Results matching “first”

Article II, section 4 of the California Constitution provides:  "The Legislature shall ... provide for the disqualification of electors while mentally incompetent or imprisoned or on parole for the conviction of a felony."

Clear enough, right?  Traditionally, people sentenced to imprisonment for a felony went to state prison, while those sentenced to imprisonment for misdemeanors went to county jail.  With California's "realignment" fiasco, the lower level felons are going to county jail, but they are obviously still "imprisoned ... for conviction of a felony."

Well, it wasn't obvious to the ACLU and various other groups who thought they saw an opportunity to increase the number of people who will reliably vote for soft-on-crime candidates.  They asked the Court of Appeal for the First District (SF region) to order the Secretary of State to let the "realigned" felons vote.  They urged the court not to interpret the Constitution and laws "literally," i.e., to mean what they plainly say.

The court didn't buy it.  Yesterday it summarily dismissed the case, All of Us or None v. Bowen, A134775.

Stay of Execution Issued for Arizona Inmate: Michael Kiefer of Arizona Republic News reports the Arizona Supreme Court late on Tuesday stayed today's scheduled execution of Samuel Lopez, who was sentenced to death in 1987. Lopez was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, two counts of sexual assault, and burglary in the 1986 killing of 59-year-old Estefana Holmes. The victim was found gagged and blindfolded in her apartment. She had been raped, sodomized, and stabbed more than 20 times before Lopez slit her throat. A new execution date was set for June 27 to allow issues raised about recent appointments to the state's clemency board to be worked out. 

Gang Member Convicted of Murder After DNA Match: Richard Winton of the Los Angeles Times reports Kevin Bernard Smith Jr., 36, a Rolling 20s gang member whose moniker is "Jazzy," was convicted this week in the 1994 murder of a man and attempted murder of the man's wife after DNA linked him to the crime scene. Smith was convicted of first-degree murder with the special circumstance allegations that the murder was committed during the course of a burglary and robbery in the 1994 killing of 73-year-old Rupert "Rudy" Thompson. Smith was also convicted of the premeditated attempted murder of Thompson's wife. Two bloodstains from the crime scene were matched to Smith through the state DNA database. At the time, Smith was serving a prison sentence in Mississippi on an unrelated drug sales charge.

Judge Grants Class Action Status to NY Frisk Suit: Larry Neumeister of the Associated Press reports U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan on Wednesday granted class action status to a 2008 lawsuit that accuses the NYPD of discriminating against blacks and Hispanics with its stop-and-frisk policies. The lawsuit claims the police department purposefully concentrated its stop-and-frisk activity on black and Hispanic neighborhoods based on their racial composition, and that officers are pressured to meet quotas as part of the program. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "Nobody should ask [Police Commissioner] Ray Kelly to apologize -- he's not going to and neither am I -- for saving 5,600 lives. And I think it's fair to say that stop, question and frisk has been an essential part of the NYPD's work; it's taken more than 6,000 guns off the streets in the last eight years, and this year we are on pace to have the lowest number of murders in recorded history. ... We're not going to do anything that undermines that trend and threatens public safety."

One of the most persistent errors of people who set out to reform criminal law is the idea that the people who have committed the most horrible crimes are just like us down deep.  The Quakers created the "penitentiary" way back in the late eighteenth century believing that criminals, if confined, would be penitent and reflect deeply and remorsefully on what they had done.  After all, that is what the good Quakers would do if they had deeply sinned.

Well, they aren't like us, and they don't reflect deeply and repent.  John Christoffersen has this story for AP from Connecticut:

The Connecticut killer who once called himself one of the most hated men in America said in a death row interview that he tries not to think about the murder of a suburban mother and her two daughters, suffers no nightmares and has nothing to say to the only survivor of the brutal 2007 attack.

Joshua Komisarjevsky told The Associated Press in his first interview since he was convicted that there isn't anything he could say to Dr. William Petit "that will restore the lives lost."

He also declined an opportunity to express remorse for the killings.

"I guess my reaction is not the reaction society expected," Komisarjevsky said.

It's exactly the reaction I expected.

Never one to abjure taxpayer financed grandstanding, Gov. Lincoln Chafee apparently plans to seek Supreme Court review of the First Circuit's en banc decision that Rhode Island must hand over to federal authorities Jason Pleau, the fellow accused of gunning down a gas station manager in 2010.  Chafee had previously refused to do so on the theory, I guess, that Rhode Island's "states rights" ought to be used to make the state over into a sanctuary for murder.  (The federal prosecutor may seek the death penalty, which is not available in Rhode Island). 

The Senate has confirmed District Judge Jacqueline Nguyen of Los Angeles for elevation to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Todd Ruger has this post at BLT.

Because the Ninth Circuit's dismal record on habeas corpus, especially in capital cases, is a major problem, we at CJLF are particularly interested in a nominee's views on this subject.  I checked Judge Nguyen's decisions in the area when she was first nominated.  They all appeared to be routine denials of meritless claims.  Not terribly enlightening, but not a cause for concern either.

The Ninth is better than it used to be.  The judges appointed by President Clinton have -- on average with notable exceptions -- been better than those appointed by President Carter.  President Bush made generally good appointments though not uniformly so.  It's too early to say anything about President Obama's appointments as a whole.  Let us hope that we make further progress toward bringing this court out of the wilderness and back to the mainstream.

Border Patrol Announces New National Strategy: Elliot Spagat of the Associated Press reports the U.S. Border Patrol agency announced on Tuesday its new strategy to target repeat border crossers. The new strategy, which took more than two years to develop and is the agency's first in eight years, focuses on ending the revolving-door policy of sending people back to Mexico with no other punishment. Border Patrol will begin imposing more serious consequences on most people it catches. Chief Mike Fisher also said the agency is moving towards more mobile surveillance, like unmanned aerial vehicles and helicopters. The new strategy also makes identifying corrupt agents a top priority.

CA Judge Talks About Reality of Early Releases: Tim Daly of News10/KXTV reports Judge Richard Guiliani of San Joaquin County said due to realignment and a court order that limits the number of people allowed in the San Joaquin County jail system, he has to decide every day whether to keep or release those on technical parole violations and those who have committed new crimes. Guiliani also said that parole violators have figured out how to get back onto the streets quicker. If they ask for a full hearing before a judge they are kept in jail during that process, but if they accept the maximum sentence, their stay in jail will actually turn out to be much shorter. "Everybody knows if they accept 150 days, that means they're out immediately, almost," said Guiliani.

Federal Appeals Court Rules Rhode Island Inmate to Face Federal Prosecution: Laura Crimaldi of the Associated Press reports the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee must surrender Jason Pleau to federal authorities so he can stand trial in federal court. Rhode Island does not have the death penalty, and Chafee said prosecutors want to try Pleau federally so a death sentence could be possible. Pleau is accused of fatally shooting a gas station manager outside of a bank in 2010. Chafee refused a request to surrender Pleau to federal authorities in June, 2011. Pleau is currently serving an 18-year sentence in state prison in Rhode Island for violating his probation in another case.

CDCR Asks for Prison Medical Care Oversight to End in 30 Days: Julie Small of KPCC reports attorneys for California Corrections officials on Monday filed a 43-page plan to end the federal oversight of prison medical care. They asked U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson, who seized control of the state's prison healthcare system nearly a decade ago, to relinquish control in 30 days. The press release from the CDCR, which includes a link to a copy of the report, is here.

San Bernardino County DA Speaks Out Against Death Penalty Initiative: Mike Cruz of the San Bernardino Sun reports San Bernardino County, CA  District Attorney Michael Ramos says fighting a ballot initiative that would end the death penalty in California is his priority right now. Ramos said the title of the SAFE California Act is misleading and proponents are taking advantage of the tough economic times California is experiencing. He pointed out that the nonprofit RAND Corp. found no objective data regarding the true cost of the death penalty. Ramos said statewide, 41 death row inmates killed police officers, 141 killed children and 135 sexually assaulted and raped their victims. He does think the death penalty system needs to be fixed to prevent appeals just for the purpose of delay, and believes a single injection method should be used. "It's a humane way," he said. "It basically puts them to sleep. I will tell you this, our victims didn't have that choice. They didn't get to say goodbye to family members."

Litigating for Terrorists: John Yoo had an opinion piece last week in The Wall Street Journal with the same title about being sued by a convicted American al Qaeda operative. A San Francisco trial judge had ruled José Padilla, who was convicted and sentenced in 2007 for running U.S. terrorist cells, had the right to sue Yoo for his legal advice that the Constitution allows Americans who join al Qaeda to be detained. When Yoo decided to go forward with an appeal, the Justice Department withdrew as his legal counsel. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously agreed last week that Padilla could not sue Yoo, who discusses the nation's future of fighting against enemies in a post-9/11 world.  "If we are to prevail in this unprecedented war, those elected and appointed to office must show that they will protect those who fight. Worrying about future lawsuits will distort official decision-making, which should balance the costs and benefits to the national interest and not worry about personal liability. No one will ever sue a government official for doing nothing, even as dangers loom," he wrote. The case is Padilla v. Yoo.   

The DEA is controversial mostly because the war on drugs is controversial, particularly among libertarians.  Very occasionally, DEA earns the heat it gets.  In one recent shocking case, it left a young man in a holding cell for five days without food, water or access to a toilet.  Fortunately he survived, and the DEA is going to take a fully justified hit. 

The prescription painkiller business was booming in 2009, making millionaires of Chris and Jeff George, twin brothers who operated several pain clinics in South Florida. Unfortunately for them, their customers had a tendency to die, and not always in a subtle fashion.

In November of that year, three customers were on their way to a George brothers' clinic when the driver tried to weave her Toyota Camry through the lowered arms of a train crossing. The car was struck by commuter train going 79 mph. The driver and a passenger were ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene. The third occupant died six months later.

An associate of the Georges who read about the accident in the paper called Chris George to break the news. "Did it say they were pain clinic people?" George asked.

*********************************

South Florida -- and the Georges, in particular -- were the vanguard of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls an "epidemic" of oxycodone addiction and death -- one that had attacked America more suddenly than any drug has before.

In 2008, prescription painkiller overdoses killed 14,800 Americans. In 2009, when the George clinics were at their peak, opioid abuse propelled a ghastly rise in the number of drug-related deaths nationwide. That year, 37,485 Americans died from narcotics overdoses -- a figure that for the first time surpassed the number of deaths from car accidents.

The Citizens United case has riled the Left at least since President Obama gave his on-high, if not particularly accurate, scolding to the Supreme Court  -- or at least those members of the Court having the misjudgment to think they could attend the State of the Union speech without being lectured like a bunch of misbehaving first graders.

The US Supreme Court today denied a stay of execution to Anthony Bartee, who murdered David Cook in San Antonio 15 years ago just because he wanted Cook's Harley.  No dissent is noted.  Michael Graczyk has this earlier story for AP.  Update:  Michele Mondo at the San Antonio Express-News has this story on a last-minute stay by a federal district judge for yet more DNA testing.  Update 2:  Michael Graczyk has this follow-up story for AP.

Over at the loony lefty Daily Kos, a blogger by the handle of laserhaas writes:

The Occupy Movement has a basic theme in common with the soft-on-crime Smart-on-Crime crowd:  Major elements of both subscribe to the America Stinks theory. Under the America Stinks (sometimes "Amerika Stinks") theory, much unfairness is created by capitalism, especially that nasty one percent who pay a grossly disproportionate share of taxes hog all the goodies.  Thus, the Occupy Movement thinks it's only just to throw bricks through the windows of banks and corporations, while the Smart-on-Crime crowd thinks that those who steal from such places should be, not prosecuted, but forgiven, since they are the dispossessed victims of said corporations (at least when they are not being the victims of the latest "syndrome" or of over-consumption of Twinkies).

The federal probe that resulted last night in the arrest of five purported anarchists for allegedly plotting to bomb an Ohio bridge began last year at an Occupy Wall Street rally in Cleveland that was infiltrated by an informant who was directed to attend the event by his FBI handlers.

It was at the October 21 OWS event that the informant first met Douglas Wright, 26, who reportedly confided details of his group's planned attacks "against corporate America and the financial system," according to court filings.

....Wright eventually served as the informant's bridge to the four other men busted in the bombing plot--despite the fact that the quartet was "unsure" about the snitch for whom Wright vouched. Of the five men arrested, four were involved in the Occupy Cleveland movement, according to their Facebook profiles, a news story, and a federal criminal complaint.

Thomas Sowell reflects on the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case in a piece in National Review Online.  It's short and worth the read, mostly for its reminder of the astonishingly dishonest editing that NBC undertook to attempt to portray Zimmerman as a racist. The edit itself is described here.

Let us talk sense, like adults. Nothing that is done to George Zimmerman -- justly or unjustly -- will unlynch a single black man who was tortured and killed in the Jim Crow South for a crime he didn't commit.

Letting hoodlums get away with hoodlumism today does not undo a single injustice of the past. It is not even a favor to the hoodlums, for many of whom this is just the first step on a path that leads to the penitentiary, and maybe to the execution chamber.

Winston Churchill said, "If the past sits in judgment on the present, the future will be lost." He wasn't talking about racial issues, but what he said applies especially where race is involved.

Kent had a post the other day about how an EPA official let on, when he had forgotten the camera was running, that the model for dealing with oil and gas companies was crucifixion. Due process did not appear to be in the mix.  It was more like the invading Roman army snatching the first five villagers and then......the unpleasantness commenced.

Criminal law's rampant indulgence of slick practice, diversion, soft-core perjury, non-stop whining and concocted portrayal of the miscreant as victim did not come from nowhere.  Today I got a glimpse of where it comes from, although I'm not sure whether what I'm looking at is the starting point or the ending point of a sick culture.

There are some people in the world, including some people high up in government, who see the world very differently from most of us.  They know that, so they keep masks on most of the time.  Every once in a while, though, the masks slip, and they show us how they really think.  Environmental law, like all laws, should be enforced by people with a basic sense of decency who seek to impose severe punishment only on those who have done serious wrong.  That is particularly true when the enforcement takes the form of criminal prosecution, as environmental law sometimes does.  But at least one person high up in the EPA doesn't think so.  The WSJ has this editorial today:

Execution on Track in Texas Tonight: Michael Graczyk of the Associated Press reports Beunka Adams today will become the fifth person executed in Texas this year. A federal district judge granted a reprieve earlier this week, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the death warrant Wednesday after the Texas attorney general's office appealed the ruling. The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to halt the execution and review his case. In 2002, Adams and Richard Cobb robbed a convenience store and took one male customer and two females clerks with them to a remote area. Kenneth Vandever and one woman were forced into the trunk while Adams raped the other woman. Then all three victims were forced to kneel as they were shot. Vandever was killed. The women were kicked and shot again before Adams and Cobb fled, believing the women were dead. Both survived, and one ran to a house to get help. Evidence also tied Adams and Cobb to a string of robberies that happened around the same time.  Update: The updated version of the AP story (same link) indicates the execution was completed, and Adams was pronounced dead at 6:25 CDT.

Stay Granted to Louisiana Double-Murderer: Bill Lodge of The Advocate (LA) reports a federal judge on Wednesday granted a stay for the May 9 execution of Todd Kelvin Wessinger in Louisiana for killing two restaurant workers in 1995. U.S. District Judge James J. Brady granted the stay while he reviews claims made by Wessinger's attorneys that he suffered childhood seizures and physical and emotional abuse, developed substance addictions, and was traumatized by the deaths of his children. His appellate attorneys also allege that his trial attorney should not have called a doctor to the trial witness stand without first reviewing the doctor's report about his interviews with Wessinger. Brady did not say when he would announce his decision.

Illinois Senate Passes Constitutional Amendment for Victim's Rights: Dave McKinney of the Chicago Sun-Times reports a measure known as Marsy's Law, named after a California murder victim, passed out of the Illinois Senate 55-1. The measure would guarantee victims of violent crimes and families of murder victims or minors, among other things, the right to be informed about court proceedings, to make victim-impact statements during sentencing, to get "timely" notification when prosecutors are seeking a plea deal, and to have their safety considered at bail hearings. Illinois' Constitution currently contains victims-rights language, but there is no means by which victims or their families can enforce those rights by seeking relief from the courts. The measure now moves to the House. If successful, Illinois would become the fourth state with such language in its Constitution.

As noted in today's News Scan, a Kentucky state court judge has ordered that state to consider the single-drug method.  The Arizona execution, also noted in the News Scan, is the third in that state using this method.

When that method was first proposed, some experts were concerned that it might take the inmate a long time to die.  That concern has proven unfounded.  The AP story on the Kemp execution notes, "The one-drug execution took seven minutes, and Kemp's time of death was 10:08 a.m."

Last week, as noted in this post, CJLF filed a petition for writ of mandate to force California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to issue a single-drug protocol for the execution of Michael Morales, who has now evaded justice for 29 years, 6 of them after completion of all reviews of his sentence.  Morales has been allowed more time on the lethal injection issue alone than the D.C. Sniper got for the entire review of his case.

Update:  AP reports that Thomas Kemp shook during the execution, and his lawyer was "very disturbed by that."

We have known all along that involuntary movements were a possible side-effect of the one-drug method and that some witnesses might find that disturbing.  That was the precise purpose of the pancuronium bromide in the three-drug method.  However, the risk of pancuronium outweighs the benefit, which is why states are dropping it.

Shaking does not necessarily mean pain or even consciousness.  A person receiving a big dose of pentobarbital is not going to be in extreme pain, and that is all that matters.  Murderers are not entitled to the most peaceful, painless death possible.  Anyone executed with a single dose of barbiturate will feel less pain in his death than most of us are going to suffer when we die, and that is enough to end the matter.

I have not posted about the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case for one simple reason:  I don't know what happened.  It could be that Zimmerman set upon and murdered an unarmed teenage boy out of racial hate.  It could be that Martin set upon Zimmerman and the latter acted instinctively out of self-defense, as he claims.  I don't know and neither does anyone else in the general public.  Having at one time been a prosecutor, however, my general experience is that defendants do not get charged with murder for whimsical reasons.

CA Death Penalty Measures Defeated in Committee: East County Magazine reports Senator Joel Anderson's (R-Alpine) two death penalty related measures were defeated in the Senate Public Safety Committee in Sacramento last week. The first, SB 1514, would have eliminated the automatic appeal process of each death penalty case in California. The second, Senate Constitutional Amendment 20, would have required that any appeals of death penalty cases would go to the State Court of Appeal rather than the California Supreme Court.

CA Prison Overhaul Said to Save State $1.5 Billion Annually: Don Thompson of the Associated Press reports California prison officials released a prison reorganization plan Monday which calls for stopping a $4 billion prison construction program and bringing all inmates held out of state back into California. The plan comes in the wake of a declining state prison population and in the hopes of cutting billions in spending while complying with inmate health care court orders. However, prison officials have acknowledged that the June 2013 deadline for reducing California's prison population will not be met. The corrections department will ask federal judges to allow the state to house an additional 6,000 inmates, which exceeds the judicial panel's inmate limit. California has leeway to negotiate the final inmate count, though it will have to demonstrate why the population cap set is wrong. If the court rejects the higher population, prison officials will keep housing the inmates in private out of state prisons, continuing to cost California $318 million a year. The CDCR's press release is here.

Death Penalty Repeal Carries Political Risk for Connecticut Governor: Shannon Young of the Associated Press reports Connecticut's Governor Dannel P. Malloy says he will sign the repeal of Connecticut's death penalty into law despite a lack of public support. Tom C. Foley, the Republican candidate who ran against Malloy in the 2010 gubernatorial election, pointed to recent Quinnipiac University polls which suggest majority support for the death penalty in Connecticut. "Anytime you implement policies that a large majority of people don't support, your chances of being re-elected will diminish," he said. Foley also pointed out a possible public backlash if the 11 inmates currently on death row that are not affected by the repeal use it as a new means for appeal, and criticized Malloy for putting his own convictions against the death penalty above those of a majority of polled Connecticut residents who are still in favor of capital punishment. "I'm representing the people who agree with me," Malloy said.

First Racial Justice Act Case Decided: The Associated Press reports Superior Court Judge Greg Weeks, in the first decision under North Carolina's Racial Justice Act, commuted the death sentence of Marcus Robinson to life in prison because he found race played a "persistent, pervasive and distorting role" in jury selection. Weeks said prosecutors intentionally discriminated against Robinson, who was convicted of murdering a 17-year-old boy in 1991. After giving Robinson and his co-defendant a ride from a convenience store, the victim was forced to drive to a field and was shot with a sawed-off shotgun. Prosecutors said they were planning on challenging Weeks' decision. Robinson's is the first of more than 150 pending cases to get an evidentiary hearing before a judge under the new law.

Sentence of Georgia Death Row Inmate Commuted to LWOP: A News Release by Steve Hayes, Director of Public Affairs for the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles, reports clemency was granted to condemned inmate Daniel Greene. His sentence was commuted to life in prison without parole. Greene was sentenced to death in 1992 for stabbing a man to death during a convenience store robbery. Greene had been scheduled for execution Thursday, and a stay had been issued Tuesday. The clemency order is here. 

Los Angeles Police Union Sues Over New Unlicensed Driver Policy: The Associated Press reports the Los Angeles police officers' union has filed a lawsuit against the city and police chief over a new policy that would allow some unlicensed drivers to keep their cars instead of having them impounded for 30 days. The suit, filed by the Police Protective League Wednesday in Superior Court, asks the court to block Chief Charlie Beck's new order. The union says the policy violates state law and could leave officers open to lawsuits if an unlicensed driver who was allowed to keep their car later hurts or kills someone.

CA Death Row Inmate Confesses to Another Murder: The Associated Press reports Royal Clark Jr., who is on California's death row for strangling a 14-year-old girl in 1995, has pleaded guilty to the strangulation of a 15-year-old girl in 1989. Charges were filed against Clark in December after a DNA hit was made.  

The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation today filed a petition for writ of mandate on behalf of Bradley Winchell, the brother of Terri Winchell, to order the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to take the steps necessary to restart executions in California.  Michael Angelo Morales murdered Terri Winchell in 1981 and was sentenced to death in 1983.  The 23 years of appeals and habeas review were bad enough, but the execution of Morales has been delayed another 6 years, and counting, by litigation over lethal injection and CDCR's failure to take the steps necessary to end it.

This suit is the first of its type to invoke the standing given to victims by Proposition 9 of 2008, the Victims' Bill of Rights Act of 2008: Marsy's Law.  Former California Governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson are co-counsel on the petition.

In the federal litigation initiated by Morales, the federal court has ruled three times that California could proceed with executions if it simply replaced its three-drug method with a single-drug method.  Although Ohio, Washington, and Arizona have successfully adopted this method, CDCR stubbornly refuses to do, leaving in force an injunction against Morales's execution that it could have lifted six years ago.

CDCR has further allowed litigation under the Administrative Procedure Act to block executions, despite California Supreme Court precedent to the contrary and despite the existence of multiple available exceptions to that Act.

The action was announced this morning at a press conference at CJLF's office.  The press release is here.

AP reports:

Ohio on Wednesday executed a man for fatally stabbing the 15-year-old son of his former employers during a 1985 farmhouse burglary, marking the state's first execution in six months.

Forty-nine-year-old Mark Wiles died by lethal injection at 10:42 a.m., ending an unofficial moratorium on the death penalty that occurred while the state and a federal judge wrangled over Ohio's lethal injection procedures. It was the 47th execution since Ohio resumed putting inmates to death in 1999.

*                       *                        *

"Finally, the state of Ohio should not be in the business of killing its citizens," Wiles concluded, reading a statement that the warden held over his head. "May God bless us all that fall short."

Wiles' stomach rose and fell several times and his head moved slightly, then his mouth fell open and he lay still for several minutes before he was pronounced dead.

John Craig, a cousin of Wiles' victim Mark Klima and a witness of the execution, appeared briefly before reporters to respond to Wiles' last words.

"It's my opinion that Mark Wiles gave up his citizenship to Ohio when he murdered my cousin and became an inmate, more or less a condemned man," Craig said.

*                       *                        *

Before the execution, [prisons director Gary] Mohr said he was "absolutely confident" in the state's ability to carry out the procedure properly.

"We have more documentation on this than anything in my 38 years that I've been in this business," Mohr said. "It's the most documented execution in the United States of America."

South Dakota has an attorney general with backbone.  He is fighting back against the attempts to strangle the death penalty with bogus litigation insufficiently resisted by the agencies that are the respondents.  Peter Harriman has this story for the Argus Leader.

In February last year, a group of murderers from Arizona, California, and Tennessee filed suit against the FDA claiming that agency was acting improperly in allowing imports of thiopental for use in lethal injection. 

Last month, Federal District Judge Richard Leon in D.C. issued a remarkable opinion, complete with exclamation points, accepting the murderers' arguments.  In addition to granting declaratory relief and enjoining the FDA from allowing further imports, the accompanying order says this:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the FDA:
1. immediately notify any and all state correctional departments which it has
reason to believe are still in possession of any foreign manufactured thiopental that the use of such drug is prohibited by law and that, that thiopental must be returned immediately to the FDA; ...

How is this wrong?  Let me count the ways.

First, the gnarled syntax is a crime against the English language.

SCOTUS Hears Arguments for Fair Sentencing Act Retroactivity: Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog reports U.S. Supreme Court Justices Tuesday debated whether the Fair Sentencing Act, passed in 2010 to reduce the severity of sentencing for crack cocaine versus powder cocaine crimes, should be applied to those who committed crimes involving crack cocaine before the law went into effect.

California Prisons to Block Use of Unauthorized Phones: Jack Dolan of the Los Angeles Times reports a deal was made with Global Tel Link to disable the use of contraband cell devices at California prisons. Global Tel Link also owns the pay phones inmates are allowed to use, and will pay to install the new technology. Each prison will get its own cell tower that can be controlled by prison officials. There will be a list of approved phones that can send and receive signals, and any other devices will be rendered useless. Prison officials say a one-day test of a similar system at a single California prison last year intercepted more than 4,000 attempts to make calls, send text messages, or access the Internet. CDCR's press release is here.

Victim's Aunt Speaks Out About Execution of Nephew's Killer: Virginia Klima, the aunt of Mark Klima, who was killed by Mark Wiles more than 25 years ago, has this piece in the Plain Dealer (OH). Wiles is scheduled to be executed in Ohio Wednesday. "There are always two sides to every story. Unfortunately, if you murder the one person who can tell the story, we only hear one side," she writes. Wiles, who had previously been employed by the victim's family, bludgeoned their son to death in their living room because he caught Wiles robbing their home, and Wiles knew Mark would be able to identify him.

First Convictions Under Broadened Federal Hate-Crimes Law: Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports according to U.S. Attorney Kerry B. Harvey, the convictions of two Kentucky women are the first in the U.S. under parts of the federal law covering crimes of violence motivated by a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation. The two women pleaded guilty to one charge of kidnapping and one charge of aiding others in causing bodily injury to the victim because he is gay. According to Harvey's office, in 2009, the law was broadened by Congress to include crimes  of violence motivated by a person's actual or perceived race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or disability. Sentencing for the two women will be in August.

Oklahoma Board Denies Clemency to Condemned Inmate:  Tim Talley of the Associated Press reports the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board on Monday voted 4-1 to reject death row inmate Michael Bascum Selsor's bid for clemency. Selsor is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection May 1 for killing a convenience store clerk during a robbery in 1975. Prosecutors said the victim suffered eight bullet wounds.   

The term "stand-your-ground" law comes from one particular aspect of the self-defense laws passed in a number of states.  This aspect overrules case law in those states saying that a person attacked in a public place must retreat rather than respond with deadly force if possible.

Some states, however, don't need a "stand your ground" statute because their courts never made a "duty to retreat" rule by caselaw in the first place.  Bob Egelko has this story in the SF Chron noting that California is one such state.  Overall, though, California law is not particularly friendly to people using deadly force against the initial aggressor.  Of the three briefs that CJLF has filed in support of defendants over the years, two of them have been in California cases where the initial victim was charged with murder for using supposedly excessive force against the initial aggressor.

Both Egelko and Curt Anderson for AP note additional advantages for the defendant in the Florida law, aside from the "stand your ground" aspect.

Anderson says, "The U.S. Supreme Court has never weighed in on the constitutionality of such laws, and none has been struck down by a lower court."  Well, of course not.  People can, should, and do debate the wisdom of such laws, but what serious argument could be made that they are unconstitutional?  It has apparently become part of our modern legal mentality that we assume every important question must be a constitutional question, and a federal one at that.

Bill Cosby weighs in with an interesting interview at CNN.

The Los Angeles Times has this article headlined "Fight against death penalty gains momentum in states."  The article is riddled with problems.

First, and most personally, the article quotes me out of context, and very badly so.  It quotes a statement I made, "That's not the way a democracy is supposed to work," without telling the reader what "that" refers to. "That" was the action of the Connecticut Legislature passing a repeal bill when the vast majority of the people of that state oppose repeal.  The way the quote follows another quote about the substantive decision on the repeal v. reform question makes it sound like I am saying that decision is not a proper subject for the democratic process, which would be absurd.

There are other errors and significant omissions in the article.  The article cites "a comprehensive 2011 study [on costs] by Loyola Law School."  Loyola has not done a study.  There is an article by federal judge Arthur Alarcon and his career law clerk, Paula Mitchell (mostly by Mitchell and not much by Alarcon, I suspect).  Mitchell happens to be an adjunct professor at Loyola, meaning she teaches a course or two on the side, but that does not transform the article into a Loyola Law School study.  Whether this study is "comprehensive" or deeply flawed is a matter of opinion.

The article cites cost studies by opponents of the death penalty, but it does not mention other studies or criticisms of the studies it does cite.  The issue is nowhere near so clear-cut.

The article very prominently features one mother of a murder victim who is opposed to the death penalty.  It does not mention others who very much support it.

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Stay of Oklahoma Execution: The Associated Press reports the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld the stay of execution for Oklahoma killer Garry Allen, who was scheduled to be executed yesterday. A federal court ordered the stay Wednesday, and an appeals court approved the ruling Thursday. Oklahoma's attorney general then referred the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Allen was shot in the head by police responding to the crime scene after he fatally shot 24-year-old Gail Titsworth in 1986. His attorney's argue he had a history of mental illness and the gunshot injury caused more impairment.

LAPD Makes Changes to Transgender Policies: CBS Los Angeles reports on the LAPD announcement that by the end of the month, arrested transgender men and women will be housed in a separate section of the Los Angeles Police Department's downtown Metropolitan Detention Center. The separate section will hold as many as 24 people. LAPD jail division commander Capt. Dave Lindsay also said the section's transgender detainees will have access to male or female clothes and medical care, including hormone treatments. Officers are also no longer allowed to pat down a transgendered person to determine their gender. Instead, Police Chief Charlie Beck said officers will have to rely on the person's clothing, language, or demeanor.

DNA Matches Lead to Arrests in Two Murders: The Associated Press reports DNA has linked an Indiana inmate to the rape and killing of a 19-year-old mother in Arkansas in 2000. Authorities plan to extradite Anthony Johnson to Arkansas, where he is expected to be charged with capital murder, rape, and kidnapping. The young mother had been raped, tortured, and strangled with a ligature. An initial match in a DNA database linked the slaying to 44-year-old Johnson, and officials in Indiana collected more DNA samples from him in prison. He was serving time for domestic battery, burglary, and intimidation in the beating of his girlfriend in Indiana. In Arizona, the Associated Press reports 45-year-old Raymond Rivera will be extradited from California to Arizona to face a first-degree murder charge in the 1998 killing of 62-year-old Habib Raies. The victim was found bleeding to death from a single gunshot wound to the chest in Phoenix. The case went cold, but was reopened in 2009 when DNA evidence taken from a water bottle and bite marks on Raies was tested. Last month Rivera was arrested in the Los Angeles area on a felony burglary charge. His DNA was taken, and was matched to the DNA taken from the Raies case.      

David Alan Gore was executed this evening in Florida.  Story here.  Altogether, he raped and murdered six women and girls.  The Supreme Court orders denying stays, certiorari, and original habeas are here and here. Brendan Farrington of AP had this preexecution story:

David Alan Gore was set to be executed Thursday nearly 29 years after murdering 17-year-old Lynn Elliott, whose attempted escape ended a string of rapes and murders that shook the quiet coastal town of Vero Beach.

In all, Gore killed four teenage girls and two women. Elliott's murder is the only one for which he's condemned. He was scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison. It's a day Elliott's parents have been waiting for - they say living for - and one many think should have come years ago considering there is no doubt he committed the crimes and he has shown no remorse for the killings.

"For us it's been a nightmare, because I just turned 81. I was beginning to think that I might die before he went," said Carl Elliott, the girl's father.

Jeanne Elliott almost did die. About two years ago she was in a coma, and doctors told her son to begin making funeral arrangements. She suddenly began recovering, and she said she believes it was because of her wish to see Gore die first.

So what did take so long?

Condemned Inmates Challenge Idaho's New Execution Protocol: Rebecca Boone of the Associated Press reports four inmates on Idaho's death row filed a lawsuit against the state in Boise's U.S. District Court late last week regarding the Idaho's new execution procedures adopted earlier this year, asking a judge to halt all executions until they are changed again. The inmates claim the new execution protocol would allow unqualified professionals to carry out procedures, creates a risk of extreme pain, and gives too much power to prison officials.

As Murders Rise in Chicago, Focus is on Gangs: Frank Main of the Chicago Sun-Times reports Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is calling for anti-gang legislation as murders rose 60 percent in the city for the first three months of 2012 compared to the same time last year. A bill passed by the House and now pending in the Senate would allow racketeering prosecutions of those directly or indirectly involved in gang activity through violent crimes, gun and drug crimes, or collection of illegal debts. A conviction would carry a fine of up to $250,000 and 10 to 30 years in prison.

Charles Manson Denied Parole for 12th Time: Linda Deutsch of the Associated Press reports California mass murderer Charles Manson was denied parole Tuesday for the 12th time. Manson and three female cult followers were convicted of slaying five people in 1969. Manson was also convicted of two other unrelated murders. The last parole hearing he attended was in 1997. Manson has been cited twice for having smuggled cell phones, and was cited for having a homemade weapon in his cell in October. He was originally sentenced to death, but his penalty was changed when the death penalty was temporarily outlawed in 1972.

Connecticut House Debates Death Penalty Repeal: The Associated Press reports the Connecticut House Tuesday began debating the death penalty repeal bill passed in the state Senate last week. The bill abolishes the death penalty in the state and replaces it with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Offenders convicted under the new law would face prison conditions similar to those currently experienced by condemned inmates. Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy has said he will support the bill.

New Examination Finds Norwegian Mass Killer Not Criminally Insane: Bjoern H. Amland of the Associated Press reports a new psychiatric assessment of Anders Behring Breivik, who confessed to killing 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage in Norway last summer, found that he is not criminally insane. An earlier assessment found Breivik was psychotic during and after the attacks and diagnosed him as a paranoid schizophrenic. The new conclusion could prompt prosecutors to seek a prison sentence instead of a commitment to psychiatric care for Breivik. Both psychiatric assessments will be taken into account during the trial, and his lawyer Geir Lippestad said Breivik's testimony will be crucial "when the judges decide whether he is insane or not." The trial starts Monday and is scheduled to last 10 weeks.

Increase in Officer Deaths Prompts Change from FBI: Michael S. Schmidt and Joseph Goldstein of The New York Times report the number of officers killed in the line of duty has increased by 76% over the last four years, and a series of killings in early 2011 prompted Attorney General Eric Holder to ask federal authorities to work with local police departments in search of solutions to the problem. The FBI paid for a study done by John Jay College that found in many of the cases, officers were trying to stop or arrest a suspect who had been previously arrested for a violent crime. Officials said that prompted the FBI to change what information was provided to local police departments. Starting this year, when police officers call a car's license plate into the FBI's database, they will be told whether the vehicle's owner has a violent history. The number of police fatalities has dropped during the first three months of this year.

Philadelphia Trains Officers to Tweet: Elizabeth Fiedler of WHYY reports the Philadelphia Police Department is training around 15 police officers across the city and of various ranks to use Twitter to help police better protect and build a stronger rapport with residents. Karima Zedan, director of communications for the Philadelphia Police Department, says officers tweeting while on the beat will allow police to communicate about safety and crime with those in individual neighborhoods.  

A few scattered notes from the last few days on the continuing controversies in the Martin/Zimmerman case.

The special prosecutor has decided not to take the case to the grand jury.  AP story is here.  What does that mean?  Not much.  The grand jury was once considered a key protection, and for federal cases it is enshrined in the Fifth Amendment, but the institution is largely obsolete and most states have made it optional.  California's law was upheld by the US Supreme Court way back in 1884, and the grand jury indictment clause remains one of the few provisions of the Bill of Rights not "incorporated" and applied to the states.  The AP story indicates that the decision to pass on the grand jury rules out a first-degree murder charge in Florida, but this case was highly unlikely to be first-degree murder anyway.

William McGurn in the WSJ asks "What Would Atticus Do?" in light of the recent 50th anniversary of the film version of To Kill A Mockingbird and the showing of the film at the White House.  The parallels are not as obvious as some think, McGurn says.

NBC News has fired the producer who made the infamously distorting edit of the Zimmerman phone tape.  Erik Wemple at the WaPo's media blog discusses whether it was error or intentional distortion.  He notes, "Effort would be required to contrive a more injurious abridgement of the tape, at least as far as Zimmerman's interests are concerned. The prima facie outrageousness of the editing, in fact, convinced a vocal group that NBC had acted deliberately -- that it was out to tar Zimmerman."  Even so, Wemple says, "I am not pitching a tent in the 'deliberate' camp. I've seen too many errors over the years, and I know how simple carelessness can come off as a conspiracy."