Stupid is as stupid does - deputy shoots self in hand playing with shotgun

Darwin Award Candidate The SA Express reports that Bexar County Sheriff's deputy Eric Espino was hospitalized early today after shooting himself in the hand with a shotgun at his own 26th birthday party, officials said. He was celebrating at his Northwest Side home around 4 a.m. when he accidentally shot himself in the hand with a shotgun. “For some reason, he put his hand over the muzzle, and when he picked it up, it went off,” Antu said. Attorney pleads guilty to using clients' awards for personal use An attorney who represented minors in personal injury cases pleaded guilty Friday to using hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal awards to children for his personal use over an eight-year period. John Williams Coates, 49, pleaded guilty to felony aggregated misapplication of fiduciary property before State District Judge Mike Lynch and was booked into Travis County Jail under a 10-year prison deal, court and jail records show. Here's the kicker - Coates could be released on probation after six months for good behavior if he agrees to required conditions, such as relinquishing his law license, Assistant District Attorney Gail Van Winkle said. As usual, the lawyers take care of their own. Settlement reached in Tenaha shakedown lawsuit DALLAS (AP) - Officials of a small East Texas town and the county where it's situated have agreed to steps aimed at ending racial profiling to settle a four-year-old class-action lawsuit. Federal court filings late Friday show Tenaha and Shelby County have agreed to an "impartial policing policy" to better document and monitor traffic stops. The documents show defendants also have agreed to pay $520,000 in legal fees........Former DA Linda Kaye Russell and the other defendants also have to pay their own legal fees. Tenaha in Shelby County was the first Texas town that CNN/Anderson Cooper and Gary Tuchman exposed for the asset forfeiture racket. Then they came to Kerrville and did a story on former 198th DA Ron Sutton and District Judge Karl Prohl.