Results matching “first”

Official crime statistics are slow to confirm what common sense tells us is likely to happen and what anecdotal evidence tells us is happening.  There is a lag between cause and effect and another lag between effect and the official statistics.  But eventually the facts, "stubborn things," do come in.

Devlin Barrett has this article in the WSJ, with the above headline in the print version (slightly different online).

Murders rose 6.2% in the first half of 2015, according to preliminary crime data released Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, figures that are likely to further fuel the current political debates about crime, policing and sentencing.

Violent crime overall increased 1.7%, the FBI found, while property crimes decreased 4.2%, compared with the first six months of 2014. Police chiefs from around the country had warned about an apparent surge in recent months.

 

OH Home Explosion was Arson:  A house fire and explosion that shook an Ohio neighborhood Monday evening, killing a family of four, was determined by investigators to be arson.  The AP reports that Jeffrey and Cynthia Mather perished in the Northfield Center Township home, along with their eight- and 12-year-old daughters.  The family's remains were discovered on the first floor of the home, the mother and two daughters at the front of the home and the father in the rear.  The state fire marshal's office announced Wednesday that investigators have determined the cause of the fire, which they believe was intentionally set, but are not yet releasing details as the investigation is ongoing.  A medical examiner says murder-suicide is a possible motive, but it will take weeks to make a definitive ruling.  

Twitter Sued for 'Allowing' ISIS to Spread Propaganda:  A lawsuit filed against Twitter by the family of a Florida man killed in a terror attack in Jordan claims the social media company has "knowingly permitted" Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists to spread their propaganda online.  Kellen Howell of the Washington Times reports that the family of 46-year-old Lloyd "Carl" Fields Jr. filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleging Twitter provided "material support" that has been "instrumental in the rise of ISIS," the terrorist group that took credit for the Nov. 9 terror attack that killed Fields and another American at the International Police Training Center in Amman.  Between January and July 2015, Twitter users submitted 1,003 content removal requests worldwide, 42 percent of which the company complied with; however, it did not comply with any of the 25 requests submitted by U.S. police or government agencies.  The suit claims ISIS has an estimated 70,000 Twitter accounts, posting 90 tweets per minute.  Twitter says the lawsuit is "without merit."

Language Barrier Claims Delay 2 Trials:  Two Texas men facing serious criminal charges are using language-speaking claims to delay their trials, in what has been described as an emerging pattern in Tom Green County.  Lana Shadwick of Breitbart reports that 74-year-old Jesus Hernandez Ramos, charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, was speaking English with his court-appointed attorney up until Wednesday, when he claimed an "inability to speak English" as a reason he could not speak with his attorney.  He then refused an interpreter and requested a Spanish-speaking attorney, delaying the case until February.  The other man, 41-year-old Miguel Hernandez, who fired a gun inside a home he was burglarizing, employed the same tactics and succeeding in delaying his case as well.  Such delays cost counties $$ when lawyers are replaced and have to start over, but judges "frequently have their hands tied" when a defendant claims a language barrier because if they do not follow the defendant's request, the case could be reversed on appeal.

No Clear Motive in Louisiana Theater Shooting:  A handwritten journal left behind by the man who opened fire in a Louisiana movie theater last summer doesn't provide a clear motive for the deadly shooting, but does give details of a troubled, mentally unstable man "filled with hatred for his country and for people who didn't share his views."  Michael Kunzelman and Rebecca Santana of the AP report that in the 40-page journal found in a Lafayette motel room, 59-year-old gunman John Russell Houser described the U.S. as a "filth farm" filled with "soft targets."  He railed against gays, women and blacks" and wrote of how he designed a new logo for the Islamic State.  His last entry, written shortly before the shooting on July 23, included the start time of the movie and his final words, that he was leaving the journal "in hopes of truth, my death all but assured."  That evening, Houser opened fire during the movie "Trainwreck," killing 33-year-old Jillian Johnson and 21-year-old Mayci Breaux and wounding nine others before committing suicide. In 2008, after relatives claimed that he was a danger to himself and others, a judge ordered Houser detained for mental evaluation but did not have him involuntarily committed.  This  allowed him to pass a federal background check and legally purchase the .40-caliber handgun used in the rampage. 

The title of this post is the answer I expect to hear (if there's any answer at all) from the pro-sentencing reform side when they respond to the three murders that were committed in Columbus, Ohio by a convicted drug felon out on early release because of an earlier version of "sentencing reform."  They will say, I think, that we're all doing our best to release only "low level, non-violent" offenders, but mistakes cannot be avoided in human life.  So, yes, something like this was bound to happen, but errors are inevitable.

I bring you this tragic and shameful story from the Columbus Dispatch:

The man charged with killing an ex-girlfriend and two of her children in a North Side stabbing rampage early on Tuesday likely would have been deep into a 12 1/2-year federal prison sentence if sentencing guidelines for convicted crack dealers had remained unchanged.

Wendell L. Callahan, 35, twice benefited from changes in federal sentencing guidelines, which reduced his sentence by a total of more than four years, from the 150 months he was first given in 2007, to 110 months in 2008 including time served, and 100 months in 2011.

ISIS Growing Faster than Al Qaeda:  A former top CIA official told Congress Tuesday that the Islamic State (ISIS) is gaining affiliates "faster than Al Qaeda ever did," testifying that the number of militant groups now swearing allegiance to the terrorist organization has grown to cover 20 countries, from nearly nothing just one year ago.  Fox News reports that Michael Morell, President Obama's former deputy and acting CIA director, told the House Armed Services Committee that ISIS poses a "significant strategic and lethal threat" to the U.S. and Europe, warning that the group is "almost certainly" working to wage attacks on U.S. targets, as they have successfully done in Europe.  Another U.S. intelligence official says that over 36,000 foreign fighters, at least 6,600 of whom hold Western passports, have traveled to Syria from at least 120 countries to train and fight alongside ISIS, up from an estimated 20,000 foreign fighters last year.  Morell's testimony came after an ISIS-affiliated suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a tourist-heavy area of Istanbul, killing 10 people, nine of whom were German tourists, and wounding 15 others.

Jury Sentences CA Double Murderer to Death:  After just one hour of deliberation on Monday an Orange County jury unanimously decided to sentence a double murderer to death for killing two friends in a plot to steal their savings to pay for his wedding.  Kelly Puente of the OC Register reports that 31-year-old Daniel Wozniak, a local actor from Costa Mesa, was found guilty on Dec. 16 of murdering his 26-year-old neighbor and Army veteran Samuel Herr and 23-year-old Juri "Julie" Kibuishi in 2010 to steal more than $60,000 in savings Herr had earned from combat service in Afghanistan to bankroll his wedding.  In May 2010, Wozniak lured Herr to the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos, where he shot and killed him, returning the next day to cut of his head, hand and forearm before tossing the body parts in a park and heading to a Fullerton theater to perform in a musical.  The following day, Wozniak used Herr's cell phone to lure Kibuishi to Herr's apartment, fatally shooting her and pulling her pants down to make it look as if Herr had sexually assaulted and killed her.  Wozniak's ex-fiancée, Rachel Buffett, who played a role in the murders, pleaded guilty to felony charges of being an accessory after the fact for lying to Costa Mesa police detectives.  Wozniak's next court appearance is March 11, where Superior Court Judge John Conley will decide whether to follow the jury's verdict of capital punishment or sentence Wozniak to life in prison without parole.

Illegal Immigration Surges Again:  New Border Patrol numbers show that in just the first three months of the fiscal year, almost 40,000 illegal immigrant families and unaccompanied minors from Central America have been caught at the southwest border.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that in December alone, almost 9,000 families were apprehended, a 38 percent increase compared to November and the highest total ever for the last month of the year.  Additionally, 6,800 unaccompanied minors were caught in December, a 21 percent increase over November.  In response to the latest flood of illegal immigration, extremely unusual during this time of year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) began conducting a series of raids earlier this month in an effort to track down and deport some of the women and children caught in 2014, who have been ordered deported but are refusing to leave.  The White House stands by DHS's decision to conduct the raids in the hope that seeing deportations will discourage others in Central America from making the trip to the U.S.  These latest numbers mark the largest number of families and unaccompanied minors in a single month since late spring 2014.

CA City Sees Uptick in Gang Violence:  A man shot Tuesday afternoon in Santa Ana, Calif., marked the 27^th shooting or stabbing in the city since the start of the new year, and police say most of the incidents are gang-related.  Greg Lee of ABC 7 reports that Santa Ana Police Chief Carlos Rojas says the uptick in gang violence is "a real big concern for us at the police department," noting that the amount violence and handguns are proliferating. The Santa Ana Police Department Gang Unit plans to utilize compliance sweeps more often than in the past to combat the increased gang violence, while officers will "do what it takes to curb the violence one gun and one arrest at a time."  Many of the known gang members on probation in the city fall under AB 109, or prison realignment, the 2011 state law that releases  so-called "low-level" offenders from prison.

David Brooks has this column in the NYT on Ted Cruz, and it can only be described as a hatchet job.  CJLF does not endorse candidates and takes no position on the Republican primary.*  However, I do think we should correct misrepresentations about the candidates when they fall within our area of expertise.

CA County Report Discusses Prop. 47:  Stanislaus County released a 17-page report on Friday discussing the initial impact of Proposition 47, an initiative that "offers no justice for victims of crime," which County officials will hear presented Tuesday.  Ken Carlson of the Modesto Bee reports that the report analyzes the effects of Prop 47, approved by voters in November 2014 to reclassify certain felonies as misdemeanors and allow property and drug offenders to reduce their sentences, which led to an immediate decrease in the number of people arrested and booked in county jail in the month that is passed.  The measure has led a 40 percent decrease in felony cases submitted to District Attorney Birgit Fladager for review in the county, and she filed charges in 5,800 less cases the first year under Prop 47 compared to the year prior.  While felony prosecutions are down 30 percent in Stanislaus County, misdemeanor cases have risen 10 percent, and Fladager believes this is because people given citations for property crimes are reoffending at a quicker rate since they face no time behind bars.  Many of the criminals who skirt jail time are also skipping alternative work programs and out-of-custody drug treatment "because of the reduced emphasis on incarceration in criminal justice" says Sheriff Adam Christianson. 

113 Radicalized Terrorists Identified:  Sens. Jeff Sessions and Ted Cruz said Monday that, since early 2014, 113 individuals have been implicated in radical Islamic terrorist plots on U.S. soil.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that the senators reached the latest total after adding 41 new names to their list, including two Iraqi refugees who were arrested last week on separate terrorism-related charges.  Sessions, chairman of the Senate's immigration subcommittee, and Cruz, a leading Republican presidential candidate, said that the information is "critical" given President Obama's plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees to the U.S. this year.  In response, White House officials say they "have faith in the ability of screeners to keep out bad actors," though at least 14 of the 113 individuals implicated in terrorism were admitted to the U.S. as refugees. 

Border Patrol Criticizes Sean Penn:  Following actor Sean Penn's publicized interview with Mexican cartel drug lord and mass murderer Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, described as a publicity stunt for Penn to secure a multi-million dollar role in any future movie about him, the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) was quick to denounce it.  Brandon Darby of Breitbart reports that El Chapo and his affiliates, part of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, are responsible for tons of drugs, illegal immigrants and trafficked human beings illicitly crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as the deaths of up to 125,000 people in Mexico.  Months ago, when El Chapo was still a fugitive after he escaped from a maximum security prison, Penn attempted to secretly meet with him for an interview which led the Mexican military straight to him.  In the wake of El Chapo's recapture last week, Rolling Stone magazine published Penn's account, which many have criticized as having glorified the brutal mass murderer and drug lord.  U.S. Border Patrol Agent Shawn Moran, Vice President and spokesman for the NBPC, a union representing about 17,000 Border Patrol agents, stated, "Sean Penn and others who would celebrate [El Chapo] or capitalize on his situation only further put law enforcement on both sides of the border in danger."

In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed and approved the Florida system of capital punishment in Proffitt v. Florida.  In that system, the jury enters the verdict of guilt of first-degree murder and makes a recommendation on sentence, but the trial judge makes the final decision on sentence and makes the essential finding that at least one "aggravating circumstance" exists.

The Florida Supreme Court added a gloss that the judge's "override" would, in practice, only work in one direction.  A jury recommendation of life in prison was essentially final, while a jury's recommendation of death could be overridden.  The Florida system is thus more favorable to the defendant than leaving the decision to the jury alone.

Over the years, the Supreme Court more than once rejected claims that this system or the similar systems of other states violated anything in the Constitution.  Then in the 2002 case of Ring v. Arizona, the Supreme Court stabbed the states and the people in the back and simply changed its collective mind, accepting the argument it had previously, unequivocally rejected.  Stare decisis, the principle of observing precedent, was thrown overboard, and the decision did not even mention the massive reliance of the states on the earlier decisions.

Most of the states with similar systems went with jury verdicts on both the aggravating circumstance and the final sentencing decision, although Nebraska kept a hybrid system where the jury finds the circumstance and three judges find the sentence.

The Florida Legislature stuck with its system, hoping that the courts would find it distinguishable from the Arizona system struck down in Ring, a foolish and unnecessary risk.  In most capital cases the existence of at least one aggravating circumstances is perfectly obvious, and there is virtually no cost in having the jury go ahead and make the finding.  Today the U.S. Supreme Court decided 7-1-1 in Hurst v. Florida that the Florida system does indeed violate Ring.

How many of the existing judgments can be salvaged?  The Supreme Court said it left harmless error analysis to the state courts.  In many cases, a jury verdict on a concurrent or prior crime can establish an aggravating circumstance.  Today's decision will be fully retroactive for cases on direct appeal, but its application to cases on collateral review is uncertain.

The first thing the Florida Legislature needs to do is fix its system.  And do it right this time.

Crime Soars in Downtown L.A.:  An article in last week's News Scan showed that crime was rising all over Los Angeles in all categories, but in Downtown L.A. in particular, violent and property crimes are soaring significantly.  Eddie Kim of Los Angeles Downtown News reports that in LAPD's Central Division, which covers nearly all of Downtown, violent crime in 2015 shot up 52 percent over 2014 levels, while property crime spiked 28 percent.  Specifically, aggravated assaults jumped 63 percent, robberies soared 42 percent, vehicle thefts surged 65 percent and burglaries increased 43 percent.  Central Division Capt. Mike Oreb believes that the factors contributing to the overall rise in crime include gentrification, Downtown's status as a tour destination, the influx of thousands of new residents, a rise in the homeless population and prison-reform policies such as AB 109 and Prop 47.  To combat the surge, the LAPD is transferring some officers from the elite Metropolitan Division to assist in Central, and are looking to establish partnerships with the city and county to bring mental health and addiction treatment to the area.

3 Radical Associates of Terror Suspect at Large, PA Police Warned:  A tip to the Philadelphia police warned that three "radical" associates of a self-proclaimed ISIS-inspired gunman who attempted to assassinate a police officer last Thursday are on the loose and that "the threat to police is not over."  Fox News reports that the tipster informed law enforcement that 30-year-old Edward Archer, accused of shooting and wounding Officer Jesse Hartnett while he sat in his patrol car, was associated with three other men who were described as "more radical" than Archer.  Late last Thursday, Archer approached Hartnett's patrol car and opened fire, firing 13 shots into the vehicle, hitting the officer three times.  Harnett managed to get out of his vehicle, and return fire, wounding him before he was captured by other officers a block away.  Following his arrest, Archer, told authorities he was "following Allah" and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.  Despite traveling to Mecca, and possibly Saudi Arabia in 2011 and Egypt in 2012, Archer's brother, Shane, believes the shooting was more closely related to "police mistreatment of black men" than religion.  Archer faces charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement officer and several firearms crimes.

Trial of Freddie Gray Van Driver Delayed:  The trial of Caesar Goodson, one of the six Baltimore police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, was delayed by a state appeals court that said it needed time to address whether another officer should be compelled to testify against him.  Juliet Linderman and David Dishneau of the AP report that Goodson, the driver of the police van that transported Gray, faces the most serious charge of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if convicted, contingent on prosecutors' ability to prove that Goodson was "so callous in his disregard for Gray's life that he deliberately allowed him to die."  The officer who was ordered to testify against him, William Porter, argued that the order violates his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, running the risk of being in contempt of court or committing perjury.  The Maryland appeals court put the ruling on hold until it reaches a decision.  In the meantime, while Goodson's trial is delayed, Porter's retrial is postponed indefinitely pending further proceedings.  His first trial ended in a mistrial last month.

2015 Sets New Record for Terror Plots in U.S.:  A tally released Friday by the Heritage Foundation revealed that last year saw the most terrorist attacks and plots in the U.S. since Sept. 11, 2001, announced just as a number of high-profile arrests and indictments dominated the media.  Stephen Dinan and Andrea Noble of the Washington Times report that the 13 total Islamist-inspired attacks and plots that were uncovered last year were more than the previous three years combined, and the start of 2016 appears to be following the same concerning trend with last Thursday's attack on a Philadelphia police officer by a man who proclaimed allegiance to the Islamic State terror group, and two separate terror-related indictments of two Iraqi refugees reported by the Justice Department.  Lawmakers on Capitol Hill say that the fact that the two refugees were allowed into U.S. shows that major holes exist in President Obama's security plans.  House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce also stressed that "ISIS cannot be contained, it must be defeated," suggesting the need to "eliminate sanctuaries and counter ISIS's ability to recruit and radicalize over the Internet."

The Marshall Project, a liberal but not unhinged group, has a commentary out with this appalling news:  The "national spike in murder [in 2015 is] the largest single-year increase since at least 1960."

Man Tries to Execute Officer:  In what police are calling an "attempted assassination," a Philadelphia police officer was shot several times during an ambush late Thursday night.  Justin Finch and Rahel Solomon of CBS report that 33-year-old Officer Jesse Hartnett, a five-year veteran of the force, was sitting in his patrol car when he was approached by 30-year-old Edward Archer who fired 13 shots through the driver's side of the car, striking Harnett three times in the arm.  Harnett returned fire, hitting Archer at least three times before he attempted to escape on foot and was apprehended quickly by police.  Archer has reportedly offered a full confession, saying he shot the officer in the name of Islam.  The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Two Mideast Refugees Face Terror Charges:  Two Iraqi-born Palestinians who came to the U.S. as refugees are facing terror-related charges in California and Texas courts on Friday for supporting the Islamic State.  Fox News reports that 24-year-old Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, the first person to be charged under federal law in an ISIS-related case this year, arrived in the U.S. in 2009 and became a legal permanent resident in 2011, settling in the Houston area.  He faces charges of trying to provide support to ISIS, and was found to have lied on both his citizenship application and during his interview with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  The other suspect, 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab of Sacramento, Calif., who arrived in the U.S. in 2012, is accused of traveling to Syria to fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to government investigators about it. He faces up to eight years in prison if convicted.  Unsealed court documents do not indicate whether the two cases are connected, though an affidavit says Al-Jayab communicated with an unnamed individual living in Texas in 2013 to see if he could receive training in various weapons.  Since April 2013, 80 people have been charged under federal law in an ISIS-related case.

DHS Begins to Deport Illegals Caught in Raids:  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Thursday that it has already deported 77 of the 121 illegal immigrants it rounded up during weekend raids in North Carolina, Georgia and Texas.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in an effort to appease criticism from immigrant-rights groups, noted that all immigrants that were deported so far had gone through immigration courts, exhausted all of their appeals and did not qualify for asylum.  The 77 have been deported to the Central American countries of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, with immigrants-rights groups winning stays for five families.

The U.S. Supreme Court today took up for full briefing and argument the case of Welch v. United States, No. 15-6418. 

This case began in the Southern District of Florida, where the defendant filed a motion to vacate (28 U.S.C. §2255) his conviction and his sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act.  The District Court denied the motion and denied a certificate of appealability (COA).  Welch sought a COA from the Court of Appeals, arguing that his plea was involuntary because the government "reneged" on his 10-year deal, and he got 15 to life instead.  He also claimed his Florida priors were invalid.

In a supplemental application, he asked for the case to be held for the Supreme Court's decision in Johnson v. United States, No. 13-7120.  The Eleventh Circuit did not hold it and denied Welch's application June 9, 2015.  The Supreme Court decided Johnson on June 26 and struck down the "residual clause" of the ACCA as unconstitutionally vague.

Curious that this is a grant for full briefing and argument and not a "vacate and remand for reconsideration in light of" Johnson.  The certiorari papers are not available online yet.

Does Johnson qualify for the "first Teague exception," making it retroactive on collateral review?  Yes, I think so.  The substantive statute was declared unconstitutional.  It is not a rule of procedure.

Update:  Lyle Denniston had this post yesterday at SCOTUSblog on another case presenting an issue of Johnson retroactivity, where the Solicitor General agreed that the Court should take the issue up.  If that is why the Court has taken Welch, then I can predict what will happen.  The Court will appoint an amicus to argue against retroactivity.  The amicus will get a footnote in the opinion praising his her efforts and a unanimous ruling against him her.

Update 2 (1/15):  Helgi C. Walker of Gibson Dunn has been "invited to brief and argue this case, as amicus curiae, in support of the judgment below."

CT Prosecutors Challenge Death Penalty Ban:  Connecticut prosecutors argued Thursday that the state's Supreme Court made a "critical mistake" when it ruled that a 2012 law ending capital punishment in the state applied retroactively to the 11 inmates already on death row.  Richard Weizel of Reuters reports that last August, in the case of Santiago v. State, the state's high court ruled 4-3 that a 2012 state law banning the issuance of new death sentences, but permitting the executions to be carried out for people previously condemned, amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.  In another capital murder case before the court, Senior Assistant State's Attorney Harry Weller argued that "the court overreached its authority when it determined that legislators could not exempt people previously sentenced to death from the new ban on punishment."  The court is expected to make a ruling over the next few months.  Connecticut is one of 19 U.S. states that have banned the death penalty, their last prisoner executed in 2005.

German Vigilante Group to Protect Women From Migrants:  In the wake of hundreds of sexual assaults in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve by male migrants from the Middle East , a vigilante group in the neighboring city of Dusseldorf launched on Facebook Wednesday night, intent on providing protection and major events and in city centers to German women. Oliver Lane of Breitbart reports that the group, called "Dusseldorf is Watching," already has 2,300 members and quickly received criticism from local police, who voiced their stance against "self-proclaimed vigilantes."  The founder of the group, however, assures that they do not intend to employ vigilante justice or violence; rather, they simply plan to be "present and attentive" at major public events and on weekend evenings.  During New Year's Eve festivities in Cologne and other German cities, hundreds of women reported being sexually assaulted by large groups of men described as Arab appearing, which overwhelmed police forces.  

Obama Hires 'Army' of Pardon Lawyers:  A "small army" of pardon lawyers is about to be hired by the Justice Department, suggesting that President Obama is expecting an active pardon period at the end of his term.  Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner reports that although it is typical for presidents to issue pardons to prisoners in their last months in office, the current plan to expand the Office of the Pardon Attorney by adding 16 new lawyers indicates President Obama's pardon period is likely to be "busier than normal."  The president has already granted 250 pardons and commutations during his term, more than former President George W. Bush doled out during his full eight years in office.  The move will potentially cost $2.26 million.

Officer Asks Court to Block Forced Testimony in Gray Case:  A Baltimore police officer charged in the death of Freddie Gray is fighting a ruling that would force him to testify against a colleague, arguing that it violates his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.  The AP reports that William Porter, whose trial ended in a mistrial last month, asked the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to block a Baltimore Circuit Judge's ruling compelling him to take the stand in Officer Caesar Goodman's trial or face jail time.  Porter's attorney, argues that prosecutors will be unable to differentiate what they heard in Porter's first trial as a defendant from his testimony as a witness.  Porter's Immunity from trial for his testimony. A longtime Baltimore defense attorney, not involved with the case, emphasizes the difficulty this decision presents to achieving fair trials in future cases involving multiple defendants, noting that "the judge is essentially saying there is no difference between a witness and a defendant, so long as immunity is granted."  Goodson, the driver of the police van, is the second officer to be tried in the April death of Freddie Gray and is facing charges ranging from manslaughter to second-degree murder.  Porter's retrial is scheduled for June 13.  Update:  The Maryland Court of Special Appeals agreed Friday to stay Judge Williams' order compelling Porter to take the stand in Goodson's trial.

Teen Killed by Mistakenly Released Inmate:  A Washington teen who was murdered last year was killed by a man who should have been locked up in prison at the time of his killing.  Chris Ingalls of KING 5 News reports that 17-year-old Caesar Medina was fatally shot during a botched robbery at a Spokane tattoo parlor last May by 25-year-old Jeremiah Smith, who was later arrested and charged with first degree murder for the crime.  It was recently discovered, however, that Smith was one of 3,200 inmates in Washington State that were released early over the past 13 years because of a software glitch that miscalculated inmates' release dates.  Prison officials say that 30 offenders have been re-arrested and at least three were found to have committed new crimes when they should have been incarcerated.  These numbers are expected to grow.

FL Serial Killer to be Executed:  After decades of legal gymnastics, a Florida serial killer's date with death has finally arrived after the Florida Supreme Court struck down a request last month to stay the execution.  Dan Sullivan of the Tampa Bay Times reports that 53-year-old Oscar Ray Bolin Jr. was given three death sentences, the first in 1991, for the brutal murders of two young women and one teenage girl in 1986, but they were all overturned by 1995 when the state high court ruled that jurors should not have heard damning testimony from Bolin's ex-wife (deceased after the third trial) because he never waived his spousal privilege.  Bolin was tried again and convicted three more times, receiving death sentences from three more juries, but again, higher courts overturned the convictions because of legal errors.  Fortunately, the death sentence for his third conviction stuck in 2001, another came in 2007.  In 2012, at his 10^th and final trial, he received a life sentence for one of the murders.     He is set to die by lethal injection on Jan. 7.  Update:  Bolin was executed Thursday evening by lethal injection after the Supreme Court rejected his final appeal without comment.

DHS Sweep of Illegals Begins:  In an effort to offset another surge of illegal immigrants from Central America, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Monday that a series of raids have been launched to deport some of the arrivals.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that Johnson said that the first round of raids focused on Georgia, Texas and North Carolina and netted a total of 121 illegal immigrants, a minute fraction of the more than 110,000 Central Americans that jumped the border of the past year and a half.  U.S. officials are concerned with the possibility of another surge this year following a federal judge's ruling this summer that immigrant families, along with unaccompanied minors, must be released from detention quickly, mounting fears that yet another lax immigration policy will invite a new mass migration of immigrants from south of the border.  Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies, believes that the DHS  move could act as a deterrent but, "Until people believe that if they try to come here illegally they'll definitely be sent home quickly, it's not going to have any effect."  

Crime in L.A. Up in all Categories in 2015:  End-of-the-year crime figures show that in 2015, every category of crime rose across Los Angeles for the first time in over a decade, with all 21 LAPD divisions reporting crime increases.  Ben Poston of the LA Times reports that overall violent crime in neighborhoods all over the city increased 19.9 percent while property crime spiked 10.3 percent, marking the second consecutive year that violent crime rose and the first time since 2003 that both violent and property crime increased.  Analysis of the data uncovers alarming increases in several violent crime sub-categories, including rape (8.6%), robbery (12.3%), and aggravated assault (27.5%), as well as increases in homicides (10.2%) and shooting victims (12.6%).  When property crime is broken down, figures confirm surges in burglaries (4.8%), personal thefts (6.3%), thefts from vehicles (15.1%) and motor vehicle thefts (16.7%).  After more than 10 years of steep declines in crime, Los Angeles joins the growing number of large U.S. cities that have reported serious increases in crime.

CA Death Row Inmates Don't Fear Execution:  A rare tour by officials of California's death row and death chamber at San Quentin State Prison last Tuesday provided the outside world with a glimpse of life inside the prison that houses the majority of the state's 750 condemned inmates, revealing that they spend little time worrying about executions.  Sudhin Thanawala of the AP reports that the tour comes as the state replaces its three-drug lethal injection protocol with a one-drug protocol.  In 2016, California voters may get a chance to vote on competing death penalty measures - one to expedite executions, and another that would scrap it altogether.   Jan. 17 marks the 10-year anniversary of the last execution in the state.

Massive Backlog of Untested Rape Kits in FL:  A report released Monday reveals that Florida has a backlog of over 13,000 untested and unprocessed rape kits that will cost the state significant time and money to address.  Tamara Lush of the AP reports that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which conducted the study which  concluded that of the 13,345 kits that have not been tested, 41% were because the victim decided not to proceed with the investigation and in 31%, the state attorney's office declined to prosecute.  Other common reasons included a suspect's guilty plea, death of a victim or a victim declining to file a police report.  Last November, Gov. Rick Scott announced plans to seek $8.5 million to help process the backlog, but estimations range from $9 million to $32 million.  The most efficient and economical way to manage the issue, says the FDLE, is through outsourcing.  

Most Homicides Since 2008 in CA Capital:  A drastic increase in homicides in 2015 has Sacramento police trying to figure out the cause.  Tom Miller of KCRA reports that the number of homicides in the city last year totaled to 43, up from 28 in 2014, making 2015 the deadliest year in the state's capital city since 2008.  Adding to the concern is a decrease in the number of homicide cases solved, with just 49 percent of cases solved in 2015 compared to 87 percent in 2014.  City police hope that new technologies and more help from the community can turn things around.

Latest Surge of Illegals is Significant:  Recent statistics from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that illegal immigration by unaccompanied minors and family units surged significantly during the first two months of FY2016 compared to the same period in FY2015.  Penny Starr of CNS News reports that CBP revealed that unaccompanied alien children (UAC) apprehended at the U.S-Mexico border between Oct. 1 and Nov. 30, 2015 increased 106 percent compared to the same period last year, with 10,588 UACs taken into custody this year and just 5,129 last year.  Family units comprised an even larger increase, so far spiking by 173 percent in the first two months of FY2016, with a total of 12,505 apprehensions versus 4,577 in FY2015.  CBP, in spite of its own alarming numbers, reaffirmed that the Obama administration is working "aggressively" to secure the U.S. border.

TX May Seek Prison for 'Affluenza' Teen:  Texas officials announced Tuesday that they may seek adult prison for the "affluenza" teen, whose controversial defense in juvenile court that being spoiled by his parents blinded him to the consequences of a drunk-driving accident that killed four people.  Fox News reports that 18-year-old Ethan Couch, his blond hair dyed brown in an effort to disguise his identity, and his mother, Tonya, were captured in Puerto Vallarta by Mexican authorities on Monday, nearly two weeks after Couch failed to show up for a probation appointment and could not be located.  Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson says it appears that the duo planned their escape and believes that they fled in late November after a video surfaced showing what appears to be Couch at a party where people were drinking alcohol.  Drinking alcohol would have violated the 10 year probation Couch received instead of a prison sentence for a June 2013 drunk-driving accident, involving a drunk 16-year-old Couch slamming his car into disabled SUV on the side of a dark road, killing four people and injuring several others.  Couch and his mother will be returned to the U.S. on Tuesday, where the teen will attend a scheduled court hearing next month to determine whether his case will be moved to adult court and his mother will face charges of hindering an apprehension.

Two Arrested on Suspicion of Planning Holiday Attacks in Belgium:  An investigation revealing "the threat of serious attacks that would target emblematic places in Brussels" during the end-of-year holidays has brought about the arrests of two people in Belgium on suspicion of planning terror attacks.  The AP reports that a source close to the investigation says that the Belgian capital's main square was one of the suspected targets.  Two male suspects were arrested following searches Sunday and Monday in the Brussels area, in which military-type training uniforms, propaganda materials from the Islamic State and computer material were seized, but no weapons or explosives were discovered.  The federal prosecution's office declined to make any more details public, but ensured that the probe was not connected to the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 and injured hundreds more.  Belgium is one of the leading European sources for foreigners recruited to fight for the Islamic State and other extremist Islamic organizations.  The alarming information likely has the FBI and other U.S. officials on high alert for possible attacks in the U.S. during the festive New Year's holiday.

A little less than two years ago, now-18 year-old Ethan Couch was sentenced for an automobile collision he caused two years before, in which he killed four people.  Four homicides might lead one to think at least a little jail time was in the offing, but what with "restorative justice" and a nifty psychologist's report, jail time was not to be. Instead, as the Washington Post reports:

Couch was sentenced to a drug-and-alcohol-free probation...; a psychologist and the teen's lawyers argued in his defense that the then-16-year-old's reckless behavior was a result of "affluenza."

The thing to do is reduce the police force to its smallest size in a decade.

3,000 Prisoners Mistakenly Freed Early:  Since 2002, 3,000 prisoners in Washington have been released early by mistake due to a software error by the state's Department of Corrections.  Rachel la Corte of the AP reports that a 2002 state Supreme Court ruling required the Department of Corrections to apply good-behavior credits earned in county jail to state prison sentences, but the programming fix gave prisoners with sentencing enhancements too much good-time credit, resulting in the release of 3,200 offenders.  The Department of Corrections was first alerted of the computer glitch in December 2012 and had announced that it would be fixed the same month, but it wasn't.  A broad fix to the software problem is expected to be in place by early January.  In the meantime, officials are working to track down the affected offenders, the complete list of whom are unknown.  So far, seven individuals have been identified as needing to serve additional time.  When asked if mistakenly released prisoners are committing new crimes, general counsel for Gov. Jay Inslee's office didn't have an answer.

Fewer Illegals Deported as Amnesty Kicks in:  As the president's amnesty begins taking effect, the number of deportations from the U.S. in 2015 dropped dramatically, highlighting the "willful neglect" of the Obama administration.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that President Obama's amnesty order, which has shielded most illegal immigrants from even the fear of deportation, has led to a 32 percent drop in removals from the interior of the country and a 27 percent overall drop of deportations over the last year, which are only a little more than half of what they were in 2012 when the administration was setting records for removals.  This year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported 63,127 illegal immigrants, down from 87,000 in 2014, believed to be affected by sanctuary cities refusing to cooperate with federal authorities, as well as Homeland Security's shifting of resources to the border instead of focusing on the immigrants in the interior.

Thousands of Shootings in Gun-Controlled Chicago:  In Chicago, a city with a ban on assault weapons, a violence tax on every gun and bullet sold, strict limitations on the quantity and location of gun stores and an array of other tight gun control regulations, there have been nearly 3,000 shootings victims this year.  Awr Hawkins of Breitbart reports that, year-to-date, there have been a total of 2,887 shooting victims in the city, exemplifying the failure of Chicago's gun control efforts, which have made it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to acquire guns needed for self-defense while simultaneously making them less safe.  This weekend alone, three people were shot dead and 26 more were wounded, a typical day in modern Chicago.

Heroin addicts suffer in ways difficult to describe  --  before they die.  They should be helped by whatever means we can find.  It is past time that Presidential candidates started taking note of the heroin epidemic now spreading across the country.  It's also the politically prudent thing to do, since one of the most ravaged states is the first primary state, New Hampshire.  The LA Times has the story.

PA Gov. Postpones Executions:  Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's authority to postpone executions in the state was upheld Monday by the state's high court.  Marc Levy of the Morning Call reports that Wolf, who says the death penalty system is "riddled with flaws, making it error prone," has issued temporary reprieves in the cases of five convicted killers.  Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams challenged the governor in court, arguing that reprieves had never been meant or used to indefinitely postpone an execution, but it was rejected in a unanimous decision by the high court, which ruled that the governor's "constitutional power to issue reprieves never required a specific end date...."  Wolf announced that the moratorium will remain in effect until he receives a report from a legislative commission, expected in 2016.  The Philadelphia prosecutor's office, while respectful of the court's decision, expressed disappointment in a statement extending "condolences to the victims of these horrendous crimes, who will not soon see the justice that was imposed by the jury and upheld by the courts."  The last year an inmate was executed in the state was 1999.

Somali Citizen Smuggling People across Border:  A citizen of Somalia, operating within the United States, was arrested for smuggling illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona.  Sylvia Longmire of Breitbart reports that Omar Haji Mohamed was stopped at a border checkpoint near a Native American reservation, the Tohono O'odham Nation, which is a haven for human smugglers and drug traffickers because accessibility in the region for U.S. Border Patrol agents is limited due to conflicts between the agency and tribal leadership.  The Department of Homeland Security granted Somali nationals temporary protective status (TPS) in 1991, which provides Somali citizens who have resided in the U.S. continuously since 2012 relief from deportation through 2017.  As more of these reports come to light, the challenges with our immigration system become all the more clear:  refugees and other immigrants shielded from deportation, unwillingness to cooperate with federal authorities and a frighteningly porous border.

Arguments to Delay MO Execution Lacking:  A Missouri state attorney said in a court filing Monday that the argument to delay the execution of a convicted triple murderer fails to satisfy the requirement to show his chosen alternative execution method to the state's lethal injection protocol is feasible and readily available.  Alan Burdziak of the Columbia Daily Tribune reports that 55-year-old Ernest Lee Johnson, was initially scheduled to be put to death on Nov. 3.  He appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals claiming that occasional seizures brought on by a 2008 brain surgery will be triggered by the lethal injection drug, pentobarbital, and cause significant pain.  To comply with Glossip Johnson asked for the alternative of the gas chamber.  Missouri Assistant Attorney General Gregory Goodwin said in his filing that Johnson, who was required by precedent to offer an alternative method of execution that could be readily implemented, did not provide evidence that his chosen alternative, death by lethal gas, would reduce his risk of severe pain.  Additionally, Goodwin argued that Johnson waited to file his claim long after the five-year statute of limitations expired, holding "his claim in reserve, hoping to avoid his execution date."  Johnson has until Jan. 4 to respond to Goodwin.

Baltimore Homicides Still Breaking Records:  As homicides continue to mount in Baltimore, the second-highest total on record has been reached - 336.  Kevin Rector and Sean Welsh of the Baltimore Sun report that the soaring number of murders has put the city's per-capita homicide rate at 54 per 100,000 residents, the highest in Baltimore history.  Only one other year, 1993, saw more homicides deaths, 353, but also had 100,000 more residents.  The year took a hellish turn in April following the death of Freddie Gray in police custody, which sparked violent rioting and enduring unrest.  Six Baltimore police officers were arrested and charged with crimes ranging from misconduct to murder in connection with Gray's death, and the first trial, in the case of Officer William Porter, resulted in a mistrial last week.  His new trial date is set for June 13.

One thing we know from studying studies is that you should not make radical changes based on a single study but rather wait for the result to be confirmed by other studies.  You don't know how "robust" a result is until an issue has been studied multiple ways by multiple researchers.  How many times would you have stopped and restarted drinking coffee if you went with every study that came along?

A while back there was some research that indicated that sequential lineups -- where the witness looks at suspects or pictures one at a time -- were far better than simultaneous ones where the witness looks at a group at once.  There was a rush to codify this preference into rigid requirements.  Well, that may not be right.  Bradley Fikes reports in the San Diego Union Tribune on a study indicating, among other things "simultaneous lineups were, if anything, diagnostically superior to sequential lineups. These results suggest that recent reforms in the legal system, which were based on the results of older research, may need to be reevaluated."

Another important finding is that the witness's confidence at the first observation is an important indication of accuracy, much more so than the witness's demeanor at trial that juries must usually go on.

I am not necessarily an optimist by nature, but news today from Gallup put a smile on my face.  For the same reason, it will doubtless bring frowns to those who've been insisting that, in order to gain the confidence of minorities, the police must bow their heads in shame and quit arresting crooks.  This is how today's Gallup story leads off:

After dipping to 48% in 2014 amid a national firestorm over police treatment of young black men, the rating Americans give the honesty and ethical standards of police has rebounded to 56%. This is more consistent with the 54% to 58% ratings Gallup found between 2010 and 2013....Four in 10 nonwhites now rate the ethical standards of police as very high or high -- a sharp increase from the 23% who held this view in 2014.

Car Plows into Vegas Crowd, Kills One:  A homeless Oregon woman who had been living in her car with her toddler in Las Vegas for one week has been charged with intentionally plowing her vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians on a busy section of the Las Vegas Strip several times on Sunday night, killing one and injuring 37.  Fox News reports that the driver, identified as 24-year-old Lakeisha Holloway, had her three-year-old child in tow when she "went up and off [the] streets," two or three times at 30 to 40 mph into multiple crowds of pedestrians.  An Arizona woman, 32-year-old Jessica Valenzuela, vacationing with her husband was identified as the fatality.  Holloway was apprehended away from the scene and taken into custody, where she was booked on charges including murder, first degree child abuse or neglect and failing to stop at the scene of an accident.  LVMPD Deputy Chief Brett Zimmerman said that the tragic incident, while deliberate, was not an act of terrorism.

Gangs Move from Drugs to White-Collar Crimes:  Law enforcement officials say street gangs are notably transitioning away from crimes like drug and gun running to white-collar crimes such as identity theft and credit card fraud, "giving up the old ways of making an illicit income in exchange for easier crimes with shorter sentences."  Colleen Long of the AP reports that last week, New York Police Commissioner William Bratton wrote an editorial describing the "astonishing degree" of white-collar crimes committed by gang members.  Federal officials in Florida have seen more gang members arrested for such offenses.  Al Pasqual, director of fraud security at the consulting firm Javelin Strategy and Research, says that some of the appeal stems from the resulting prison sentence, noting that selling crack can bring about 10 years under federal minimums while white-collar crimes can carry less than a year.  The challenges come as gangs grow more organized, recruiting people to help steal devices and cash checks, moving from scam to scam as authorities close in and passing the knowledge along to each other.  In New York City, home to the nation's largest police department, the grand larceny division now works closely with detectives from the gang unit to tackle the new and rising problem.

No Proof SB Terrorists Met Before Visa Issued:  After reviewing the full immigration file, a House Judiciary Committee revealed that the two San Bernardino terrorists were approved for a fiancé visa despite there being no concrete proof they had ever met in person, which is one of the visa's requirements.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that the Obama administration insists it followed proper procedures and saw no red flags that would have prevented the approval of Tashfeen Malik's K-1 visa, which allowed her to enter the U.S., marry Syed Farook and, earlier this month, go on a shooting rampage at Farook's workplace, killing 14 and wounding 22.  But Republicans and Democrats alike argue that there were signs that should have raised questions, including messages Malik exchanged on social media and an inaccurate address on her application.  The latest information shows that the only evidence the couple had of meeting was a statement provided by Farook saying that the two met in Saudi Arabia and copies of pages from their passports showing entry and exit stamps, which, even if true, is not sufficient proof of meeting.  Immigration officials have discussed adding or changing timing of interviews and broadening their social media screening to strengthen the vetting process.

The recent spate of police-bashing apparently has not made a long-term impact on Americans' opinions of police officers.  Lydia Saad has this report for Gallup with the above title:

After dipping to 48% in 2014 amid a national firestorm over police treatment of young black men, the rating Americans give the honesty and ethical standards of police has rebounded to 56%. This is more consistent with the 54% to 58% ratings Gallup found between 2010 and 2013.

Four in 10 nonwhites now rate the ethical standards of police as very high or high -- a sharp increase from the 23% who held this view in 2014. A steep drop in nonwhites' ratings of the police in 2014 was the sole cause of the profession's overall ratings dip last year. While nonwhites' attitudes have not rebounded to their pre-2014 levels, the slight increase in whites' positive views of the police this year, from 59% to 64%, coupled with the rise in nonwhites' ratings, pushes the overall percentage back to the "normal" range seen in recent years.

Gallup's long-term trend graph shows that the 56% number is higher than at any time in the first 23 years they asked the question, 1977-2000.  This opinion of the police started off a dismal 37% in 1977, climbed slowly with a couple setbacks until 2000, then spiked after 9/11.

Among the professions, nurses are still tops in the public's ethics esteem.  Lawyers don't do as badly as you might think, a tad below the middle.

C&C necessarily talks about politics, but the central subject here lies elsewhere. Readers may have noticed that I have not been shy about criticizing Republican Donald Trump's xenophobic, know-nothing blowhardism and Republican Sen. Mike Lee's unthinking sponsorship of the dumbed-down sentencing bill masquerading as sentencing "reform."  I have likewise dished it out to Republican felons Bernie Kerik and Illinois Gov. George Ryan, the latter having repeatedly sold his office before becoming a Holier-than-thou death penalty critic.

Donald Trump may talk like a brownshirt, but the Democrats mean business. For those of you keeping track, the Democrats and their allies on the left have now: voted in the Senate to repeal the First Amendment, proposed imprisoning people for holding the wrong views on global warming, sought to prohibit the showing of a film critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton, proposed banning politically unpopular academic research, demanded that funding politically unpopular organizations and causes be made a crime and that the RICO organized-crime statute be used as a weapon against targeted political groups. They have filed felony charges against a Republican governor for vetoing a piece of legislation, engaged in naked political persecutions of members of Congress, and used the IRS and the ATF as weapons against political critics.

Debate Over Parole for Teens Revived:  The conviction of a Massachusetts teen for the brutal rape and murder of his high school math teacher has revived a debate over parole for teen killers and the urging of lawmakers to toughen prison sentences.  Christian M. Wade of the Gloucester Times reports that 16-year-old Phillip Chism was 14 in 2013 when he followed his 24-year-old algebra teacher, Colleen Ritzer, into a school bathroom, strangled her, stabbed her at least 16 times with a  box cutter, raped her and then dumped her body in the woods near the school.  He was found guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday after being tried as an adult, but will still be eligible for parole in 13 to 23 years due to his juvenile status.  In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of first-degree murder as a violation of the Eighth Amendment.  A year later the Massachusetts high court followed with a similar ruling, announcing that sentences of life without parole for juveniles "fail to account for a young defendant's likelihood of rehabilitation."  In 2014, new state guidelines were set by legislation requiring juveniles convicted of first-degree murder to serve 20 to 30 years before becoming eligible for parole, but this changed after Chism murdered Ritzer, and he will be sentenced in January under the guidelines outlined by the state's high court.  "The reality that families like mine and the Ritzers might have to face parole hearings is devastating," says Sean Aylward, whose 16-year-old sister was beaten to death in 1992.

Manhunt Underway for 'Affluenza' Teen:  After failing to show up for an appointment with his probation officer on Tuesday and disappearing from the home he shared with his mother, a manhunt is underway for the rich Texas teenager described as having "affluenza" while on trial for killing four people in a drunk-driving crash in 2013.  Elizabeth Chuck of NBC News reports that Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson says he "wasn't surprised at all" to learn that 18-year-old Ethan Couch ran, adding that he has a "gut feeling" that the teen and his wealthy mother Tanya, also missing, have "gone a long way," and expect the search to take a long time.  In June 2013, at the age of 16, Couch drunkenly plowed his truck into four people on a Texas road, killing them and injuring several others.  At his trial, a psychologist testified on Couch's behalf, saying that the spoiled teen was afflicted with "affluenza," which rendered his ability to distinguish right from wrong due to his privileged upbringing and parental coddling.  Couch received 10 years of probation and order to attend rehab, but no jail time.  U.S. Marshals and the FBI continue to search for Couch and his mother.

Spending Bill Funds Sanctuary Cities:  On Wednesday, in a speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-AL, expressed outrage over the omnibus spending bill recently introduced by Congress, criticizing it as an abuse of executive power that "will fund the president's entire lawless immigration agenda."  Jenna Lifhits of the Washington Free Beacon reports that Sessions condemned the bill for advancing an array of items on Obama's agenda, such as allowing the president to let any number of refugees into the country as he wants; the issuance of at least 170,000 green cards to migrants from Muslim countries over the next year; the funding of sanctuary cities, which provides shelter for illegal aliens; and the quadrupling of the number of foreign workers accepted as part of the controversial H-2B foreign worker visa program, from 66,000 to 254,000.    The bill will also provide more than $1.6 billion to resettle illegal immigrants arriving at the U.S. border through 2018.

The reason is that Barack Obama will do the "reforming" all by himself.  He showed this again today by issuing yet more (literal) "get-out-of-jail-free" cards.  He has now issued more commutations than his immediate four predecessors combined  -- Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.  But that's OK, because we know that Obama is a more humane and far-sighted man than any of those cretins.  Either that, or his political base is rooted in criminality and the Soros-funded interest groups that speak up for it, and him.

Illegal Minors Report Ease of Access to US:  Illegal immigrant minors are sharing their immigration experiences with their family and friends back in Central America, encouraging them to make the journey to the U.S. because it's "so easy" and the chance of deportation is slim to none.  Paul Bedard of the Washington Examiner reports that upon arrival, illegals are telling Border Patrol officials that they know they will be freed once they make it across the border, and are texting friends and relatives back home pictures of what they regard as a "permiso," or free pass.  A new surge at the border, according to policy studies director Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, is partly attributed by a believed assurance among illegals that they will no longer face a possibility of extended detention, or deportation for that matter, because a federal judge ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to close family and child detention centers.  DHS says that since 2009, it has apprehended roughly 122,700 unaccompanied alien children from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, but has deported just 7,700, or six percent.

Friend of San Bernardino Shooters Faces Criminal Charges:  The first criminal charges brought in connection to the deadly terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif., earlier this month are against the former neighbor and longtime friend of the shooters.  Kellan Howell of the Washington Times reports that federal prosecutors have arrested and are bringing criminal gun charges against Enrique Marquez, who was a friend and former neighbor of gunman Syed Farook, for purchasing two semi-automatic rifles three years ago that Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, used to gun down 14 people at a holiday party.  Marquez explained to officials that he bought the guns as a favor to Farook so he could avoid a background check and being put on record as the buyer.  He also revealed his and Farook's plan to conduct some kind of attack in 2010 that was scrapped after several unrelated terrorism arrests in the southern California area.  Charges could be filed as early as Thursday.  Update:  Marquez has been charged with one count of conspiracy to support terrorism, one count of lying on a gun purchase form and one count of defrauding the immigration system by entering into a sham marriage with a Russian immigrant.  The conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 15 years in prison, and he faces 10 years each for the firearms and visa charges.

Mistrial Declared in First Freddie Gray Trial:  The future of the case against the first of six Baltimore police officers tried in the death of Freddie Gray is "up in the air" after a mistrial was declared Wednesday when jurors failed to reach a verdict.  Miriam Khan and Meghan Keneally of ABC News report that officer William Porter was charged with second-degree assault, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in officer for failing to get medical attention for Gray, who died in April after suffering a spinal injury in the back of a police transport van.  The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.  Porter's mistrial may complicate the other cases while a decision is made on whether to push the other trials back, in order to retry Porter. It is possible that the state may offer a plea deal to Porter in exchange for his testimony.  If  another trial is scheduled, there is a chance it may be moved out of Baltimore.  The breakdown of the hung jury has not been released, and prosecutors and defense attorneys have been ordered by the judge not to discuss details of the case publicly.

Visas Are Focus of House Oversight Hearing:  At a House oversight hearing examining immigrant vetting in the wake of the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., the assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs was asked if she had any idea of the present locations of thousands of individuals who have had their visas revoked, to which she replied, "I don't know."  Fox News reports that Michele Thoren Bond said that the U.S. has revoked over 122,000 visas since 2001, including 9,500 because of the threat of terrorism, but the whereabouts of these foreigners is unknown.  The shocking admission comes as scrutiny mounts on the government background examinations of people seeking entry to the country.   The nationwide concern follows news that one of the San Bernardino shooters came to the U.S. last year on a K-1 fiancée visa despite the fact that the she is believed to have already been radicalized and posted radical statements on social media that were overlooked.  Leon Rodriguez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, confirmed the House committee's fears when he told them that reviews of visa applicants' social media posts "aren't being done in an abundant manner."  

MD Man Received Thousands from ISIS:  A Maryland man was arrested Friday and charged with several terror-related offenses concerning his receipt of almost $9,000 in wire transfers in recent months from Islamic State terror group contacts in Egypt and Syria.  Kevin Johnson of USA Today reports that 30-year-old Mohamed Elshinawy is alleged to have received a total of $8,700 dispersed in small amounts between March and June of this year with instructions to use the funds for "operational purposes."  Elshinawy was initially questioned by FBI agents in mid-July, in which he provided false information about the source of the money.  He eventually admitted that the Egyptian contact that provided the money was an ISIL operator, but claimed that he was using the terror group to obtain money for his own personal use.  Court records that show Elshinawy pledged his allegiance to ISIL in February.  No terrorist plot has been connected to Elshinawy, though some of the wire transfers occurred around the July 4 holiday when the U.S. was on heightened alert following threats of terror strikes.  He faces charges of providing material support to ISIL, obstruction, making false statements to investigators and falsifying or concealing material facts in the investigation.  

Stay of Execution Denied:  The Alabama Supreme Court on Monday unanimously denied a death row inmate's request to halt his execution next month.  Kent Faulk of AL reports that attorneys for convicted murderer Christopher Eugene Brooks argued that he and five other inmates are waiting for a final evidentiary hearing regarding whether the state's new three-drug lethal injection protocol violates the Eighth Amendment.  The Alabama Attorney General's Office argued that Brooks did not intervene in the other inmates' lawsuits - which were filed a year ago - until November "in an apparent effort to delay his execution."  In 1993, Brooks was convicted of the murder of 23-year-old Jo Deann Campbell, who he met in New York in 1991.  About a year later, after Brooks spent the night at Campbell's Alabama apartment with his friend Robert Leeper, Campbell was discovered stuffed under her bed and had been badly beaten and raped.  Brooks was linked to the crime through DNA recovered in the apartment and on the victim's body.  Leeper was charged but not convicted due to a lack of DNA evidence linking him to the crime.  He was sentenced to five years for credit card fraud relating to Campbell's stolen credit card that he used to make purchases after her death.  Brooks' execution is scheduled for Jan. 21 and will be the first in the state in 2.5 years and the first using the new drug combination.

Two Kids Found Dead in CA Storage Unit:  After questioning and arresting two individuals on charges related to abusing one child, California investigators were led to a storage unit in Redding where two other young children were discovered dead.  The Redding Record Searchlight reports that 39-year-old Tami Joy Huntsman and 17-year-old Gonzalo Curiel, who had recently moved from Salinas and were currently residing in a town southeast of Redding, were arrested Friday on child abuse charges of a nine-year-old girl, who was emaciated and showed signs of torture.  After questioning by Plumas County authorities, Curiel revealed the location of the Redding storage unit, where the bodies of a three-year-old girl and a six-year-old boy were found Sunday night.  The nine-year-old is currently in Protective Child Custody and receiving treatment.  Two older children, 12-year-old male and female twins, were placed in foster care after being found at the home of the suspects' friend.  In addition to the charges relating to the surviving child, Huntsman and Curiel face charges of mayhem, torture and murder in the deaths of the two youngest victims.