Results matching “jack camp”

...but apparently it's not that hard to con a con artist.

The U.S. Marshals Service today cancelled the auction of forfeited assets from the Jesse Jackson, Jr., case before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After receiving legitimate concerns about the authenticity of the guitar purportedly signed by Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen and out of an abundance of caution, the Marshals Service will conduct a secondary review of all the assets. Once the review is complete, a decision will be made whether to repost any assets for sale by auction. 

Wisconsin Teenagers Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder: Two 14-year-old boys were sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison for the brutal murder of one of the boy's great-grandmother in 2012.  Ryan Gorman of The Daily Mail reports that the victim, Barbara Olsen, was murdered after both boys took turns beating her with a hatchet and hammer nearly 30 times in an attempt to steal money from her.  The judge has decided that both boys will be eligible for parole at the age of 50.

Jesse Jackson Jr. Sentenced to Prison: Former Illinois Democratic congressman, Jesse Jackson Jr., has been sentenced to spend 30 months in prison after pleading guilty to spending $750,000 worth of campaign funds on personal items.  The Associated Press reports that both Jackson and his wife have admitted to spending thousands of campaign dollars on items such as fur coats, expensive restaurant tabs,  and a Rolex watch.  Under federal sentencing guidelines, Jackson Jr. faced up to 57 months in federal prison. 

Convicted Murderer Accused of Killing Again: Scottie Thompson, an Illinois man convicted of murder and released from prison 20 years early, has been arrested and charged in the brutal murder of a 20-year-old man.  Lauren Trager of News 4 reports that Thompson was on parole and wearing an ankle monitor when he beat 20-year-old Dakota Jones to death and dumped his body in a lake over the weekend.  Recently, Illinois has adopted a "truth in sentencing" law which will require murderers to fulfill their entire sentence prior to being released.      

Stop and Frisk Ruling May Jeopardize Safety: A ruling made by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ordering the New York Police Department to alter its stop and frisk policy based on allegations of racial profiling could put pubilc safety at risk in many of the state's high-crime neighborhoods.  Heather Macdonald of the City Journal writes that Judge Scheindlin made the ruling based on her belief that the number of individuals stopped should reflect racial population ratios.  In the high-crime New York neighborhood of Fort Greene Blacks and Hispanics were responsible for 99 percent of all violent crime and over 93 percent of all crime in general.  This suggests that the majority of people stopped would be Black or Hispanic, a factor that Judge Scheindlin neglected to consider when handing down her ruling on Tuesday.

Yesterday I wrote that, on the current evidence, it appears that Attorney General Eric Holder committed perjury in his Congressional testimony on May 15.  In response to a comment from the ever-perceptive federalist, I said that it seemed to me that Holder was "damaged goods," had shown "problems with truthfulness," and would probably be gone within a matter of weeks.

Former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., pleaded guilty to siphoning off about three quarters of a million bucks from his campaign contributions in order to fund personal luxuries like super expensive wrist watches.  He faces prison time, but of course his lawyers and his friends want no such thing.

"Not only is he highly intelligent, he is charming and entertaining," Fudge wrote. "When things got tough or extremely difficult on the House floor, we could count on Jesse to bring levity to an otherwise daunting situation with a bad joke or a one-man skit. Jesse was the highlight of our karaoke nights and always made everyone feel like an integral part of, and not apart from, various activities. He made us realize that we could still have fun, while addressing important national issues."

Meanwhile, back in New York, Heather MacDonald has this article in the City Journal on the ACLU's court campaign against effective policing.

Ligon v. New York challenged a decades-long program that authorizes New York police officers to patrol private buildings for trespassers and other lawbreakers. The Trespass Affidavit Program (TAP) tries to give low-income tenants in high-crime areas the same protection against intruders that wealthy residents of doorman-guarded buildings enjoy. According to the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), however, police officers routinely abuse their power under TAP by stopping and arresting minority residents and their guests on suspicion of trespass without any legal justification.

The NYCLU didn't come close to proving its case. But the litigation's most disturbing failure was its blindness to the realities of inner-city crime.

Debbie McBride has nothing but contempt for the ongoing litigation. McBride is a street-hardened building superintendent in the heart of the South Bronx zone targeted by the NYCLU. When asked about TAP, also known as the Clean Halls program, she doesn't mince words. "I love it!" she roars. "I'm serious, I love it. Me being a woman, I feel safe. I can get up at 4 AM and start working."

The ongoing problem in judicial tenure is striking a balance between judicial independence and judicial responsibility.  We want judges to be independent enough to render decisions based on the law and not politics.  But if they are too independent, they tend to drift toward rendering decisions based on their personal preferences rather than the law.  That is the problem with life tenure for judges with the power of judicial review of statutes.  The Antifederalist writer "Brutus" nailed it way back in 1788:

In short, they are independent of the people, of the legislature, and of every power under heaven.  Men placed in this position will generally soon feel themselves independent of heaven itself.

Hamilton's response is one of the weakest and least convincing passages of the Federalist, and history has proven Brutus right.

There is no perfect solution to this problem, but the one that comes closest to optimum, in my view, is for judges to stand for a yes/no retention election at some long interval.  Experience shows that it is extremely difficult to remove a judge in such an election, but the safety valve is there when it is truly needed.

In Florida, the Republican Party's executive board has voted to oppose three justices of the Florida Supreme Court for retention.  Their announcement cites the capital case of Joe Elton Nixon.  Nixon carjacked Jeanne Bicker, forced her into the trunk of her MG, drove her to a remote area, tied her to a tree with jumper cables, and set her on fire, burning her to death.  The Florida Supreme Court's reversal was indeed an awful decision.  CJLF's amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court is here.  The high court reversed in a unanimous decision by Justice Ginsburg.  See Florida v. Nixon, 543 U.S. 175 (2004).

I do not know enough about these three justices' entire records to know if they should be retained, but they are making the usual invalid argument that any campaign against retention is an attack on "judicial independence." That is essentially an argument against having retention elections at all.  Michael Peltier has this story for ThomsonReuters.

California's experience proves the contrary.  Three justices were deservedly denied retention by the people in 1986.  The court was vastly improved afterward.  We very rarely see its decisions reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.  When the high court resolves conflicts between the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit, the answer is nearly always that the California Supreme Court was right.

Let the Florida justices defend their records on the merits.  Judges should reverse criminal judgments, even in horrible cases, when the law requires them to do so.  They should not, however, bend over backward to find an excuse to let murderers off the hook.  When they do, the people should show them the door.

Fire Camp Bill Vetoed by CA Gov.: Jim Schultz of the Record Searchlight reports that CA Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed SB 1098 Thursday. The measure would have required state corrections to provide Dept. of Forestry fire camps with more detailed information about the prison inmates they supervise.  The Governor said that inmate information is already provided.  The bill's author, senator Doug LaMalfa disagrees, saying that what the state currently provides, the inmate's name and most recent conviction, is inadequate.   The bill was introduced in response to firefighter's concerns about the criminal histories of inmates sent to the fire camps.

NC Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty: The Associated Press reports prosecutors announced they will be seeking the death penalty against Andrew Bernard Adams, if convicted. Adams allegedly bludgeoned a woman to death with a hammer and buried her in a shallow grave in his yard in 2007. Near his home, police found clothing and pillow cases with the victim's blood on them in a cooler. Adams had just gotten off parole that month, having served nearly 30 years for seven confessed rapes and attempted rapes.

OK Multiple Killer Avoids Death Sentence: The Associated Press reports Joshua Durcho avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty to strangling his ex-girlfriend and her four children to death in Oklahoma Friday. Durcho was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Beyond signs of ligature strangulation on all of the victims, autopsies showed Durcho sexually abused the two seven-year-old daughters. 

Ex-Cop Convicted in Cold Case: The Associated Press reports Jack McCullough, who waived his right to a jury, was convicted Friday by bench trial of the 1957 abduction, kidnapping, and murder of a 7-year-old Illinois girl in one of the oldest unsolved murders in the US. The five-month search for the girl. that caught the eye of then-President Dwight Eisenhower and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, ended when her decomposed body was found in a forest 120 miles away from where she was abducted. She had been stabbed in the throat and chest. McCullough was identified by the victim's friend as the last one seen with the girl, provided a false alibi, and fellow inmates testified they overheard him talk about strangling the victim. McCullough had enlisted in the military, worked as a Washington police officer, and was a retirement home security guard when arrested in 2011.

The District Attorney's office is not for sale, not even in America's largest county, where media campaigning is more of a necessity than elsewhere.

On Sunday, Christina Villacorte reported in the L.A. Daily News that "City Attorney Carmen Trutanich ... ha[d] more than twice as much money as his closest rivals, Deputy District Attorneys Alan Jackson and Jackie Lacey."  That was evident to anyone watching L.A. television Monday night.

This morning, with all precincts reporting, the county election office shows Lacey first, Jackson second, and Trutanich third, meaning a runoff between Lacey and Jackson.  Jackson's margin over Trutanich is only 1.3%, but that is likely enough to preclude any change in result through a recount.

FWIW, Trutanich was endorsed by Gov. Jerry Brown, and Lacey was endorsed by outgoing DA Steve Cooley.

Execution Carried Out in Arizona Wednesday Morning: Michael Kiefer of The Arizona Republic reports Thomas Kemp was executed by lethal injection this morning in Arizona for robing and killing a man in 1992.  Kemp, an ex-con, and a former prisonmate who had escaped from an honor farm in California, seized 25-year-old college student Hector Juarez, who was out getting a late-night snack. The men made Juarez withdraw money from an ATM, stripped him naked, then shot him twice in the head and dumped his body near the Silverbell Mine. Kemp and his co-conspirator then carjacked a couple and forced them to drive to Colorado, where Kemp sexually assaulted the man. The couple was able to escape and later contact police. At his sentencing, Kemp told the court that Juarez was "beneath my contempt" because he was not an American citizen, and, "If more of them wound up dead, the rest of them would soon learn to stay in Mexico, where they belong." His last words were, "I regret nothing."

Connecticut Death Penalty Repeal Signed Into Law: The Associated Press reports Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy on Wednesday signed a new law that ends the state's death penalty for future crimes, effective immediately. The bill was signed the same day a new Quinnipiac University Poll showed 62 percent of Connecticut registered voters are still in favor of the death penalty for those convicted of murder. The poll also showed 47 percent of voters disapprove of Malloy's handling of the issue, and 51 percent disapprove of the legislature's handling of the issue.

Judge Says Kentucky Must Consider One-Drug Protocol: Brett Barrouquere of the Associated Press reports Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd in Kentucky on Wednesday directed the state to consider using one drug instead of three to execution inmates by lethal injection now that other states have been successful using a single drug method. Shepherd halted all executions in Kentucky 20 months ago over inmates' challenges to whether the state's lethal injection rules prohibited the use of a single drug and if there were adequate protections against executing the mentally ill. Kentucky has 90 days to consider the changes. Shepherd said the challenge by inmates will be allowed to go to trial if the state stays with the three-drug method.

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Arizona Immigration Law: Mark Sherman of the Associated Press reports the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments for Arizona's immigration law signed by Governor Jan Brewer two years ago. Justices suggested they would allow the state to enforce part of the law that requires police officers to check the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally. Justices reacted skeptically to the argument by the Obama administration that that the state exceeded its authority when it created the law. Chief Justice John Roberts said the state simply wants to notify federal authorities that they have someone in their custody who may be in the country illegally. "It seems to me that the federal government just doesn't want to know who's here illegally and who's not," Roberts said. A decision in the case is expected in late June.

Maryland Court Blocks Police Collection of DNA at Arrest: Yvonne Wenger of The Baltimore Sun reports the Court of Appeals in Maryland ruled 5-2 that the state law which allows the collection of DNA evidence from arrestees violated the rights of Alonzo Jay King Jr.  King was arrested months after the law was adopted for assault and his DNA was later used to convict him of a six-year-old rape case. The court said collecting Kings DNA at arrest violated protections against unreasonable searches without a warrant. The state can still collect DNA after convictions, and law enforcement agencies can still use DNA samples to verify the person they arrested is the correct suspect. Since the law took effect in January 2009, the state has collected nearly 16,000 DNA samples, and used that evidence to gain 58 convictions that include 34 burglaries and 8 rapes. "The concept is simple: When we increase the library of DNA samples in our state, we solve more crimes," Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley said in a statement. "We take more criminals off the streets more quickly and put them in jail for a longer period of time so that they cannot murder, rape or harm other citizens among us."

The Costs of Leniency: Theodore Dalrymple has this piece in City Journal highlighting the laxity of the British criminal justice system, using the case of Gordon Thompson as an example. Thompson was recently sentenced to 11 and a half years for arson, in which he set fire to a family-owned furniture store that quickly spread to nearby houses during the London riots last summer. Thompson claims he was upset about the recent break up of his marriage, but it turns out Thompson had 20 previous convictions. Dalrymple questions what Thompson was doing at liberty, and says the cause of the riots in London was because of the laxity in such cases.

Grandma Fires Back at Robbery Suspects: CBS Atlanta and the Associated Press report a Georgia grandmother thwarted a robbery attempt by two armed suspects by getting into a shootout with them. Two men attempted to rob Lulu Campbell outside of her car Saturday morning. When one of the men fired at her and missed, Campbell fired back and struck him in the chest. Campbell owns convenience stores and gas stations and is always armed. "I thought that the only way to protect myself was to run him down," she said. "Otherwise, he would have gotten away." Police say Brenton Lance Spencer has been hospitalized and charged with aggravated assault and attempted armed robbery. Dantre Shivers, the other suspect, remains at large. 

Oregon Inmate Seeks New Death Warrant: Helen Jung of The Oregonian reports a lawyer for condemned inmate Gary Haugen says a Marion County circuit judge should issue a new death warrant for Haugen, after Governor John Kitzhaber announced in November that he would not allow any executions to proceed while he is governor. Haugen was sentenced to death in 2003 for killing a fellow inmate at Oregon State Penitentiary, where he was serving a life sentence for the 1981 murder of his ex-girlfriend's mother. Haugen was scheduled to be executed in December. Haugen's lawyer cites several reasons why the reprieve is not valid. Haugen says the decision leaves him in limbo, where he cannot be executed nor receive a commutation of his sentence, and amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

DNA Match Leads to Arrest in 1974 Slaying of Teen Girl: Harry Harris of the Oakland Tribune reports a DNA match led to the arrest of Curtis J. Tucker for the 1974 murder and sexual molestation of a 13-year-old girl in Oakland. The girl was found by her mother, beaten to death in the bathroom of their apartment. DNA from a semen stain on the girl's shirt was matched to Tucker, whose DNA was in the nationwide database from a 1978 arrest for rape in Washington. Tucker also served time in prison for a 1972 felony burglary conviction in Oakland, where he posed as a deliveryman, broke into a woman's apartment, and tried to sexually assault her. This case is believed to be the oldest cold case investigated by Oakland police.

Woman Raped at Occupy New Haven: NBC Connecticut reports a female member of the Occupy New Haven movement was raped in a tent at the Occupy camp. Police charged England Gamble with first-degree sexual assault and first-degree unlawful restraint. Gamble was convicted of first-degree sexual assault in 1991. The state sex offender registry said he did not register his address after being released from prison in 1996. 

CA Bill to Create Banned Persons List for Sporting Events: Demian Bulwa of the San Francisco Chronicle reports Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) has introduced a bill that would ban people convicted of serious or violent felonies at major league sporting events from such events for up to five years. Those caught attending a game while banned would be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The Department of Justice would also publish and maintain an online database of those banned from sporting events, which would include their criminal history. Sports teams would be asked to contribute money to fund the online list of banned fans, and to pay those who provide information that leads to the arrest of violent spectators. The text of the bill is here.

Turning Murderers Into Victims: Lester Jackson has this piece in American Thinker about some Supreme Court Justices' tendencies to sympathize with murderers more so than victims. Dr. Jackson notes in an email that the headline was the editor's choice, not his.     

Because I think the John Edwards case will present important issues involving crime and consequences (to coin a phrase), I expect to be following it on this blog in some detail.  It is also near and dear to my heart in a number of ways.  I got my undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina, where Edwards got his law degree.  He was a courtroom lawyer, as was I, although he made a great deal more money.  And his challenge to the indictment  --  a virtual certainty to be undertaken  -- will be decided in the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, where I argued more than 100 criminal cases, representing the United States.

So let me make some observations.

California Inmate Convicted for 1997 Rape:  The Associated Press reports California Inmate George Eugene Cross, 42, already serving a life sentence for assaulting three Sacramento County women in 2002, was sentenced to an additional 25 years to life for a 1997 rape of an Anaheim teenager.  Prosecutors used DNA evidence and testimony from the victim to link Cross to the rape. 

Pennsylvania Bill Would Expand DNA Collection:   The AP reports that Pennsylvania senate majority leader Dominic Pileggi proposed a bill to expand the state's DNA collection to include those accused of certain crimes after the preliminary hearing rather than waiting until conviction. If the bill is passed, Pennsylvania will join 24 other states with similar DNA collection laws.  The bill would also allow searches of the database for close but not exact matches to identify cases where the perpetrator is a close blood relative a person in the database.  The ACLU is opposed.

Family of Victims Files Lawsuit Against State of Arizona:  J.J. Hensley of The Arizona Republic reports that the family of a couple murdered by escapees from an Arizona prison last year, have filed a lawsuit against Arizona, the private prison operator, and the company that built the prison, alleging gross negligence.  Gary and Linda Haas were fatally shot and left in their burning camping trailer by Tracy Province, John McCluskey, and accomplice Casslyn Welch after Province and McCluskey escaped from a privately run prison near Kingman.  Daniel Renwick also escaped with Province and McCluskey, but headed to Colorado where he was captured after engaging in gunfire with local police. All three face federal murder and carjacking charges in connection with the Haas' deaths.  An attorney representing the family said "The purpose of this lawsuit is to get justice . . . not just for this family - the whole public is at risk."  After the escape the Arizona Department of Corrections conducted a review of the prison and found deficiencies in training and equipment, including an alarm system that frequently issued false alarms to the point where the staff ignored them.

Illinois Murder Registry Bill Passes Committee: Aledo Times Record (IL) reports that House Bill 263, also known as Andrea's Law, which calls for creating a murder registry much like sex offender registries, was passed out of the Illinois Judiciary II Committee today. The bill is named after Andrea Will, who was strangled to death in 1998 by her ex-boyfriend, Justin J. Boulay. Boulay was released in November after serving only half of his 24-year sentence. If passed, Illinois State Police would create an internet registry database of people convicted of first-degree murder, including information such as their names, residential addresses, and photographs.

 

Child Molester Arrested Hour After Release:  Andrew Dalton of the AP reports on the arrest of Lawrence Brown, picked up an hour after being released from a California prison, where he served roughly half of a 49-year sentence for the kidnap and rape of two young girls in 1983.  Prior to Brown's release, the Orange County District Attorney's Office sought to have him civilly committed as a Sexually Violent Predator, but were unable to do so because the Department of Mental Health failed to submit the required paperwork.  After local officials warned the public of his upcoming release, a woman came forward claiming she recognized Brown as the man who raped her as a child in the late 1970s.  Brown was released, but rearrested almost immediately for violating conditions of his parole. 

Federal Judge to Plead Guilty to Some Charges:  U.S. District Judge Jack Camp is scheduled to plead guilty tomorrow to some charges, reports Greg Bluestein of the AP.  Camp faces gun and drug charges after was arrested last month for attempting to buy cocaine in a sting involving a stripper and an undercover police officer.  (See previous post here.)  Two firearms were also found in Camp's vehicle.

Massachusetts High Court Reverses Two Murder Convictions Today:  The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts today reversed murder convictions in two separate cases, reports The Boston Globe.  In one case, the court reversed the second-degree murder conviction of Margaret Earle for the death of her 21-month-old daughter, who died from blunt force trauma to her abdomen and likely suffered excruciating pain over a period of several hours, finding Earle's failure to seek immediate medical attention for the toddler was insufficient to support a murder verdict.  The court also reversed the first-degree murder conviction of Jerome McNulty, accused of stabbing to death his girlfriend, after finding his confession inadmissible under state law because the police waited too long (14 minutes) to tell him his attorney was trying to contact him. 

Governor Strickland to Review 1,200 Clemency Requests: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland said he hopes to make decisions on the 1,200 applications for clemency already submitted for his consideration before leaving office in January.  During his term as governor, Strickland has commuted the sentences of five death row inmates (including one earlier this week, noted here, and others noted here and here), and presided over 17 carried out executions (noted by Doug Berman of SL&P here).  Laura Bischoff of the Dayton Daily News has this story.

Ohio Executes Another Murderer:  Michael Benge, 49, was executed at 10:34 a.m. this morning at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near Lucasville, making him Ohio's eighth lethal injection this year, a new record.  Benge was convicted and sentenced to death for killing his 38-year-old girlfriend Judith Gabbard.  He stole her ATM card, beat her with a tire iron, then weighed down her body with concrete and dumped it in the Miami River.  He then proceeded to spend $400 from Gabbard's bank account.  After the execution, Kathy Johnson, the sister of the victim, said, "It makes us feel there was justice for my sister.  That's what this is all about."  Alan Johnson has more on the story here.

Appeals Court Reverses Gov. Schwarzenegger's Parole Decision:  San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer Bob Egelko reports on a California appeals court decision overruling Gov. Schwarzenegger's parole veto of Kludip Kler, a Fremont man who has spent 21 years in prison for fatally beating his 10-month old daughter.  Kler initially denied guilt, but later admitted that he lost control and beat his daughter to death because he could not stop her from crying.  In February, Schwarzenegger reversed the Parole Board's 2009 decision granting parole, saying he believes Kler is still dangerous because he committed a horrible crime and "lacks full insight into the circumstances."  The court said Tuesday that the governor had no evidence to support his conclusions and that the governor cannot deny parole because the inmate "cannot answer a question that has no satisfactory answer-why someone would kill their own child."  The governor can appeal the court's ruling to the State Supreme Court.  

Married Judge Caught With Stripper, Guns, and Drugs:  With what started off with a simple lap dance, 67-year-old Judge Jack T. Camp now finds himself in a sticky situation involving prostitutes, guns, and drug deals.  Camp developed a close relationship with a stripper, who had a previous drug trafficking conviction and had been secretly working with the FBI to build a case against the judge.  The FBI busted Camp shortly after a drug deal involving the stripper and an undercover officer.  Camp, a husband and father of two, had a reputation for delivering harsh sentences, especially for drug convictions.  Now, Camp could face years behind bars on drug and gun charges.  Attorneys are looking into the possibility that Camp was under the influence when he presided or ruled, but it is unclear whether any of his decisions will be revisited.  Greg Bluestein of the San Francisco Chronicle has more on the story here.

AP Investigation Prompts Changes in Prison Library Policy:  The AP reports that after its investigation revealed Connecticut inmates' unrestricted access to violent and graphic literature, the state Department of Corrections has vowed to revise its prison library policy.  In drafting the new policy, corrections officials plan to consider those of other states, as well as that of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which does not explicitly address content-based restrictions.  One Connecticut lawmaker is calling for the removal of all books containing violence, but such a sweeping prohibition is expected to meet opposition from the American Library Association, who claims that the denial of the right to read "diminishes the human spirit of those segregated from society," and the ACLU. 

Stories of prosecutorial misconduct most often focus on the non-disclosure (or outright concealment) of exculpatory evidence.  Every now and again, as with Mike Nifong in the Duke rape hoax, they concern the decision to prosecute persons the authorities know or should have known are innocent.

Less widely reported, but far more prevalent, is what any serious person would also have to consider misconduct:  Doing nothing when events cry out for action.  The reasons this sort of prosecutorial misconduct gets a pass are manifold:  The defense bar is not about to complain; the press and the academy have an ideological stake in pretending prosecutors are never anything but "overzealous;" and there is no lobby to speak for future victims of criminals not brought to book.

Enter the case of Professor Amy Bishop, who last week gunned down three of her colleagues, ostensibly (so it is reported) because she was denied tenure.  The rub is that this was not Ms. Bishop's first killing.  Years before, she offed her brother in circumstances that were barely investigated then and are now subject to widely varying accounts.  What is not disputed is that the DA at the time, Robert Delahunt (now a member of Congress), did not so much as present the case to a grand jury.  Now there are allegations of a cover-up by the authorities. 

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal takes a look at the troubling story: 

On Tap for the Supreme Court next Monday:  Today SCOTUSblog has two informative posts on what to expect from the Supreme Court next Monday.  In her Petitions to Watch post, Erin Miller links to information for twelve cases up for consideration at the Justices' private conference today. Of the twelve, four have been relisted from earlier conferences, and two address criminal justice issues.  Another case, Rasul v. Myers (09-227) involves torture claims made by the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.  In her second SCOUTSblog post, Miller tells us not to expect any Supreme Court opinions on Monday.  She writes that the Court expects to release orders, but "[n]o mention was made of any opinions." 

O'Connor's Initiative Against Judicial Elections:  On Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman links to an article in today's National Law Journal where Jordan Weissmann discusses the creation of the O'Connor Judicial Selection Initiative.   The Initiative, a collaboration between the University of Denver's Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System and O'Connor, intends to assist state level efforts to move away from judicial elections.  The former Supreme Court Justice will chair the 11-member advisory commission.  Berman comments on his blog that he is not "quick to assail elected judges" but members of the defense bar might be.  He also believes prosecutors "might be among those most eager to see judicial elections retained."  Of course, when we talk about moving away from something, we need to consider what we are moving to. For all the deficiencies of directly contested judicial elections, so-called "merit selection" that effectively delegates selection authority to the state bar is even worse.

Polanski's Lawyer Argues for Dismissal:  At Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Ashby Jones writes that according to the LA Times, an attorney for Roman Polanski is arguing that an "astonishing record of misconduct" should result in dismissal of the case.  In the article, Jack Leonard reports that Chad S. Hummel argued to a California appeals court panel that "Judge Laurence J. Rittenband improperly discussed with a prosecutor how to punish Polanski and threatened to lock up the director for a longer period if his attorney challenged the judge's decision to return Polanski to prison."  A Los Angeles judge declined to address similar arguments earlier this year, and yesterday the panel suggested that Polanski might be 32 years too late in his request to dismiss the case.  They wondered why Polanski couldn't have asked his lawyer to raise the misconduct concerns at the time rather than flee the country.  

Some Point and Counterpoint Arguments to Legalizing Marijuana:  Ashby Jones writes on Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, that New Jersey could be the next state to allow residents to use marijuana, when recommended by a doctor, for relief from serious diseases and medical conditions.  According to Jones, New Jersey's Senate has approved the bill and the state Assembly is expected to follow. If the bill reaches the desk of Governor Jon Corzine before he leaves office it will probably become law.  A story by Suzanne Sataline provides more details. Instead of focusing on the politics surrounding the New Jersey legislation, Jones' post focuses on potential tax revenues states might take in were marijuana legalized and regulated.  Jones provides quotes from a "point/counterpoint" debate on whether legalizing and taxing marijuana is really worth the cost.  Stephen Easton writes for the "pro" side that taxing marijuana "could raise $40 billion to $100 billion in new revenue."  Bob Stutman then points out "studies show that the U.S. collects about $8 billion yearly in taxes from alcohol. The problem is, the total cost to the U.S. in 2008 due to alcohol-related problems was $185 billion..."

Sex Offenders in Nursing Homes:  At Sex Crimes, Corey Rayburn Yung provides a link to a Chicago Tribune article that reports many sex offenders living in Illinois' nursing homes are not on the state's sex offender registry.  The article, by David Jackson and Gary Marx, found that only 59 of the 192 sex offenders in Illinois nursing homes -- or less than one in three -- were listed on that online state registry.  The two report that state investigators have documented more than a dozen instances since 2007 in which nursing homes failed to notify local law enforcement that they housed a convicted sex offender, as required by law, or failed to implement care plans to monitor and treat sex offenders inside the facilities.  Jackson and Marx also note that in some cases unregistered offenders have allegedly molested vulnerable residents and even staff. 

Department of Justice Census on Public Defenders' Office:  The American Constitution Society posts a link to the Department of Justice's Census for Public Defender Offices, 2007, and a description of the report by Matt Kelly, the Online Communications Director for the Innocence Project.  The report looks at public defender office staffing, caseloads, expenditures, and standards and guidelines used by the nearly 1,000 public defender offices found across 49 states and the District of Columbia.  Kelly writes that Public Defender Offices have had it rough this year because of staffing cuts, he writes, "BJS study found that the 17,000 attorneys in 2007 were aided by 11,000 support staff - from secretaries to file clerks to investigators and paralegals."  He mentions that prosecutors' offices are feeling the pinch too.  A 2005 DOJ report found that half the prosecutors' offices Nationwide employed 9 or fewer people and had a budget of $355,000 or less.

Amendments to Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure Take Effect Today:  Howard Bashman writes on How Appealing that "[t]oday is the first day of the so-called 'days are days' approach to calculating time."  Now, when the rules speak of "days" in the calculation of time, the rules will mean calendar days regardless of the length of the period at issue. The amendments are available here.  

When Barack Obama was elected President, a major concern for those of us who believe in actually enforcing the criminal law was how much "change" we would see in the Department of Justice generally and in the Solicitor General's advocacy in the Supreme Court particularly. Our experience with the Clinton Administration (see below) combined with the fact that Obama is considerably further left than Clinton raised concerns that the SG's office would change from a consistent defender of law and order into a voice for further inflation of already bloated protections for criminal defendants.

Yesterday, we saw with some relief that the new SG is willing to call a spade a spade and denounce one of the more pointless and unjustified rules requiring exclusion of valid evidence. In Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625 (1986), the Court handed down one of those maddening rules where it extrapolates its own precedents to unjustified lengths, creating new restrictions far removed from any realistic view of what the real Constitution actually requires.

Guantanamo Detainee Charged in USS Cole Bombing: Almost 8 years after a small boat loaded with TNT detonated and ripped through the USS Cole at a Yemeni port, Guantanamo Bay detainee Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri has been charged for planning and surpervising the attack that resulted in the deaths of 17 US service members. According to Josh White's Washington Post story , the government has acknowledged that al-Nashiri was subjected to waterboarding, and his subsequent confession will likely be under intense scrutiny if the charges proceed to trial.

Rampart "Victim" Arrested Again: The most famous, or perhaps infamous, victim of the now notorious Rampart scandal of the late '90s has been arrested after an hour-long police chase for evading arrest, reckless driving, and assault on a peace officer. Richard Winton and Victoria Kim report for the LA Times that he is also being investigated for allegedly making criminal threats to the family that purchased his former home. While no one is condoning police misconduct, this provides pretty clear evidence that the Rampart "victims" were not ordinary, law-abiding citizens, but rather habitual offenders with gang connections.

Coverage of Cal. DP Report: Maura Dolan's article for the LA Times reviews the findings of the California commission charged with comprehensively examining the death penalty in California. The article highlights the fact that the time from sentencing to execution in California is twice the national average, resulting in unnecessary litigation and expense.

Hollywood Drug Case Dismissed after Video Contradicts Police Testimony: According to Jack Leonard's story for the LA Times, the defense for Guillermo Alarcon Jr's cocaine charges introduced a video tape, much to the surprise of the prosecution, which provided evidence that was highly inconsistent with the sworn testimony of the arresting officers. The new evidence prompted prosecutors to request to have the charges dismissed, and the judge exonerated Alarcon.

"Extraordinary Rendition" Case Dismissed: Alan Feuer reports for the New York Times that the Second Circuit in New York ruled in a very contentious decision that the federal courts had no jurisdiction to hear Maher Arar's claims of extraordinary rendition. This will probably not be the last we hear from Mr. Arar, as Amnesty International has focused quite a bit of attention on his case in their campaign against the War on Terror.

D.C. Guns: Legislation in the D.C. Council to allow the keeping of handguns for self-defense has been introduced and is expected to pass, reports Nikita Stewart for the WaPo.

Update Jan. 31 at 3:55PST: The Supreme Court has granted a stay pending filing and disposition of a certiorari petition. AP story is here. SCOTUSblog post here.
---------------------------------
The Eleventh Circuit vacated a stay of execution granted on an injection claim in McNair v. Allen. The court found that the § 1983 claim was barred by the statute of limitations. There are two plaintiffs in the case. The one with an imminent execution date (tomorrow) is James Callahan.

The full details of Callahan’s crime are set forth in Callahan v. Campbell, 427 F.3d 897, 903-10 (11th Cir. 2005). In short, on February 3, 1982, Callahan abducted 26-year-old Rebecca Suzanne Howell from a laundromat in Jacksonville, Alabama. He murdered her, then dumped her body in a creek, where it was discovered two weeks later.

Footnote 1: Although Callahan was not charged with rape, forensic evidence suggested Howell was sexually assaulted prior to her death.

The decision is correct based on pre-Baze precedent on a ground not at issue in Baze. There would seem to be no reason for the Supreme Court to grant a stay. However, after the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Baze, which does not involve a default issue, it did grant stays in other cases involving defaulted claims. At this point, the justices probably know what their decision is going to be in Baze, and it will be interesting to see if they grant a stay in this case. If I had to bet, I'd put my money on a grant. AP story is here. Lyle Denniston has this post at SCOTUSblog, and Doug Berman has this one at SL&P.

Next door, the inmates in the Florida injection cases, Ian Lightbourne and Mark Schwab, have asked Justice Thomas for an extra two months to file their cert. petitions here and here. Extension requests are typically decided by the circuit justice (unlike stays of execution, which the circuit justice almost always refers to the full court), so it matters that Florida is in Thomas Country.

"A conservative is a liberal who has been mugged," goes the old joke. Like many jokes, there is a grain of truth in it. It is easier to be blasé about crime when it hasn't touched you personally. It is not universally true, though.

One of California's many criminals carjacked one of its most criminal-friendly politicians Saturday. Don Perata, leader of the Democrats in the State Senate, has long insured that the Public Safety Committee of that body is a graveyard for tough crime legislation. He has kept it stacked with a soft-on-crime majority and chair at all times. Saturday night in Oakland, a man with a gun told Perata to get out of the 2006 red Dodge Charger he was driving and took off with it. The car didn't belong to Perata, though. It belongs to the people of California. Laura Kurtzman of AP reports here.

So, will Perata see the light? Don't count on it.