044 Washington v. Byrne

What we don’t talk about in the Bar is that law school ruins eyeballs. Looking between our incoming class photo and photos from my 3L year, I clocked a lot of new framed faces. I went that opposite direction - I went from wearing glasses to wearing contacts. Learning to wear contacts was not without bumps and the most significant setback took place at the beginning, in my optometrist’s office. The optometrist brought me over to a backless stool near a well lit mirror so I could learn how to put my new lenses in and I recognized I was a little "medical environment" woozy. I explained that I needed a moment on the couch across the room. But the internal light switch went out before I got there and I broke the bottom pane of a glass door with my head on the way down. I came to with the sound of falling glass gently tinkling around me and missing a small clump of hair. Then, in the haze of my concussion, the optometrist asked me to sign a hurriedly typed up agreement that I wouldn’t sue.   As I signed the document, I remember thinking that I didn’t believe it could possibly be enforceable, given my head injury moments before.  But my ability, or inability, to think through contracts and torts in the wake of my injury required high level thinking and analysis.  It wasn’t something straightforward. After getting his bell rung, Army Ranger Specialist Byrne claimed the hit was so severe, he couldn’t appreciate or understand that beating someone to death was wrong.   I relied on information from the Army Times, News Tribune, King 5, Kiro 7, Law and Crime, the probable cause affidavit, Twin Cities Bin News, Daily Mail, Atlanta Black Star, Go Army, History Net, KEPR TV, Disabled American Veterans, and the Washington penal code. ----- This episode involved discussion of sexual assault. There are a number of resources available for survivors and victim of sexual assault, including the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN). They offer a free, confidential national sexual assault hotline at 800-656-HOPE as well as an online chat option. ------ Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please t