Pennsylvania state Rep. Michael Sturla, an opponent of increased natural-gas drilling in his district, warned that one effect of the drilling would be an increase of sexually transmitted diseases “amongst the women-folk.”
He said later that he had heard that from a hospital administrator.
He should have left
well enough alone
Anthony Watson, sentenced to prison in 1992 for crimes that included rape and robbery, became a notorious jailhouse lawyer (even drafting a book, “A Guide to the Plea Circus”) and through successful challenges had reduced his 160-year sentence to 26 — and a release date of 2018.
However, he filed one appeal too many.
A court ruled in his favor on that final appeal and ordered a new trial altogether (vacating the convictions and sentence but also the reductions Watson had worked so hard for).
At the retrial, he was found guilty again and this time sentenced to four consecutive life terms.
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