Oh The Irony...

Some readers may have heard, but others may have not, about the little trial that is going on down in Texas. In the 226th Judicial District, Mary Roberts and her husband Ted Roberts, have been standing trial for multiple counts of felony theft. In March, her husband, Ted, was convicted on three counts of theft. Yesterday, the jury apparently found for the prosecution and convicted Mary of five counts of theft.

The thefts alleged stemmed from Mary cheating on her husband. Her husband, like any good red-blooded man, was not going to stand for being cheated on by his wife, whom he presumably loves. However, instead of the time honored beat-down or perhaps, in view of Texas' liberal gun policy, shooting them, he fell back on what he knew.

You see, Ted and Mary, are both attorneys. So Ted, as soon as he found out about the affairs, sent demand letters to his wife's paramours threatening them with lawsuits for emotional distress caused by their actions (Texas apparently abolished the alienation of affection statute back in 1997).

Now, Ted's actions are in a bit of a gray area, in my opinion. If he intended to go through with the suits, then it may be that the prosecution got it wrong. Otherwise, it would seem that lawyers sending off demand letters in any case where they represent clients on contracts or in personal injury accidents could end up facing theft charges. To me, it seems there is an inconsistency in this, unless they showed that there was some plan whereby Mary would sleep with the men with Ted's knowledge so that he could pounce on them.

A few asides... Apparently the prosecutor charged them with blackmail, but failed to secure convinctions on those charges. Mr. Robert's appeal is currently pending. And finally, it should be noted that Mrs. Robert's practice areas included "ethics-Legal malpractice". Perhaps Mr. Roberts should have run the scheme by her first...