Results matching “first”

Whether punishment promotes or deters future criminal activity by the convicted offender is a key public policy concern. Longer prison sentences further isolate offenders from the legitimate labor force and may promote the formation of criminal networks in prison.  On the other hand, greater initial punishment may have a deterrence effect on the individual being punished, sometimes called "specific deterrence," through learning or the rehabilitative effect of prison.

We test the effect of prison sentence length on recidivism by exploiting a unique quasi-experimental design from adult sentences within a courthouse in Seattle, Washington.  Offenders who plead guilty are randomly assigned to a sentencing judge, which leads to random differences in prison sentence length depending on the sentencing judge's proclivities. We find that one-month extra prison sentence reduces the rate of recidivism by about one percentage point, with possibly larger effects for those with limited criminal histories. However, the reduction in recidivism comes almost entirely in the first year of release, which we interpret as consistent with prison's rehabilitative role.

Too late. The days when the Democrats could claim to be the party of personal or national security are long gone. In 1968, Richard Nixon tagged them with it. This time, they've done it to themselves.

With the four Democratic presidents from FDR to LBJ, security was a partisan debate over details. Since 1970 and the Democrats' long march left, providing for the common defense has been leaching out of the party's DNA.

"One of the first things I'd do in terms of executive order, if I win, will be to sign a strong, strong statement that would go out to the country, out to the world, anybody killing a police man, a police woman, a police officer, anybody killing a police officer, the death penalty is going to happen," he said.

"Obviously this is a country that is based on free speech," Lynch told the audience at the Muslim Advocates dinner in Arlington, VA. "But when that edges towards violence...we will take action."

First Freddie Gray Trial Begins:  Stakes are high in Baltimore as the trial for one of six police officers indicted in the April death of Freddie Gray begins Monday with jury selection.  Juliet Linderman of the AP reports that Officer William Porter, accused of failing to get medical help for Gray during a 45-minute trip in a police van, faces charges of assault, manslaughter, reckless endangerment and misconduct in office.  The five other officers will be tried separately beginning in January, and trials are expected to last until the spring.  Gray, a 25-year-old black man, was arrested in April, initially handcuffed and placed in the back of the police van, and later had his legs shackled while the van made several stops over the course of 45 minutes.  He was discovered unresponsive and died one week later of a spinal injury, sparking rioting and unrest that continues to plague the city.  An acquittal could result in further protests and unrest while a conviction could damage the city's police department.  "The future of the city is at stake," says Police Commissioner Kevin Davis.

Less Debate, More Action Needed for Refugees:  In a radio interview, border Congressman Henry Cueller (D-Laredo) said that rather than debate over the fate of Syrian refugees, the U.S. needs a plan of action for handling the coming flood of people from the Middle East, as they are already showing up at the southern border.  WOAI reports that two groups of Syrians, mainly families, have already entered the U.S. by crossing over from Mexico and claiming political asylum, adding to an increased surge in asylum-seekers from Central America as well as a large number of Cubans flooding into the U.S.   When refugees arrive at the southern border, standard procedure places them in detention centers, though many are released on bonds or ankle monitors after only a few months.  Cueller suggests that the U.S. collaborate with Mexico to make it more difficult for refugees to gain access to the U.S., noting that they successfully stopped 174,000 people last year attempting to enter the U.S.

U of C Threat Linked to Laquan McDonald Shooting:  An online threat causing the cancellation of classes and closure of the University of Chicago Hyde Park campus Monday has resulted in one person being taken into custody.  Jodi S. Cohen and Lolly Bowean of the Chicago Tribune report that the arrested individual is a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and posted a threat online outlining his plan to shoot and kill 16 white students and/or staff members in the campus quad, citing last year's fatal shooting of 17-year-old black teenager Laquan McDonald by white Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke.  Van Dyke shot McDonald 16 times and was charged last week with first-degree murder.  

Burglar Stuck in Chimney Died when Fire is Lit:  A burglar stuck in the chimney of a California home died after the homeowner lit a fire in the fireplace.  Fox News reports that 19-year-old Cody Caldwell is believed to have climbed into the chimney Friday night to burgle the Central California home, and was stuck for almost 24 hours when the male homeowner returned home Saturday afternoon and lit a fire.  The homeowner attempted to put out the fire when he heard Caldwell screaming, and when firefighters arrived and dismantled the chimney, it was too late.  Caldwell died of burns and smoke inhalation.  His criminal history was not immediately available.

A bipartisan group of seven lawmakers today called on the president to fire the acting leader of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Chuck Rosenberg. They join nearly 100,000 people who've signed an online petition similarly calling for Rosenberg's removal after he infuriated patients and advocates by dismissing medical marijuana as "a joke" earlier this month.

Rosenberg's statements are "indicative of a throwback ideology rooted in a failed War on Drugs," the letter, spearheaded by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D.-Or.), begins. 

I have been a prosecutor in Kentucky since 1980, and I started working on my first death penalty case in 1981. I worked on many death penalty cases after that. I have been a speaker at the 2015 Kentucky prosecutors death penalty conference and at the 2015 death penalty conference presented by the National Association of District Attorneys. 

The arguments made in the amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs filed by CJLF (Kent Scheidegger) and the comments in support of crime victims, law enforcement, and the death penalty, as presented by CJLF (Kent Scheidegger or Mr. Rushford) to the news media reporters generally conform to my views and the views of most of the prosecutors that I know. The award that Kent received from the Association of Government Attorneys in Capital Litigation (a multi-state group of prosecutors who prosecute cases in which the death penalty is requested) in recognition of his advocacy in support of the death penalty is also significant. 

Unfortunately, working as a prosecutor does not necessary make someone a good spokesperson in dealing with news reporters. I would not classify myself as a good media spokesperson in spite of my years of work in the court system. 

ISIS Video Threatens NYC:  New York City officials confirmed the release of a new Islamic State propaganda video Thursday threatening attacks on the city, though authorities assure the public that there are no "specific threats."  Jim Michaels of USA Today reports that the video, the authenticity of which has not been verified, shows images of bombs and suicide bombers readying for an attack, with shots of Herald Square and Times Square.  The NYPD released a statement saying that the department is continuing to work with the FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force and the entire intelligence community to ensure the safety of the city.  Many major U.S. cities, New York City included, ramped up security in the wake of Friday's massacre in Paris that killed 129 people for which the Islamic State claimed responsibility.

Officer Fatally Shot in Car, Possibly Targeted:  A Los Angeles-area police officer was fatally shot in his personal vehicle in the parking lot of the police station where he worked, and law enforcement believes he was specifically targeted.  Veronica Rocha and Richard Winton of the LA Times report that 29-year-old Downey police officer Ricardo Galvez, a five-year police veteran and former Marine, was on duty but out of uniform in his personal vehicle when he was shot late Wednesday by two suspects who first fled the scene in a vehicle, and then on foot when another officer pursued them after hearing gunfire.  Lt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department believes that Galvez knew the shooters, as detectives weren't aware of any threats toward the department or its officers prior to the shooting.  A search for the suspects continued Thursday, with three people detained so far.  Galvez is the first Downey police officer to be killed in the line of duty in nearly 35 years.  Update:  The AP reports that three young men, ages 21, 18 and 16, were arrested within hours of Galvez's shooting, in what investigators say was a botched robbery attempt.

Central American Minors Surge Again at TX Border:  Following a months-long decrease in unaccompanied alien children from Central America surging the southern border last summer, a dramatic spike in the number of arrivals has occurred recently, bringing early fall migration levels to the highest ever in at least six years.  Dylan Baddour of Chron reports that according to the U.S. Border Patrol, 7,390 unaccompanied minors, primarily from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, were caught crossing the border in August and September, the most recent months with available data, representing an 85 percent increase over the same period last year.  Migration Policy Institute deputy director Marc Rosenblum credits the spike to continued and increasing violence in Central America, as well as the advent of "door-to-door" smugglers, who operate in Central American villages and offer complete trips to the U.S. for thousands of dollars.  This new network of smugglers has "totally broken down" the seasonality of migration, which used to always decline in the months of August and September.  When solo children are apprehended, they are first sent to shelters, and then placed with friends, family or foster care in the U.S.

Ex-Subway Pitchman Sentenced:  Ex-Subway spokesman Jared Fogle was sentenced Thursday in federal court to more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography and sex crime charges.  Fox News reports that 38-year-old father of two, who is famous for being Subway's spokesman after shedding hundreds of pounds in college eating the chain's sandwiches, agreed to plead guilty in August to one count each of traveling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and distribution and receipt of child pornography.  Fogle admittedly paid for sex with girls as young as 16 and received child pornography from the former executive director of his charity, Russell Taylor, who secretly filmed 12 minors using hidden cameras in his Indianapolis home.  Taylor has pleaded guilty to child exploitation and child pornography charges.  The 14 victims of Fogle are each receiving $100,000 in restitution.  Subway ended its relationship with Fogle following the July raid of his suburban Indianapolis home.

TX Murderer to be Executed:  A Texas murderer is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday evening for killing his daughter and two stepdaughters in a 2000 mobile home blaze.  Jon Herskovitz of Reuters reports that a new lawyer for 36-year-old Raphael Holiday filed a last-minute appeal arguing that Holiday's federally appointed counsel "acted against his wishes and abandoned further rounds of court filing to spare his life," which was rejected by the Texas Attorney General's office, who said such a claim "should not be given any credence."  Holiday was convicted of killing 7-year-old Tierra Lynch, 5-year-old Jasmine DuPaul and 1-year-old Justice Holiday six months after his common law wife at the time, Tami Wilkerson, obtained a restraining order against him for sexually assaulting Tierra.  After attempting to reconcile with Wilkerson, he returned to the mobile home they once shared and forced the girls' grandmother at gunpoint to douse the home in gasoline before igniting it.  The charred bodies of the three little girls were later discovered huddled together.  Holiday will be the 531^st inmate executed by the state of Texas since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.  Update:  The execution was carried out 2 1/2 hours later than scheduled, Michael Graczyk reports for AP, because the trial judge stopped the execution after the defendant's trial lawyer filed a new appeal, but that order was overturned by the state's highest criminal court.

Manhunt for Human Smuggler who Assaulted Officer:  A man dubbed by Border Patrol agents as "one of San Diego's most dangerous human smugglers" is the subject of an intensive federal manhunt after he assaulted a Border Patrol agent with a rock last weekend during a failed border-crossing in Southern California.  Fox News Latino reports that 39-year-old Martel Valencia-Cortez, a Mexican national who has been involved in several human smuggling incidents dating as far back as 1997, was smuggling 14 illegal immigrants Sunday evening when he struck a border agent in the face with a softball-sized rock and fled towards Mexico as officials began closing in on him.  Valencia-Cortez was released from federal custody in September after serving a three-year sentence for alien smuggling.  He is known to carry a gun and resort to violent and dangerous conduct to avoid capture.  The injured agent was treated for cuts and bruises.

AG Lynch Contradicts FBI on Screening Refugees:  Despite FBI Director James Comey's statement to a House committee in October that checking incoming Syrian refugees against a database is extremely difficult, if not impossible, unless the U.S. has actual data on the refugees, Attorney General Loretta Lynch insisted before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday that the U.S. will be able to safely process refugees.  Pete Kasperowicz of the Washington Examiner reports that Lynch defended the current system of checking refugees against government databases, and added that interviews and "other forms of screening" will result in a thorough and proper vetting process.  Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte echoed Comey's concerns of the country's vulnerability when it comes to people from Syria, given that officials cannot obtain information from a country in disarray.  The debate over whether or not to accept Syrian refugees has grown heated following Friday's deadly terror attacks in Paris, in which is was confirmed that at least one of the terrorists posed as a Syrian refugee to enter Europe.  House Speaker Paul Ryan is looking into legislation that could slow down President Obama's plan to admit 10,000 Syrian refugees next year.

Baltimore Reaches Highest Ever Homicide Rate:  Baltimore just surpassed it record level homicide rate, officially making 2015 the deadliest year, per capita, in the city's history.  Kevin Rector and Justin Fenton of the Baltimore Sun report that homicides reached the 300 mark on Sunday after a man was stabbed to death, the first time since 1999 that the city has seen that many homicides in one year.  Five more men were shot dead as of Tuesday evening, pushing the city's per capita homicide rate to 48.97 per 100,000 residents, breaking the 1993 record.  University of Baltimore criminologist Jeffrey Ian Ross says that the per capita figure "puts Baltimore's violent year in perspective compared to other cities also experiencing increased violence," noting that while violence has spiked considerably in cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C., the per capita rates of those cities are still far below the record-breaking levels set during the 1990s.  Since the April death of Freddie Gray in police custody that sparked citywide unrest, there has been more than a killing per day.  The Baltimore Police Department plans to announce a new community stabilization initiative in the near future.

Holiday [the petitioner] was convicted of intentionally setting fire to his wife's home near College Station in September 2000, killing her three little girls. He forced the children's grandmother to douse the home in gasoline. After igniting the fumes, Holiday watched from outside as flames engulfed the couch where authorities later found the corpses of 7-year-old Tierra Lynch, 5-year-old Jasmine DuPaul and 1-year-old Justice Holiday huddled together. Volberding and Kretzer were appointed in February 2011 to represent Holiday in his federal appeals. They filed a 286-page petition in federal court, alleging dozens of mistakes in Holiday's case, ranging from assertions that he was intellectually disabled to charges that clemency is so rarely granted in Texas that the process has become meaningless....

Crime has become the biggest problem in Washington, D.C. residents say, far surpassing concerns about the economy and the quality of public schools for the first time in almost a decade, according to a new Washington Post poll.

After a year in which homicides have spiked, fewer D.C. residents said their neighborhood is safe, the poll found. Following high-profile attacks that have rattled neighborhoods from Chevy Chase in upper Northwest to Anacostia in Southeast, 1 in 4 respondents said they feel "not too" or "not at all" safe in their communities, up from less than 1 in 5 in 2011. More than 1 in 3 said crime is the biggest problem facing the city, up from 12 percent four years ago.

The concern comes as the nation's cities have seen homicide rates reverse after more than two decades of steady declines.

Today we hold that the elected Sheriff of the nation's fourth largest county, located mere miles from our border with Mexico, cannot challenge the federal government's deliberate nonenforcement of the immigration laws. I agree with my colleagues that the state of the law on standing "requires, or at least counsels, the result here reached." Haitian Refugee Ctr. v. Gracey, 809 F.2d 794, 798 (D.C. Cir. 1987). But, recognizing that Sheriff Arpaio's claims reflect the widespread perception that the administration's prosecutorial discretion meme is constitutionally problematic, I write separately to emphasize the narrowness of today's ruling, and note the consequences of our modern obsession with a myopic and constrained notion of standing.

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No doubt the modern approach to standing serves to reduce our caseload. But there are much more important matters at stake. "Some [litigants] need bread; others need Shakespeare; others need their rightful place in the national society--what they all need is processors of law who will consider the people's needs more significant than administrative convenience." Id. at 1005 (quoting Edmond Cahn, Law in the Consumer Perspective, 112 U. PA. L. REV. 1, 13 (1963)). Our approach to standing, I fear, too often stifles constitutional challenges, ultimately elevating the courts' convenience over constitutional efficacy and the needs of our citizenry.

Evidence that terrorists were, in fact, using strong end-to-end encryption to kill people could be game-changing in a debate that has heretofore been defined by anxieties about NSA. The tech companies won the first round of the current encryption battles in large measure because the concerns the intelligence and law enforcement community have about "going dark," while acutely real to them, are pretty hypothetical on public evidence. All that could change in an instant were it to emerge that the Paris attackers were using technology specifically chosen to secure their communications from those charged with stopping terrorist attacks.

NY Prison Escapee Pleads Guilty:  One of the two convicted murderers who escaped from a maximum-security prison in upstate New York over the summer pleaded guilty Friday.  Lorenzo Ferrigno and Jason Hanna of CNN report that 35-year-old David Sweat, already serving a life sentence for a murder conviction, broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility with his breakout partner Richard Matt, also a convicted murderer, on June 6 with the help of power tools provided by a prison staff member.  The two men were on the run for over three weeks, sparking an intensive manhunt that ended June 28.  Matt was shot and killed by law enforcement and Sweat was wounded and captured two days later.  The prison worker who assisted Sweat and Matt's escape, Joyce Mitchell, was sentenced to up to seven years in prison for first-degree felony promoting prison contraband and fourth-degree misdemeanor criminal facilitation for her role in the elaborate scheme.  Sweat's faces an additional 14 years on top of his life sentence, and he is scheduled to be sentenced February 3.

Third Expert Says Cop in Tamir Rice Case Justified:  In a report released Thursday by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, a third expert found that the fatal shooting of 12-year-old black boy, Tamir Rice, by white Cleveland police officer Timothy Loehmann last year was "objectively reasonable."  Polly Mosendz of Newsweek reports that the latest report was conducted by W. Ken Katsaris, a certified Florida law enforcement officer, instructor and consultant with over three decades of experience, who reviewed the 911 call that prompted police response to the park where Rice was located, information provided by the dispatcher and the officers' actions upon arrival.  Following analysis of the 911 call, Katsaris found that the dispatcher should have provided Loehmann and his partner more information about the initial 911 call, such as the caller's statement that the person he saw holding a gun was "probably a juvenile" and that the gun was "probably fake."  After reviewing surveillance video of the incident, Katsaris determined that Loehmann had "only a split second" to make a decision when he saw Rice moving toward his waist band.  "It's simply obvious that the officers had reasonable belief that Rice was armed," he concluded.

Pregnant Wife of IN Pastor Murdered:  The suspect accused of murdering an Indianapolis pastor's pregnant wife during a home invasion earlier this week has been caught on several security cameras, and a picture is to be released by law enforcement to the public "in the near future."  Fox News reports that 28-year-old Amanda Blackburn was fatally shot in the head inside her home Tuesday morning during a home invasion robbery while her 15-month-old son slept in his crib upstairs.  Investigators believe that the suspect saw an opportunity while burglarizing another home to target the Blackburn home after spotting Pastor Davey Blackburn, Amanda's husband who has been ruled out as a suspect, leaving for the gym.  Indianapolis Police Chief Richard Hite says that the home invasion wasn't typical, noting that there was no forced entry into the home.  This leads his department to believe that there may be additional suspects.

Officer Run Over by 3-Time Deportee:  The man who ran over a Dallas police officer Monday outside a night club before being shot by police was an illegal immigrant who had been deported three times.  Claire Z. Cardona of the Dallas Morning News reports that 29-year-old Mexican-national Eduardo Gonzalez-Rios was escorted out of a night club on Monday evening and asked to leave the premises.  He then got into his SUV and backed into one of the three officers present, jumped a curb and ran "completely over" Sr. Corporal Ed Lujan, and backed over him again before attempting to drive away.  The two other officers at the scene fired their weapons and struck Gonzalez-Rios in the arm.  Lujan is recovering in the hospital with a broken sternum, nose, ribs, tibia and ankle, and a fractured vertebra and skull.  Gonzalez-Rios has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault against a public servant and is being detained on an immigrant hold by federal authorities.  His previous encounters with the feds were in Texas in 2004 and again in 2005, and in Missouri in 2011, for which he faced deportation.

Grand Jury Indicted Hundreds of Twin Peaks Bikers:  It took a grand jury in McLennan County, Texas, just nine hours to indict 106 bikers in connection with the deadly May shootout that resulted in the deaths of nine people and dozens of injuries.  Lana Shadwick of Breitbart reports that the bikers have all been indicted for the crime of engaging in organized criminal activity, a first-degree felony that carries a possible sentence of life in prison or 15 to 99 years, stemming from the May 17 brawl at a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, where over 175 total arrests were made.  The bikers insist that they were at the restaurant to attend a regular meeting regarding motorcycle issues, but police characterized the meeting as "a gathering of criminal biker gangs with violent intent."  The grand jury, which will return November 18, has yet to consider evidence against 80 other bikers.

LAPD Officer-Involved Shootings Increase:  The president of the Los Angeles Police Commission said Tuesday that the increase in officer-involved shootings this year is an "alarming development" that must be addressed.  Elizabeth Hsing-Huei Chou of the LA Daily News reports that Matt Johnson, backed by fellow commissioners and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck, made several proposals to combat officer-involved shootings, which jumped from 23 last year to 45 this year, to act as "tools to guide us on how and where we can improve the department."  Johnson's recommendations include:  a comparison of Los Angeles' officer-involved shootings and other uses of force with agencies across the country, analyzing changes in training and policies that have occurred over the past 10 years, looking deeper into implementing wider use of non-lethal weapons during interactions with suspects carrying weapons that are not firearms or those who are mentally ill, annual reporting of use-of-force cases, and involving the Office of the Inspector General to monitor and report back on police training programs. Chief Beck says it is "very heartening to see that the commissioner and I share a vision of what needs to happen."

University of Colorado climate change specialist Roger Pielke said Brown is engaging in "noble-cause corruption."

Pielke said it is easier to make a political case for change using immediate and local threats, rather than those on a global scale, especially given the subtleties of climate change research, which features probabilities subject to wide margins of error and contradiction by other findings.

"That is the nature of politics," Pielke said, "but sometimes the science really has to matter."

Heather Mac Donald Talks Ferguson Effect:  In this article in the Providence Journal, Manhattan Institute Fellow Heather Mac Donald offers her take on the Ferguson effect and FBI Director James Comey's recent remarks on the topic that came under fire.  Mac Donald presents data to support Comey's position that the rising violence in many American cities is likely related to a drop in proactive policing brought on by civil unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, Md.  As of October 23, murders were up 76 percent in Milwaukee, 60 percent in St. Louis, 56 percent in Baltimore, 47 percent in Minneapolis and 36 percent in Houston, exemplifying how widespread the bloodshed is.  Her findings also show that officers are backing off discretionary policing:  arrests were down 10 percent in Los Angeles during the first half of 2015 even as crime spiked 20 percent, and summonses for low-level, quality-of-life offenses dropped 26 percent in New York City in the same time period.  Mac Donald concludes, "When officer disengage, the result is not a boon for black lives ... Rather, criminals become emboldened, leading to this year's bloodbath."

Cop Slugged by Illegal Immigrant Gang Member:  A Frederick County, Maryland sheriff's deputy was slugged by an illegal immigrant gang member out on bond as he worked on a traffic report inside in vehicle last week.  Stephen Dinan of the Washington Times reports that 18-year-old MS-13 gang member Jose Misael Reyes-Reyes, free on bond awaiting a deportation hearing for weapons charges he received in June, approached Deputy First Class Greg Morton as he sat in his police cruiser Thursday morning and began banging on the back window before reaching through a half-open window and slugging the deputy in the face.  He also kicked the deputy as he attempted to escape arrest.  Reyes-Reyes is potentially part of the recent surge of unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors from Central America, and it is unclear why he was released on bond given his status as an illegal immigrant gang member.  Frederick Sheriff Chuck Jenkins expressed concerns that "the unprovoked assault was part of a growing trend of violence against police."  Furthermore, "this attack shows the risk that the Obama administration is creating with its hands-off immigration enforcement policies," says Center for Immigration Studies policy director Jessica Vaughan. 

Baltimore Violence Continues at a Rate Not Seen in Years:  Violence continues to plague Baltimore, and with 294 homicides as of Sunday, the city is on the fast track to surpassing 300 homicides this year for the first time since 1999.  Kevin Rector of the Baltimore Sun reports that as of the end of October, homicides citywide were up 55 percent and nonfatal shootings increased 76 percent, while business robberies, carjackings, street robberies and burglaries spiked 125, 76, 14 and 11 percent, respectively.  Baltimore Police Commissioner Kevin Davis says, "There is an idea somewhere out on the street that this amount of violence is perhaps an ideal or opportune time for someone with a score to settle to take advantage of this time and settle that score," noting that whether related to drugs, gangs or retaliation, there is no randomness associated with the violence.  His department is taking several steps to curb the carnage, which erupted following the April death of unarmed black man Freddie Gray in police custody, such as moving all district-level nonfatal shooting detectives into a centralized unit at police headquarters to increase information sharing between them and the homicide unit, maintaining their success with removing guns from the streets, increasing training for officers and adhering to the newly launched body camera pilot program.

Kansas Killers Death Sentence Upheld:  A Kansas man convicted of murdering multiple women had his death sentence upheld Friday by the Kansas Supreme Court, marking the first time Kansas' high court upheld a death sentence since the state's reinstatement of capital punishment in 1994.  The AP reports that 71-year-old John E. Robinson Sr. is accused of killing seven women and a teenage girl in Kansas and Missouri over the course of several years by using the Internet to lure them with promises of work or sex, and stuffed some of them into barrels on his property.  He raised over 100 issues during his appeal.

Feds Lose Track of Most Border-Surge Teens:  Numerous sources indicate that the unaccompanied alien children (UAC) pouring over the border from Central America are not on the radar of government agencies and NGO contractors, and court records show that about half of them fail to appear for immigration court hearings.  Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies reports that since October 1, 2014, 77,824 UACs have been released into the U.S., discounting the approximately 40,000 who arrived in 2012 and 2013.  Of these thousands, only 35 percent bothered to attend legal orientation programs, 48 percent have skipped out on hearings and 60 percent of those whose cases are completed have been ordered deported, though very few have.  New arrivals accelerated sharply from July through September of this year because, according to Border Patrol agent Chris Cabrera, "Most believe that they will either not be caught, or even if they are caught, they will not be deported."

KY Officer Dies After Being Shot in the Head:  A Kentucky police officer who was shot earlier this week while searching for a robbery suspect died in the hospital Friday morning.  Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post reports that 33-year-old Daniel Ellis, a seven-year veteran of the Richmond Police Department, was shot in the head Wednesday morning when he and another officer went to an apartment to look for 34-year-old Raleigh Sizemore, who was suspected in an armed robbery of a woman at a gas station.  Sizemore was non-fatally wounded in the incident, treated and released into police custody.  He faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer and unlawful imprisonment, which will certainly be elevated now that Ellis has died.  Two other people in the apartment, 25-year-old Gregory Ratliff and 44-year-old Rita Creech, have been charged with complicity to commit murder and first degree robbery, respectively.  Ellis is the second police officer to be killed by gunfire in Kentucky this year, and the 32^nd to be killed on-duty.  

Voters rejected the measure with 64 percent opposed and only 36 percent in favor. It was defeated in every single one of Ohio's 88 counties, some of which voted against the bill by huge margins, according to preliminary numbers: 55 percentage points in Holmes County. 60 in Mercer. 65 in Putnam.

The bill was likely doomed to fail from the get-go for a variety of reasons. It was an off-off election year, where voters are older and more conservative. Ohio has never exactly been a bastion of marijuana culture. And most crucially, the bill would have created a state-mandated oligopoly on the production of marijuana, with a handful of the measure's wealthy backers as the primary beneficiaries.

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Issue 3 would create a marijuana "monopoly" (actually, an oligopoly) consisting of 10 producers who would have their exclusive rights to engage in the commercial production of marijuana enshrined in the state constitution. The campaign in support of Issue 3 -- so-called Responsible Ohio -- is predictably supported by those who would hold these exclusive rights. This is crony capitalism at its worst.

Baby Doe Abuse Case Closed Prematurely:  A report released Wednesday revealed that the decision made by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to close two reports of abuse regarding "Baby Doe," whose remains were discovered in June near Boston, was premature.  CBS Boston reports that DCF said it was involved with two-year-old Bella Bond's case when she was an infant in 2012 and 2013, but both cases were subsequently closed.  It was also found that the agency improperly assessed the ability of Bella's mother, Rachelle Bond, to parent her daughter.  Bella's remains were identified in September after being discovered on Deer Island in June, allegedly murdered by 25-year-old Michael McCarthy, Rachelle Bond's boyfriend.  The new report, issued by the Office of the Child Advocate, concluded that "a higher level of response to the 2012 and 2013 abuse and neglect reports was warranted by DCF."  McCarthy, who believed Bella was possessed by demons when he killed her, is charged with murder and Rachelle Bond faces a charge of accessory after the fact.

OK Beheading Suspect Competent to Stand Trial:  An Oklahoma man accused of beheading a co-worker at a food-processing plant is competent to be tried for first-degree murder and other charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.  Tim Talley of the AP reports that the ruling means a trial can move forward in the case against 31-year-old Alton Nolan, who is charged in the September 2014 attack that killed 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and injured another co-worker at the Vaughan Foods plant in Oklahoma City.  Nolen's attorneys argued that he is mentally impaired and unable to help them prepare his defense, and thus should not stand trial.  A judge rejected the defense's claims following two days of testimony during which psychologists for both the prosecution and the defense offered opposing opinions regarding Nolen's competence.  In September of last year, Nolen, a recent convert to Islam who had just been suspended from his job at the plant, walked into the company's administrative office and severed Hufford's head with a large knife and then repeatedly stabbed another co-worker, Traci Johnson, before he was shot and wounded by Mark Vaughan, a reserve sheriff's deputy and CEO of the company.

NM Officer Shot Last Week Dies:  An Albuquerque police officer shot during a traffic stop last week died from his injuries early Thursday.  The AP reports that Officer Daniel Webster, a nine-year veteran of the force, suffered gunshot wounds to his upper body and jaw when 34-year-old Davon Lymon opened fire at him after being pulled over for riding a motorcycle with a stolen license plate.  When Lymon was apprehended following the shooting, he had a handcuff on his left wrist, indicating that Webster was in the process of arresting him at the time of the incident.  Lymon's prior criminal record includes charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated battery, kidnapping, fraud and forgery.  He currently faces one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  Law enforcement officials in the state are calling on the New Mexico legislature to increase resources for police and prosecutors in high-crime areas and to enact sentencing reforms, ensuring that people like Lymon are kept off the streets.

[The medical examiner] testified Tuesday Correll lived approximately five minutes before losing consciousness. It is difficult to imagine the degree of emotional anguish suffered by that dying child. She had apparently witnessed the brutal murder of her mother and experienced the horror of her own father repeatedly driving a sharp knife into her chest.

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There is no reasonable explanation for her murder other than to permanently silence her as a witness to the death of her mother.

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This five year old child was clad only in her nighty and was clutching her cloth doll when she was brutally and repeatedly attacked by her own father.

Women and Children Turning Themselves in at Border:  In the border city of Laredo, Texas, U.S. Border Patrol agents say they are being sought out by groups of immigrant women and children arriving at the border and turning themselves in, a trend reminiscent of last year's border crisis that "appears to be the beginning of an influx."  Brandon Darby of Breitbart reports that Border officials note that how women and children show up at the border is a sign of a coming surge, because when illegal immigrants seek out agents to turn themselves in rather than attempt to elude authorities, it indicates training and knowledge "that they will be taken care of and ultimately released."  It is believed that dangerous cartels, most notably the Los Zetas and Gulf cartels, are assisting these groups across the border and into the U.S.  Agents report that they are seeing five to ten groups consisting of approximately three to five people per day, mostly Honduran, which they regard as a "significant uptick." 

FL Man to be Executed:  An Orlando man convicted of murdering four members of his family 30 years ago is scheduled to be executed this week, several months after it was postponed for attorneys to litigate the constitutionality of one of the lethal injection sedatives.  NBC Miami reports that 59-year-old Jerry Correll is set to be executed Thursday for the fatal stabbings of his former wife, her mother and sister, and the couple's five-year-old daughter.  Correll's attorneys argued that his history of alcohol use and resulting brain damage would render midazolam, one of the drugs used in executions, ineffective in knocking him unconscious.  They also argued that the time Correll has spent on death row amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.  All arguments were rejected by the Florida Supreme Court.  It will be the state's first execution since January.

Death Sentence Reinstated for OH Murderer:  A federal appeals court reinstated the death sentence last Thursday of an Ohio man who fatally shot his girlfriend, her young child and a university student in a drug and alcohol-fueled rage in 2005.  Eric Heisig of Cleveland reports that in a 2-1 decision, the 6^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that 55-year-old James Trimble's case does not need to be re-heard.  Trimble's death sentence was overturned in 2013 by a U.S. district court judge due to concerns regarding a particular member of the jury at the trial, who was chosen as an alternate and "single-mindedly favored the death penalty."  Prosecutor Vic Vigluicci is pleased with the 6^th court's decision to reinstate Trimble's death sentence, noting that he is "pretty much at the end of his rope as far as challenging his convictions."  An execution date has not been set.

[A]dditional scrutiny and criticism of police officers in the wake of highly publicized episodes of police brutality may have led to an increase in violent crime in some cities as officers have become less aggressive.  If the cops have become hesitant to do their jobs in the wake of people being mad when they find out cops are being violent thugs, then that suggests, to me at least, that the cops don't think they can do their jobs without being violent thugs.

And if that is the case, maybe higher crime is the price we pay for cops not being violent thugs. Frankly, I'm OK with that.