“I feel like a changed person”

Several years ago, one of our neighbor’s kids got into a significant amount of trouble. We’re not talking about “I got caught with pot at school” trouble. We’re not talking about “I shoplifted something at Target” kind of trouble.

We’re talking about First Degree Aggravated Robbery kind of trouble. Exposure to life in prison kind of trouble. The prosecutor’s first offer was 20 years in prison kind of trouble.

An Advocate for the Data

Last week I had the pleasure of spending the day with our forensic psychology doctoral student, Lauren Farwell. (Both of us also had the pleasure of getting up at 4:00 a.m. to drive to Ft. Worth for a hearing, but that’s another matter.)

During our drive, we had a great conversation about why forensic psychologists have a much better quality of life than criminal defense lawyers. Specifically, in our differing roles as advocates.

Driving While Tiger

For the record, apparently I was one of the 17 people in the world that honestly believed that Elin was trying to “rescue” him by smashing out the car window. (Yes, I saw the Saturday Night Live skit which cleared it up for me.)

In my feeble, lackluster defense – my first reaction to the news story was that this was a DWI and she was trying to remove him from the car before the authorities came. After excerpts from Steve Helling’s new book, Tiger: The Real Story, were released, the DWI aspect to the case again resurfaced – which provide a small amount of proof that I’m not an absolute moron: