Thumbs Down: To Congressman Jim Mattox for his unabashed game of footsie with big banking. It seems no coincidence that his recent pro-banking efforts come on the heels of a letter signed by Robert Stewart and Dewey Presley of First International Bancshares and circulated among area bankers – a passionate plea for Mattox campaign support. Said the letter, “We have a friend from Texas on the House Banking Committee . . .”
Thumbs Up: To TGI Friday’s, who, after our recent article on dirty restaurants, had a “we’ll-show-them,” Saturday-long, mass clean-up. A noble gesture. (Though employees who spent nine hours on their knees scrubbing the floor may think otherwise.)
Thumbs Down: To Dallas County Sheriff Carl Thomas for his latest display of prima donna arrogance. First he insisted that his uniform be redesigned with a five-star lapel, one more star than his deputy chief. Then he created a big flap in demanding that his office be encased in bullet proof glass. And now he has cleaned out the jail library to make room for his own private dining room. His pomposity seems especially absurd when you realize that, with almost all county property incorporated by the cities, the sheriffs office does little more than serve warrants and feed prisoners. Who does the Sheriff think he is? Wyatt Earp?
the sentence was equivalent to a life sentence; thus they had simply saved the time and cost of a jury trial. But another explanation is that the prosecution feared they couldn’t win in court. Their evidence, it turns out, was less than overwhelming. While they did have 23 prints from scenes of the crime, many were from the exterior, not the interior, of the dwellings. Secondly, none of the victims willing to testify could make an absolutely positive ID of Marble. Furthermore, blood tests had produced mixed results: The first labeled Marble a “’type H se-creter” (type A semen had been found in at least four of the victims), though a subsequent test proved more positive for the prosecution. But the biggest problem was Marble’s “friendly rapist” tag.
“’The extraordinary thing about Marble,” Ormesher admits, “was the number of rapes, not his behavior in any particular one. These cases had to be tried one by one on their merits – we couldn’t make a case for the number of crimes. Under those circumstances, it’s possible a jury could have decided to give him less than 60 years. I don’t think we could have improved the situation by trying him.”
Marble and Colvin were only too glad to accept the bargain. With parole and “good behavior time,” Marble could be back on the street in 10 years.
In the aftermath, many observers are distressed by the bargain. While it’s true that a ju-ry trial might possibly have resulted in an even lighter sentence, the case was of such public visibility and importance that many feel it was incumbent upon the DA’s office to bring the case to trial in public view. If nothing else, such a trial could have made apparent the inadequacies and confusions of Texas rape laws. “Meanwhile,” says one critic, “Tim Curry [Fort Worth DA] is taking a lot of heat for his failure to convict Cullen Davis. But at least he went out and gave it his best shot.”
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