Results matching “first”

Last week, justice was finally carried out for the murder of Mandy Meyers and Mary Snyder, both 13, 20 years earlier.  I previously discussed the Ninth Circuit's decision in this post, and our News Scan feature reported on the Supreme Court action and the execution.

On Dec. 6, Kim Smith had this story in the Arizona Daily Star, providing more detail on the victims' families and the execution itself.

In states that use the three-drug method, the reason given for the paralytic pancuronium bromide was to prevent convulsive movements that might be disturbing to witnesses even though the inmate is not in any actual pain.  In this case, using the single-drug method:

The pentobarbital rendered Stokley unconscious five minutes after the first dose was administered. The second dose was then given.

At 11:03 a.m. Stokley's body convulsed one time. He was pronounced dead nine minutes later. He never looked at the crowd watching from the other side of the glass.

[Patty] Hancock[, Mandy's mother,] said Stokley should have apologized to the families but wasn't surprised he did not. "What do you expect from a heartless man with no soul?" she asked.

Convulsions happen with the single-drug method, but they are not that big a deal.  The witnesses can be briefed on what to expect and what it actually means.  Preventing convulsions is certainly no reason to litigate the three-drug method for years while justice is further delayed.

Iowa Senator Seeks to Reinstate Death Penalty: The Associated Press reports Iowa State Sen. Kent Sorenson (R) announced he plans on introducing legislation to reinstate the death penalty in January. The move was prompted by the discovery of the bodies of two young girls, 8- and 10-years-old, who had been missing since July. Currently in Iowa, the most serious cases of kidnapping or rape, like murder, allow for a life sentence. Sorenson argues the state needs a more severe punishment to deter criminals from killing their victims. The state repealed the death penalty in 1965.

FL Set to Execute Ex-Officer Turned Killer: The Associated Press reports ex-police officer Manuel Pardo is set to be executed Tuesday night at the Florida State Prison. Pardo was convicted of killing nine people during a crime spree that lasted three months. Pardo was fired from the Florida Highway Patrol in 1979 for falsifying traffic tickets.  He was fired from another Florida police agency in 1986 for lying to a court in the Bahamas for a colleague on trial for drug smuggling. After being fired, Pardo went on a crime spree killing six men and three women during a series of robberies. He argued that he was doing society a service by killing his victims, most of whom were involved in drugs. 

AR Killer Strangles Cellmate: Justin Lewis of KATV News reports that convicted murderer Robert Holland used a bed sheet to strangle his cellmate to death Friday in Arkansas. Holland was serving a life without parole sentence for murder since November 1991. His victim was serving 48-months for failing to register as a sex offender, and would have been parole eligible on March 15. 

DNA Links IL Inmate to Unsolved Murder: Frank Main and Jon Seidel of the Chicago Sun-Times report inmate Michael Escort has been charged with murder in Illinois. Escort allegedly raped, beat, and strangled a woman to death in an abandoned building in 1989. His DNA was matched last week to a sample taken from the victim at the crime scene. Escort was convicted of kidnapping and sexual assault in 1991, and was eligible for parole Dec. 23. 

No Death Sentences in NC  This Year: The Associated Press reports no murderers have been sentenced to death in North Carolina in 2012. Despite the state sentencing 400 to death and executing 43 since adopting a death penalty law in 1977, this is the first time no one was sent to death row in any given year. The state has sentenced 24 murderers to death since 1999.  Executions have been on hold since 2006 due to a pending lawsuit challenging the role of doctors in executions.

It is a commonplace for the Left to accuse the Bush administration of rationalizing, condoning and conducting torture.  The most urgently and frequently pressed accusations are of waterboarding, an excruciating practice that simulates drowning (but produces no permanent injury).  It is said (although never by the Left) to have resulted in a huge amount of actionable intelligence from the otherwise recalcitrant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.  Some of that intelligence helped the Obama administration, which had relentlessly demagogued the torture issue in 2008, on the path toward killing Osama --  undoubtedly the single most popular act in the President's first term.

When a judge makes a ruling you don't like, the usual response is a motion to reconsider, an appeal, or a writ petition.  Saying "Tell Judge Currie get the f--- off all my cases" is contraindicated.  That was the course chosen by pro se civil litigant Robert Peoples in a federal court in South Carolina.  Mike Scarcella has this story for the NLJ (free registration required).

This resulted in a trial for criminal contempt at which Peoples (no longer pro se) was convicted.  The Fourth Circuit affirmed.

Peoples has filed a certiorari petition in the Supreme Court, Peoples v. United States, No. 12-7544.  Along with the law of contempt, the SC FedPD makes a First Amendment argument, citing Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15, 26 (1971), the notorious "F___ the Draft" jacket-in-the-courtroom case.  "If Cohen is correct and the mere use of such a profane word cannot be made a crime, it logically follows that its use may not constitute the reason for criminal contempt."

That "if" would be a good issue for the Court to take up.  As much as I admire Justice Harlan for his many fine opinions, I think he got it wrong on that one.  Freedom of speech does not need to include the freedom to say anything anywhere.  Society can and should insist on a basic level of decorum in its government proceedings.  Cohen et al. can take their protests outside.

The San Francisco Chronicle has this editorial on a bill that is too far out even for the City by the Bay:

California is getting its first nonstarter idea for a new legislative session: a "Homeless Persons' Bill of Rights" that targets curbs on behavior and conditions on cash welfare payments to people living on the streets.

The bill, introduced by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democrat, is an absurd reaction to restrictions on homeless conduct and tough-love ideas such as San Francisco's "Care Not Cash" program that substitutes housing and counseling services for welfare checks.

Greg Risling reports for AP in LA:

While behind bars for three decades, a convicted murderer and member of the Mexican Mafia controlled a network of Los Angeles street gangs that sold drugs, committed killings and robbed students at the University of Southern California, authorities said in an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Investigators believe Danny Roman used his 23-year-old daughter Vianna Roman and her husband, Aaron Soto, to relay orders to gang members who ran criminal activities in neighborhoods and received protection from the notorious prison gang if they entered the penal system.

The 110-page indictment illustrated the havoc wreaked by the Mexican Mafia from maximum security prisons by "taxing" street-level gang members.

Among the crimes tied to the 56-year-old Roman in the documents were the May murder of a gang member and the gunpoint robbery last December of three USC students.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, said Roman wasn't indicted because he's currently serving a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole for a 1984 first-degree murder conviction. Mrozek declined further comment.

I think some further comment is in order.  We do have a federal death penalty, and a person who commits murder after previously committing murder should be first in line.  (Personally, I think that circumstance warrants a mandatory death penalty, but SCOTUS didn't see it that way.)

FBI Releases Confession of Serial Killer:  An AP story Rachel D'Oro reveals evidence that Israel Keyes, arrested earlier this year for the kidnap and murder 18-year-old Anchorage woman Samantha Koenig, may have killed at least seven other people.  Keyes, who committed suicide in his cell on December  2, told the FBI the gruesome details of Koenig's murder, and also confessed to killing a couple in Vermont in 2011, four people in Washington state, and another victim, possibly in New York.  Keyes, a 34-year-old loner who traveled extensively, was arrested in Texas last March after using Koenig's debit card.  While in  custody he also confessed to raping his first victim years ago, a teen-aged girl in Oregon whom he intended to kill, but let go.  

Turning Over Illegals Optional in CA:  In a press conference  reported by Chronicle writer Bob Egelko, California Attorney Kamala Harris announced that local police departments are not required to comply with federal requests to hold illegal immigrants, who have been arrested for crimes, for deportation.  Under current federal policy, the fingerprints of arrestees are routinely sent to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.  If they are determined to be illegals the local police are notified to hold that person.  Attorney General Harris has determined that too many illegals arrested for minor offenses are being held, although the Obama administration recently announced last summer that it has refocused on deportations of only serious offenders.  The Attorney General's response is, just let them go.   

Judge Ousted in Fort Hood Case:  The Associated Press reports that the judge presiding over the trial of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan has been replaced by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, the military's highest legal authority.   The decision appears to be based on the previous judge's order that Hasan shave his beard, which the Court of Appeals concluded was biased.  Hasan is being tried for the unprovoked 2009 shootings that killed 13 and wounded more than two-dozen on the Texas army post.  The Court's order replaces Col. Gregory Gross, with Col. Tara Osborn. 

Did Justice Sotomayor read the same opinion I did in Hodge v. Kentucky?  The Kentucky Supreme Court opinion described in her dissent today has little relation to the one that court actually handed down.

The Hodge case involves a scenario that is not unusual in capital cases.  The crime is an utterly despicable and callous one.  The defendant had a terrible childhood.  The defense trial lawyer failed to present that evidence.  But should the judgment be overturned as a result?

US Prisons May House Guantanamo Detainees: The Associated Press reports that if Guantanamo Bay closes, detainees may be integrated into six Defense Department and 98 Justice department prisons in the United States according to a Government Accountability Office study. Of the 166 detainees, many are accused of plotting terrorist acts. There are currently 373 prisoners who were convicted of terrorism in U.S. prisons.

Female Inmates Coming to Folsom Prison: The CimRiders Blog for the California Correctional Peace Officers Association reports the last 400 female inmates at the Valley State Prison for Women will be moved to Folsom State Prison. The unused Folsom Transitional Treatment Facility is being remodeled and renamed the Folsom Women's Facility. The facility will be opened in two phased: the first in December and the second in January.

NYC Has Violent Crime Free Day: NBC News New York reports no calls came into police involving a victim who was shot, stabbed, or slashed Monday in New York City. Murders are down 23 percent, with 366 so far in 2012 compared to 472 in 2011. This is the lowest murder rate the city has seen since 1960. Overall crime in the city is up 3 percent due to an increase in tablet and smart phone thefts according to officials.

Mexican Mafia Running CA Street Gang From Prison: Steve Chawkins of the Los Angeles Times reports Martin Madrigal, part of the prison-based Mexican Mafia, was found to be running a Ventura County gang despite being locked up in an out-of-state prison. According to law enforcement officials, Madrigal was coordinating violent crimes, extortion schemes, and drug deals. He had Ventura County gang member Edwin Mora enforcing his decisions on the street. A 35-count grand jury indictment was released Tuesday naming 27 members.

CA to Release First Third-Striker After Prop 36 Passed: The Associated Press reports Kenneth Corley will be the first inmate to be released from prison after California's November 6 adoption of Proposition 36. Corley has been in prison since 1996. He was a lifelong, nonviolent drug addict serving a 25 to life sentence for repeated burglaries in order to provide for his addiction. 

Death Row Inmate Claims He Killed Nicole Brown Simpson: Alan Duke of CNN reports death row inmate Glen Rogers confessed to his brother Clay Rogers and criminal profiler Anthony Meoli that he, not O.J. Simpson, killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1994. Rogers says O.J. was waiting nearby. According to Rogers, O.J. hired him to break into Nicole's condominium and steal diamond earrings Simpson had given to Nicole. Allegedly, Simpson told Rogers, "You may have to kill the b*tch." After killing Brown Simpson and Goldman, Rogers went on a cross-county killing spree during which he may have claimed up to 70 female victims. He was arrested in Ohio in November 1995. Rogers is on death row in both California and Florida, and is awaiting execution in Florida and has exhausted all appeals. Los Angeles Police Department Commander Andrew Smith said detectives will investigate the claims.

NY Duffel Bag Triple Killer Arrested: Tom Hays of the Associated Press reports garment salesman Salvatore Perrone was arrested for three Brooklyn murders Wednesday. Perrone allegedly shot and killed three shopkeepers who were working alone in separate incidents. A duffel bag identified in surveillance footage was found in his girlfriend's apartment. The bag contained a sawed-off rifle used in the killings, with Perrone's fingerprint on them, ammunition, gloves, a bloody knife, bleach, and women's clothing. No motive has been established. Perrone will return to court Tuesday.

MI Man Charged With Four Murders: Ed White of the Associated Press reports James Brown was charged with four counts of first-degree murder in Detroit  Monday. Brown allegedly murdered four women suspected to be escorts, stuffed their bodies into trunks of abandoned cars and set them on fire. The victims were killed and dumped in pairs. The most Brown will serve if convicted in Michigan is life without parole.

AZ Cop Killer Will Be Parole Eligible: Felicia Fonseca of the Associated Press reports that the schizophrenic murderer of a deputy sheriff, Scott Curley, was sentenced to 25 years with the possibility of parole Tuesday in Arizona. Curley, 25, pleaded guilty to the ambush murder of a Kane County Deputy Officer during a four-day manhunt. Prior to the murder, Curley had broken into the home of a childhood friend and stole an assault rifle. He then held a school custodian hostage at gunpoint before fleeing into the wilderness. Curley pleaded guilty to theft, burglary, aggravated assault, and murder. His plea bargain avoided his going to trial on October 9 on ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He could be released from prison after age 40.

Stanislaus County Jail Inmates Set Fires to Gain Release: Patty Guerra of the Modesto Bee reports Stanislaus County Honor Farm inmates set two separate fires in hopes of being released under AB 109. The first was set Tuesday, the second Monday. Arson without injuries is not eligible for prison as it is considered a nonviolent, non-serious, and non-sexual crime. By burning down the honor farm barracks and no room in the county jail, inmates hoped officials would have to release them back onto the streets in time to go home for Christmas. Stanislaus Sheriff Adam Christianson said, "This is a direct result of Realignment." 

Stockton Gold Chain Robberies Spike: Ron Jones of CBS13 reports Stockton, a city plagued with increased crime due to Realignment, has seen a spike in gold chain robberies in the last six months. Since April, about 250 gold chains have been stolen off persons, most in broad daylight. The peak hours are between 12:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. according to police. The most notorious case this year happened on September 17. Armando Pina, 60, was robbed and killed in the middle of the afternoon while taking a walk in a park. Stockton typically has one such robbery occur each day at minimum.

CA Death Penalty Must Be Fixed: The Pasadena Star-News reports that since Proposition 34 was voted down, death penalty proponents argue the next step is to fix California's expensive and flawed state execution process. Two changes would streamline executions. The first is to limit the appeals process; the second is to adopt the one-drug lethal injection protocol and abandon the three-drug execution process. Since 1992, 13 inmates have been executed while 84 have died of natural causes. There are more than 720 inmates on death row, 14 of which have exhausted all appeals. Lengthy appeals and procedure could be clarified. Also, capital punishment qualifying special circumstances could be limited. In 1973, there were ten special circumstances; today there are 39. The three-drug method has been challenged, resulting in no executions carried out since 2006. Proponents argue adopting one-drug lethal injections would jump start executions, beginning with the 14 who have no appeals left. It is the same drug used to humanely euthanize family pets.

San Joaquin County Jail Out of Space: Jennie Rodriguez-Moore of the Stockton Record reports officials in San Joaquin County are considering options to add more beds to the Stockton jail. Since the implementation of AB 109, the added 400 inmates pushed the jail beyond its 1,213 capacity. The jail now houses 1,411 on average per day. Furthermore, state parolees are repeatedly committing technical violations and returning to the jail, some as many as 11 times since Realignment began. With prison no longer an option for violators, jails are exceeding capacity and fewer criminals are pleading guilty which is resulting in more trials.

CA Sentences Toll Double-Killer to Death: Demian Bulwa of SF Gate reports Nathan Burris was sentenced to death Tuesday for the 2009 murders of his ex-girlfriend and the man she was seeing at a toll plaza. Continued from this news scan. 

CA Should Adopt Single-Drug Executions: Paul Elias of the Associated Press reports California has 14 inmates on death row who have exhausted all of their appeals. More and more prosecutors, capital punishment proponents, and law enforcement officials are seeking to have the state abandon the three-drug execution protocol and adopt a single-drug lethal injection as six other states have done. Criminal Justice Legal Foundation President Michael Rushford explained that Washington resumed executions six months after adopting the single-drug process. California could do the same. Courts have ordered a halt in executions under California's three-drug protocol since 2006.

Fresno Double-Killer To Be Paroled: Pablo Lopez of the Fresno Bee reports convicted killer Steven Sanchez will soon be paroled in California. Sanchez was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting a pregnant woman and her 3-year-old niece in the head in 1985. He was sentenced to 26 years to life. A policy change adopted for the state parole board in 2008 discounts the severity of the crime and substitutes and evaluation of the murderer's current danger to the public as the deciding factor on which inmates serving indeterminate life terms can be released on parole after serving 85% of their sentence.

GA Supreme Court Overturns Death Sentence: UPI News reports the Georgia Supreme Court upheld Clayton Jerrod Ellington's convictions but overturned his death sentence Monday. Ellington was convicted of the 2006 beating murders with a hammer of his wife and their two-year-old twin sons. His case will receive a new sentencing trial.

Stockton Homicide Rate Increases: Michael Fitzgerald of the Stockton Record  reports Stockton had its 64th and 65th murders of the year Sunday. Stockton had 58 homicides total in all of 2011.

The title of this entry is the title of a column by economist Robert Samuelson writing in the Washington Post.  The thesis of the column is that our leaders, out of fear of the political consequences, won't even call the welfare state by its true name, making virtually impossible any discussion of, much less solution for, where it is leading us.

Eric Jaffe has this piece in the Atlantic Cities, Do Foreclosures Increase Crime After All?

A few months ago our Emily Badger reported on a study that found no direct correlation between home foreclosures and crime. The researchers drew that conclusion from a thorough analysis of housing markets and crime statistics in 142 metro areas across the United States. "Moving forward, researchers should begin to think about why the foreclosure crisis is not directly linked to rates of violent and property crime," they wrote.

Before other scholars move forward too quickly, they might consider another study -- this one set to appear in the Journal of Urban Economics -- that reaches the opposite conclusion. The new work, led by Ingrid Gould Ellen of New York University, found that recent foreclosures in New York City led to a 1 percent increase in crime on the same block. The largest effects occurred when properties went all the way through the foreclosure process, either to auction or bank ownership.

Just as important as the foreclosure-crime issue is the lesson about overreliance on studies.  All studies involve assumptions and simplifications.  If they are well-written, these are detailed in the "Limitations" section.  Go there first, just like the footnotes in a financial disclosure.  That's where the bodies are buried.  Different researchers get different and sometimes conflicting answers to the same questions because they made different assumptions or simplifications or used different methods.

Far too often, the "bottom line" of a study is cited in a policy advocacy piece as if it were the definitive word without any indication the study has limitations.  Take such citations with a heavy dose of skepticism.  What "studies show" "ain't necessarily so."

PA Killer Granted Last Minute Stay of Execution: The Associated Press reports the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Hubert Michael Jr. a stay of execution Thursday. Michael's case is being sent back to a district court judge for further proceedings. Michael's crime is outlined in this news scan.

CA Double Murderer Faces Death Penalty: Demian Bulwa of the San Francisco Chronicle reports a remorseless Nathan Burris was convicted Wednesday of two murders in California. Burris killed his ex-girlfriend and her male friend with a shotgun at the toll plaza where she worked. He was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder, killing multiple victims, and lying in wait which make him eligible for the death penalty. Burris represented himself and often laughed and cursed at the family of his victims throughout the trial. His penalty hearing is set to begin Thursday.

AZ Shooter Gets 7 Life Sentences: The Associated Press reports Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences Thursday. Loughner went on a shooting rampage in Arizona in 2011 that killed six and wounded 13. Loughner had previously pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. Discussion of Loughner's plea is here. Further case details are here. It is not yet known where he will serve his sentence.

CA Death Penalty Fixes May Be On Next Ballot: Sam Stanton and Andy Furrilo of the Sacramento Bee have this article discussing the likelihood of another death penalty proposition on the ballot in 2014. Proposition 34 lost 53-47% on Tuesday. Supporters of California's death penalty, including Criminal Justice Legal Foundation Legal Director Kent Scheidegger, are considering going to voters to resume executions in the state. Legislators and state officials could arguably speed up executions in the state easily, beginning with the 14 on death row who have exhausted all appeals.

CA Jails Filling Up Under AB 109: Luke Money of the Signal reports county jails in California are expected to reach capacity soon as a result of Gov. Brown's Realignment. CJLF President Michael Rushford said levels of crime will increase with more inmates being transferred from state prisons to jails. Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Cecil Rhambo told supervisors that by October of this year, the volume of inmates moved to the county under AB 109 has pushed the population of county jails to 19,000 of the 22,700 capacity. The county receives about 600 transfers every month, and releases about 550 on parole. By the time Realignment is complete, another 8,000 prisoners will be in the county.

Prop 34 Will Reduce Chances to Overturn Convictions: Maura Dolan has this story in the Los Angeles Times discussing that death row inmates oppose Proposition 34 because they would be provided less legal assistance and would no longer be provided lawyers for habeas corpus petitions. Kent Scheidegger, legal director of CJLF, said inmates sentenced to death have a better chance of overturning their convictions than those serving life without parole. Since 1978, California has only executed 13 on death row. According to an informal survey of current death row inmates, many of them would rather gamble on being executed someday than have their attorneys that are provided by the state taken away. About 14 of the 735 inmates on the state's death row have exhausted all appeals.

OH Finds DNA Can Be Kept Indefinitely, Guilty or Not: Kate Irby of the Plain Dealer reports that on Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously ruled DNA obtained from a suspect by the state can be kept indefinitely regardless of the suspect's guilt.  Dajuan Emerson was accused of raping the 7-year-old daughter of his girlfriend in 2005. Emerson provided a DNA sample but the seminal fluid found on the girl did not contain DNA that could be matched. Emerson did not seek to remove his DNA profile from the database. In 2007, a woman was found murdered, stabbed 74 times in the body, neck, and torso. DNA was found at the scene on a door handle that did not belong to the victim. The DNA was a match to Emerson. He tried to have the DNA evidence suppressed as an unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment, but the court unanimously decided in this opinion that law enforcement officials did not need to obtain a warrant before obtaining a DNA sample. Emerson was sentenced to 25 years to life.

MI Murder Suspect Has History of Attacking, Killing Women: The 24 Hour News 8 Staff reports John White, arraigned Thursday in Michigan for first-degree murder, has an extensive history of hurting and killing women. White admitted he attacked and killed a woman in her trailer on Wednesday. He told police where the victim's body could be found. In 1981, White was convicted of stabbing his 17-year-old neighbor 14 times in her chest and back. He served 2 years of his 5-10 year sentence. In 1995, White pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the disappearance and death of the 26-year-old woman he was having an affair with. Her body, discovered six weeks after she disappeared, was so badly decomposed that no cause of death could be established. White said it was an accident, though he never explained what happened. He served 12 years for that killing. White is set to be back in court Nov. 8.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is the gold standard for diagnosing mental disorders in the United States.  It's had rocky days before, but the new edition which is forthcoming this spring looks particularly bad.  And that's not just some arm-chair speculating by yours truly, but from Allen Frances, M.D. who was the chairman of the previous iteration of the manual:

The $3 million DSM-5 Field Trials have been a pure disaster from start to finish. First, there was the poor choice of design. The study restricted itself to reliability -- the measurement of diagnostic agreement among different raters. Unaccountably, it failed to address two much more crucial questions -- DSM-5's potential impact on who would be diagnosed and on how much its dramatic lowering of diagnostic thresholds would increase the rates of mental disorder in the general population. There was no possible excuse for not asking these simple-to-answer and vitally important questions. We have a right to know how much DSM-5 will contribute to the already rampant diagnostic inflation in psychiatry, especially since this risks even greater overuse of psychotropic drugs.

FL Convicted Killer Faces Death Penalty, Again: Larry Hannan of the Florida Times-Union reports that DeShawn Leon Green faces a death sentence for the March 2009 murder of a man and attempted murder of a woman with an AR15 assault rifle he called baby.  Green is already serving a life sentence for an August 2009 murder, and faces another trial for a murder in April of 2009. 

TX Girlfriend Killer Scheduled for Execution: Reuters has this article discussing the execution of Donnie Lee Roberts set for Wednesday in Texas. Roberts was convicted of shooting his girlfriend to death in their home in 2003. He confessed to killing her because she would not give him money. Roberts had also confessed to killing a man in Louisiana in 1992 for which he did not stand trial.   Update:  here. 

Not exactly three amigos, but AP reports:

Three former California governors are urging voters to reject a ballot proposal next week that would abolish the state's death penalty.

Democrat Gray Davis and Republicans Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian joined murder victims' families in Los Angeles Tuesday to warn that Proposition 34 would erase history and potentially free imprisoned killers.

There are more than 700 inmates on California's death row.

Davis calls the proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot a "horrible injustice" that would reopen old wounds for victims' families.

The report notes the other side's argument:

The American Civil Liberties Union and other supporters say $4 billion has been spent since 1978 housing condemned inmates and on lengthy court appeals. They say that money could be used to investigate unsolved murder and rape cases.

But why are the appeals lengthy?  The cost of all appeals after the first is an unnecessary cost, at least to the extent they do not involve actual doubts of guilt, as they nearly always do not.  The cost of incarceration during those unnecessary appeals is an unnecessary cost.

And who opposed the bills that would have fixed this?  You guessed it:  the ACLU.

Update:  Video of the event is available in the No on 34 site's video gallery.  A longer version of the AP story by Michael Blood is here.

Lately I have been blogging a lot on Proposition 34, so I thought I would put up a quick note on why this is not just a California issue.  Supporters of justice elsewhere in the country should also be very concerned.

This is the Battle of the Bulge.  Nationwide, we had been making progress toward an effective death penalty over the years.  We won in the Supreme Court with Teague v. Lane, McCleskey v. Zant, and Coleman v. Thompson.  We won in Congress with the enactment of AEDPA.  Then we went back to the court to implement that act with a series of decisions from Felker v. Turpin to Williams v. Taylor to Cullen v. Pinholster.

The other side has had success with a counteroffensive, though.  First they created delay and expense, and then they convinced a few legislatures that the delay and expense made the death penalty not worth having.

California is different, though.  The death penalty law is a popular initiative, and only another vote of the people can overturn it.  This is the first time in recent years that the people of any state have voted on the issue directly.  It is symbolically important nationwide, both as a direct vote and because of the size of the state.

The opponents' national strategy is to try to localize the death penalty to the South before killing it off completely.  Even if you live in a state where the death penalty is safe from legislative abolition, it is important that this isolation strategy fail.  If the bulk of the country does not have the death penalty, then federal barriers will be erected to make its enforcement impossible in the states that retain it.

As with the World War II Battle of the Bulge, I believe this is the fight that will halt the counteroffensive as resume the drive to victory.  That is why this fight is critically important, not just for California but for the cause of justice nationwide.

Tweets Forecast Hurricane Sandy Looting Wave: Paul Joseph Watson of Info Wars reports the New York National Guard will place 1,175 troops in Long Island in response to mass amounts of tweets asking others to join Twitter users in looting once hurricane Sandy hits. Similar looting waves also took place after hurricanes Katrina and Irene. Widespread looting is anticipated to take place during Sandy.

CA Man Charged in Triple Murder: The Daily Mail Reporter headlines Grigoriy Bukhantsov was formally charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of his brother's wife and two young children Friday in Sacramento. Bukhantsov's sister-in-law and her 2-year-old son were found with stab wounds to the neck and torso. The three-year-old daughter was stabbed in the chest. Bukhantsov's family had a retraining order against him due to his repeated threats to kill them. Bukhantsov has not yet entered a plea. According to Sacramento County Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen Grippi, it could be months before prosecution decides whether it will seek the death penalty. The next hearing is set for Nov. 26.

SD Killer Set to be Executed: Steve Young of the Argus Leader reports Donald Eugene Moeller is set to be executed in South Dakota Tuesday at about 10:00 p.m. Moeller was convicted of the 1990 rape and torture murder of a 9-year-old girl. Moeller had a criminal history though his teenage and adult years of theft and sexual assaults at knife-point.

Media to Take IL Prison Tours: The Associated Press reports Illinois' Department of Corrections stated media tours of state prisons are in the works. Media including the Associated Press have been repeatedly denied prison tour requests in the past. Gov. Pat Quinn is attempting to close down two more prisons despite prisons with a capacity of 33,700 housing 49,300 inmates.

The Los Angeles Daily News has pro and con op-eds on Prop 34.  Former state finance director Michael Genest (who, unlike Alarcon and Mitchell, actually has expertise in government finance) writes:

Having served for 30 years in various fiscal and budget-related jobs, I am familiar with how ballot initiatives affect the state budget, including their effects on taxpayers and on funding for public services. Based on my review of the ballot language and the corresponding "study" put forward by its proponents, I believe the claims that Proposition 34 will save money for taxpayers and schools are exaggerated, misleading and irrelevant.

James Ardaiz has this op-ed in the Sunday LA Times on Proposition 34.  Ardaiz was the prosecutor in a notorious case that disproves the notion that a murderer is incapacitated by a life sentence.  From within prison, Clarence Ray Allen arranged for the murder of witnesses to his first murder.  The first brief I ever wrote in a capital case was in the case of Allen's triggerman, Billy Ray Hamilton.  Seems like ages ago.

Allen was executed in 2006.  What punishment would we impose in a case such as this if we did not have the death penalty?  Additional life sentences?  That would be no punishment at all.

If Californians need any more reasons to vote No, the corresponding "Yes" op-ed is written by America's foremost contrarian indicator, former President Jimmy Carter.  (Mr. Carter may have been right about something at some time, but I can't remember offhand what or when.)  He repeats the usual factually wrong arguments refuted here and elsewhere many times.  Without a hint of shame, he begins, "The process for administering the death penalty in the United States is broken beyond repair...."  Of all the factors that have contributed to the malfunction of the present system, the judges appointed to the federal courts by Mr. Carter are factor number one.

An Administration in power, in the midst on an election, is taken by surprise by a terrorist attack overseas.  The Administration would like to take credit for substantially degrading the capacities of terrorists to kill Americans, but the attack leaves four Americans dead, including the United States ambassador, whose corpse is paraded through the streets, shown in gruesome detail on YouTube.

AP reports:

California's corrections secretary is resigning next month after overseeing a historic shift in the state's criminal justice system that is sending thousands of lower-level criminals to county jails instead of state prisons.

Matthew Cate announced Friday that he will become executive director of the California State Association of Counties. The organization represents the 58 counties before the state and federal governments.

Now that's ironic.  First he oversees the state government program dumping the problem on the counties, and now he will be the spokesman for the counties saying to the state, "Hey, you dumped the problem on us and didn't give us the resources to deal with it."  That's standard operating procedure for the California Legislature, BTW.

Is Cate's departure good news?  Only if Brown appoints someone better.  I'm not holding my breath.

Results of the latest USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll show the race for Prop 34 tightening.  When asked the straightforward question, "no" remains ahead, 42-45.  This poll then has the unusual feature of asking the same respondent about the same proposition after first reading the ballot language (which includes a hotly disputed financial assertion).  This is different from the "split sample" method, where half the sample is asked each of two different questions.  In this poll, a few people change their minds on the requestioning, putting the "yes" slightly ahead but less than a majority, 45-42 in the total sample but a razor thin 44-43 among likely voters.

Methodological questions aside, the history of polling on California initiatives is that measures with affirmative support this low this late rarely pass, whether the "yes" is ahead of or behind the "no."  Late-deciding voters tend to break toward "no," as noted in a prior post.

The cause of justice is still ahead, for now, but the financial advantage and favorable press of the friends of murderers remain cause for concern.

BTW, for those wondering what happened to the every-other-Thursday Business Roundtable/Pepperdine poll, they have broken from their usual pattern and will release their final poll next Tuesday.

TX Inmate Executed: The Associated Press reports that Texas executed convicted killer Bobby Lee Hines Wednesday, the state's 11th execution this year. On October 20, 1991, while on probation for burglary, Hines stabbed his victim 18 times and strangled her.  A neighbor heard screaming in the apartment complex and called police, though they were unable to identify the source. In the morning, the landlord, Hines' brother, was convinced by residents to open the victim's door, where she was found brutally murdered. His brother suspected Hines of the killing and he was arrested that morning. Hines had the victim's blood on his clothing and had several of her things with him. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected Hines' appeal last week. The opinion is here.

CO Killer to Be Tried As Adult: Clayton Sandell and Christina Ng of ABC News report 17-year-old Austin Reed Sigg was told during his first court appearance Thursday, that he will be tried as an adult.  Sigg will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of criminal attempt, and one count of second-degree kidnapping. Because he is under 18, he will not face the death penalty and Colorado law prohibits him to be sentenced to mandatory life without parole. He was arrested after confessing to his mother that he killed 10-year-old Jessica Ridgeway. Sigg is being held without bail and his charges are expected to be formally read Tuesday. Continued from this news scan.

Judge Delays Setting CA Execution Date: Michelle Durand of the Daily Journal reports that on Wednesday a San Mateo County Superior Court Judge delayed the request by the San Mateo County district attorney to set an execution date for Robert Green Fairbank until after the Nov. 6 election. If Proposition 34 passes, California will no longer have the death penalty. Fairbank pleaded no contest and was sentenced to death for the 1985 attempted sexual assault and murder of a woman in San Francisco.  He stabbed the victim multiple times with a knife, screwdriver, and barbeque fork before lighting her on fire. The hearing was rescheduled for Nov. 16.

CA To Regain Some Prison Healthcare Control: Paige St. John of the Los Angeles Times reports operations of California's prison healthcare system is expected to be turned completely back over to the state in about two years, according to court-appointed overseer J. Clark Kelso. Negotiations are taking place as to how determine the quality of inmate care once control is transferred back to the state. On Friday, Kelso will restore some administrative functions to the state including staffing and equipping new facilities and ensuring inmates are going to hospitals, clinics, and doctor's visits. .

PA Death Row Inmate Seeks to Reopen Case: Mark Scolforo of the Associated Press reports lawyers for Pennsylvania death-row inmate Hubert Lester Michael Jr. asked a federal judge to reopen his case Wednesday despite Michael's repeated indecision about whether to appeal. Michael pleaded guilty to murdering a 16-year-old girl in 1993. The girl had posted an ad to sell a chair to which Michael responded. He later picked her up while hitchhiking, then bound, raped, and killed her. Michael was not charged with the rape due to a lack of evidence. He is set to be executed Nov. 8.

Two spunky women have taken on the League of Women Voters, originally a women's suffrage organization but now a shill for left-wing causes.  Phyllis Loya is the mother of slain police officer Larry Lasater.  Debra Saunders is a conservative columnist in the epicenter of American leftism.  Saunders has this column today in the SF Chron, with the above title.

The League of Women Voters boasts that it presents "unbiased nonpartisan information about elections, the voting process and issues." Phyllis Loya always assumed that meant the league believed in presenting both sides of issues to its members, but recently she discovered she was wrong.

In 2005, Alexander Hamilton, 18, and Andrew Moffett, 17, robbed a Wells Fargo branch in a Pittsburg Raley's supermarket. Loya's son, Larry Lasater, then 35, was the cop who had the bad luck to find them after they crashed a stolen getaway car. As Lasater chased the suspects, Hamilton fired four shots that killed Lasater.

In 2007, a jury convicted Hamilton of first-degree murder and robbery and sentenced him to death. (Moffett was sentenced to life without parole.) Upon sentencing, Hamilton proclaimed, "I got the death penalty. I ain't got no problem with that." He also told a judge he didn't see any point in listening to Loya or Lasater's widow, Jo Ann, as they testified about the pain he had caused.

It seems Hamilton has something in common with the Piedmont League of Women Voters - the league also doesn't want to hear what Loya has to say.

Loya recently came across a press release for a Piedmont League Oct. 24 event on Proposition 34, the ballot measure to end California's death penalty. The league invited only a supporter of the measure to speak. So Loya got in touch with the group and asked if she could present an opposing viewpoint. The answer was no.

A project at UC Berkeley called the California Wrongful Convictions Project has a press release, not on its website as of this writing, claiming that California leads the country in wrongful convictions.

Given that California has by far the largest population, half again as large as number two Texas, the state "leads the nation" on just about any social statistic one cares to measure if the measurement is in raw numbers and not per capita.

On the specific question at issue in this release, the first question we should ask is whether these "wrongful convictions" or "exonerations" represent convictions of crimes that the defendant actually did not commit.  As with the notorious, discredited death row exoneration list, there is no requirement of actual innocence to get on the list.  Here are the criteria, from the Project's website:

To be included in the study, a case must (1) originate in a California state or federal court, (2) result in a conviction, (3) be reversed, overturned of dismissed on all counts by trial court, appellate court, or a federal court after January 1, 1989, (4) result in either full acquittal or dismissal on remand.

Innocence is not required.  Proof of innocence is not required.  Evidence of innocence is not required.  All that is required is that the proof of guilt remaining available and admissible at the time of retrial is not sufficient to convince a jury of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  Either a prosecutor decides the remaining evidence is insufficient and dismisses the case, or a jury decides the evidence is insufficient and returns an acquittal.

Our system is intentionally skewed in the defendant's favor, knowing full well that sometimes charges against guilty people will be dismissed, and sometimes guilty people who go to trial will be acquitted.  Exhibit A:  O.J. Simpson.  When such a result occurs on a retrial, that does not mean that the first conviction was "wrongful" in the sense of convicting an innocent person.  That is sometimes the case, but very often not.  See, e.g., the Timothy Hennis case.

Update:  The California District Attorneys' Association has issued a press release in response.  It is copied after the jump.