Pam Casey drops by to support Jay Mitchell Campaign for Attorney General of Alabama

Transcript

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He's the top sweet fighting lawyer with the highest ratings for honesty and integrity. He's here to answer your legal questions and give you the help you need. You're listening to the legal loadout with your lawyers. Go Ingram. Go Ingram. Go Ingram has more than 20 years experience fighting for his clients here in the state of Alabama. Go to focus in criminal defense and family laws. You don't have to face your legal into the laws. Go Ingram on your side. GoIn't Lolaw.com and away for a private consultation.

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Alright, alright, alright! You're listening to the League of Lowdown with Joe Ingram, your Alabama lawyer on WERC 1055 in Birmingham, W E R C, W B H P up in Huntsville, and W-R-T-R in Tuscaloosa. It is June, my favorite month of the year. And here's why. My family has about four birthdays in the month of June. My wedding anniversary is in the month of June. Yes, I said it. And I love lightning bugs, fireflies as a child. So June's just the best month of the year. We made it to June. Anyway, so today we're going to have uh Pam Casey in the studio. She's the Blunt County uh DA, and uh she came up short in the Attorney General uh Republican primary, and she's gonna be here today on behalf of the Jay Mitchell campaign, uh speaking on his behalf, kind of like a surrogate. So you'll want to tune in to her for the second hour. Uh please check out our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and you can also check us out on my YouTube channel, Joe Ingram Law LLC. Remember the new slogan. Better call Joe. If you're listening to our show, I encourage you to download our podcast, share it, like it with your friends and family, even with your enemies. Um, maybe it'll make a marriage out of you. Uh and go to Apple iTunes, give us a five-star rating. Our show is growing in the ratings. Um I'm pleased to announce that we have some new sponsors for the show. We have Shelby Fence Company. Shelby Fence Company. They are here in local uh Birmingham, Alabama, and they build commercial and residential fences, um, wood, iron, metal, whatever you need, they're the best. They built a fence for me a couple weeks ago, and they did it in two days. The first day they came, set all the posts. Next day they came back, put the rails up and put the fence up, and it looks great. Shelby Fence Company, if you need a fence. Also, pleased to announce we have a new sponsor. Flat Fee Real Estate Birmingham of Birmingham is a sponsor for our show. They are locally owned. They have 50 years of experience here in the Greater Birmingham area. They have a great business model. And if you need to buy or sell a home, look up Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. They'll take care of you. They're the best at what they do. My office represents people from Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, and Mobile. If you need representation, please call my office, 205-825-5297. 205-82597. You can speak with an intake specialist, and they'll get you in for a consultation. Also, you can always Google us, look us up on the web, joeinggramlaw.com. JoeIngramlaw.com is all you need to know for legal representation in the state of Alabama. We're going to talk about some criminal law issues in the second hour and some divorce content in the second hour. And briefly, we're going to talk about some legal stories of the week, both nationally and state stories. The first story is a very good story, both nationally and for the state of Alabama. And here's why. I talked about this a couple weeks ago. You know if you listen to the show that I love Jamie Diamond. He is the CEO of JP Morgan Bank. And you're going to say, Joe, why does that matter to Alabama? Well, I'm going to tell you why. Why it's so important. Jamie Diamond wrote a report this week to uh his shareholders. And this is the second time in about three months since we've been on the show this year that he has referenced Alabama. One, JP Morgan Bank is building banks in Alabama, especially in the Hoover area. And roughly they are contributing three trillion dollars to our company. I mean, they they they they they control three trillion dollars every day in the global economy. Excuse me, I didn't mean to say that. So uh Jamie Diamond wrote a letter, and uh in his letter um to the shareholders, he he gives glowing uh comments about the state of Alabama. Uh quote, Alabama has a proper a prosperous job market, is the foundation of a strong economy. And in Alabama, demand is high for skilled workers, especially those who perform technical work in the industries that are vital for America's security and local economic growth, quote Jamie Dimon. Jamie is really falling in love with Alabama. And when he talks about America's security folks, he's talking about all the new FBI buildings that have been built up in Huntsville on the Redstone Arsenal. Huntsville is the place to go if you're coming to Alabama to start a business. It's just the place to be. And the fact that the greatest banker on Wall Street, I mean Jamie Diamond is Wall Street, is talking about us nationally, that is a plus for us. We should all be impressed by that. Great story this week. Second story I want to talk about this week. This is very important for everybody that is either A on Social Security or B getting close in maybe the next 15 years. And yes, that I I fall in the second category. Here's why. This story has been talked about for probably what, 20 years now. Well, um, it was announced this week by a nonpartisan committee for responsibility federal budget. Social Security recipients will start seeing cuts of $500 of a month in less than seven years, according to this study. That means in 2032, the money's run dry. We've finally reached that point that everybody's been talking about for years, and they've been kicking down the road in Washington, and nobody wants to fix it. We don't have a choice now. The people that get elected to DC in the next four to eight years have a choice. I mean, they don't have a choice, they have to deal with this now. Um this this is a major story. And and and and and here's why. Not not just because if you're receiving benefits and you're you're gonna have your money cut, it's going to affect everybody that's thinking about retirement in the next 10 or 15 years. We've paid into this program all of our lives expecting to get a return. And so they did some math. For the state of Alabama, if this happens in 2032, they are projecting, folks, get ready. 19% of state of Alabama recipients will receive a roughly $500 a month cut in their social security. Well, Joe, what does that really mean to me? I'll tell you what it means to the state. That's a lot of money. Because I went and looked it up for this. In the state of Alabama, that's roughly $978,204 people that are going to be getting a $500 a month cut and their benefits. Now you do the math. $500 times $978,000, and tell me what you get. That's a big number. That's going to affect the economy all the way down. It's called a trickle-down effect. And we are in a state of roughly 5.1 million people, according to this Social Security story. This is what really rubs me wrong. Are you ready? Joe Biden, that roughly let I was told this week the number could be as high as four, four point five million walk over the border during his presidency. A lot of those illegal immigrants, and yes, I'm going to use the word aliens, because they're not citizens. Some of them are drawing Medicaid benefits. Almost every one of them was given an Apple cell phone when they came over the border and said, get lost, don't show up for your immigration hearing. They're drawing money that we work for and have paid into the system. So I'm not here to scare you. I'm not here to say the sky's falling. I'm just saying you we all have an interest in this. We have got to fix the social security system. Either people are going to have to start taking cuts across the board, or my philosophy is sort of like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. Um you could take every line item on the federal budget and give them a 5% haircut across the board for 10 years and start trying to balance the budget. You don't run your home the way DC runs the government. You just don't. You're bankrupt. And so the the chickens are coming home to roost. It's a story we're gonna have to deal with. The next story I want to talk about, I didn't get to mention last week. The New York mayor, socialist comrade Mamdani. He wants to create a nanny state in which the government controls everything in your life. They decide how much you get and how much they should take from everybody else that works and pass it out for all their social programs that they think benefits everybody else. For the ones that don't want to work for it, that don't want to hustle, don't want to get a job. Ken Griffin, who built a global brokerage company from the sweat and brow of his own two hands. And he stood out in front of his mansion in New York because it's a second home to him. And and he made him a target of being a billionaire, saying he wasn't paying his fair share. Um, folks, that's that's not correct. Uh Ken Griffin has done a lot of things with the money he's made as a as a billionaire. He gives to charities. He employs lots of people. Those people have salaries, those people have jobs. They pay he pays taxes, he's he supported all kinds of causes. You need people like Griffin. If you don't have people that employ people, then people don't have jobs. Socialist Comrade Mandami has made being rich an enemy of the state. And they always say they don't pay their fair share. But you know what's so funny? They never tell you what their fair share is. They never give you a percentage, they never give you a number. It's just they're not paying their fair share. Well, what number is fair to you? Uh you know, some of us are in the 37% tax bracket. That means 37 cents out of every dollar I make, I pay. I mean, you you just get to the point where you don't want to work, you don't want to try, because you're you're supporting everybody else. We should be trying to teach our young people that in this country, and I have said this, I believe it. In this country, you can do anything you want to do. This is American exceptionalism. If you get out and hustle, this is the greatest country on earth. You can be anything you want to be, you can make as much money as you want to make if you're willing to work seven days a week. You can't. And do not tell me, oh, I want work-life balance. Guess what? There is no such thing as work-life balance if you want to get to the top. There's just not. I live it every day. If you want to be extraordinary, you're not going to have work-life balance. Ask Elon Musk. Ask Jeff Bezos. Bezos does now. Bill Gates does now, but they didn't when they were building something. You just don't have it. Second thing about Comrade Mandami, he gave a speech a week ago. You ready for this? This really is unbelievable. Quote, we are going to replace individual rugged, I mean, excuse me, I got this wrong. We're going to replace rugged individualism with collective compassion. What in the world does that mean? Collect collective compassion? You know what that says to me? Don't go out. Don't try to be the best. Don't try to improve yourself. We're going to take care of you from the cradle to the grave. We're going to take in all the money and the coffers. And then we're going to divvy out what we think you should get. Don't worry about it. They do this for two reasons. The younger generations like that because they feel like they don't have the chances in life that fut prior generations had. I can kind of understand that. It's tougher to buy our home now than it's ever been due to the interest rates and the uh prices have shown shot up almost 50% since COVID. So it's hard to buy into the market. And they also do this because if you buy in and you keep them in power, that's what they want. They just want power. They don't care about you, they don't care what you get. They just want the power over your life. And you buy into it. Next story I want to talk about. And I love this story. You ready for this, John? This is a big story. 60 Minutes. CBS News. Here's why this is such an important story this week. Um the journalist of 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley, who takes his glasses off in the middle of an interview. So he looks super intellectual like he is teaching journalism at Columbia. You know what I'm talking about. These elitists. So they hired uh what's her name? Barry Weiss. Uh I think she was at the New York Times. And they brought her in to run CBS News. And here's why. CBS has always been in third place behind NBC and ABC. Well, guess what, folks? We're in a new world. The three primetime stations are competing with all these other channels on TV. You got Fox News, you got One America, you got MS Now, CNN, you got all these other channels of journalism. First of all, journalism is dead in the country. They need to close journalism schools. There is no more journalism of Woodward and Bernstein. It's just gone. Now, I love 60 Minutes as a program. In fact, I grew up having to watch 60 Minutes every Sunday night with my parents. They expected me to do that. But here's the big issue. Barry Weiss is trying to make CBS more marketable to the consumer. Do you understand what I'm saying? If no one's watching you, you don't have a product. You have nothing to sell. So they have to change what they've been doing. And that's what Weiss has been doing over CBS. And so Scott Pelley got in a fight this week with uh with the new head of uh 60 Minutes. I think his name is uh what's the name? Nick Bilton. I think that's yes, Nick Bilton is the executive producer of 60 Minutes now. And so they had a staff meeting, I think it was Tuesday, and Scott Pelley stands up and they put this story out, and he he basically told him, you don't know anything about journalism, you don't know anything about TV, you don't even need to be here. And, you know, he he he makes himself bigger than CBS as a corporation. They're a corporation. They're they're just not a news station. CBS is a corporation. And within was it 24 hours? Scott Pelley got fired, I think. I think it was 24 hours. Anyway, this falls into the category of, you know, Bill O'Reilly got fired at Fox News, Tucker Carson got fired at Fox News, Megan Kelly got canned by NBC. You're not bigger than the corporation. You're just not. And guess what, Pelly? Tell me where else you're gonna go find a job making $7 million a year. You're just not. Those jobs aren't hanging out on a tree somewhere. And all those stories you've done all these years, and yes, I've loved some of them, it's hard to make those stories and the money you're invested. Go find other entities that are gonna invest that kind of money for you in other corporations. They just don't do that kind of journalism anymore. And the other thing about 60 Minutes, the population that watch 60 Minutes is aging out. How many people do you think under 35 watch 60 Minutes on a Sunday night? I bet the I bet the numbers are shrinking. And you know how I backed that up? When Stephen Colbert signed off, what, two weeks ago, roughly six million people saw his finale. Guess what? When Letterman left the late show, his number was like 13.5 million. Let me tricolate that down to another number for you. When Johnny Carson, who was the head of late night TV, when Johnny Carson signed off in I think. I think it was 94. 55 million saw the Johnny Carson Final Show. What does that tell you? The numbers are shrinking, the market's bigger, there's more opportunities to watch. You're just not that important. Get over yourself. You're just not that important, dude. And to go out and trash your corporation like you're you're standing up for journalism in the fourth estate. Get out of here. Doesn't work for me. So uh anyway, uh Pelle got an offer yesterday on Twitter or X or whatever you call it. What's her name? Rachel Maddow at MS MSNow or MSNBC, whatever they call it. She said, come over here and work with us. So maybe he's getting a job over there. But I don't know if they're going to pony up seven million dollars for him. So um, you know, sometimes the job you have, you better appreciate and be glad that you have it and and and just keep your mouth shut and do your job. So um that that story is uh I I've really enjoyed watching that this week. Uh what's his name? Anderson Cooper, you know, he left uh 60 minutes. Uh three other reporters, I think, got fired in the last week or so from 60 Minutes. And now they're talking about Leslie Stahl and the other gentleman, I can't think of his name right now, that baby gone to. It may just be that the times have changed, so you've got to change how you do your programming. That's all it is. It's just a basic story. That's all it is. If you remember last week, I talked about that federal judge in Atlanta, Judge Eleanor Ross, the federal judge that got in trouble for allegedly having sex in her chambers with an Atlanta police officer. Um I went back and read some other content last weekend. I'm more troubled by this story now than I was before because they just gave her a reprimand, and really they should have taken her off the bench if you knew the rest of the stories, and I'm getting cut off because I'm talking and I'm so long-winded. We'll be back after news and weather after the breaks.

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Day two load out with no way. Go with the clear of the Alabama course, specializing in criminal defense and family love. If you need a private legal consultation, let's go in the line.

SPEAKER_06 25:19

Alright, we're back for the legal overhand. We've got a winger beer Alabama Long. We're on WERC 105 in Birmingham, WBHP up in Huntsville, and W R T R in Tuscaloosa. They're shaking their head at me in the studio going, yes, Joe, it's in it's in Huntsville. You should know this by now. Uh yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um, before we went to break, we were talking about the federal judge. Um what's her name? Eleanor Ross. Eleanor Ross. Okay. She was appointed by Obama in 15. And uh her her law clerks turned her in saying she was having an inappropriate relationship in her chambers. And I think this went on for like two years. And so they they had a federal judicial committee investigate this. And uh they came back and she denied it, which as a federal judge, if you're expected to uphold the law, then you shouldn't lie when you're confronted by the chief judge of the 11th Circuit of Atlanta, who happens to be Bill Pryor. And she said, no, it didn't happen. And it really did. The biggest problem for me right now is all the cases that came before her. What did she know about the case from the person she was in a relationship with that affected her position of power? And the second thing that I went and read about this last week that I didn't know and is really alarming. As a federal judge, you are not supposed to be involved in politics because you're appointed for life. You're supposed to be above the fray, you're immune, you're not supposed to be political at all. And she was at, guess where she was? She went to a Fannie Willis election party. You know who Fannie Willis is? That's the DA that prosecuted Trump in Atlanta. What does that tell you? So that's that's what really gripes me. So if I had a choice and I had a voice and I had a way to do it, I think she's got to go. Federal judges have to leave sometimes. Another story this week about uh somebody that just got appointed to the federal bench, John, uh got voted appointed by uh got past the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate along uh party lines. Guess what? This lawyer has practiced law five years and they made her a federal judge. In fact, John Kennedy said that the uh confirmation hearing was really embarrassing. Are you kidding me? We just made somebody a federal judge that has practiced law less than five years. She's probably never tried a case in a courtroom. She's pre probably never done a direct exam, a cross-examination, a deposition, or anything. If these are the qualifications, put me in a state somewhere and let me get elected to the federal bench. I think I can get in now. If the bar is that low, there's a chance for me. I'm just saying. All right. Anyway, Pam Casey's gonna come up uh the second hour. She is uh gonna be here on behalf of the Jay Mitchell campaign who's running for the attorney general in the runoff against Catherine Robertson. So you'll want to stay tuned for that at the top of the hour. All right, so um I want to talk a little bit today about some divorce information that um I've been working on. I had somebody come in to see me recently about a divorce, and the conversation goes something like this. Joe, I've been married for 45 years. We raised four children. Um my spouse had at least four affairs during our marriage. In fact, my spouse finally told me about a year ago. I suspected it, but I never knew, never had confirmation, but now I have confirmation of of the affairs. Um the the person admitted it to me. Is my marriage over now? Do I have to go or should I stay? You know, now you're in your 70s. There's a lot to think about here. There's a lot to process. Do you and your spouse still get along? Oh yeah, we get along well. We have dinner tonight. We we never argue, we never fight. The kids are grown, you know, we we just have our routines and um my spouse apologized. And um I I just want to know. Do I have to get a divorce because of what he did? Because I look like look like a failure? Look like a fool. Or or or or should I stay? That's not my decision to make. In fact, I've said it before, just because somebody has an affair or commits adultery is not necessarily a reason to end a marriage if the two parties can overcome it. I said, let me ask you this. Overall, how how's your family life with the kids and the holidays and the grandkids and all that? Oh, that's great. We're glad to see them. Grandkids come spend the night. Everything's good. Okay. Well, imagine your life without your spouse now and how that would disrupt your life. How much longer do you think you're going to live? Nobody knows. What's the genes like in your family? Do people live to be a hundred or do they usually cash in before 80 or 85? How's your what's your quality of health? What do you want to do? And have you thought about what your life will be like financially if you end the marriage now? Those are tough questions that you have to have with somebody. And so I'm not out there promoting divorce. Sometimes I'm almost like a marriage counselor trying to say, is there a way to save your marriage? It's not over yet. Go to counseling, go see your pastor. See, see what you can rectify. See what was missing in the marriage that caused that person to stray. So I don't think that person's going to get a divorce. And um I feel better about it. I really do. Also, this week in the news, uh, Jennifer Gardner came out. She rarely talks about her relationship with Ben Affleck and their marriage. Jennifer Gardner is the Hollywood sweetheart. She's just a lovely lady. She was married to Ben Affleck from 2005 to 2015, and they had three children together. And when they got married, Ben Affleck was like the golden boy of Hollywood. He and Matt Damon had just come off their uh movie. Can't think of the name of it. He'll come to me in just a second, with Robin Williams. Um Ben Afflack was really hot. In fact, he was dating Jennifer Lopez, and they were following them all over the globe. I remember they even followed him out on a boat one time with a with a helicopter. And the relationship ended with Lopez, and he met Jennifer Garner, and they just hit it off and they got married. Jennifer Gardner is a lovely lady. And when I say lady, I mean she is a true lady. Here's why. Ben Affleck is somebody that grew up the hard way in the Northeast. And um she tried her best to keep her marriage together for the benefit of her children. Being Affleck, it has been widely reported and known that he's had issues with gambling and uh alcohol problems, drug addictions. And uh even after she got a divorce, I think one time she drove him to rehab in the car, if I remember seeing it correctly. And she says, I didn't marry Ben Affleck, the movie star. I married Ben Affleck, the love of my wife. That's what she called him. Even though the marriage is over, they're still co-parenting three children. They get along really well. They're good friends. You'll see them out together. They just can't live together as husband and wife. So that that, if you go read that article, that really says a lot of what you expect from people that get a divorce that have young children. Even though they can't live together, they still can get along and co-parent for the benefit of those children. And here's why. There's going to be graduations, hopefully, there are going to be weddings, there's going to be children born. You all want to be together for all those events, even though you're no longer together as husband and wife. It's still achievable. And the issue with being aflacted, and I've seen this so many times in my life, there is a term in psychotherapy referred to as called self-sabotage. And I'm not a counselor, I'm not a social worker, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I read all this stuff. Joe, what is self-sabotage? Here's what it means. There are some people because of something in their past or in their childhood or trauma or somewhere in their subconscious mind that they self-sabotage themselves individually for their success because they have what we call imposter syndrome. They mean what that means is they don't feel good enough as everybody else. They don't feel like they've earned the success. They don't feel like they've broken the glass ceiling. And so, believe it or not, our subconscious minds have what we call self-sabotage. It's true. Ben Affleck is worth about $300 million. But he has he has harmed himself in many ways. In fact, in Hollywood, there was a period of time where he was uh he was just not that favored. It wasn't until he did the movie um, what was that movie he did about the Iran hostage situation? That's what brought him back was that movie. Um but Ben Affleck is a phenomenal actor, and uh he's a very good man, and uh I wish him well, and uh love Jennifer Garner, except for the fact that she's a flaming liberal. So but because of that, I I just I can't be that big on Jennifer uh Garner. That's the that's the only bad thing I can say about her. But other than that, she's a fabulous, fabulous role model. Okay, we're gonna talk about some statistics of the week. And for all of my fellow divorce lawyers out there in the state and in the nation, I got some bad, bad news, bad statistics coming for you. They are projecting that by the year 2030, nearly 45% of all women aged 25 to 44. Notice what I'm saying here. That's the generally when you have children, right? Most fertile will be single and childless. And we're already seeing this. There is a generation of people now that have children that do not get married, they just have a child together. Also, we have women that are more educated than men, so they don't have to be married anymore. Look at the Kardashian girls. They don't have to be married, they got their own money. I have a lot of cases where I have a female client and they're they're the breadwinner in the marriage. So here's why this is important to me. This makes a historic demographic shift because women are rising financially, they're changing their priorities, and it is a cultural shift away from traditional marriage and motherhood timelines. Meaning, if they do not get married, there's not a need for a divorce lawyer. My my workload's going down. Sorry. Women are more educated, they have uh more education, they are breaking the glass ceiling, and I'm all for that. I really am. And uh they just they don't have to be married anymore, they don't have to stay kept, like in the 60s, where women didn't get a divorce because they'd be kicked out on the street and have to go look for a new husband. That's not the key anymore. So uh for all the divorce lawyers out there, we need to be promoting marriage. And as a society, not just in the United States, even in China, for a while there you could only have one child. They've stopped that. Now they're promoting have all the kids you can. Unfortunately, we are living in a society where, you know, my grandparents were like one of 10 and 11, and then the next generation was like one of five or six, and then you get to the next generation of my generation, you're like one of two or three. Very seldom anymore do you see families that have more than one or two or three kids. Because you just can't afford, you financially can't afford the commitment of that large of a family. It's just it's just society at large. Anyway. Some state legal news this week, and I never thought this would happen because it took us five years. We set up the Alabama Medical Marijuana Board, and we had litigation for years over who's gonna get the license to be the grower, who's gonna get the license to be the producer, who's gonna get the license to transport it, who's gonna get the license to do this. We are we had so many hearings in Montgomery before the judges in Montgomery. I almost had two cases last summer before the Alabama Medical Marijuana Board. We finally did it this week. Alabama's first medical cannabis dispensary opened Thursday after five years of legislation. It's called Cali's Apothecary in Montgomery. You have to have you have to go see a certified physician to get a medical cannabis prescription or card to buy the products. Um and uh what people need to know about this, about medical marijuana is um there's gonna be more stores opening soon uh in Mobile and Daphne and up here in Birmingham. Um there's gonna be one in Demopolis, Owen's Crossroads, not sure where that is. Uh the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners has certified 35 physicians in the state of Alabama to uh provide or prescribe medical cannabis cards. 35 physicians in the whole state. That's a pretty low number considering we have 67 counties, five million people, 35 doctors. That's a low number. Here's some information for you out there that uh may want to try to get a medical marijuana card. This is a list of um conditions or I guess uh what would you call diagnosis to get it? Autism spectrum disorder, different types of cancer, Crohn's disease, depression. Are you kidding me? We're gonna give out marijuana for depression? Anybody would qualify for that. Epilepsy, uh AIDS, HIV, panic disorder, Parkinson's disease. Post-traumatic stress disorder, sickle cell, terminal illnesses, Tourette syndrome. That's a list of some of the type of medical diagnoses that would qualify you for a medical marijuana card. And uh there's all types of products that are included in this from gummies to lozengers, tablets, capsules, gels, oils, creams of topical use, and even some inhalers. This is something to know because of all the smoke and the vape shops out there. Raw plant material, products that can be smoked or vaped, and food products such as cookies or even candies are not allowed. So you can't make brownies with your medical marijuana and take to the school for the kitties. Don't do that. That'll get you in trouble. Then you'll have to come see me. So we finally got medical marijuana in the state of Alabama after all these years. And some of these people paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their license. And guess what? Your license, I think, if I'm correct, is only good for a year or two years, and then you have to get recertified to get your license again. So uh that's that's gonna be an industry up and coming, and it's probably gonna affect some of the vape stores out there still in the market. Okay, big story from last week. And I told you that we would find out by June the 1st. I was off the day, I was off a day. We got the news June the 2nd, which was what, Tuesday? Yeah. The Supreme Court came out really fast. Kudos to Steve Marshall here because he he went into motion immediately after that Louisiana uh decision that came out. Uh the Supreme Court this week said, we're gonna let you use the 2023 map that was drawn to redistrict to redistrict the uh map. And it's my understanding that the seventh district, did I get that right? Yes, he's shaking his head. Because I'm I'm like a monkey. Uh the seventh district has been redrawn. Um so it's more likely than not that a Republican might take that seat back in November. Um but the other district they did not get. So they got one out of the two in their victory for the uh for the redistricting of the voting lines. So um kudos to Steve Marshall for acting so aggressively to get the map redrawn, and it's just a miracle that the Supreme Court of the United States came out on Tuesday and did that. So uh that's good news for all the Republicans in the state of Alabama. So uh that's very good news. Um I wish we had gotten the other district backed, and we were talking during the break. I wish we would have picked the map that has been selected by the Alabama State Legislature for the seven districts for the Alabama Public Service Commission. That map makes more sense to me all day long than the one that we have. Go look at that 2023 map. What is that? Is it the second district, John? Thank you. That the way they've drawn it for the Terry Sewell district, that's that's the seventh district. Sir? Terry's a seventh. All right, which one's the one in my six second? Second. Alright, I had them backwards. My bad. Terry Sewell has a seventh district. Anyway, maybe maybe we'll get the other map and get Terry Sewell out of there. So Terry, don't call me next week. I don't want to hear about it. Okay, so um, very happy about that. Uh, if you were listening earlier, Pam Casey's gonna be here at the top of the hour. She uh she's gonna be here today on behalf of the Jay Mitchell campaign as a surrogate to uh talk on his behalf because the election coming up here really soon. And uh we look forward to getting to talk with her. Um the next hour we're gonna talk about some criminal law issues related to this time of the year. And uh there was one other thing I wanted to talk about. We got about a we're fixing to go to break here in just a second. Um somebody came in today to see me about a divorce case, and they always put me in that position. Joe, can I get a biblical divorce? I didn't go to seminary, I didn't go to theology school. I know what the Bible says. That's between you and your pastor, your counselor. Uh I just I tell you what I think. And I'm not out promoting divorce. I've said it many times. Just because you've strayed, you can still save your marriage. It doesn't make you a fool. It doesn't make you a bad person. That just makes you a better person if you're willing to overcome that and and try to keep your family together. That's what's important. Not what your family thinks, not what your friends think. They don't live in your home. It's just you and your spouse. So if you stick around the top of the hour, Pam Casey's gonna be in the house. And guess what, folks? Pam Casey's been on my show. She's gonna make the fourth appearance. I told her the other day, I said, Pam, you're gonna be on the show 20% of the time for the year. So she may start being a uh repeat guest. I may talk her into it. I don't know. We'll be back after the top of the hour of news and weather. All right, we'll be back.

SPEAKER_00 50:42

You are listening to a legal lowdown with your lawyer. Joe Ingram. If you need confidential legal help, reach out to Joe After. JoeIngrow.com. Joe Lovecap is great for news and weapons. You are listening to a legal lowdown with Joe Ingram. Joe is a twenty-year veteran of the Alabama Court specializing in criminal defense and family law. If you need a private legal consultation, email to go at goinglem.com. And now welcome back to the legal back to the legal woman and welcome to gentlemen here.

SPEAKER_06 51:23

Hello, but I'm in the market on WERC 1055 in Birmingham, WBHP up in Huntsville, WRTR in Tuscaloosa. Guess what? It's the second hour of June. And Miss Pam Casey, the DA of Blunt County, is in the house. Pam!

SPEAKER_01 51:36

It's good to be back.

SPEAKER_06 51:37

How are you, Miss Casey?

SPEAKER_01 51:39

I haven't seen you in a while.

SPEAKER_06 51:40

I know. You've missed me, haven't you?

SPEAKER_01 51:43

You've missed me more than that, right?

SPEAKER_06 51:46

See it. You dodged the question. You haven't missed me, have you?

SPEAKER_01 51:50

No, I don't miss a lot of people. I mean, if you die, I'll miss you.

SPEAKER_05 51:56

No, you wouldn't.

SPEAKER_01 51:57

Well, maybe.

SPEAKER_05 51:59

You you can't even you can't have a straight face in a line, pal.

SPEAKER_01 52:03

Try to be truthful.

SPEAKER_05 52:05

Thanks, pal.

SPEAKER_06 52:06

I thought I was growing on you.

SPEAKER_01 52:09

You have.

SPEAKER_06 52:10

Kind of like a little. Kind of like mold.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Like mold. Moss.

SPEAKER_06 52:16

And and and just before the break, I I was wanting you to be a routine guest on the show.

SPEAKER_01 52:22

Maybe. I mean, it kind of depends, I guess.

SPEAKER_06 52:25

Okay. You've you've hurt my feelings today. Um look, I'm sorry to see you this way today. Um this didn't turn out how you wanted. Um came up short.

SPEAKER_01 52:40

Yeah, we're in a heck of a race, though, if you look at it. Um we 25% of the vote went out of four voters. Um, and we spent $200,000 versus I think like $8 million had been spent. So if you think about my money to ratio vote, my votes were much cheaper than the other candidates in the race. So, you know, I've always been a true believer of God has a plan in all things, whether you win or you lose. And you know, it's interesting. My son came in, he's like, we lost. Like it was, what do you mean we lost? I said, well, you know, it's okay, you know, it's okay to lose. Sometimes we don't always win. And, you know, it was interesting because they're young, so they didn't weren't around when we won three times, right? And so he was kind of a little devastated. I'm like, look, bud, you know, God has plans for us, regardless of what happens. And so, you know, I have I was at peace. I knew I was supposed to run, and I'm at peace in the loss. You know, it doesn't mean I didn't want to win. Didn't mean I didn't mean I didn't feel like I was the most qualified for the position, but um yeah, I mean it just opens other doors and shuts doors, and we're on the path.

SPEAKER_06 53:48

I understand. So I want to ask you a couple questions about this, and I'm not doing it to be painful, but I I I'm asking because I generally want to know. I hope you know where I'm coming from this. So because I've never been in that position. The day after the election, and you wake up. How do you how do you how did you feel about that? I mean, you are you like, I spent a year, I spent all this money, I I traveled the state 5,000 miles, and nothing. I mean, what what's what's the But you know, I didn't see it as nothing.

SPEAKER_01 54:22

Well, first of all, it really the next morning I was kind of I don't want to say over it. I had kind of moved past the night of was pretty, I don't want to say difficult. I mean, look, if we pulled off a runoff, that would have been a huge upset given the amount of money in that. So we knew we were kind of against all odds. That night I was kind of went through those, I guess they call them the emotions of like angry, sad, and whatever. I was kind of a little angry about the money, uh, how much money had come into that race, uh, sad that we couldn't have gotten our message out because you know, I felt like if we'd spend another half a million, I mean, if you think how little we spent, um, that we could have turned that. Um, but the next day at nine o'clock, I walked in the office and my office kind of like, hey, why are you here? Why are you here? And I just believe that when you're when you get knocked down, the best way to get over it is to get up and keep going. You know, you can wallow and your self-pity all you want. You know, it is weird. It's kind of like, you know, you've studied for the bar. It's kind of like we're staying for the bar, and after you take the bar exam, you come home and you're kind of like, hmm, what am I gonna do today? Because I've made my life's in a compass by this. So it was just kind of turning that turning point of okay, we're gonna get up and go to work, and we're gonna get ready for trial week. And I got a grand jury coming up, and uh, my kids have got camp this summer. Let me make sure they're on everything's on the calendar and taken care of. And you know, you just yeah, I've been knocked down a few times in life, and so it's not the first time, you know, that I've had to kind of um carry on.

SPEAKER_06 55:55

I got you. Um so let me ask you this.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

Um let me say this too, while while you're thinking, like, I don't think I walked away empty-handed in that race because you know, my phone, and even for a week, people reaching out about hope you'll run again, consider something else, you know, the friendships that I created in every corner of the state. You know, we were a big grassroots uh campaign. And so um, you know, I have met people and created friendships and relationships that I would not have had but for the race, and I feel like our long-term relationships.

SPEAKER_04 56:40

Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a that's that's a good point. That's positive. That's a good healthy attitude.

SPEAKER_06 56:47

Um, okay, so you're back at work and um I think I saw it in the news two weeks ago. I may be off a week, that you had and came out and endorsed Jay Mitchell for the Attorney General's race, right?

SPEAKER_01 57:04

I did. You know, I took a week. I wasn't gonna make any rash, you know, I wanted to think about it. Was I gonna endorse anybody, first of all? That was really kind of my thought is do I just kind of stay out of it, let them duke it out. Uh, my husband and I talked a good bit about it. We evaluated just come up some of our core beliefs about that race. And um, I reached out to Jay and told him that I intended to endorse him. Um, and we met and just kind of talked uh through kind of what his visions are for the uh well, really we uh I met with him before I endorsed him because I wanted to talk make sure we were kind of on the same page, you know. We had, you know, Jay and I were friends all during this campaign. I say friends, I did not know him until we started campaigning.

SPEAKER_02 57:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:48

And his campaign team and myself, I kind of kidded that I was the candidate, the consultant, the strategist, the graphic designer, the IT person. You know, I really that's how I save so much money is doing all that myself, scheduler, all that. And you know, he had he had a team, and I became friends with his team and friends with his my husband became friends with them. And so there was a camaraderie there before the election ever happened. So I reached out, he and I met because I wanted to make sure we were on the same page about a lot of stuff. And so um we met and then I announced that endorsement. You know, and two things that really to me made that decision was number one, I believe the attorney general should have actually stepped into a courtroom before. And myself and Jay, while I was the only one that ever tried a criminal or put a you know a killer or predator away, Jay's actually done civil work. He's been in the courtroom. He was on the court of Alabama Supreme Court for a term. And so to me, that was imperative that whoever is the attorney general have that experience. And you know that from being in a courtroom. Number two, um, the amount of just money that came into the race from what I consider, you know, dark sources, or if you don't want to call them dark money, money that comes from 501c4s that essentially are skating, while they're not illegal, it's skating our Alabama fine uh campaign finance laws so that we can't tell where the money's coming from. And uh Jay in this uh race, other than myself, was one who had was up front. His money, 95%, 97% of his money comes from in-state. And um, there were no 501c4s that were pretty much you could put money in. And what bothered me, I guess, more than anything was it's not the problem of 501c4. It was the problem of these 501c4s, many of them were established just weeks or days before million dollars or 200,000 or $300,000 were being pushed into the AGs race. And I just have a major problem with that because I believe that the law should be that we know who's funding our candidates. Um you just I say this a lot about like kind of NASCAR. The people of the state should when the cars go around, you kind of know who sponsors them.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:07

The people of the state should be able to see that. And so those are the two main things that kind of made my decision.

unknown 1:00:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:13

Um, we're talking with Pam Casey DA. She's here today on behalf of the Jay Mitchell campaign. Um I don't I don't know this, and and you may not either, so I'm not trying to put you on the spot. Are there any other state races that have that issue besides the Attorney General's office with like what we call dark money or pack money from out of states that we don't have to do? Yeah, there were some issues in some legislative races of some money that Yeah, I saw that race of the the guy, he came out about a week ago, one of the state legislatures and Jones talked a lot about that. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:46

And so there was some packs that were set up that were sending out these, like, and it was interesting because I think it was Garland Gudger and and I could be wrong, but you would see these ads and or these mailers, and he'd be like, I didn't send that out, but it looked like it was a pro, like something he would have done.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:03

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:03

And so you had a lot of different types of money coming in that were either a proponent or an opponent of a candidate. The difference between those races and these races is this money's coming into the candidate's uh account, right? Those that money was kind of staying outside and be and PACs were doing their own bidding versus the money coming to the candidate for them to use in the way they see fit.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:34

Yeah. Um okay, so here we are today. It's June the 6th. The uh election is June the 16th. 16th. Thank you. Just over two weeks away, I think, right? A week from Tuesday.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:51

Yeah, 10 days, so yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:53

Yeah. Um and and one thing that I was well, we talked about it. I'm I'm disappointed. Statewide turnout, I think, was like what, 30% of the population?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:09

It was low. Uh I don't know the exact percentage. Maybe in the 20s, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_06 1:02:15

Yeah, I know I I know it wasn't over 30 percent because we talked about it. I mean, I it's depressing, you know it that that people in Alabama don't care that much about their own elective. I mean, it just bothers me.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:27

You know, it was interesting. I had a doctor's point yesterday. My doctor came in and said, So, well, how's the campaign going? And I'm thinking, well, that means you didn't vote. And I hate to be like that, but you're like, they're like, I really support you. And I'm like, Well, I lost. And that you that tells me you didn't vote.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:44

Is he still your doctor?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

Yeah, she is lover to death. I mean, she's just busy, but it it just an example. If even when I campaigned for DA, so I had an opponent in 16. We did a lot of door-to-door, and I you can get the voters' list. A lot of people like, I gotta get my number, how do you get my stuff? Well, you know, it's a database that kind of for the state that records how often you're voting, uh, your address, your phone number, and everything. And so we have access to those candidates. So in 16, I got the list of people who are regular voters. I we call them four out of four or three out of four. So they have voted four out of the four last times or three out of the last four times. And those are who I'm really going to target if I'm a candidate. And so we would go, it would be interesting. You would drive by like really nice neighborhoods, and there'd be nobody who voted. Then you would go down a rule, like I call it like a pig trail, and you know, these homes, and and so it was always interesting to me who's voting versus who's not voting. Uh, we always laugh if it said no trespassing, they're a voter. If they have a sign up that says no trespassing, they have a really strong belief in property rights.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:53

Okay. Like the people that when they try to poll, and there's some people that are just not going to tell you how they're going to vote, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:01

Right. And and I would tell people, you know, people don't realize this, but anytime you get that text message from a candidate or you do a poll, they can actually see who it is that if you text back or if you it's not anonymous.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:17

So it's interesting. So I did my own texting program, and so when we would send out a text, and you know, people can respond to that. I, you know, I really ought to make a show off of just reading comments that people text back. It shocked me the number of people like, I will never vote for a woman. Women are the downfall of this country. That's the reason why we have I mean, legit had people text that back.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:44

But you know what the other side of that is they're behind the screen, so they think it's a they don't realize you can see it, or that the candidate can see it. So you just taught me something I didn't know. Wow. Okay. Did you get any really nasty stuff? Yes. Did you?

SPEAKER_01 1:04:59

And it shot me because the age we were targeting, I was like, Oh yeah? Oh yeah. But there were a lot of stuff like, hey, I love you, you're great. I met you so-and-so, you've got my vote, but then you would have this small percentage. It was almost like kind of a thing. I was telling my husband, like, all right, about to send some out. Are you ready for the response?

SPEAKER_06 1:05:21

That's interesting. We could do a whole show on that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:23

You could. It's kind of like when people read comments off of Facebook that people just go on and put we could literally read them. It and it's sad because you know, I I know people get frustrated by text message, campaign text messages, but yeah, that is the most uh efficient way to get directly to a voter that you know is gonna vote for the cheapest amount of money. Yeah, those ads on TV, they're expensive. It's like 200 something, 300, sometimes $600 for that 30 second card.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:53

30 second card.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:54

Um, I mean, we bought some TV ads for the last week, TV time, and we attempted to buy some more, but it was already bought up and it you literally just can't. I mean you've and that's what's sad about politics, I think, or political offices campaign, state office. It shouldn't be a political office, state offices, you know, and I didn't believe this when I first got into the race is like money is the mother's milk of politics or whatever. And it really is. And it's sad that you can have really qualified candidates who just cannot get off the ground. I mean think about I spent $200,000, got a quarter of the vote. Imagine had I spent a million dollars, would there even be a runoff, you know? But there is, and you know, it's my hope that the people who supported me will support Jay.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:41

Yeah. Really fast before we talk about Jay Mitchell's campaign. Uh out in uh California, the LA mayor race, the that billionaire giant, what's his name? Tom Steyer, uh I think he spent 200 million of his own money. I think he's in third place still if they're still counting votes. 200 million dollars for a job that probably pays whatever like you know 100,000, $150,000 a year. Why would you spend that kind of money for that job?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:13

You know, I don't know, like we my husband and I consider putting you know we had some money we had loan the campaign but um you know I think you have to make some financial decisions at some point and say, you know, will this move the needle?

SPEAKER_03 1:07:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:27

And we thought it could, but if it didn't it was just not something we were willing to go that into it over. Um I just believe that God had a plan regardless of what money we spent.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:38

Okay. So uh we got about 10 minutes left because you're leaving on me. Um so you're here on behalf of Jay.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:46

So um what's uh what you're here to say today for Jay Mitchell's campaign well you know I think it's important that Jay spent time you know a lot of people have been saying stuff about well he got off the Supreme Court to run. You know, in a judicial you cannot run for another office if you're in a judicial seat and a lot of people don't realize that so I was able to run as DA. I did not have to step down in order to run for attorney general. I wouldn't have to step down as DA to run for judge but if I'm a judge and I want to run for an office I have to that's not a judicial office I have to step down. So you could be on the Court of Criminal Appeals, you'd be on the Court of Civil Appeals and run for the Supreme Court and not step down. You could be a circuit court judge and run for a another judicial seat. And so I think there's some stuff that's being said about um him leaving the people he couldn't run unless he stepped down from that. So I think that experience that he had during those six years on the court is immeasurable especially when you're talking about the AG's office being responsible for our criminal appeals, handling our civil cases he has a strong background in civil work prior to going onto the bench and so I think that's what Jay brings to this race that the other candidate doesn't is that um never been in the courtroom never you know and versus Jay who's actually uh argued and and deposed people and litigated and then on the on the appellate side he understands that in order to lead the office I think we need to get back to electing working AGs working DAs working versus uh a figurehead or because it really just come a mouthpiece and it really it's the people in the office that are doing so much of the work that you need to be a leader a lead a better leader if somebody's actually done I say sometimes like would you hire a principal for a school who had never been a teacher parents would be like what are you talking about? I can't believe the principal's never and would your teachers listen to a principal who's never been in the courtroom or in the uh hopefully never been in the classroom and so I think that's a major thing that Jay brings to this race that the other candidate doesn't.

unknown 1:09:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:09:56

And another example of that that most people don't know other than Jefferson County and Mobile County you do not even have to have a law degree to be a probate judge. Most people don't know that and that is really scary.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:10

It is because y'all got a situation right now I'm handling a case out of town in another county right now it's interesting you brought that up where a decision was made in probate court and the other side is wanting to use that finding in probate court in the criminal case was well first of all it's not the same parties. Second of all that probate judge doesn't have a law degree and nothing disrespectful and I don't like disrespecting probate judges in any way.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:37

No but but yeah and and you say oh judge so and so it always it kind of drove me crazy to say judge to people that I'm like versus I've earned one and I'm not you know I I don't have you call me D A case you know uh but pro most people don't know how big probate court really is and the effect it has on your property values on adoptions on civil commitments I mean it it it incorporates so much money estates will trust I mean it's huge so okay listen let me ask you um with the time of the year what do you think the uh turnout's going to be for this race so you know I've got a little bit of uh introspect I guess is the right word to say into our voter list because we indotted the gentleman who uh was a U.S.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:34

was excuse me a Canadian citizen that was voting in our elections. I don't know if you've seen that he had voted like eight or nine times in Blunt County was not a U.S. citizen and so I learned a lot about the voter list doing the kind of the investigation we were notified by the Secretary of State's office but what I have learned is that um we're not real good in the state of Alabama of keeping up with people who move out of state or people who die or people who are not supposed to be voting and so I I wonder if our list is not a little inflated to begin with. So we talk about 20 something percent 30% is it really higher but we just have if you ever go in and look at the data center that you know I had access to during the election you know there are people in there if you put the age at 100 like a huge number you're like these people aren't alive. And so we're not doing a really good job of culling our voter list down. I think Secretary Allen has done a really good job trying to but it's a lot of work. You know I almost wonder if when someone dies that the death certificate shouldn't be sent to the registrar's office. Like should we not be doing more to pull people who shouldn't be voting don't live here anymore or are dead off of our list um so that we can we we have a better idea of what our turnout is. Yeah interesting uh so back to the number what do I think what okay so we had 20 something I think oh it's 18% it's the middle of the summer it's gonna be less than that.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:08

We had Jay Welburn in here and he called it what he called the friends and family vote is how he turned it um for the runoff that's about right but you know the good thing everybody has going on my political consultant you know I thought and that is um you have a lot of runoffs at a lot of offices you got that Senate runoff you've got the lieutenant governor runoff you've got the AG runoff you got the ad commissioner runoff and then you have some local races that are runoff like in Marshall County they got that really contested superintendent race.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:45

Walker County's got the sheriff's race like you can go through and look and there's like so I think certain counties I I think I may do this at home because I kind of like to do it my husband's I may mark the counties that have the I think these counties will have the highest turnout um because uh again friends and family but you've also got those you know top of the top of the ballot races that are yeah so maybe higher than we think okay well I I I I think it's gonna be a disappointing turnout and um that bothers me but remind all your listeners June 16th that's what that's what we're doing I know I'm just saying and even absentee ballot if you can't vote you can go to the courthouse currently and get a ballot fill out your application they'll hand you a ballot in there and vote in the courthouse or you could call they'll send you an application you send it back they send you a ballot and you send it back um and so encourage people you know I encourage people if you if you know on the 16th you're gonna be on vacation or you're gonna be out of town or maybe you got a medical procedure that's scheduled go ahead and get your vote in which is interesting I've always thought could dead people vote think about this for a second you apply for an absentee ballot and then you get hit by a car and really somebody who's dead you wouldn't have been able to vote on election day but your ballot is in the absentee box and once they put it in they can't tell so do dead people vote as is that's me who overthinks all things in life that's because you're a you're elected DA and you're you got a sharp analytical legal mind. Alright so you're you're here for Jay Mitchell and you're asking them to vote for Jay Mitchell yeah I'm asking anybody who voted for me if you're sitting there trying to make that decision like who is it is it Jay or is it Katherine? You know um I believe that the best choice is uh Catherine excuse me is Jay Mitchell the best person is Jay Mitchell and I hope everybody will vote.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:48

All right we'll be back after news and weather thanks PamKL.com stay tuned for more we'll be right back after this break for news and weather listening to the legal loadout with going to 20 year veteran of the Alabama court specializing in criminal defense and family law if you need a private legal consultation email.com and now welcome back to the legal loadout all right legal love down and gentlemen here Alabama lawyer on WERC in Birmingham this is the final segment of the week we've made it if you are just tuning in you got to hear Pam Casey the DA of Blunt County on behalf of Jay Mitchell for the uh Republican runoff for the Attorney General race uh glad to have Pam Casey she's she's smart she knows all the issues um maybe we'll get a chance to have her back more now that she's um not going to be running for a campaign a couple of stories that I still want to talk about that have been in the news this week um there is a person on death row that um his name is Jeffrey Lee and he is set to die June the 11th at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore I got to be down at Holman last summer on death row that is an interesting experience for anybody to go see if you ever get the opportunity. Anyway um his lawyers were making appels appellate records to try to prevent his execution they are going to do it by um what do they call it nitrogen uh gas or nitrogen hypoxy whatever they call it uh it has been ruled constitutional his lawyers said that um I love this term uh gas execution method and the way the state carries it out super adds pain and terror. Uh folks if you commit the most serious crime in the state of Alabama and you've been found guilty by your peers and you've had all your appeals, Court of criminal appeals, Alabama Supreme Court, maybe even some federal appeals on some federal issues and you've lost all the way and he actually committed this crime twenty-five years ago. Can you imagine what it's cost legally to get him to this point anyway federal judge denied it and uh his execution is set on June the 11th in about a week so um that made news this week and um so unless something happens at the 12th hour and those can happen uh they can make a Supreme Court appeal or another appeal to another judge or they could appeal to the governor um I don't think KIB's gonna step in at this point but you never know what can happen. So uh he is set to die by uh by nitrogen I'm all for us having the firing squad in Alabama I would vote I I would absolutely vote for that and uh I've had the opportunity I got to see what they used to call yellow mama the electric chair bring it back do you remember the movie The Green Mile with uh Tom Hanks bring back yellow mama fry them cook them I'm all for it and even though I do defense work I I don't I'm not here to say that I'm against the death penalty. You know what I find very interesting about people that are for and against the death penalty listen to this for a minute those that hate the death penalty usually are for abortion. Now think about that for a minute they are against the death penalty but they're all in favor of killing innocent babies and the ones that hate abortion killing babies are in favor of the death penalty. Isn't that kind of interesting in a in a thought think about that for a minute we don't want to kill children but we don't mind killing you if you've done the crime and you got to pay pay the price I've always found that interesting the people that are so against the death penalty but they don't have one bit of problem of killing innocent children that are growing in a womb. That's just an interesting thought I have when I sit on the beach and philosophian big story this week and we're going to have a chance to talk with the mayor Hoover when he's here on June the 19th this week it was announced that the River Chase Galleria the largest mall in Alabama has finally been put on the market for sale it opened 40 years ago and that really that really aged me because that means it opened when I was 15 years of age 40 years ago the galleria wow the galleria has 1.4 million square feet of retail space which is which is huge um it just has too many the the old big box stores that have been beaten by Amazon and online shopping Macy's um what else was there? JC Penny Parision that turned into what do they call it Belk um I think Sears was even there uh and what was before what was that upscale store before Von Mark what did they call that um can't think for a second gosh um it's fright it's end of the week I can't think anyway um anyway I I don't know what they're gonna do with this this property it's prime real estate in Hoover if you remember last week Hoover has been rated one of the sick one one of the top ten best communities in the country to live in I mean Hoover has everything there has been some commentary about maybe we should turn it into some kind of hospital some kind of orthopedic clinic something like that I don't know if we need that I'm talking about the orthopedic surgeons that can put up places everywhere I'm not sure if they turn this into residential property um I just don't know I I don't I don't know what the answer is but I do know that the galleria has outlived its purpose in in this world and if you look around in any community that you're in in the state of Alabama you're gonna see empty big box retail space you go down 280 and you see all these empty big retail stores what are we going to do with all this property that's the same issue that we're gonna have with the data centers in 20 years that they're building we're gonna build these big data centers and here's what's going to happen technology is going to catch up and they're gonna say well we don't need this big building anymore. What are we going to do with it? That's my concern about the data centers so uh for all of you that have loved the galleria that have gone on the the night of was it Thanksgiving where they start Christmas yeah they used to open at midnight um the galleria is coming to an end um and uh it's kind of sad to see in one respect but it is time to turn the page and figure out what they're going to do with this prime real estate in Hoover. So I'm looking forward to talking to the mayor I'm sure he's got some really good insight on this um and uh we we just got to figure out what we're gonna do with with uh all this commercial real estate that we have that we don't need anymore all over the country. Um the market has changed even up at the summit uh they've lost lots of tenants and they've put some new tenants back in after COVID. I don't know what the answer is um to any big questions I just raise them for you to think about um so if you live in Hoover or you live in Alabama or you live in Birmingham make your voice heard tell them tell them what you think we need um it's uh it's an important issue for all of us because um it it makes us a more viable market and and and Alabama is a hidden gem that most people don't know about. I mean I I say it all the time we have so much to offer here and the best thing we have to offer is the people how courteous and polite we are and the weather even though I did the story last week that we are considered in the top 10 list of passive aggressive drivers on 280 anyway that's for another day another time there was a story this week again they keep bringing up Tommy Tubberville and his residency requirements for Alabama to run as the governor of the state and his campaign came out this week and I think his lawyers released tax returns on his behalf showing that he's lived in Alabama since 2018 to try to kill some of this story. Now he does own a property in Florida actually it's in Santa Rosa Beach where I go a lot and that's okay there's nothing wrong with having a beach house this is the same issue that they made with uh Larry Langford if you remember Larry lived in Fairfield Larry was the mayor out in Fairfield. Larry's the one that got us the uh water park that failed but he had good ideas and he's also the one that in that came up with that one cent sales tax for the schools so he did a lot of good things he did and so when Langford wanted to run for mayor of Birmingham. Um he he got an apartment in Birmingham to say he was a resident of Birmingham so he could run. Um you know, I I'm not here to cast stones and say, well, Tommy's never in Auburn. I don't know. Um people have multiple homes and they move around a lot, so it's it's I don't think it's that big an issue. And um now it's a big important issue that that the story needs to end because he is the Republican candidate for the election coming up here. Believe it or not, folks, the election will be here just in what five short months in November. So um I don't think that story is gonna go anywhere. It doesn't have legs. It it's not going anywhere. So um anyway. Um I had somebody come in this week for a criminal case. And uh it it was a it's a rather important criminal case. All cases are important to the person in charge. Um the the incident happened a while back, maybe 60 days ago, and the person did not get arrested right away, which is not their fault. And it involved it involved vehicles. And where I'm going with this is they said, Joe, how would you handle the case? And I said, Well, first of all, we need to file a motion to preserve the vehicles in this case because they are evidence. And they the person said, Oh, I hadn't thought about that. And I was like, Yeah, I know the the cars were total, they may already be gone to the junkyard and be, you know, broken down into metal. I said, but we need the cars and we need a crime scene reconstruction expert immediately to start looking at this case to reconstruct what happened on the road. And um it's no fault of their own. I said, the only mistake that that we've so far to overcome is that we need to file something immediately with the court to to get an order in place that if we can still find these vehicles, that they be preserved and brought back to a uh storage facility so that they can be examined in their condition now, how they look. Because I asked him, I said, did you did you take pictures after the accident? No, I took a few pictures. Not I said, not the kind of pictures we needed. And sure enough, I know that the police didn't take the kind of pictures that would be needed from the defense perspective in a case like this. So um you know, I talk about this a lot. This is a really important issue with all the technology we have today cell phones, cameras out on the interstate, uh black boxes in cars, whether someone's texting and driving. Some people even have dash cam videos in their car in case of a wreck to protect themselves. With all the technology we have today, experts are really important in all types of litigation, not just civil plaintiff work car wrecks, also in criminal cases. Um, I've got a criminal case where we needed a cell phone search of the phone. And the the judge issued the order so that we could do the needed work to match up the timeline in this case. It was really important. And the judge said, Absolutely, I agree with with Joe. Uh we Joe doesn't have to accept the prosecutor's word or the police officer's work product, he gets to get a fair shot of the work product himself to see what it looks like to make his own determination. So um my my message today is if you are facing a criminal case in which it could involve a DUI, it could involve a case where you you run somebody off the road and you hit them and kill 'em like a manslaughter case. Um if if someone's texting and driving and you're trying to show that I wasn't texting at that moment in time of the accident, all these things are really important for experts. And um, they're not cheap. Um if you have a public defender, more often than not, the state's gonna grant you the funds for that expert because you're entitled to a proper and adequate defense. And I'll say this again there is case law out there, even if you have retained counsel, and let's say the defendant turns out to be declared what we call indigent, meaning they don't have the funds for their own defense. There is some case law that says, okay, the family hired me, but they don't have the money for this type of expert that's really critical to prove their innocence. We we need you to pick up the tab for the expert. I've I've had it done by a number of judges. They they don't have a problem with it because they're not paying for the total defense. They're they're not paying for me, they're just paying for an expert opinion as to a legal issue in the case. So that's very critical if you find yourself in that type of position. So I guess my message to you is if you find yourself charged with a crime and you think it's an issue, go get counsel immediately so that you can start preserving evidence that may be le needed and not really used for conceivably one, two, three years down the road in a in a trial. But if you go do the hard work now, you may not have to get to a trial. You may be able to convince the DA that it didn't happen the way they said it happened. They may drop the case, they may drop it down to a lesser included offense. I don't know. But um but if you don't have the evidence to to prove your side of the the version of the facts, then you you start out behind the eight ball in the case. That's all I'm saying. That's that's really important today. Again, uh I want to remind you out there, we are so grateful for our two new sponsors, uh Shelby Fence Company here in the Greater Birmingham area. If you need a commercial residential fence, whether it be wood, iron, steel, metal, Shelby Fence is the people to call. They do excellent work and they'll take care of you as well. Also, Flat Fee Real Estate of Birmingham. Flat fee real estate of Birmingham. They have been in business for over fifty, they have combined 50 years of experience. They've been in business for 10 years, they are locally owned and operated. They are phenomenal from opening to close with you, whether you're buying or selling a home. They're with you every step of the way, and they will take care of you, and they are the people you need to know if you're gonna buy or sell a home here in the Birmingham area. Flat fee real estate of Birmingham, look them up. Amy is the best, and her daughter, Catherine. They're really good at what they do. They're really good. Next week, we were supposed to have a guest, and it doesn't look like that's gonna happen, but we're working on maybe some fill-in guests. It'll be the last time to hear from some of the candidates before they go before we all go vote the next Tuesday. So um, we don't have a guest to announce for next week, but tune in. I'll try to find somebody so that you'll enjoy talking, hearing them on their voice and what they want to do for us as they uh run for the election. It's it's really important to hear from all those that want to represent us in the state. Uh this weekend, I think we got good weather. Uh I encourage all of you to get out. I think there's some things in Birmingham called uh uh Alabaster City Fest. Thank you, John. And there's uh I think there's one downtown. What's it called? Um what do they call that? Mmm. I'm bad with all this stuff. I tell you, I don't get out much. Um what do they call that? The district I can't think of the term. Anyway, look it up. It's not that hard to find. There's lots of good stuff happening in Birmingham this week. Um so get out, enjoy the summer. Uh we only get so many of these weekends between now and September, and it goes by faster than you realize. And then uh we start thinking about the holidays and football once we get to September. And before you know it, the year's gone. We started this season in December. We're seven months in. So in five months, my year will be up and I'll be gone. It'll be over. And I've enjoyed so much of it. It's been so much fun. And we've enjoyed getting to know all of you. As always, uh, our show is gonna start being videotaped. The show today will not be produced for a week if you watch it on my YouTube channel. And um I don't have the voice for radio, I sure don't have the face for TV, but either way, we're gonna put the content out and we we hope to hope you start having a chance to watch the show and it means something to you. And uh final thought this week. No one will care if you don't run today. No one will care if you miss your gym workout today or you cheat on your diet. But you will know life isn't about living up to other people. Life is about living up to yourself and your own standards. I have been better at my diet last week, and I have been a whole lot better at my running this last week, even with my schedule. I think I clocked in 30 miles already this week, uh, and I was in court every day. I was in court every day, and I still got 30 miles in. So that's pretty good for me for a week. And including this show, I clocked in roughly 85 working hours. So that's a that's a pretty pretty average week for me. All right, folks. So this is Legal Lowdown with Joe Ingram on WERC 1055 in Birmingham, WBHP up in Huntsville, and WRTR in Tuscaloosa. I've heard from some folks up in Huntsville. Please call me, let me know that you listen to the show. I haven't heard from anybody in Tuscaloosa. And uh we want to know that those in Tuscaloosa are listening to our broadcast as well. We're not ignoring you at all. Absolutely, we're not. We want all of you to join in and enjoy the show. Um, we've had lots of calls in the last week. More and more people are calling the office for the from the show, and we thank you that call. Uh, as I've said before, this broadcast makes it already easier when I meet you and you come in for a consultation. You kind of know a little bit about my my country voice and and how I look at things, and uh it makes it much more easier when we sit down to talk about your case and your individual circumstances. So, anyway, um that's about it for the week, and y'all have a good weekend, and we'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_00 1:41:09

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