The Legendary: Record of tumbling down lives blurred, obscure

I certainly was in the right. Yes, but I was terribly drunk at the time.

Alleged murder by arson a hassle

This is no ad agency for tush hogs. Stick to the facts. Write clear ledes in active voiced, simple, declarative sentences... - Zarko, a Gypsy prince turned City Editor

Waco – In the near alchemical arcana of the laconic notations of the criminal court record, one clearly discerns the lifelong trend to social isolation.

Like a vein of contrasting color running through a slab of marble, it is set in graphic detail, year to year, the rush to self demonization running through the events of what would have been an otherwise normal life.

The preliminary bouts to the main event – the divorce with all its counter and cross claims, amended petitions, allegations of complaint, interventions and sad tales of young love gone wrong, casts a long and lengthening shadow in prelude to all that follows in the archives of the district courts.

Somewhere, somehow, the public record holds, it is a demarcation to the point when the hierarchy of human needs went topsy turvy, cast aloft and spinning madly out of control, hemorrhaging children, in-laws, the good regard of employers, creditors, neighbors, Courts, cops.

Both men involved in this mano a mano of excess, a high drama played out from shadowy venues through very public means, have this in common, as well as the long and interwoven strands of criminal transgressions, illuminated in a relief of escalating severity.

Both men are heavily tattooed with Nazi symbols – a swastika, twin lightning SS bolts, and the like.

There is something even more telling that is held in common, man to man.

In no case has either Delvin Maddison, a.k.a. Durty, or Myron Schanck, a.k.a. Shogun, ever stood up to criminal charges leveled at them by entering pleas of not guilty. The People of the State of Texas have never been compelled to go that extra mile, to carry that burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt, to a moral certainty, by clear and convincing evidence and the presentation of direct testimony.

Never.

The scope and range of their criminal enterprises has always thus been defined by a cop out, a plea to something other than the charge for which they answered the indictment, itself no presentment of guilt.

Investigators and prosecutors have colored their charges with high drama, and it makes it difficult for the uninitiated to read and understand the record. For instance, in the original charge attached to Cause No. 2004-1338-C, authorities outlined a case of attempted murder.

Code. The record also shows the case was disposed by a plea of guilty and a short prison sentence.

Prosecutors so charged Delvin Maddison on December 15, 2004. Ninety days later, he pled guilty to assault of a public servant. The alleged murder attempt consisted of running from a traffic stop made by Officer Brent Ewing of the Robinson Police. According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Detective O'Connor, Mr. Maddison kicked and thrashed the officer in the nose, knee, thumb, face and shoulders after he tackled him during a merry chase that left Mr. Maddison's shorts down around his shoe tops.

Police thought the officer might have suffered a broken collarbone. No funny bone needed.

A girlfriend named Tonya Croft visited the cop shop to let the detective know that Durty reacted this way because he had recently swallowed two sacks of methamphetamine, according to the Lieutenant's report.

Mr. Maddison has filed writs of habeas corpus seeking relief from convictions and a reduction of sentence, all of which have been slapped down by various courts, including the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, when jurists such as Judge George Allen of the 54^th District Court pointed out that he had been admonished that he waived his right to appeal without the permission of the Court, that he knew his admission of guilt was binding, and that he had clearly acknowledged by his signature and his initials that at the time he understood all these factors.

Authorities have accepted pleas of guilt from him for unauthorized use of a vehicle, forgery and unauthorized use of a credit card. He is presently under indictment along with 8 other persons for engaging in organized criminal activity. His crime is that of depriving another man of his automobile, a souped-up Ford Mustang.

And then there is Shogun, Myron Schanck, the man Durty has publicly accused of torching a mobile home at 6312 N. 19^th St. in Bosqueville, a blaze that left a lady named Ashley Rogers and two of her children dead while a third child, a little boy, experienced a miraculous rescue by a neighbor boy.

Authorities most recently arrested Shogun and turned him over to Dallas County for burglary of a habitation, insufficient bond, credit or debit card abuse, and burglary of a building.

They have two other things in common.

Both are featured in the Facebook pages of young ladies who favor skimpy costumes, piercings, tattoos, shiny chrome restraints, and black leather. A notation makes note of a condition in which one derives sexual pleasure from whippings or beatings. Another bears the cryptic, but not so subtle message of “Get out of your clothes and get me my belt,” as well as “Spank me pink.”

Within hours of being mentioned in these columns, all such Facebook pages have been removed, their owners scrubbed from the pages of the popular application.

On a chilling note, according to an anonymous but reliable source close to the investigation, both men also share another factor in common.

They were both out of stir, known to have been in the area of Waco, and well known to the circle of acquaintances surrounding the fatal fire that occurred on February 16 at 6:30 p.m., a tragedy that claimed the lives of Ashley Rogers and two of her children.

So far, one man, Delvin “Durty” Maddison, has made numerous protests of innocence in the matter and made at least one public accusation in a Facebook video naming Myron “Shogun” Schanck as the one who set the blaze.