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thesewordsareallihavetogive · 4 years ago

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no body, no crime - allison argent x reader

(gif source)

Summary: When y/n disappears after confronting her husband about his affair, Allison takes matters into her own hands. Based on “no body, no crime (feat. HAIM)” by taylor swift [x]. You can find the mood board for this fic here

Word Count: 4.4k

Warnings: cursing, infidelity, implied kidnapping, implied murder, murder, alleged murder, alleged/implied death of reader, reader is married to a man with a j name 🤢

a/n: hi everyone! it’s been a hot minute since i posted a new fic & this is why. i’ve been working on this since late december of 2020, so this is the longest i’ve ever spent on a stand-alone work. i’ll include more gory details about the writing process at the end if you’re interested :)

dedicated to: elle (@demxters) for all of her help and ideas! this fic literally wouldn’t have gotten finished without her, send her some love <3

this is also dedicated to caoimhe (@free-pool-trash) for not murdering me after i gave her a preview several weeks ago and then just ✨stopped writing✨

master list

Este's a friend of mine

We meet up every Tuesday night for dinner and a glass of wine

“Hey!” Allison greeted cheerily as she met y/n at their usual table tucked in the corner of their favorite restaurant. y/n returned the brunette’s smile as she stood up to hug her friend, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Allison saw through y/n’s facade and furrowed her eyebrows. “What’s wrong?” she asked as concern spread across her features.

“I think Justin is having an affair,” y/n admitted. The statement dropped like a bomb between the two women, causing Allison to nearly spew the wine in her mouth all over the table. She coughed a few times and drank some water to clear her throat before she composed herself enough to ask questions.

“What happened? Did you see something?” Allison asked hesitantly. Her mind was still reeling from the mere concept of y/n’s husband cheating on her. Sure, Justin had never been Allison’s favorite guy, but it was normal for girls to think that no guy would ever be good enough for their best friend. Right?

Her husband's acting different and it smells like infidelity

She says, "That ain't my merlot on his mouth"

"That ain't my jewelry on our joint account"

y/n explained what had been going on over the past few weeks. Justin had been acting distant, which wasn’t too abnormal, but when he started coming home from work much later than his shifts ended and disappearing at odd hours of the night, y/n got concerned. The day that she had planned to approach him about everything and ask if anything was wrong, she got a call from her bank while driving home from work.

“Hi Mrs. y/l/n, this is Kathy from the bank. I’m calling to inform you that there have been a few large cash withdrawals from your joint account recently under your husband’s name, as well as a pretty expensive purchase yesterday at the jeweler,” the rest of Kathy’s words sounded muffled to y/n. It was nowhere near her birthday, Valentine’s day, or their anniversary, so y/n didn’t know what he could possibly be spending all their money on.

The next incident came a few days later when both y/n and Justin were home. y/n’s husband was in the shower and his phone buzzed with a new text message alert. Typically, y/n was never the type to snoop on her husband’s phone, but she figured she should check in case it was a work message. At least that’s how she justified it in her head. Justin had saved the sender’s number under the contact name “Spam Risk.” It was clever, y/n had to give him credit for that at least. Upon further inspection, y/n quickly realized that those texts weren’t sent from a telemarketer bot.

6:24 p.m. I can’t wait to see you tonight, baby - Spam Risk

6:25 p.m. Don’t keep me waiting too long ;) - Spam Risk

y/n thought the messages were strange, but the picture that followed the messages was definitely what threw y/n for a loop. There, on her husband’s text message thread, was a racy photo of a woman’s body that definitely wasn’t hers. y/n was quite literally stunned to silence as she dropped the phone back down onto the dresser. For the rest of the night, y/n was numb and quiet, not that Justin noticed. Then, like clockwork, he left the house at 11 p.m. with no explanation of where he was going or when he would be back.

By the end of y/n’s story, Allison’s mouth was open so wide she was sure her jaw would hit the table.

“What are you going to do?” Allison whispered, still in shock. y/n grimaced before clearing her throat and speaking her next words with finality.

No, there ain't no doubt

I think I'm gonna call him out

Este wasn't there

Tuesday night at Olive Garden at her job or anywhere

“Hi, there should be a reservation for two under Allison Argent or y/n y/l/n for tonight,” Allison greeted warmly as she approached the hostess stand at their go-to girl’s night restaurant.

“Right this way, ma’am,” the hostess said with a smile as she grabbed two menus and led her towards their usual table. Two menus. That must mean that y/n wasn’t there yet? Allison thought it was strange, y/n almost always was the first of the two to arrive. Allison brushed off the thought as she thanked the hostess and sat down. She had intended to look over the menu, but the strangeness of it all wouldn’t leave her mind. y/n was late. She was never late. Allison pulled out her phone to text her best friend, and it then occurred to her that she hadn’t heard from y/n since last week. Allison had been away on a “work” trip with her dad for the past six days and had just gotten back into town. After 30 minutes of sitting at the table alone, half a dozen unanswered text messages, and even more calls sent straight to voicemail, Allison dropped a few bills on the table and left.

As Allison pulled out of the parking lot, she turned on the radio in a futile attempt to drown out some of her racing thoughts. Between songs the radio host took to the mic to make an announcement.

“Hello Beacon Hills, we now interrupt your regularly scheduled listening with an urgent message from the Sheriff's department. Speaking now is Sheriff Noah Stilinski,” the host trailed off before there was a brief crackle as the audio transitioned to the Sheriff’s press briefing. Allison turned up the volume as the Sheriff’s voice carried across the radio.

“Thank you all for attending and tuning in. It is with great displeasure and a heavy heart that I inform you all that y/n y/l/n has been reported missing. Shortly after 8 a.m. this morning, we were informed by her husband that she didn’t show up for work yesterday morning and also didn’t come home last night,” Sheriff Stilinski continued speaking but it all began to sound like white noise to Allison. It took everything she had in her to focus on not veering off the road so that she could head to the Sheriff’s station and speak to Stilinski in person.

Conveniently, her route took her right past y/n and Justin’s house. Allison didn’t know what to expect as she sped by their house, but the fact that Justin’s normally filthy truck had been cleaned and waxed definitely caught her eye. The truck and driveway were soon out of sight due to the speed she was driving at, but at first glance, it looked as though his tires and grill had been replaced.

He reports his missing wife

And I noticed when I passed his house his truck has got some brand new tires

About a week had passed since y/n had been reported missing. Allison wasn’t sure how many search parties had been held, but they all resulted in the same thing: nothing. There wasn’t a single trace of her best friend, in fact, everything in Beacon Hills looked completely unchanged and normal. Allison’s focus and appetite seemed to have left with her other half, try as she might to desperately hold onto them. Her marksmanship had even been affected, something that hadn’t happened since high school.

Allison started driving around town during her free time. She wasn’t headed anywhere in particular, she mostly did it to try to clear her mind, though most times she was unsuccessful. She’d been mindlessly taking right and left turns and before she realized where she was, she passed y/n’s house.

Allison hadn’t planned to slow down as she passed the house, it was a mindless act if anything. Seeing a moving truck backed up to the house while Justin and some unfamiliar blonde woman were unloading boxes ensured that her decision to park her car where it couldn’t be seen and spy on the pair wasn’t mindless. Despite her gut telling her not to, Allison decided to give Justin the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he needed a roommate now since y/n couldn’t pay her share of the rent? Allison tried her best to keep all of her judgments and suspicions at bay as she watched the otherwise uneventful event unfold while biting her fingernails.

A few boxes later, Justin pulled the blonde in by her waist and kissed her with a fervor that would make most people blush. Allison’s eyes nearly popped out of her head as she sat there in shock with her mouth wide open. It took a while, mostly because the kiss lasted for an obnoxious amount of time, but Allison finally regained control of her body. It was like her brain had to go through a hard reset before she was able to face the reality of the situation.

y/n was right. Justin was cheating on her. Not only that, but Justin had cheated on y/n, spent less than a week grieving her disappearance, then allowed this to happen.

And his mistress moved in

Sleeps in Este's bed and everything

Allison found out that Justin Smith’s mistress’s name was Rebecca Baker. She was a few years younger than y/n and she worked at the same company as Justin. It didn’t take long for Allison to hack into both of their iCloud accounts. A few hours of scrolling later she was really regretting her decision, especially when she got to Justin’s messages to Rebecca about y/n.

2:47 a.m. What about your wife? - Spam Risk

2:47 a.m. What about her? - Justin

2:48 a.m. Are you going to leave her or kick her out or something? - Spam Risk

2:48 a.m. It’s been taken care of. - Justin

2:48 a.m. Taken care of? Justin, what does that mean? - Spam Risk

2:49 a.m. Justin??? - Spam Risk

Each new message ensured that bits of Allison’s fingernails had been gnawed off while her left hand fidgeted anxiously in front of her mouth. Allison decided that those messages were probably the most incriminating thing she’d find digitally, but the time and date stamps caught her eye. The texts were sent early Monday morning, the day that y/n allegedly left home and then didn’t show up for work or return home.

A chill spread from deep within Allison’s bones up to the surface of her skin, making goosebumps appear. Allison didn’t know what exactly, but she knew something terrible had happened to y/n and Justin had something to do with it. She shut her laptop a little harder than necessary as a resolved look spread across her face.

No, there ain't no doubt

Somebody's gotta catch him out

Good thing my daddy made me get a boating license when I was fifteen

Allison regularly accessed her personal armory, whether it was to prepare for a job or pack for a trip to the shooting range, but it had been a while since a powerful and unforgiving feeling hung over her shoulders. Allison carefully ran her fingers over her custom silver arrowheads as she considered her options. Her father’s words from one of her adolescent archery lessons rung in her head.

“The type of bow and arrows you use doesn’t matter. As long as you use them right, you’ll be able to make any shot. Don’t get hung up on the technicalities.”

Not too long after, her bag was stocked with her essentials: a bow, her trusted black leather archery glove, as well as a handful of arrows, though these ones lacked the silver heads she typically reserved for more exotic expeditions.

The rare dark clouds in the California sky at sunset were reflected in Allison’s cold eyes. The drive to her target’s house was familiar, the turns she made were almost instinctual. Normally these roads reminded her of her coffee dates with y/n and nights they spent talking for hours until sunlight crept through the windows. Now, her mind was blank and her heart was devoid of all emotion.

Even though Allison had disabled her car’s GPS earlier, she parked her car about a mile away from his house. When she was done, there wouldn’t be any evidence that could be traced back to her. She memorized his schedule; at 5:00 p.m. his shift ended and recently he’d been getting home by 5:20. His girlfriend got home sometime between 5:30 and 5:45, but she would leave for her pilates class around 6:30 and wouldn’t get home until 7:45. Allison had just over an hour window to get the job done, but it wouldn’t take that long. If everything went according to plan, she’d be off the property within a few minutes of taking the shot.

When she arrived her target had just come home from work and was alone in the house. She waited patiently, hidden by the trees that the property backed up to. She watched as he moved around through the open curtains and then as his girlfriend entered the house and kissed him with a passion that made Allison’s stomach churn. She watched as they ate dinner together, as her target’s girlfriend got ready for her gym class, and watched as she got in her car and drove away. When Allison checked her watch it was only 6:25 p.m., she had far more time than she needed.

The plan was simple, really. Under the cover of darkness, she’d flip the breakers, effectively cutting the power. When her target came out to investigate, she’d let him fumble around in the darkness for a while. He’d always been a paranoid individual, so it wouldn’t take much to get him on edge. A rustle in the bushes here, a small snapped tree branch there, and then something that would get his attention. Allison wanted his eyes to be on her when she took the shot.

Allison’s target was watching TV so he knew immediately when the power went out, plus the fact that the once illuminated house was suddenly bathed in darkness. The high-pitched yelp that escaped his throat almost made Allison laugh. She had to keep quiet though, at least for now. As expected, the dopey man scurried around to the side of the house where the breakers were located in no time. The batteries in the flashlight he held were on their last leg, that much was evident in the way the light beam flickered every few seconds.

Just as he opened the door to the circuit breaker panel, Allison moved. A rustle here. The sound practically echoed in the silence of the night, causing the man to whip around and shine his flashlight directly at the source of the noise. There was nothing there. It’s just the wind, he reasoned before getting back to work. After a few switches had been flipped - none of them for the outdoor lights - he heard another noise. This one was much louder than the last, a small snapped tree branch there. Again, the flashlight’s flickering light beam uncovered nothing, but it was enough to make all of the hairs on the back of Allison’s target’s neck stand up straight. He hastily flipped the rest of the breakers and the outdoor lights finally came on.

When yellow light from the backyard fixtures flooded the area, both Allison and her target were revealed. Allison stood a considerable distance away from the man, but she was close enough to see the blood drain from his face and his Adam's apple bob. When his eyes darted to the bow hung by her side, realization dawned on his face. He began to turn away with the intention of running, but Allison’s voice held him frozen in place.

“Don’t move,” she ordered quietly without any aggression behind her tone. Her face wasn’t threatening, she just looked calm and focused. Allison’s smooth features and peaceful expression was what scared the man the most.

“I- I’m sorry- I didn’t-” he stammered out, his arms and legs beginning to tremble.

“Shh,” Allison chastised as she raised her bow, loading it with an arrow. Her fingers moved with precision, her muscles knew this routine well.

“Please don’t- no, you can’t, you can’t do this!” the man pleaded. He wasn’t above begging on his knees, but Allison wasn’t about to give him the chance. Her gaze was sharply focused on her target, the view of her tightly grasped bow in her peripheral vision.

“Nous chassons ceux qui nous chassent.”

When Allison’s fingers let go of the bowstring the arrow flew smoothly through the air. The only sounds heard were the arrowhead piercing skin and the man wordlessly falling to the ground. The arrow went straight through his heart. Maybe Allison’s shot landed right where she intended. Maybe there was a metaphor in there. Allison checked her wristwatch, the numbers 6:45 shining back at her. An entire hour to spare.

Time to take out the trash.

I've cleaned enough houses to know how to cover up a scene

The job didn’t take long at all and it was definitely one of Allison’s least challenging ones, but it still felt nice to take a hot shower and sit in front of her fireplace with a cup of tea. The fire served a dual purpose; the crackles of the burning wood soothed her like a lullaby while the flames licked around and destroyed her bloody clothes from earlier. All of her equipment had been cleaned and put away, positioned exactly as it had been before. Everything was the same, nothing changed or out of place. There was just one less heartbeat in the world that night.

Good thing Este's sister's gonna swear she was with me

On the second day of the trial, Rebecca Baker’s lawyers were throwing whatever they could against the wall to see if something would stick. That morning they began to argue that Allison Argent might’ve abducted and murdered Justin Smith in retaliation for y/n’s disappearance. It was all speculation at best, but the theory unfortunately made sense to the jury. Before things could get too far, the prosecution called its first witness of the day to the stand.

“Mrs. Martin, where were you on the night of Mr. Smith’s suspected disappearance?” the prosecution lawyer questioned calmly.

“I was with Allison at my house. We were having a girls night in, you can check my security cameras,” Lydia answered confidently. Lydia still had a pocketful of favors from her MIT days, so when the jurors were shown the clips from Lydia’s home security cameras, they saw exactly what they would’ve expected based on Lydia’s testimony.

Truth be told, Lydia didn’t know anything about what happened that night; including Allison’s whereabouts and any details related to Justin’s alleged demise. All she knew was that Allison called and asked for a simple favor - an alibi for just a few hours. Lydia didn’t ask questions and Allison didn’t give answers.

Good thing his mistress took out a big life insurance policy

On the third day of the trial, Rebecca Baker took the stand. Her lawyers tried to help her as best they could, but the prosecution was ruthless. All of the evidence was circumstantial at best - all parties, including the judge and jurors, knew that - but it was enough to make everyone reconsider the spotless image the defense had tried to create for Ms. Baker.

“Ms. Baker, is it true that you knowingly engaged in a romantic relationship while Justin Smith was married to and living with his wife?” another one of the prosecution’s attorneys began.

“Yes,” Rebecca replied meekly. Allison internally scoffed from her seat in the gallery. She found irony in the fact that Rebecca didn’t find any humility or shame in sleeping with another woman’s husband until she was under oath.

“Is it also true that within approximately a week of Mrs. y/l/n’s disappearance, you moved into Mr. Smith and Mrs. y/l/n’s house?”

“That is correct,” Rebecca said as she began to wring her hands together anxiously. The judge tapped his wrist watch and shot a stern look towards the prosecutor. The man nodded in response and continued to his final points.

“I’ll wrap up my questions for you, Ms. Baker. Can you confirm that shortly after moving in with Mr. Smith, multiple legal and financial arrangements and adjustments were made? And these new arrangements make you the sole beneficiary of Mr. Smith’s life issuance policy, assets, and investments?”

By the end of the prosecution’s final question, every jury member and spectator sat up straighter and waited to hear Rebecca’s response with bated breath. The blonde ball of nerves sighed defeatedly before turning to face the attorney directly as she answered his question.

“Yes, that’s true.”

“No further questions, your honor.” As the lead prosecutor returned to the plaintiff’s table, Rebecca’s attorney stood up to address the judge.

“Your honor, the defense would like to request a brief recess,” the defense attorney nearly pleaded. Though his poker face was much better than his client’s, it was clear that he was getting nervous.

“We’ll reconvene in 15 minutes,” the judge ordered with a stern glare cast towards Rebecca.

They think she did it but they just can't prove it

It soon became clear to Rebecca that the recess her legal team requested was nothing more than a “kiss your dignity goodbye” meeting. If she hadn’t been queasy before the recess was called, she definitely was upon re-entering the courtroom.

The rest of the trial seemed to move in slow motion for Rebecca. A few more witnesses were called to the stand, more lackluster evidence was presented, both sides made their closing arguments, and the jury left to discuss the verdict. After what felt like an eternity, the jury returned with an official decision.

Silence settled over the room as a single juror stood to address the court.

“The jury finds the defendant not guilty on count 1 of murder in the first degree based on lack of sufficient evidence. The jury finds the defendant not guilty on count 2 of kidnapping based on lack of sufficient evidence. The jury finds the defendant guilty on count 3 of insurance fraud based on…”

The rest of the jurors’ statement sounded like white noise to Rebecca. She was just barely coherent enough to hear the judge deliver her punishment a few minutes later. $50,000 fine and 200 hours of community service.

Allison stuck around to the bitter end of the trial to hear the verdict in person. In all honesty, Allison didn’t want Rebecca to go to jail. It wouldn’t be right for her to serve time for a crime she didn’t commit, but Allison did find satisfaction in the fact that Rebecca would soon be picking up garbage in a fluorescent orange vest.

After the majority of the spectators had vacated the courtroom gallery, Allison leisurely gathered her things. Justice had been served to Justin, she personally made sure of that, and now justice had been served to Rebecca. The blonde and brunette women briefly locked eye contact as Allison made her way towards the exit.

“You did this,” Rebecca whispered to Allison. Suddenly, it was like a flip switched within her. One moment she was numb, yet calm and collected, and the next moment she was screaming (literal) bloody murder and had to be held back by her lawyers.

“YOU DID THIS! YOU KILLED JUSTIN, YOU BITCH!” Rebecca cried, though her words fell on deaf ears. Allison exited the courtroom with her head held high as the courtroom deputy and defense lawyers did their best to calm the hysterical woman.

She thinks I did it but she just can't prove it

A week later the court case was still on Allison’s mind but the emotional scars had begun to scab. Healing was never a straight or smooth path, Allison had learned that the hard way over the years, but this was a start.

y/n’s landlord had been generous enough to allow Allison to gather y/n’s things before he cleaned out the house for new renters. As Allison walked through the home she once considered to be an extension of her own, she felt her throat dry out and tighten up. She hadn’t realized she was crying until she was wiping salty tears off of the picture frames she’d carefully picked up. Each photo unlocked a new memory, some even elicited a chuckle out of Allison amidst her tears.

A photo from y/n’s wedding day stood out among all the rest as Allison’s eyes jumped from frame to frame. It was a candid shot Lydia had taken while they were in y/n’s dressing room before the ceremony. y/n looked as beautiful as ever in her flowy white gown and Allison’s mulberry maid of honor dress complemented it well. As Allison put the final touches on y/n’s hair and makeup, y/n fastened the clasp of a custom necklace behind Allison’s neck. On a thin, medium-length chain hung an arrowhead from the first time Allison had ever tried to teach y/n how to shoot a bow and arrow. y/n failed miserably, but it was a cherished memory for both girls. Since that day, Allison had only taken the necklace off a handful of times.

Allison smiled bittersweetly at the memory and wiped a fresh tear off of the decorative frame before pulling her necklace out from underneath her shirt. She pressed a gentle kiss to the cool silver arrowhead and then to the photo frame, right above y/n’s styled hair.

A feeling that Allison couldn’t quite explain flowed through her body just then; it was like taking a deep breath of fresh air after being stuck underwater or seeing the gentle rays of the sun for the first time after a hurricane, it felt like freedom. Allison felt almost as if y/n was right there next to her, with her head resting on Allison's shoulder and wrapping her arms around the brunette’s torso. In that moment, Allison somehow wordlessly knew with every fiber in her being that y/n was finally at peace.

No, no body, no crime

I wasn't letting up until the day he died

a/n: AHHHH DID YOU LIKE IT? it was kind of a wild ride from start to finish and i definitely shed a few tears while i was writing it. please lmk what you think!

okay, now onto the writing process from hell: i started drafting ideas for the fic on dec. 21 or 22 of 2020, after i put together a mood board. i had written more than half of the fic when i decided i hated it and scrapped the whole thing on xmas eve (~3000 words 🤡). after that i was kinda in a rut and couldn’t decide how i wanted to end the fic so i ended up writing and deleting ~2500 words over the past month and a half. @demxters is an absolute GODDESS and helped me come up with the ending, so i am eternally grateful to her for that. if any of this seems a lil strange it’s probably because i finished writing it at 4:45 a.m. after working on it for 3ish hours straight. have a great day lovelies!

join my tag list!

@dashkana @rogershoe @basicbibitxh @sweetfairyprincess17 @samkysnks @ellxpsismm @pure-ghost @lilyspells @ineedyourskulls @loveheathens @plq-cid @linkpk88 @grace-wade-08 @brithedemonspawn @fanfichoex @wistful-chaos @silveralma @malfoysadore @miss-i-ship-it @sonnydoesrandomshit

149 notes · View notes

lambrabbit · 6 years ago

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just wanna grind on my f/o's leg until i cum and is that so much to ask 😳

#selfship #justin j justify if ur real....

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watching-pictures-move · 4 years ago

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Movie Review | Mulholland Drive (Lynch, 2001)

This review contains spoilers.

David Lynch's Mulholland Drive was released in recent years by the Criterion Collection, that great home video company that's probably the OG of boutique labels, known for putting out acclaimed, significant or otherwise interesting films in really nice packages. (For some reason I had been thinking they put this out only last year until I actually looked it up. I guess my sense of time has been a little warped as of late, and as much as I'd like to tie this review into pandemic-era life, the fact is other labels have captured my attention lately, as can be evidenced by my embarrassingly large and extremely shameful Vinegar Syndrome haul from their Halfway to Black Friday sale from a few months ago.) Now, nobody in 2021 is going into this movie truly blind, but if I happened to pick up the Criterion cover and perused the back, aside from the list of special features and disc specs, you'd see the below (which I grabbed off their website):

Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.

Now, this is a tough movie to evoke with only a blurb, but I'd say that does a pretty respectable job. I however do not own this release. What I do own is the barebones Universal DVD that was released a few months after the movie, back when going into the movie blind would have been far more likely. This is the description on the back:

This sexy thriller has been acclaimed as one of the year's best films. Two beautiful women are caught up in a lethally twisted mystery - and ensnared in an equally dangerous web of erotic passion. "There's nothing like this baby anywhere! This sinful pleasure is a fresh triumph for Lynch, and one of the best films of the year. Visionary daring, swooning eroticism and colors that pop like a whore's lip gloss!" says Rolling Stone's Peter Travers. "See it… then see it again!" (Time Out New York)

Now, the previous description probably couldn't fully capture the movie's essence, but this one makes it sound like an erotic thriller. (Could you imagine somebody going into this thinking this was like a Gregory Dark joint? I say this having seen none of his thrillers and only his hardcore movies, although I must admit an MTV-influenced Mulholland Drive starring, say, Lois Ayres is something I find extremely intriguing.) But you know what? Good for them. Among other things, this movie, with its two all-timer sex scenes, feels like one of the last hurrahs from an era when mainstream American movies could be unabashedly horny, before we were sentenced to an endless barrage of immaculately muscular bodies in spandex (stupid sexy Flanders) somehow drained of all sex appeal (god forbid somebody pop a boner...or ladyboner, let's be egalitarian here). I apologize if I'm coming off as a little gross, but having been able to barely leave the house for practically a year and a half, watching sexy movies like this is one of the few remaining thrills at my disposal. Please, this is all I have.

Now I suppose I should say something about the movie itself, but it might be a challenge given how elusive it is in certain respects (Lynch is notoriously cagey about offering interpretations of his movies) and, as a result, how heavily it's been scrutinized over the years. No doubt any analysis I offer as to the movie's overarching meaning will come off extremely dumbassed. What I will note however, is that for whatever reason, the scene I remembered most vividly is where Justin Theroux walks in on his wife with Billy Ray Cyrus, particularly the candy pink paint he dumps on her jewellery as revenge. We've been following Theroux, a movie director, as he's been having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, having had control over casting his lead actress taken from him, which he proceeds to process by taking a golf club to a windshield of his producers' car and then reacting as above when he finds his wife with the singer of "Achy Breaky Heart".

With his Dune having been notoriously tampered with by producers, I suspect there's a bit of Lynch's own experience in the scene with the producers, which plays like an entirely arbitrary set of rituals deciding the fate of his movie with no regard for his opinion or even basic logic. While I don't know how particular Dino DeLaurentiis was about his espresso, I did laugh. Now, taking the reading that the first two acts of the movie are a fantasy of Naomi Watts' character, who is revealed to be miserable and ridden with jealousy in the third act, the amount of time we spend with Theroux is maybe hard to justify. Is this perhaps her "revenge" on him, his romantic and professional success having been flushed away while he flounders in search of greater meaning to his arc? Aside from possible autobiographical interest, these scenes do play like a riff on the idea that everyone is the main character in their own story, and if the Watts and Laura Harring characters can be thought of as having merged or swap identities, then perhaps Theroux's arc is the remainder of that quotient. (Now, it's worth noting that aside from being insecure and arrogant, Theroux in this movie is a less stylish than the real Lynch. If Watts conjures the best version of herself in her dream, Lynch maybe doesn't want his dream avatar outshining him.)

Now why did the Cyrus scene stick with me all these years when other details had slipped? Mostly because I'd found it amusing, partly because of the extra specific image Lynch produces, and somewhat because of the casting of Billy Ray Cyrus. Now, I don't have any special relationship to the Cyrus' body of work, but Lynch's casting of him, with his distinct mix of bozo, dudebro and hunk, results in a very specific comedic effect. This is something Lynch does elsewhere in the movie, like when he has Robert Forster show up as a detective for a single scene. The Forster role is likely in part a leftover from the movie's origins as a TV pilot, but the effect is similar (albeit less comedic). Melissa George appears as a woman who may or may not be a replacement for Watts in some realm of reality. Other directors obviously cast actors for their screen presence and the audience's relationship to their career, but the way Lynch does it feels particularly pointed, as if he's reshaping them entirely into iconography. The effect is particularly sinister with the presence of Michael J. Anderson, with whom he worked previously on Twin Peaks, and Monty Montgomery as a mysterious cowboy who dangles the secret of the movie over Theroux's character.

Cowboys in movies are frequently heroic presences (see any number of westerns) and are otherwise innocuously stylish (I confess I've come dangerously close to ordering a Stetson hat and a pair of cowboy boots), but the presence of one here feels like a ripple in the movie's reality. A dreamy, brightly lit mystery set in Los Angeles should have no place for a cowboy. It ain't right. (It's worth noting that Lynch at one point copped to admiring Ronald Reagan for reminding him of a cowboy. Is this his expression of a changed opinion? I have no idea, but Lynch has never struck me as all that politically minded.) Neither is the hobo that appears behind the diner. Certainly hobos have made their homes behind diners, but this one's presence and the way Lynch produces him feel again like a ripple in the the movie's narrative. Jump scares are frequently knocked for being lazy and cheap devices to generate shocks, but the one here gets under your skin.

Now about the movie's look. This starts off like a noir, and the mystery plot on paper would lead you to think that's how the whole movie plays, but the cinematography is a lot brighter, with almost confection-like colours, than that would lead you to believe, at least during the daytime scenes. This is another element that likely comes from its TV origins, but it does give the movie a distinctly dreamlike, fantastical quality that a more overtly cinematic look, like the one Lynch used in Lost Highway a few years earlier, might not capture. This is one of the reasons I think this movie works better than that one, and there's also the fact that the amateur sleuthing that drives the bulk of the plot here serves as a more pleasing audience vantage point than the male anxieties that fuel the other film. I also would much rather hang out with Naomi Watts and Laura Harring than a charisma void like Balthazar Getty.

The manufactured warmth of the daytime scenes also results, like in Blue Velvet, in the nighttime scenes feeling like they're in a completely different setting, one which perhaps offers the key to unlocking the mystery, or at least revealing the phoniness of the movie's surfaces. I think of the evocative Club Silencio sequence, which comes as close as anything in the movie to laying its illusions bare. ("No hay banda.") But at times Lynch will throw in disarmingly childlike, inexplicable imagery, like the dancing couples against a purple screen in the opening, something that would seem tacky and amateurish elsewhere but feels oddly cohesive here. There are a number of directors whose work I admire for being "dreamlike", and putting them side by side they all feel quite distinct (you would never mistake a Lucio Fulci film for a Lynch), but they have the unifying idea of imbuing the tactile qualities of film with the truly irrational to really burrow into your subconscious. Other directors have made movies with some of the same elements as Mulholland Drive, but none have put them together in quite the same way.

#film #movie review #mulholland drive #david lynch

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carolsimgian-empire · 4 years ago

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retribution.

tw: mentions of death/war.

Christophe:

I had always thought of war as an intrinsic evil. How could anything justify sending our Empire’s boys to die, like in both Great Wars?

That was, until I experienced the effects of war myself...

Justine: We must take Alienor in... she’s practically all alone. Helene can’t take her, she's in Great Brixton and is much too busy; neither can Adrien, and Astrid is too young to take on such a responsibility.

Later...

Alienor: Why did Xavier have to go too?! If he was afraid of the ocean like I am, he’d still be here! *sobs*

J: Oh, Allie...

My much-loved brother, sister-in-law, and two of their dear children were suddenly ripped away from our family, leaving their remaining four children (and all of my immediate family as well) grief-stricken.

Kunigunde: We’re here, Astrid. Always. We know this pain all too well, and we’ll help you through it.

Astrid: ...

And grief will take its toll...

Astrid: Make it stop! Let it all be in my head, or anything but reality!

Karolina: *embraces Astrid tightly*

It was these events that made me realize that the death of my family members could not and would not go unpunished. War, in these times, is a necessary evil to put a stop to such terrorism.

And there will be war. Nihon must pay.

@thesimsroyalfam

#tw death #tw war #emperor christophe #archduchess justine #archduke franciszek #archduchess karolina #archduchess astrid #archduchess kunigunde #archduchess alienor

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jelloopy · 5 years ago

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Taz Grad Ep 25

I know I’m a day late and I Skipped last episode im sorry. I got caught up with some stuff. But here we go!

Ranier Jesus, please don’t break your chair.

Argo and Firby just like disappointed “alright let’s go get our idiot (That’s a sign of an honest friendship right there)

Fitz in the Crypt! (Band name called it!)

JUSTIN AND CLINT PLAYING THE SKELEBROS OMFG (That’s v good on Travis’ part so he doesn’t have to talk for so long and also J&C don’t have to sit in silence for large swaths of time either!)

Gurkin is in his idle animation (I don’t actually know how to spell it so we’re going with that.... But still…)

Tibia was a vampire and has gold teeth!

So polite Fitz. Fuckin waving at the skeletons

”We can go by coco rules here!” (Thank you for clearing that up because I see it both ways from time to time when the training skeletons come in to play)

Tibia hugs Fitz (Clint I love you… jfc adorable.)

”I am inside you for sure, for sure!” “Oh, I don’t care for the phraseology of that at all” “I don’t like the physiology of it at all but here we are” (Very gross but very nice convo here I like the quick wit boys I was cracking up laughing)

God I love that they are doing this digitally so they aren’t in the same room and also it’s a podcast so they have to narrate everything they do “thumbs up”

”I nod knowingly” “he throws both of his hands in the air like ‘weeee!’”

Fitzroy is really sacrificing it all for these skeletons. He’s taking the shittiest route possible to make sure Tibia and Gurkin are safe (Now that’s a man who is worthy of being King!)

”Ohhhh, Golly. Ohhh Gosh” (Fitz p l e a s e just say fuck.)

OH THANK GOD good job Fitz using your magic as you should I’m v v proud of you (I was so worried he forgot he had magic)

”magic never goes wrong for me!” (Says the man who turned into a plant last time but sure go ahead and believe that)

Firby summons Breeze through the Willows and asks for transportation help!

Woah Ranier’s chair can shrink! (Classic. Magnus Burnsides and Taako working together I love it)

YO THE FOREST GUARDIAN IS DELIVERING A MESSAGE FROM FIRBY TO FIRBY? WTF (what does this actually imply for future visits with the “forest guardian”?)

Oooo splitting up the party that’s pretty scary guys (I don’t think Travis will do you dirty but good lord you’re all apart)

”Choose. *and justify*”

Good god this is comical I want to animate this (The scene with Tibia and Gurkin pointing and being loveable fools)

Gurkin takes the Helmet key and wears it on his thumb out of the room. (This is a very good merch opportunity boys please take it I will buy it you have no idea)

”Stairs! *gasp* could be a mimic!” “yep could be a mimic!” “Nah I’m just playing I go up the stairs I’m not afraid of no mimic” (sir... yes you should be, please be careful)

”May I interest you in a scone?” (Travis... is this your reference to Klarg and how he didn’t have scones?)

HOW DARE YOU FUCKING CALL FIRBY A THIEF I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU MOTHERFUCKER (Sorry got a little heated there but the threat still stands)

awe my fucking god Travis bringing baby Dot into the Ad read I’m s o f t (I live for any McElroy + their kid content like it’s so cute)

RANIER’S DAD IS DARK SKINNED WITH VITILIGO OMFG YESSS!!!!!!! HIS NAME IS Gordy? (So good I adore this. The name is so funny. Plus all the people who were dead set on Barry being Ranier’s dad are sad lmao)

”it’s a half-elf thing anyway” (Fitz please)

”Can I be a dad for a second?” (melted my heart)

”this seems very unfair to you!” (Felt that ok keep going)

”I’m up for the task but I need help and every time I ask for it there’s all these hoops I have to jump through” (OK FELT THAT KEEP GOING)

Travis, you are explaining the US/world today I hate you jfc stOPPPP (Please it’s too meta I can’t)

NOOOOOO FIRBY’S DAD IS DYING NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

”You do not look ill to me” (Pulling a fucking dad joke right off the bat huh Justin? I like your style)

”I am dying so what do I care” (Me in the situation of our world today)

AWE AWE AWEEEE FIRBY THINKS OF THE BOYS AS HIS NEW CLAN MY H E A R T

“I have been alone since I’ve left here. Be we are alone. Together.”

”Sleep well we will talk about this more in the morning” “and your father closes his eyes for the last time.” (JFC I’m CRYING OVER A NEW CHARACTER WHO doesn’t EVEN MAKE IT HALF AN EPISODE)

Firbolg SINGING IN HONOR OF HIS FATHER I’m SOBBING LEGIT RN (This isn’t a joke. Justin’s voice. Him singing in Firbolg’s voice too? OH my god. The talent, the emotion.)

ARGO AND RANIER TO THE RESCUE!!!!

Fitz is so worried about Firby right away (omfg my crops are watered, my acne is cleared)

Argo n Tibia (Yes.)

”No magic except for mine can get in or out of here”

TRAVIS WHAT DO YOU FUCKING MEAN THE FIRE IS FLICKERING IN SPOTS

NO OH FUCK. OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK. THAT’S NOT. JFC

GREY FUCKING GO AWAY.

”I told you that if you left without my permission that I would kill ten students a day until you come back.” (I didn’t even… consider… the implications…)

HOLY FUCK HELL HOUNDS? FITZ FUCKING SAVE THOSE BITCHES OH DEAR GOD GORDY YOU FUCKED THIS UP DIDN’T YOU?

Griffin, I need this music out ASAP, please. I swear to god.

In other news, I really am excited about next week’s episode. Bc, I think it’s going to be “Hello everyone! Welcome back! Roll for initiative” And those are my fave types of dnd sessions.

#taz #tazgraduation #taz: graduation #tazg #theadventurezone #thezonecast #sir fitzroy maplecourt #fitzroy maplecourt #argonaut keene #argo keen #tazfirbolg #firbolg #taz spoilers

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musicnewsonline · 5 years ago

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Interesting story about all of this!

Pharrell really continuously works hard despite being shuffled around by the best in the business! Not to take it personally, but to learn from it and not dwell from the experience!

Pharrell really is astounding and creative in his own talented way touching millions and we love the sounds of his soul!

MNO Team

#pharrell #music #musicnewsonline #pharrel williams #talented #celebrity #celebrity news #amazing person #soulful

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kali-tmblr · 5 years ago

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today

Ricky Ball family receives narrow explanation from attorney general’s office for dropped manslaughter charge

A lawyer with the state attorney general’s office omitted key evidence in a meeting with the family of Ricky Ball, who was shot and killed in 2015 by Canyon Boykin.

This story was published in partnership with The Appeal.

BY KO BRAGG AND JUSTIN BROOKS, THE APPEAL | JUNE 17, 2020

In a meeting with the family of Ricky Ball, a Black man shot and killed by a white police officer, a lawyer with the Mississippi attorney general’s office said the office could not pursue a manslaughter case against the officer. But the lawyer, Michael Ward, narrowly interpreted or omitted the state’s evidence, and called the case “troubling.”

In audio recorded on May 28 and obtained by The Appeal, Ward tells Ball’s mother and aunt that if the case had gone to trial, statements from Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) officers and the state medical examiner’s report would lead the jury to conclude that Canyon Boykin, who was fired from the Columbus Police Department two weeks after the shooting, was justified when he shot Ball in October 2015. A June 4 report from the attorney general’s office, detailing why it dropped the case, gives the same reasoning.

But Ward, who said he spent two weeks looking into the case for Attorney General Lynn Fitch, casts doubt on Boykin’s integrity as an officer. He also acknowledges that Boykin and Ball had “previous run-ins” and that “there were racial issues” involved.

“Officer Boykin in my opinion is not a star officer,” Ward said on the recording. “This case is really troubling.”

Neither Ward nor a spokesperson for Fitch’s office responded to The Appeal’s requests for comment.

Elizabeth Ball Cockrell, Ball’s aunt who says she identified her nephew’s body after the shooting, told The Appeal she felt as though Ward was not working on the family’s behalf.

“I feel like he was more paving a clearance for Officer Boykin to walk away scot-free,” she said in a phone interview.

Fitch dropped the manslaughter charge against Boykin in late May, and at her request, a local judge dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be brought back to court on the same grounds.

“It’s a systematic issue, our inability to have these officer-involved shooting cases handled appropriately,” said Scott Colom, district attorney for the 16th District, which includes Columbus. He recently made public some of the case files from the attorney general’s office.

Boykin’s indictment, he said, “represented the voice of the community.” But “then you have a dismissal with very little explanation … and there’s evidence that supported the indictment that was not mentioned in the dismissal,” he said. “It’s why there is so much distrust in our criminal justice system.”

The shooting

Around 10 p.m. on October 16, 2015, three members of Columbus Police Department’s Special Operations Group—Boykin, Officer Johnny “Max” Branch, and Officer Yolanda Young were doing an unapproved ride-along with Boykin’s fiance, Alisa Stanford, in an unmarked Crown Victoria.

Young said in sworn testimony she observed that a license plate light was out on a Grand Marquis, and Branch, who was driving, followed it before turning on the police lights. Shannon Brewer, who was driving the Marquis with Ball seated on the passenger side, didn’t immediately pull over and later explained to investigators that Ball panicked, grabbed her wheel and said that he was “dirty.”

Branch got on Boykin’s radio and called in the traffic stop. “We got one failing to stop,” he said.

Young said Brewer drove over a speed bump, and Ball jumped out of the car. Boykin exited his vehicle and ran after Ball. While Boykin pursued Ball, Young handcuffed Brewer, and hugged and comforted Stanford, Young said in sworn testimony.

Boykin said he shouted for Ball to stop and deployed his Taser, and Ball fell to the ground. Boykin approached Ball—whose body he later told MBI investigators, was “locked up from the taser”— and saw a gun in Ball’s hands. Boykin said he then yelled “gun” twice. Boykin told investigators he never yelled out any command for Ball to drop the gun he said he saw.

Boykin dropped his Taser and “transitioned to his firearm,” he said. “I did feel threatened, and that’s why I drew my weapon,” Boykin told investigators five days after the shooting. “I did—I did point it at him. I didn’t fire until I seen—when I seen him turn, that’s when I felt the full threat.”

Young said Boykin ran away from Ball in a semicircle to get out of the direct line of fire, per his training. Ball then got up and ran, Boykin later told MBI investigators. Boykin said that after Ball ran about 20 to 25 yards, he saw Ball slow down and raise his right arm as if to shoot him. Boykin fired nine rounds; one bullet struck Ball in the right hip and another struck a critical artery in his right arm. Only about 13 seconds elapsed between Branch’s radio call about Brewer failing to stop and Branch reporting shots had been fired, radio traffic recordings show.

Boykin told the MBI that after he shot Ball, Ball got up and jumped a ditch.

None of the officers’ body cameras were active during the encounter leading up to or during the shooting. Boykin activated his camera only after the fatal shooting.

According to the bodycam footage obtained by The Appeal, Boykin says to other officers arriving at the scene, “Oh, fuck. He fucking pulled a gun on me, dude. … There’s his blood right there,” and points to the ground. “He’s hit bad on the right side.”

Officer Christian Benton’s body camera picks up someone yelling for help. Officers find Ball, one-tenth of a mile away from the traffic stop, lying on his back between two houses, his shirt drenched with blood.

Officers shout “show me your hands!” and “get your hands up!” as they approach Ball with their weapons drawn. Officers are heard saying they spot a gun near Ball and drag his body by the leg away from it. Later, in a statement to investigators, Officer Garrett Mittan, who responded to the scene, said officers pulled Ball away from the gun after they realized he was unresponsive.

The gun found near Ball was the same weapon Mittan reported stolen from his home on August 5, 2015, according to a report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. A wrongful death suit on behalf of Ball accused Mittan of planting the weapon at the scene. The city of Columbus settled the suit with Ball’s family for an undisclosed amount in 2018.

Bodycam footage then shows officers finding “dope” in the cinderblocks of the home where Ball hid; an MBI report states that a Taurus 9 mm pistol and marijuana were found there.

As Ball writhes on the ground, Benton runs to get purple gloves, then comes back to handcuff Ball’s wrists. “Stop moving. I can’t help you if you keep moving, quit it,” he says as he locks the cuffs above Ball’s head. Officers stand around Ball’s body, shining their flashlights on him as EMTs tend to his injuries.

Bodycam footage from inside the ambulance shows a female EMT attempting to resuscitate Ball. Someone is heard saying “no pulse” before the video cuts off. Ball was pronounced dead at 11:12 p.mat Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle, just an hour after the traffic stop.

In a June 2018 deposition for a civil matter related to the shooting, Jeff Reynolds, one of Boykin’s attorneys, asked then deputy chief medical examiner Lisa Funte about the likelihood of survival if “Ball had given up sooner.”

“It’s possible he may have still died even if he had received timely medical intervention,” Funte replied. “But he would have had a much greater chance of survival with immediate medical attention.”

After the city fired Boykin, he sued, claiming that he was fired unjustly because of “uninformed public pressure,” according to the lawsuit. The city settled with Boykin in 2017 for an undisclosed amount.

Colom, the district attorney, transferred the case to the attorney general’s office in July 2016, when Democrat Jim Hood was still in office. A Lowndes County grand jury indicted Boykin in September 2016, and Fitch inherited the case when she took office in January.

‘Previous run-ins’

In the May audio, Ward says to the Ball family that he was aware Ball and Boykin had “previous run-ins” and that there “was a history” between the two of them. But the attorney general’s report discounts statements from Ball’s former girlfriend and family friend that suggest Boykin may have targeted Ball.

Aunnaray Leech, a friend of the Ball family, told investigators that Boykin was aggressive toward Ball in the past. And Dominique Cotton, Ball’s former girlfriend, told investigators that Boykin was harassing Ball in the weeks leading up to the shooting, particularly after Ball fled from Boykin during a traffic stop months before.

On Aug. 26, 2015, Boykin and Branch attempted to pull Ball over. He was driving a blue Hyundai with Laura Hines, a white woman and step-cousin to Boykin. Ball refused to pull over and led Boykin and Branch on a chase through Columbus. The officers lost the vehicle for several minutes. When they finally located Hines, Ball was nowhere to be found. Hines told Boykin she had been riding with Ball.

As they were pursuing Ball’s car, Boykin said to Branch, “I’m going to snatch her out the car, snatch him out the car,” according to body camera footage. “You going to whoop his ass?” Branch asked Boykin. “He was going to jail no matter what,” Boykin says. “No matter what he was going to jail today. … If i get my fucking hands on him, fucking moolie, goddamnit, motherfucker.”

Moolie is an Italian slur against Black people. Boykin’s counsel rejected the transcription of the audio recording, saying Boykin instead said “bully” and does not know what “moolie” means.

A local judge ruled in August 2017 that the video would be admissible at trial to help “establish the defendant’s state of mind” during the shooting.

‘Very strange situation’

Ball’s family raised questions in the meeting with Ward about the gun that police say they found at the scene of the shooting. Ward replied, “It was stolen in August and found there in the cinder blocks. Very strange situation.”

In a June 2018 deposition for a civil case against Boykin, an officer with the MBI said Ball’s fingerprints were not on the gun found at the scene, there were discrepancies in the Taser log, and he had no opinion about whether Boykin was justified in shooting Ball.

When Funte, the deputy chief medical examiner, sat for a deposition in 2018, she said that the amount of pain Ball was in may have caused him to drop the gun in question.

“He would still have the ability to grip things,” Funte said. “Pain, again, is going to cause you to attend to the pain. So, he’s holding something, he may drop it, but it’s still possible for him to continue to grip it. … It’s also possible that when he gets shot, the impact of the bullet, itself, may cause him to drop or release his grip on the gun on anything he’s carrying.”

Ward told Ball’s family that he asked Boykin to take a polygraph because “there was a lot of issues involved” in the case. The report from the attorney general’s office notes that Boykin took the polygraph and “was found to be truthful in his answers concerning this case that supported his claim of self-defense.”

Ward acknowledged to the family that “polygraphs are not admissible in court, they’re not 100 percent sure.”

‘Overwhelming evidence’

Ward told the Ball family that Funte agreed with Boykin’s version of what happened. But neither he nor the attorney general’s report acknowledge the clarifications Funte made to her original statement.

The report cites Funte’s February 2017 affidavit as evidence that Ball was shot while raising a pistol, as Boykin claimed. “Notably this is contrary to social media postings contained in the case file claiming Mr. Ball was shot in the back,” the report reads, referencing posts on YouTube in the aftermath of the shooting.

But in a declaration, filed with the court a year after her affidavit, Funte said that both bullets entered Ball “from back to front.” She also clarified that her affidavit addressed one specific possibility and was not intended to address all of the “potential possibilities regarding the position of Mr. Ball when he was shot.” Funte said Ball could have either been turning to shoot Boykin with a gun in his hand when he was shot or Ball could have been running and pumping his arms when he got shot.

The attorney said he could not share Funte’s reports with the family because it was part of the attorney general’s office’s investigation. However, The Appeal obtained her entire autopsy report, including photographs of Ball’s body, from public court records at the Lowndes County Courthouse.

Fitch’s office also based its decision to dismiss the case on a report from Charles Wetli, a forensic pathologist hired as an expert witness by the attorney general. Wetli reviewed Funte’s autopsy report and 2017 affidavit, Boykin’s indictment, and photographs of Ball’s autopsy and photos from the scene of the incident and concluded in his August 2017 report that “Mr. Ball was not shot from behind.”

Wetli coined the term “excited delirium,” a condition of agitation or acute distress often caused by drugs or electric shock from a Taser that could cause sudden death. It is not recognized by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, or the World Health Organization.

Legal experts say the defense for Officer Derek Chauvin—who kneeled on George Floyd’s neck last month until he died—may hinge on the same controversial condition, despite Floyd’s autopsy proving otherwise.

‘We’re limited by the cards we have’

Ward also told the Ball family that the office dropped its indictment against Boykin because of the Weathersby rule—a state Supreme Court precedent that says if the defendant is the sole eyewitness, a jury would have to believe the defendant’s testimony, barring substantial evidence to rebut or contradict their account. The jury would have to accept Boykin’s version of what happened unless “we can present credible evidence to rebut it,” Ward said.

“We’re limited by the cards we have to get a conviction,” Ward said. “And we can’t go in hoping we’re going to get a biased jury and try to throw some darts and hope for a conviction. But this is absolutely not an exoneration of Boykin whatsoever. I want y’all to understand that.”

In January 2019, Boykin’s defense attorneys used the same argument in an attempt to get the state to drop the case. “It should be required to (dismiss this case) not only to end Officer Boykin’s nightmare, but also to save the State the needless waste of taxpayer resources and the court’s time in trying a case which the State knows cannot be successful,” the motion reads.

In response to Boykin’s motion, then assistant attorney general Stanley Alexander argued against this reliance on Weathersby. “Weathersby is only to be applied at the completion of the state’s case and then if only the defendant’s account of the crime is not contradicted. … The argument is simply premature at this time,” Alexander wrote in February 2019. Fitch fired Alexander in January and has since let go of other assistant attorneys general from the previous administration. Alexander declined to comment.

Protesters demand answers

The decision to dismiss the case sparked protests outside Fitch’s office in Jackson on June 5. According to Mississippi Today, a group of about 150 people shouted, “No free kill” and protesters tried to hand deliver a letter to Fitch, demanding to know the evidence her office considered in dropping the charges against Boykin. The Clarion-Ledger reported that the letter eventually made it to her office.

Colom, the district attorney, told the Appeal in a June 1 phone interview that he regrets transferring the case to the attorney general’s office: “Had I known that [the attorney general] would dismiss the case this way at a period in time when we’re having a national reckoning, a national crisis around African Americans and police brutality … I would not have transferred it.”

Ball Cockrell, Ricky Ball’s aunt who was in the meeting, told The Appeal she wanted this case to go to trial, and following the meeting with Ward, she didn’t feel like his reasoning for dropping the case made sense to her.

“I’m not a lawyer, but it was just so many things that didn’t have a clear answer,” she said.

Throughout the audio, Ward drew comparisons between himself and the Ball family: Ward said he was also a Christian, has a son Ricky’s age, and that he knew how hurt the Ball family was since he lost his best friend three years ago.

Toward the end of the meeting, Ball’s mother, Angela, got emotional.

“Here I am 52 raising a 7-year-old,” she said of Ball’s daughter, Makayla Hendricks, who joined the protests outside Fitch’s office.

“[Ward] said this doesn’t exonerate Boykin and he stayed up so many sleepless nights … but you don’t tell us what kept you up at night worried about this case? I didn’t walk out of that meeting feeling good.”

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

#blacklivesmatter

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zaynliam · 5 years ago

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Liam had an interview with Jose Alejandro Antunes that was published on both GQ Latinamerica and GQ Mexico’s December 2019/January 2020 issue. Both of the issues hit the stands on November 30 (hence the reason Liam was talking about the album like it wasn’t released yet). Here’s the transcript of both interviews:*

(*Note: The translation was done using Google Translate)

GQ LATINOAMÉRICA

He is possibly one of the most powerful young people in music and here is why: Liam Payne was a member of one of the most famous boybands of today: One Direction, the English who managed to sell more than 30 million records, placed four albums consecutive at # 1 of the Billboard 100 and won more than 200 awards; They have a documentary that raised over $68 million and 17 singles with four in the top spot ... and with 1D the list continues. We must accept his success as a great band of this generation, taking into account that there is something in British groups that are like dynamite in the music universe.

We are all informed that each member took his course and have broken records, each with his own and incomparable style ... Payne, before his 18 million followers on Instagram, was filling us with tests with his next single; one that crowned with much power.

Liam, 26, with the amount of 2,000,000,000 (yes, two billion) of views on Spotify. He has given us great songs like “Strip That Down”, his debut in 2017 with Quavo with 10 million copies sold, and surpasses 300 million views on YouTube. The collaboration with J. Balvin, “Familiar”, in 2018, was 16 weeks in the Billboard 100 chart; also participated on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack and now, this September, he released "Stack It Up" with A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, promising a full record of hits, which follow a non-pop line, creating a unique style. Here at GQ Mexico, we talked with the artist about the process that was LP1:

How have you been since you presented “Stack It Up” on music platforms? Well, very busy, had a week of very moving launch; I was promoting the single for America and Europe, while adding the final touches to the album. It has been all very fun.

We, as an audience, listen to "Stack It Up" and fully identify your style, one that has remained in the same vein as your past material ... How do you see this new song? I feel the same. I see it a bit like "Strip That Down", in the sense that it is one of those fun songs, besides that my album is ready for release and I couldn't think of a better song to start talking about the material.

It's a song with that killer effect and it has an incredible collaboration. What do you think is the factor that makes a topic good? I think it must be something attractive to the world of streaming. What I want to say is that you have to give the audience something in the first seconds of the song: there is a lot going on in what we do, see or hear every day and everything happens very fast; so the first two seconds have to capture you and I think it is, in particular, it succeeds in the first two lines.

You have always shown us great songs, and we will ask you the question whose answer we all want to know: when are we going to have a full album, Liam? This will be released on December 6 and is called LP1. I have been working on it a lot and, therefore, it will be composed of many different songs, choosing them with the necessary time each. It has that feel of everything I hear and like, like Justified by Justin Timberlake, 701 of Usher, a bit of old school music, and it is being left as I wish this album to sound.

So, do you consider it essential to listen to other artists during the creative process of a subject, it is better not to fill your mind with things that have already been done? Look, many of the songs have the same mold of what has been delivered previously; For me, I think it's important to have that back, to have songs that you like the sounds, things like the ones Kanye delivered on his latest album: I loved those sounds because I hadn't heard them before. I listen to a lot of rap because it bursts my imagination.

Was it a creative process that you developed alone or do you prefer people around you? Personally, I flow better with more people. In my case, it is very important to collaborate with another talent. To be able to lower your ideas to those of others. You force yourself not to do something useless that way, because the responsibility is two. And it becomes very demanding, especially when you're putting together a complete album.

Is there anything in particular that you are trying to communicate with LP1? I have spent a lot of time preparing it, and the simple fact of presenting it has me very excited. Listen to this: I think it is rare for both artists and the audience to concentrate more on waiting for a new single and not on a complete album, so I am very excited that with it, they know my sound and a little more correctly More on my artistic side.

Since you play the song, do you think it is more acceptable to release singles than an album? Fortunately, I had very good reception with my singles and I got carried away with that wave. Something interesting is that I did not have much pressure to form and create this album, compared to the one we lived with One Direction, which was a lot to sell the tour, because it came before the album. I no longer wanted to be in that situation, I preferred to live music for what it is, enjoy it for what it transmits and not for simple business. And it is just the reason why I took the time to deliver this one.

GQ MEXICO (This is an abridged version of the interview)

He is possibly one of the most powerful young people in music, and here is why: Liam was a member of one of the most famous boybands: One Direction, the English with more than 30 million records four consecutive in #1 of the Billboard 100, more than 200 awards, a documentary that raised over $68 million and 17 singles with four in the top spot ... and with 1D, the list can continue, like many of the other British bands.

Payne, like the rest of the group, took his own course and today, with only 26 years of age, 18 million followers on Instagram and the amount of 2,000,000,000 (yes, two billion) of views on Spotify, he has given us songs like “Strip That Down”, his debut in 2017 with Quavo. The collaboration with J Balvin, “Familiar”, in 2018, and in September, launched “Stack It Up” with A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, promising a complete record of hits, which follow a non-pop line, creating a unique style. Here at GQ Mexico, we talked with the artist about the process that was his first album, LP1.

The style of "Stack It Up": I see it a bit like "Strip That Down", in the sense that it is fun, and I couldn't think of a better song to start talking about my new album.

The killer effect for a good song: I think it must be something attractive to the world of streaming. What I mean is that you have to give the audience something in the first seconds of the song, something that captures them. I hope this one succeeds. LP1: It will be released on December 6. It is composed of selected songs with the necessary time each. It has that feel of everything I like, like Justified by Justin Timberlake, 701 of Usher, a bit of old school music, and it was just as I wanted.

Musical influences of other artists: Look, many of the songs have the same mold of what has already been done; For me, it is important to have that back of peculiar sounds that I like.

Development alone or with people around you: I flow better with more people. In my case, it is essential to collaborate with another talent. By lowering your ideas with others, you force yourself not to do something useless because the responsibility is two.

Communication with LP1: The simple fact of presenting it has me very excited. I think it is rare that both artists and the audience concentrate more on a new single and not on a complete album, so I am very excited that with him, they know in the most correct way my sound and a little more about my artistic side.

Singles or album: Fortunately, I had a very good reception with my singles and I went with that wave. I didn't have much pressure to form and create this album, compared to the one I lived with One Direction. I preferred to live music for what it is and what it transmits, not for business. And, because of that, I took the time to deliver this one.

#text post #update post #gq mexico #gq latinoamerica #lp1 promo #print media coverage #really disappointed Liam didn’t advertise this interview when the issue came out #coz it’s really good #his team should have been on top of this kind of stuff #and not just focus promoting the beard instead urgh

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