SimonSeymour

Has anyone watched this? I have about half an hour left of the last episode, but this crime has always fascinated me once I became aware of it. (I wasn’t born until 15 years after it happened). However, I’m from Illinois and I’ve been to that exact spot in Starved Rock multiple times, and I stayed at that same lodge in the park once. Coincidently, I’m also an appellate criminal defense attorney, so I’m very curious what others think about whether Chester committed the murders.

Yep! I haven’t watched the Hulu doc (yet), but this is very true, and not only in federal or white collar criminal cases. For 20 years, I’ve lived and worked as an appellate criminal defense attorney in the second largest county in the country which includes a major, populous city nearly always in the national news for its so-called “out of control” violent crime, and even 86% of our cases are disposed of by guilty pleas. And this is in state court where the vast majority of cases are not white collar, as opposed to the SDNY, where certainly the assistant U.S. Attorneys are more competent and diligent in bringing airtight cases. While I won’t go so far as to say the guilty plea rate necessarily is indicative of actual guilt (for example, there are a myriad of defendants who plead guilty for the purpose of bonding out rather than sitting in the county jail for up to five years before they even go to trial. (I’m not even kidding). In many cases, they’d rather be out even if they’ll have a felony conviction (or another felony conviction) on their record, despite their protestations of innocence. That being said, based on the cases I’ve had over the last 20 years, my anecdotal experience/personal-but-educated-opinion is that most people who are indicted are in fact guilty. But that doesn’t matter to me, nor does it hamper me from doing my job. I mean, don’t get me wrong, my favorite way to win on appeal absolutely is on a reasonable doubt issue. But it’s just as important to me to get relief on 4th, 5th, and 6th amendment violations. And, to a lesser extent, 1st and 2nd amendment violations. My particular state’s constitution extends more rights to defendants than the federal constitution’s 8th amendment prohibition of cruel and usual punishment, so I almost never raise 8th amendment claims but I definitely love to win a remand for resentencing too, but it’s just under my state constitution’s proportional penalties clause. (I sincerely apologize if this post is rambling and makes no sense. I took a Xanax when I started writing it, which hit me quickly, and now, more than an hour later, I’m unclear of what my original point was. 🤷🏻‍♀️). Lastly, and unrelated to what I wrote above, is the Ronald Richard tweeting about Jen’s case the same Ronald Richard who was all over Erica of RHOBH?

“There’s just no way that Jen has the ability to be harmful or hurtful or disrespectful.” Did Jen’s aunt not watch last season of the show? 🙄🙄🙄. Or maybe they’ve just never met or something. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m not a doctor or a pharmacist, but certain medications come up often in my line of work, so I know a little bit about them. Topamax is an anticonvulsant and is also used to treat migraines. Klopopin and Ativan are both benzodiazepines and are used to treat seizures, anxiety, and panic attacks. Benzos in general can be addictive. Methylprednisolone is a corticosteroid used to replace the hormone the adrenal gland produces, to treat severe allergic and asthmatic reactions, and in general is an anti inflammatory used to stop flares of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and colitis. Fluoxetine is the generic version of Prozac, so it’s an anti depressant. Biaxin is an antibiotic used to treat lung infections. Vicoprofen is hydrocodone (opiate) mixed with ibuprofen (Advil) which is a non-steroidal anti inflammatory, and it’s used to treat pain. Hydrocodone is a generic opiate used to treat coughs and severe pain on its own, but it’s almost always combined with something else, like ibuprofen (see above), Tylenol (brand names Vicodin, Lortab, etc.), or aspirin (brand names Lortab ASA and various others I can’t recall the names of). Obviously, all opiates are addictive. Propranolol is a beta blocker that treats high blood pressure, chest pains, tremors, and sometimes migraines (although it made mine worse). It also suppresses the physical symptoms of anxiety, like rapid heartbeat, sweating, etc., and some attorneys I know will take it before appellate court oral arguments, so they don’t come across to the court as nervous. Lastly, Carbamazepine (brand name Tegretol), is also an anti convulsant, used to treat seizures, and sometimes bipolar disorder and nerve pain.

I’m from Illinois and I’ve always been fascinated with this story. There’s a documentary about it called All the Queen’s Horses. I think it’s still on Netflix.

I believe that the max amount of garnishment per paycheck is 25% of the person’s disposable income, so 25% of what’s left after taxes, etc.

I’m curious about the white brick house that James and David sold in the previous episode. I was under the impression that brick houses don’t do well in earthquakes, and that’s why there are so few brick homes in California?

Yes! Especially if anyone remembers season two (I think it was season two?), when Russell threatened to sue Camille (and maybe the rest of the cast?) for talking about his abuse of Taylor. Kyle wouldn’t let Taylor and Russell inside to attend the party. But she’ll still film with Erika despite Erika threatening Sutton with a lawsuit?

It was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

How many children does Paulina have? When she first appeared on the show last season(?), Mike said that she has three kids. Then, a few episodes ago, Mine said Paulina had two children. But then tonight he said that he’s helping to raise “a girl and two children.” WTF?!!

Yep! When he said something like, “we thought it would be better if she wasn’t around negative people,” he initially said, “I thought it would be better . . . “ then quickly rephrased to “we.”

Yep! I live in Chicago and pretty much everyone in my neighborhood wore masks outside until very recently. Even while walking our dogs alone.

I totally agree on both points. I NEED to see how that condo turns out. As for living near a fire station versus an elevated train, I've lived near both (not at the same time), but in Chicago not New York. My first apartment (second floor) out of college was across the street from a firehouse, and it was WAY more good than bad. The firemen were super nice, and always remembered my dogs. And the sound wasn't really much different than the sound of living in any major urban areas. A few years later, I lived in a different second-floor apartment, this time right next to the el. I got used to it much faster than my dogs did, and I loved the proximity to public transportation, but it was jarring at first. Either way, though, you get used it it, and it's fine.

Holly Golightly was a prostitute. I’m guessing that Ramona never read the novella, because talking about sex during “an elegant Breakfast at Tiffany’s dinner” isn’t out of place.

I think the trust Mama Dee has control over is D’Andra’s trust from her stepfather, Mr. Simmons. It would be odd for Mama Dee to have control over a trust D’Andra’s biological father left his daughter, especially since he divorced Mama Dee when D’Andra was six, he died when she was over 18, she and is now in her 50s. But that also doesn’t explain why D’Andra needed more money from Dee for her company, unless D’Andra didn’t want to dip into her own funds for what was her mother’s business?

I totally agree! Milania looked so pretty and grown up when she was talking to Teresa at the end of the episode. I was pleasantly surprised.

It's Yom Kippur when we fast, not Rosh Hashanah. And Rosh Hashanah isn't like the sabbath (unless it happens to actually fall on the sabbath)--any sort of cooking is fine, if that's what you meant by "work." If you meant going to an actual job, etc., they didn't show any member of Jackie's family doing that.

And also, the investigation in NY was a child welfare investigation, whereas the Connecticut investigation was a criminal investigation.

Jen said that there are only two options: either Lisa and Meredith are lying, or Whitney is. How is there not a third option: Mary is lying? Not that it matters anyway because Jen is violent and mentally disordered and this argument is both stupid and boring. But if I had to guess, I think Lisa probably did tell Mary that she and Meredith are scared of Jen. And Jen just keeps proving that they are right to be.

My dad and step-mother live in Florida from December to May. Because of COVID, when they came back to Chicago in May (and again when they then went back this December), they didn’t want to fly commercial, as they are older. So, they and 10 other people also returning to Chicago went in together to fly private. It was $1200 per person. Not inexpensive for sure, but not a crazy amount of money either. Flying everyone private 40 minutes from Atlanta to South Carolina would not have cost $50,000, Kenya. Not that she should have to pay for everyone’s flight, but she could have at least offered anyone who wanted to upgrade an opportunity to fly with her and pay themselves, rather than being a snobby brat about it.

If Heather’s business is worth 20 million dollars, as she has repeatedly stated, why has she not yet taken any salary from it?

I have no defense of Madison, but I think she intervened in the conversation with Danni and Kathryn because everyone was talking about Kathryn being a racist, rather than paying attention to Madison. She couldn’t handle not being the center of attention.

I'm not a Monique OR Ashley fan, but I am a criminal defense attorney, so I view the Ashley "letter" differently than you guys seem to so far. If a defendant is on trial for battery or murder and raises a claim of self-defense, he or she is entitled to introduce evidence of the victim’s aggressive or violent character if the defendant knew of the victim’s violent character or prior criminal acts. The evidence goes to the defendant's state of mind and is relevant to support the defendant’s contention that he or she reasonably believed the use of force in self-defense was justified. And, in my state (but not in all), evidence of the victim's aggressive or violent character is also admissible when there is conflicting evidence as to who was the initial aggressor, regardless of whether the defendant was aware of the victim's violent nature. In that situation, a defendant may present evidence of the victim’s violent character to bolster his or her claim that, in the confrontation, the victim was the initial aggressor. So, I absolutely think that Ashley's testimony about the butter knife incident is fair game. In fact, if I were defending Monique at trial, I would subpoena Ashley to testify, regardless of whether she was willing to write the letter. If I were representing Monique on appeal after she had been convicted at trial, I would argue that she is entitled to a new trial due to her trial attorney's ineffectiveness, and I'd win (in my state, at least). But as for the letter itself, it is useless, because its content is inadmissible hearsay; she has to testify in person. So in that regard, I'm not really sure what the point of writing it is, unless it's to disclose to the State in discovery what Ashley would testify to at trial.

I noticed this too. I think maybe Grace is Americanizing it? It took me a little while to get used to the correct pronunciation on Outlander.

And, as if any decent parent wouldn’t have stopped him from hitting a boy?