Wise County DA Drops Murder Charge Due To DNA Evidence

[RPM 26322]

WISE COUNTY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – After making an arrest last September in the murder of a North Texas woman last July, investigators now realize they don’t have the key piece of evidence they needed.

Rodney Aric Maxwell was arrested and spent months in jail for the murder of 32-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Lauren Whitener.

But DNA found in Whitener’s home does not match Maxwell’s.

The Wise County DA’s office dropped the capital murder charge against Maxwell and investigators are back to trying to find the person who killed her.

She was found dead in her fire-damaged Lake Bridgeport home last year.

Investigators think the killer set her home on fire to try to conceal evidence.

FULL STATEMENT FROM MAXWELL’S ATTORNEY

His lawyer, Barry Green, is a friend of mine since we were kids. He's the former DA of Wise County. He's well respected. Maxwell is lucky someone at the District Judge's Office reached out to Barry to take the case because he hasn't been on the Public Defender list for a decade. 

They've known since at least a year ago that Maxwell was excluded by DNA.

Barry takes a blowtorch to the District Attorney's office and WCSO in that statement. Watch for him on Dateline in the near future.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by RPM

[52-80 19162]

if the nucleotides dont fit, u must acquit

[RPM 26322]

Here's what you are seeing. The first part is Aric's last interview with a Texas Ranger at the DPS office in Decatur. The Sheriff's Office already had the arrest warrant in hand. They could have simply and easily arrested him in the DPS office, and he would have certainly cooperated. Instead, they allowed him to get into a truck with his elderly father and ambush him just feet away from that DPS office. When you see Aric walk through the jail door at the end, he would not exit for almost six months. 

 

Edited September 11, 2020 by RPM

[washparkhorn 9939]

Kafkaesque. An absurd decision and the circular reasoning that forms in response to it and perpetuates the absurdity.

Nice work by the attorney. What a nightmare. 

[RMac5 1551]

What a load of horse shit! 

[Brisketexan 105154]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

Here's what you are seeing. The first part is Aric's last interview with a Texas Ranger at the DPS office in Decatur. The Sheriff's Office already had the arrest warrant in hand. They could have simply and easily arrested him in the DPS office, and he would have certainly cooperated. Instead, they allowed him to get into a truck with his elderly father and ambush him just feet away from that DPS office. When you see Aric walk through the jail door at the end, he would not exit for almost six months. 

 

Well, see, if they'd done that, they wouldn't have had the chance to play tacticool badass HOORAH GIT SOME.  So, surely you understand why their way was better.

And as for the DNA evidence excluding him for a year, I mean, there's paperwork, and forms.  Big hassle, you know.  

[gyroprotagonist 2594]

2 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Well, see, if they'd done that, they wouldn't have had the chance to play tacticool badass HOORAH GIT SOME.  So, surely you understand why their way was better.

And as for the DNA evidence excluding him for a year, I mean, there's paperwork, and forms.  Big hassle, you know.  

...beat the rap, but not the ride extreme long game.

[Brisketexan 105154]

1 minute ago, gyroprotagonist said:

...beat the rap, but not the ride extreme long game.

What I don't get about this sort of assholery is this....you didn't just railroad an innocent man.  You fucked over the victim and the community, because that entire time, you took your eyes off the actual ball: CATCHING THAT ACTUAL BAD GUY.

They didn't just choose to keep an innocent man in the can -- they chose to continue to let a guilty man walk free, out there among us.  Pick your reason to be enraged -- but you have to pick one.

[gyroprotagonist 2594]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

What I don't get about this sort of assholery is this....you didn't just railroad an innocent man.  You fucked over the victim and the community, because that entire time, you took your eyes off the actual ball: CATCHING THAT ACTUAL BAD GUY.

They didn't just choose to keep an innocent man in the can -- they chose to continue to let a guilty man walk free, out there among us.  Pick your reason to be enraged -- but you have to pick one.

look, i'm no police homicide detective, but I have seen Shawshank about 11ty billion times.  The real killer will confess and joke about getting away with it, then they have him.  This innocent man is completely fucking up the plan and should be ashamed for not backing the blue.

[Zepol87 9188]

Sickening

[bschoolprof 6263]

Thank god he has a great attorney.  Many are not so lucky.  

[Wanker Bob 379]

If it wasn't a white guy that dna would never have been tested. Especially in Texas. Especially in Wise Co

[Jerry Callo 8704]

You know what today is?  Shut the fuck up Friday - same as every other day.  Don't talk to LEOs without an attorney, especially if you didn't do anything wrong.  

Glad to see they finally let that guy out.

[Braff Zacklin 13618]

1 hour ago, RPM said:

So why would they do this when they had him on the premises with a warrant in hand?

My guess--and I'm just spitballing here--is they were hoping he'd fuck up, make a mistake, and otherwise do something that "rationalized" their use of deadly force.

The fat, stupid one giving the orders was the worst. He was still covering  a prone and defenseless Maxwell with his muzzle while two deputies were cuffing him. What if Maxwell had twitched? That bloated idiot would've emptied his magazine and likely injured the deputies in addition to Maxwell.

These overzealous fuckwads hiding behind badges need to go. They're no better than criminals and, in some cases, they're probably a good deal worse, especially when they conspire to deprive an apparently innocent man of his civil liberties for the better part of a year.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Braff Zacklin

[Skipper 6136]

This is unreal.  And good for Barry Green dropping the hammer.  Fucking DA should be disbarred.

[TwiceHorn 31495]

41 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Well, see, if they'd done that, they wouldn't have had the chance to play tacticool badass HOORAH GIT SOME.  So, surely you understand why their way was better.

And as for the DNA evidence excluding him for a year, I mean, there's paperwork, and forms.  Big hassle, you know.  

'N readin.  Don' furgit readin.  Readin's hard.

Edited September 11, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[Brisketexan 105154]

Just now, TwiceHorn said:

N readin.  Don't forget readin.  Readin's hard.

Readin's for fags and commies -- why do you hate our heroes, LeVar Burton?  BACK THE BLUE!

[Reagan1k 3024]

Investigative and arresting bullshit aside.......

The vests in that video make me laugh.  Those badasses look like 400lb women trying to wear a training bra.

There is more fat exposed than covered - at least one didn't appear it could even be fastened.

 

[RPM 26322]

8 minutes ago, Skipper said:

This is unreal.  And good for Barry Green dropping the hammer.  Fucking DA should be disbarred.

Barry is a good man. He also publishes a blog that has more readers than the local paper. He went scorched earth.

http://www.liberallylean.com/

[Braff Zacklin 13618]

10 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

Why do you hate our heroes, LeVar Burton?

If you'll indulge me, I'd like to use the invocation of LeVar Burton's name as justification for this digression:

Wait for it.

[Foosters 17858]

Prosecutors are trained to win cases. It doesn't matter if the accused is actually the perpetrator as long as a guilty verdict is rendered.

Win at all costs. As a public defender, I'm often asked "how can you do your job?" Ignoring for a moment the inherent offensiveness of such a question, it's quite telling that the same question is never asked of prosecutors.

[Anastasis 23475]

29 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

'N readin.  Don' furgit readin.  Readin's hard.

I thought this was just a joke, but it's why they sat on it.  They don't konw how to read the report. From the blog:

There is a DNA report exonerating Aric. He was indicted on the charge of murdering her while sexual assaulting her. The DNA was unquestionably left at the time of the murder. It is the kind of bombshell evidence you see all the time which allows people wrongfully imprisoned for years to go free. And what's worse, the Sheriff's Office had that DNA report since last September but didn't know how to read it.

His office screwed up this investigation, they didn't know how to read a DNA report, and when people tried to explain it to them, they still didn't understand.  And while the Sheriff was  slapping himself on the back after the wrongful arrest, a killer slipped through his fingers. A killer that, based upon his comments, he doesn't seem to be particularly interested in now finding. 

Edited September 11, 2020 by Anastasis

[Fondren & Main 6725]

42 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

You know what today is?  Shut the fuck up Friday - same as every other day.  Don't talk to LEOs without an attorney, especially if you didn't do anything wrong.  

Glad to see they finally let that guy out.

 

[Guest]

Hater from Decatur?

[TwiceHorn 31495]

3 hours ago, Foosters said:

Prosecutors are trained to win cases. It doesn't matter if the accused is actually the perpetrator as long as a guilty verdict is rendered.

Win at all costs. As a public defender, I'm often asked "how can you do your job?" Ignoring for a moment the inherent offensiveness of such a question, it's quite telling that the same question is never asked of prosecutors.

That's a hell of an observation.

And yes, too often, or maybe always, prosecuting criminals becomes a win/loss record and not much more.

But here, especially, the gross expansion of the wrongful charges is really a doozer.  They weren't just taking what they had and running with it.

"LAWNORDER!!11" and "TOUGHONCRIME" are really not what we want or need in this country.  I beseech people not to give in to fear.  Because it is exactly this, and voters buying it hook, line, and sinker, that got us here.

Edited September 11, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

I’ve struggled to try and figure out a better way to have prosecutors, not subject to a political vote.  Not an easy answer there.  

[ftf82 485]

3 hours ago, RPM said:

Barry is a good man. He also publishes a blog that has more readers than the local paper. He went scorched earth.

http://www.liberallylean.com/

Reposting for the link. Everyone should bookmark his blog and check it daily. In addition to some great observations on local, state and national politics (few of which I agree with, but all of which are interesting), his girl of the day pics are usually pretty damn hot.

[conVINCEd 21469]

4 minutes ago, ftf82 said:

Reposting for the link. Everyone should bookmark his blog and check it daily. In addition to some great observations on local, state and national politics (few of which I agree with, but all of which are interesting), his girl of the day pics are usually pretty damn hot.

It’s quite clear he’s a tits man.

[Updawg 2268]

I just bookmarked Barry’s law blog right next to bob loblaws law blog

[Post Oak 20244]

Does Maxwell have an avenue to bring suit against the D.A?

[Zepol87 9188]

2 minutes ago, Post Oak said:

Does Maxwell have an avenue to bring suit against the D.A?

I hope he owns the whole fucking county after this

[TwiceHorn 31495]

1 minute ago, Post Oak said:

Does Maxwell have an avenue to bring suit against the D.A?

DA, probably not.  Absolute immunity.

WCSO, yes, but qualified immunity is a barrier.  While we know it is clearly an unconstiutional deprivation of liberty to hold a man in prison when you have evidence exonerating him that you failed to read or appreciate, there probably isn't a single analogous case out there to so inform the erstwhile minions of the Wise County Sherriff.

[Pato del Muerto 52524]

Maybe all dna reports need to be done by the Maury povich contracting laboratory. He can tell in one second of the dna is a match. 

[immortal13 4059]

5 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

What I don't get about this sort of assholery is this....you didn't just railroad an innocent man.  You fucked over the victim and the community, because that entire time, you took your eyes off the actual ball: CATCHING THAT ACTUAL BAD GUY.

They didn't just choose to keep an innocent man in the can -- they chose to continue to let a guilty man walk free, out there among us.  Pick your reason to be enraged -- but you have to pick one.

Can I pick two, please?

[ftf82 485]

59 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

It’s quite clear he’s a tits man.

Well, to be fair he is a Baylor fan

[TwiceHorn 31495]

3 hours ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

I’ve struggled to try and figure out a better way to have prosecutors, not subject to a political vote.  Not an easy answer there.  

It's not strictly speaking a partisan political issue, although a dem is currently much more likely to be a "progressive" prosecutor.  But DAs on both sides of the aisle have been perfectly willing to double-down on lawnorder and toughoncrime.  It's easy political pickings.

The issue, then, is really popular elections and willingness to feed the electorate pablum and/or the electorate's willingness to put aside fear and elect a prosecutor based on "doing the right thing."

Also, the tendency to boil your job down to a W/L record is really just human nature at the non-elected, actual prosecutor level.  It will take some leadership and conscientiousness to avoid that.  And, to be fair, prosecutors do see a fair share of animal behavior that feeds the self-righteousness and the "lock em up, let God sort em out" attitude.

 

[Cajun 11714]

9 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Well, see, if they'd done that, they wouldn't have had the chance to play tacticool badass HOORAH GIT SOME.  So, surely you understand why their way was better.

And as for the DNA evidence excluding him for a year, I mean, there's paperwork, and forms.  Big hassle, you know.  

Dead on.

Fucking disgusting how these fucks operate.  

I would so love to pull up behind fatty there, put an AR in his face and start yelling Hokey Pokey instructions with my finger on the trigger just to see him piss himself with fear.  You know, make up some bullshit charge, scare the fuck out of him, ruin his life, and then let him out of jail 6 months later without so much as a, "Oh, my bad brah".

Someday I hope Karma pays him the visit he's earned so well.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Cajun

[Cajun 11714]

4 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

DA, probably not.  Absolute immunity.

WCSO, yes, but qualified immunity is a barrier.  While we know it is clearly an unconstiutional deprivation of liberty to hold a man in prison when you have evidence exonerating him that you failed to read or appreciate, there probably isn't a single analogous case out there to so inform the erstwhile minions of the Wise County Sherriff.

Yeah, that needs to end.

These DAs need some healthy fear in their lives.

[RPM 26322]

FWIW, WCSO is heavy on working marijuana trafficking using Vigilant license plate scanners/database on 287. Been to Colorado lately? They are about as heavy handed law enforcement as you'll find. I know a few local judges very well. One CC Judge is a decent guy with a lenient tendency, the other is a pure ego freak. The District Judge is a good guy and probably the only reason Maxwell is free.

Wise County hasn't had a good history as far as Sheriffs go. Google Leroy Burch. 

[RPM 26322]

12 hours ago, ftf82 said:

Everyone should bookmark his blog and check it daily. In addition to some great observations on local, state and national politics (few of which I agree with, but all of which are interesting), his girl of the day pics are usually pretty damn hot.

Random Hot Chick of the Day is the preferred nomenclature. But, you're not wrong. He's "the hardest working man in show business."

[hookem2010 2624]

As a Wise county resident for 13 months longer than I could have ever imagined, color me shocked that such fuckery could be afoot in this shithole.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

11 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

It's not strictly speaking a partisan political issue, although a dem is currently much more likely to be a "progressive" prosecutor.  But DAs on both sides of the aisle have been perfectly willing to double-down on lawnorder and toughoncrime.  It's easy political pickings.

The issue, then, is really popular elections and willingness to feed the electorate pablum and/or the electorate's willingness to put aside fear and elect a prosecutor based on "doing the right thing."

Also, the tendency to boil your job down to a W/L record is really just human nature at the non-elected, actual prosecutor level.  It will take some leadership and conscientiousness to avoid that.  And, to be fair, prosecutors do see a fair share of animal behavior that feeds the self-righteousness and the "lock em up, let God sort em out" attitude.

 

Yeah, you made my point, now that it’s been driven home how dumb and hateful a large part of the local primary electorate really is, electing prosecutors and judges, and sheriffs for that matter seems like a dicey proposition.  No way around it though.  

[Mrs Whiggins 13050]

I wasn't following this and thus am just learning about it, but what also stood out in the attorney's statement was that anyone (not just Maxwell) who was considered a potential suspect was scientifically excluded by the DNA profile the lab had.

 

[TwiceHorn 31495]

11 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Yeah, you made my point, now that it’s been driven home how dumb and hateful a large part of the local primary electorate really is, electing prosecutors and judges, and sheriffs for that matter seems like a dicey proposition.  No way around it though.  

Yeah, it's a thorny issue.  An appointment system doesn't seem to work much better, either, as the non-judicial appointers are possibly more afraid of being soft on crime than the judges/DAs themselves, and then there are issues of extreme partisanship and patronage.  The academic solution is an appointment followed by re-elections, a vote of confidence.

Edited September 12, 2020 by TwiceHorn

[Cajun 11714]

Soft on crime?  

Quite the contrary, they are hard on the innocent from what this little episode (and a shitpile of others I might add) shows.  It's time for their immunities to be taken away.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Cajun

[Pato del Muerto 52524]

1 hour ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

I wasn't following this and thus am just learning about it, but what also stood out in the attorney's statement was that anyone (not just Maxwell) who was considered a potential suspect was scientifically excluded by the DNA profile the lab had.

 

Which implies no connection to the victim. Which implies a compulsion which implies a likelihood of serial offender.  So good thing the SO isn’t still investigating. 

[immortal13 4059]

11 hours ago, Cajun said:

Dead on.

Fucking disgusting how these fucks operate.  

I would so love to pull up behind fatty there, put an AR in his face and start yelling Hokey Pokey instructions with my finger on the trigger just to see him piss himself with fear.  You know, make up some bullshit charge, scare the fuck out of him, ruin his life, and then let him out of jail 6 months later without so much as a, "Oh, my bad brah".

Someday I hope Karma pays him the visit he's earned so well.

Reminds me of the Daniel Shaver incident. One false move and boom...hammer dropped! Another win for team blue. No charges and full pensions for everyone!! Fucking disgusting. I hope this guy gets millions in a lawsuit

[RollLeft 5045]

19 hours ago, ftf82 said:

Reposting for the link. Everyone should bookmark his blog and check it daily. In addition to some great observations on local, state and national politics (few of which I agree with, but all of which are interesting), his girl of the day pics are usually pretty damn hot.

They say its good to start your day with a routine.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by RollLeft

[TwiceHorn 31495]

One of these days, my wife is going to get an "Attorney At Law" tshirt made for me.

[Wanker Bob 379]

19 hours ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

I’ve struggled to try and figure out a better way to have prosecutors, not subject to a political vote.  Not an easy answer there.  

Maybe where they can only be 1 term so once they're in they don't have to worry about throwing just anyone in jail regardless of guilt just to get reelected?