming the ride was working fine (which seems to be the case) the parents are basically stuck with a defective design suit. For reasons I won't go into, those are expensive to bring, they tend to not have a terribly high success rate, and are very time consuming. If Morey's Piers offers funeral costs plus say $10,000-$25,000 I think I would advise a client to give that some pretty serious consideration.

Right around when I turned 18 I started to have a hard time on rides. I am a big believer that Trans Derm Scop patches are the way to go. I've used them several times over the years and they really get the job done. In a pinch I always bring something like Rolaids or Tums with me to a park, if you take a couple it will help settle your stomach a little bit.

I'm going to go with the fact that Luongo couldn't stop a beach ball while in Boston.

^ Dude... His mom says he is the most handsome boy in the entire school!

^Considering people have been drooling over those trains since the late 90's (I think those are from IAAPA 98) I've basically lost any hope of them actually showing up at SFMM.

Just booked a cruise on Mariner of the Seas for next year! We're going to Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. This will be my third cruise, having also done a short 3 day trip on Monarch, as well as a 7 day Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Conquest. The only repeat port between this Caribbean cruise and the one on Conquest is technically Cozumel, however due to H1N1 we were not able to dock in Cozumel last time. I'm look very forward to it!

I don't think I've ever posted here so here it goes: - Soapbox Derby Racers (Knotts) -Windjammer (Knotts) -Flashback (SFMM) -Psyclone (SFMM) -Stealth (CGA) -Invertigo (CGA) -Zonga (SFDK) - Speed: The Ride -Lightning Bolt (MGM Grand) I swear there are others but these are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Watching the video I'm very curious to hear how people like the ride. I've always had some problems with motion sickness, and just watching that video makes me think I would have a hard time with this one!

You know I've driven by Sandy Lake tons of times and always wondered if there was actually anything there. This thread has answered my question!

Remind me not to ride next to you.