Updates!

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20040366.post-53074575157994847092007-04-07T17:31:00.000-04:002007-04-28T15:57:26.377-04:00Updates!<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/__uBJW292uNA/RhgXZ8qXR0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/OdEhDC2_KrY/s1600-h/The+Happy+Couple+Christmas+Party+2003.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050812716643993410" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/__uBJW292uNA/RhgXZ8qXR0I/AAAAAAAAAAU/OdEhDC2_KrY/s320/The+Happy+Couple+Christmas+Party+2003.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/__uBJW292uNA/RhgXFcqXRzI/AAAAAAAAAAM/y4qAjdIUbI4/s1600-h/Mother+Christmas+Party+2003b.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5050812364456675122" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/__uBJW292uNA/RhgXFcqXRzI/AAAAAAAAAAM/y4qAjdIUbI4/s320/Mother+Christmas+Party+2003b.JPG" border="0" /></a> Mother Watson: On February 26, 2007 Geraldine pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea bargain where she agreed to testify against Krista and Paul Wright, the man who provided personal care for her from 2001-2004, and who was a dear personal friend -- almost a surrogate son -- for thirty years. Her guilty plea resembled a cross between a sideshow and a Greek Tragedy. She appeared in court, chatting brightly with the bailiffs and commenting on the size of a female court employee's engagement diamond. Then, she made strange comments to the judge during her guilty plea, such as professing ignorance that Barton had been a convicted felon, while at the same time admitting guilt in furnishing him the gun he used days later to kill himself. This denial of knowledge that Barton was a felon was so absurd that it caused her son Karl to loudly whisper, "of course you knew mother!" Her explanation that she bought the gun for Barton to "kill starlings" is equally ridiculous. She bought the gun specifically for him to use to kill himself. Think what you may of her, but this showed a rare form of motherly devotion. Her sentencing is set for May 31, 2007. She faces up to ten years in prison on the gun charge. I expect she will get a fully suspended sentence. Krista Watson & Paul Wright: Krista married her baby's daddy and had the child, a healthy baby girl. She is working and living in the suburbs of Chicago and keeping a low profile. She is reported to be fully committed to fighting all of the criminal charges against her to the bitter end. This is a risky and unwise strategy. Horton, Mast, Roepke, and now Geraldine are all lined up to testify against her. Furthermore, the U.S. Attorney's Office no doubt has all sorts of smoking guns gleaned from the hundreds of gigabytes of computer data. If Krista's grand gamble fails, her baby's daddy will raise their child alone until she is college age. My prediction is Krista will be found guilty and receive a sentence of around fifteen to twenty years. Paul Wright has the most plausible deniability of any of the players in this farce. Although Paul had extensive hands-on activity with actions that furthered the fraud, Barton was a master at getting people to do fraudulent acts without letting them know exactly what the purpose of those acts are. Although Paul has some explaining to do (e.g., what the hell did he think the purpose of repeatedly switching serial numbers was, anyhow?!) it is hard to handicap this one. He profited not at all from the scams. He did the dirtiest jobs for very little money. He probably is risking little by going to trial. The Trials: Both Krista and Paul have asked that their trials (which are almost certainly going to occur at the same time in a joint proceeding) be delayed for six months due to the complexity of the case. Their request was granted and the trial is currently set for September 10, 2007. I can't wait.Jim Cameronnoreply@blogger.com