NASA astronaut kicked out of the Navy

A former astronaut banished from NASA after she attacked a romantic rival has been kicked out of the Navy. Top Navy brass said Thursday that Lisa Nowak will be forced to retire with an "other than honorable" discharge. The discharge may affect her veterans' benefits and her pay grade was knocked down one rank.  She pled guilty in 2009 and was given a year's probation.

My big question is why did it take the Navy two years after she pled guilty to kick her out of the Navy???  This unbelievable.

Gay marriages in New York

I was pleased to see that New York passed a law to allow gay marriages.  I can only hope that these new couples move to Florida before they decide to get divorced.  This should be a finacial boom to divorce lawyers!

a book review of my newest novel

Book review of The  Trophy  Wife Divorce

Fiction writer and author of four published books, attorney John D. Mills’, newest work, The  Trophy  Wife Divorce has now been released and makes for an interesting conversational summer read with a plot not unlike that of a carnival ride out of control.   Taking the always debatable marriage arrangement of the times, the rich but older man and the voluptuous and younger woman, Mills exposes the underbelly of a relationship destined to spiral nowhere but furiously down.  In this story twist of deception, deceit, arrogance and greed, readers will prejudiciously impose their personal opinions, experiences and moral standards into the story line from the beginning pages and will not finish The Trophy Wife Divorce without some emotional attachment throughout the transpiring up and down events and final rock bottom outcome.

The marriage of retired dentist, Dr. Stan Jacoby to Karen, an elementary school teacher, is a guaranteed death trap locked with a key formed of lies and cheating relationships.  Drawing on his Criminal Defense and Divorce experience in Lee County, Mills uses the irony of what’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander, and amps up the carnival ride, turning the locked key and  driving the marital rollercoaster straight into anger, accusations and rape.  And the end of the line is a legal battle in a case of self-defense or murder. 

With his craft as a writer ever improving, Mills adeptly manipulates the cast of characters which grows to include two divorce attorneys, a divorce court mediator, a crafty good old boy criminal defense attorney and a prosecutor for the State Attorney’s office and the elected judge.  Throw in the female court reporter that has dated both the judge and the prosecuting attorney and start the merry-go-round with the fact that Karen’s divorce attorney, in addition to currently being in a relationship with the state prosecutor, is the key witness in the murder case. But not all in The Trophy Wife Divorce is up and down tension for Mills uses ironic humor in unexpected areas to describe a scene or place an accessorized image on display. It could be said that sometimes the law just calls for twisted humor.

The Trophy Wife Divorce is an interesting read. Mills creative style is basic, just the facts and simply adjective free.  It could be said that with each new work, Mills travels a progressive direction toward the simple and understated writings of Ernest Hemingway. Not to the top of the carnival Ferris wheel yet, Mills’ work does improve with story line and character development.  This fifth and more crafted work is proof positive. An added bonus to each of his books is that Mills incorporates with historical accuracy secondary story lines explaining the history and development of the southwest Florida islands and surrounding fishing waters. Mills has created a unique genre to his works - the law and the land.  The Trophy Wife Divorce is a candy apple treat all the way to the bitter end.

Angela Savko

Former NewsPress Art Critic

Samir Cabrera is now a free man

Mr. Cabrerea and I convinced the jury that they should not convict him of scheme to defraud of money.  The news report from NBC-2 is as follows:

Samir Cabrera free, won't face re-trial

LEE COUNTY, FL -

Former real estate broker Samir Cabrera is a free man. A federal judge ruled federal prosecutors cannot retry Cabrera on fraud and money laundering charges because it would violate his Fifth Amendment rights.

The 20-page ruling says a retrial would constitute double jeopardy because there is insufficient evidence to retry him on the original charges.

Originally, Cabrera was convicted six counts of wire fraud and five charges of money laundering.

The wire fraud had two elements: scheme to defraud investors of money and scheme to defraud investors of the intangible right to honest services.

In the jury verdict form, the jury only convicted Cabrera of scheme to defraud the intangible right to honest services. [View the verdict forms]

In June 2010, the US Supreme Court ruled the intangible right to honest services was only applicable if there was bribery or kickbacks involved.

After the ruling, the prosecution asked for the conviction to be vacated so he could be retried.

Monday's ruling states the prosecution cannot retry Cabrera on the honest services charges because there was insufficient evidence to support a conviction on those charges in light of the Supreme Court decision.

The decision also states the jury acquitted Cabrera on the scheme to defraud investors of money, therefore an attempt at retrying him on any of the wire services fraud charges would be double jeopardy.

Cabrera will no longer be subject to supervised release and will not have to report for random drug testing or any other restrictions set by the court.

Casey Anthony Not Guilty Verdict

I am shocked she was found not guilty.  However, we have to respect the jury's verdict.  They were there for the entire trial and listened to the evidence - not the talking heads opinion of the evidence.  That is the reason we have jury trials in this country.  However, she was convicted of four counts of lying to the police and each count carries a maximum of one year jail.  My guess is that the judge will give her 4 years jail, with credit for the time she has served since her arrest.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe gives up drinking

Daniel Radcliffe has given an interview that he has given up drinking at 21 because he has been partying too much since he was 18.  My first impression is BULLSHIT!  What 21-year-old gives up drinking unless he/she was in a bad car wreck, got arrested for domestic violence or had a close relative die of an alcohol-related death?  After further reflection maybe I'm just being cynical and he's a perfect adjusted star that can responsibly handle his millions.  We'll see.