Judge sentences man to 53 years, then performs his wedding

I hereby sentence you to 53 years in prison. Now, on a lighter note, you may kiss the bride.

Moments after being sentenced to a lengthy prison term, Danne Desbrow, 36, married Destiny Winters, 33. Judge Patricia Cookson presided over both the sentencing and the ceremony, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The kicker: Judge Cookson baked a Bundt cake for the bride and groom.

Desbrow reconnected with Winters during his trial for the murder of Kevin Santos. Desbrow and Winters had attended high school together but lost touch after Winters became pregnant. During the trial, Desbrow proposed and Winters accepted.

Winters told the paper that she asked Cookson if she would perform the ceremony and was pleasantly surprised when the judge agreed.

Desbrow's attorney, Steve Cline, told the Union-Tribune that the wedding took him completely by surprise.

“I didn’t know it was going to happen,” Cline explained to the Union-Tribune. “Obviously, it was an unusual day from start to finish. I mean, I appreciate that she honored the request for them to marry. But, I’ve never seen anything like that.”

The Union-Tribune writes that following the conclusion of the sentencing, the families of Desbrow and Winters were allowed to stay in the courtroom.

Cookson reportedly performed the ceremony, still dressed in her judicial robes. Desbrow remained shackled at his feet, and sheriff's deputies were on hand to monitor the situation.

Let's JUDGE the President

Most Americans judge a President based on his promises and his results. They measure the success of the nation in part by the question Ronald Reagan asked voters in 1980. Reagan simply said,“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

For Barack Obama,this question is deadly. Obama promised big results,but he has failed to deliver. For example,look at these four promises and his results.

Obama’s 825 billion dollar stimulus failed to keep unemployment below 8 percent as Obama promised. Since President Obama’s stimulus passed,America has lost 1.1 million jobs. If you count people who have become discouraged and are no longer seeking jobs,some economists believe that real unemployment rate is above twenty percent.


Obama called his health care package one of his major accomplishments. He told CBS’Steve Kroft he was “putting in place a system in which we’re going to start lowering health care costs.”Yet it has failed to make health insurance more affordable. According to the fact watchdog website FactCheck.org,ObamaCare is actually making health care “less affordable.”Workers paid an average of $132 more for family coverage just this year.

Obama predicted his investments in green energy would create 5 million jobs,but the Wall Street Journal reports:“The green jobs subsidy story gets more embarrassing by the day. Three years ago President Obama promised that by the end of the decade,America would have five million green jobs,but so far,some $90 billion in government spending has delivered very few.”

Federal Judge Dismisses PETA Lawsuit Claiming SeaWorld Whales Are Slaves

SAN DIEGO (AP) — An effort to free whales from Sea World by claiming they were enslaved made a splash in the news but flopped in court Wednesday.

A federal judge in San Diego dismissed an unprecedented lawsuit seeking to grant constitutional protection against slavery to a group of orcas that perform at SeaWorld parks, saying the 13th amendment applies only to humans.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller stopped the case from proceeding two days after he became the first judge in U.S. history to listen to arguments in court over the possibility of granting constitutional rights for members of an animal species.

“As ‘slavery’ and ‘involuntary servitude’ are uniquely human activities, as those terms have been historically and contemporaneously applied, there is simply no basis to construe the Thirteenth Amendment as applying to non-humans,” Miller wrote in his ruling.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed the lawsuit in October and named five whales as plaintiffs. PETA says the wild-captured Orcas are enslaved by SeaWorld because they are held in concrete tanks against their will and forced to perform in shows at its parks in San Diego and Orlando, Fla.

SeaWorld called the lawsuit baseless and a waste of the court’s time and money.