Results matching “thomas”

The Heritage Foundation summarizes today's unanimous (as to result) victory for the prosecution over a defendant who wanted to cheat his way to a little more dough. This is the gist of Loughrin v. United States:

Condemned Killer Loses Appeal: A Texas man sentenced to death for murdering his wife and two stepsons will not have his appeal considered by the state's highest court.  The Associated Press reports that 40-year-old Robert Sparks stabbed the young boys and their mother multiple times during a brutal attack in 2007.  Sparks attempted to appeal his sentence based on the claim that a witness gave false testimony during trial regarding his prison classification if the jury choose life without parole rather than a death sentence, a claim Dallas County prosecutors say simply isn't true.  Update:  The opinion is here.  This is a successive petition for writ of habeas corpus, and the court decided that Sparks does not meet the statutory criteria for a successive petition.

Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to More than 900 Years in Prison: An 81-year-old Pennsylvania criminal convicted of sexually abusing a young girl for several years has been sentenced to a prison term of 935 to 1,870 years.  The Associated Press reports that Thomas Holliday began abusing the girl when she was 14 years old and videotaped nearly every assault, he was ultimately convicted of 234 crimes in January, including hundreds of counts of creating and possessing child pornography.  The judge in the case indicated that he sentenced Holliday so severely to serve as a warning to other child predators.

CA Man Convicted in 1987 Cold Case Murder: A California man agreed to plead no-contest to a murder he committed more than 25 years ago.  DNA evidence linked him to 1987 rape and strangulation murder of 28-year-old Roshun Broadnax.  Malaika Fraley of the Oakland Tribune reports that 55-year-old Eddie Brown, a registered sex offender, was originally a suspect in the killing, but authorities were not able to find enough evidence linking him to the crime.  Oakland police reopened the case in 2012 and were able to link Brown to the murder through a DNA match to a sample collected from under the victim's fingernails.  Brown will be sentenced in September to 25 years to life in prison.

The Delaware State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Delaware State Troopers Association, the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware and the Delaware Police Chiefs' Council have this letter in the Middletown Transcript:

All law enforcement groups in the State of Delaware have joined together to oppose Senate Bill 19, an initiative to strike from the Delaware Statutes what is commonly referred to as the "Death Penalty."

Never before in the history of the state has the law enforcement community come together to present one united voice. Representing over 5,000 individual members, this coalition includes the State Lodge of the Fraternal Order of Police, the Delaware State Troopers Association, the Correctional Officers Association of Delaware and the Delaware Police Chiefs' Council.

On March 26, 2013, this initiative passed the Senate by a bare majority and now awaits action in the State House of Representatives. We view this action, and potential for action, as a direct threat to the welfare and safety of those that we represent and to the community at large that we have sworn to serve and protect.

Two weeks ago, a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit declared California's law on carrying guns in public to be unconstitutional in Peruta v. San Diego, No. 10-56971.  Judge O'Scannlain's opinion begins, "We are called upon to decide whether a responsible, law-abiding citizen has a right under the Second Amendment to carry a firearm in public for self-defense."  He and Judge Callahan answer yes.  Judge Thomas dissents.

The San Diego Sheriff announced he would not seek rehearing en banc.  The California Attorney General has now moved to intervene and petitioned for rehearing en banc.

In my view, the AG is entirely correct to do this regardless of where one stands on the underlying question.  The proper operation of our system of separation of powers requires a defense of statutes when they are challenged judicially, and it is the Attorney General's duty to make that defense as long as one can reasonably be made.  It is dereliction of duty for AGs to refuse to defend statutes merely because they agree with the plaintiffs on close questions of constitutional law or, even worse, merely because they oppose the policy behind the statute.  The United States Attorney General notoriously failed to defend the anti-Miranda statute in the Dickerson case back in 1999.  That was very wrong, even though the case ultimately ended with the statute being struck down.

In this case, I have no doubt that Ms. Harris supports the policy behind the statute, so the disagreement issue is not presented.  However, I expect she will be criticized for defending it, so I wanted to state up front that her decision to make the case for the statute's constitutionality is correct, in my view.

Oh, BTW, the case is a slam dunk for rehearing en banc.

Wrapping up our belated notes on Tuesday's decisions, there is Kaley v. United States:

A federal statute, 21 U. S. C. §853(e), authorizes a court to freeze an indicted defendant's assets prior to trial if they would be subject to forfeiture upon conviction. In United States v. Monsanto, 491 U. S. 600, 615 (1989), we approved the constitutionality of such an order so long as it is "based on a finding of probable cause to believe that the property will ultimately be proved forfeitable." And we held that standard to apply even when a defendant seeks to use the disputed property to pay for a lawyer.

In this case, two indicted defendants wishing to hire an attorney challenged a pre-trial restraint on their property.The trial court convened a hearing to consider the seizure's legality under Monsanto. The question presented is whether criminal defendants are constitutionally entitled at such a hearing to contest a grand jury's prior determination of probable cause to believe they committed the crimes charged. We hold that they have no right to relitigate that finding.

Unusual lineup on this one.  Opinion by Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Ginsburg, and Alito.  Dissent by Chief Justice Roberts, joined by Justices Breyer and Sotomayor.

Astute reader federalist, having taken the Astronomy Quiz, wonders whether the unhappy truth is that the death penalty is hanging by a thread.

I joined the Department of Justice straight out of law school in 1974.  I spent 25 years there, split between Main Justice in Washington and the US Attorney's Office. Today something happened that, in my experience, is unprecedented. Hundreds of career lawyers broke into open revolt against the Attorney General on a matter of prepossessing importance to federal sentencing.  If something like that had happened in the Bush Administration, I guarantee you it would be a Page One story. Whether it gets any coverage at all in the present Administration remains to be seen.

Florida triple murderer Thomas Knight, who had since changed his name to Askari Abdullah Muhammad, was finally executed today for a murder committed in 1980.  While already on death row for killing a Miami couple, Sydney and Lillian Gans, Knight killed correctional officer Richard Burke with a sharpened spoon.  Tamara Lush has this story for AP.

"This is where my dad took his last breath," said the slain guard's daughter, 47-year-old Carolyn Burke Thompson. She was among several family members who witnessed the execution and could be seen crying in the front row as it was carried out.

"The system finally has worked. I am at peace knowing I don't have to wait any longer. I miss my dad a lot," she said.

One of the reasons that the case took so long is that the Supreme Court in 1976 approved Florida's sentencing system with its specified list of mitigating circumstances and then later simply changed its mind and mandated that the defendant be allowed to introduce everything including the kitchen sink.  Applying that rule retroactively, the federal court of appeals in 1987 overturned a judgment that had been rendered correctly under the law in effect at the time of the trial and the direct appeal.  Today, the rules of Teague v. Lane and 28 U.S.C. §2254(d) would forbid that.

The defense lawyers filed five petitions with the U.S. Supreme Court, denied here, here, here, here, and here.  The only dissent is in the fourth, where Justice Breyer asserts once again that he would grant review to decide the so-called Lackey claim -- whether, if a murderer can gum up the process long enough, he is entitled to escape his just punishment for good.

Convicted Sex Offender Pleads Guilty to 297 Charges: An Ohio man has accepted a plea deal that will require him to spend the rest of his life in prison after pleading guilty to hundreds of charges including murder, kidnapping and rape.  Thomas J. Sheeran of the Beatrice Daily Sun reports that 49-year-old Elias Acevedo pled guilty to the cold-case murders of two women more than 15 years ago as well as sexual attacks and assaults on minors, some dating back more than 25 years.  Authorities had re-opened the murder cases and presented Acevedo with mounting evidence linking him to the crimes, offering him a plea deal that would take the death penalty off the table if he provided details about the crimes he had committed.

Convicted Killer set to be Released Early: A gang member convicted of murdering a young California woman ten years ago is set to be released from a juvenile justice facility after serving only eight years of his suggested 10-year sentence.  Larry Altman of the Daily Breeze reports that 22-year-old Doheen Pratt, who was just 13-years-old at the time of the murder, was convicted and sentenced in 2006 to spend nearly 10 years in juvenile hall, the maximum sentence a 13-year-old can receive in the state of California.  Had Pratt been a year older at the time of the murder, prosecutors could have tried him as an adult and pursued a possible life sentence.  

Ohio to Use Two-Drug Method in Upcoming Execution: The Ohio Department of Corrections will use a two-drug combination in an upcoming execution for a man convicted of raping and murdering a pregnant woman more than 20 years ago.  The Associated Press reports that the state has elected to use a combination of midazolam, a sedative, and hydromorphone, a painkiller, making Ohio the first state in the U.S. to use this particular method of lethal injection.  This is Ohio's second attempt at using the two-drug method, the first attempt was halted after the inmate's request to donate organs to his family resulted in a last-minute reprieve from the governor.       

Governor Rick Scott has scheduled an execution for repeat murderer Askari Abdullah Muhammad, formerly known as Thomas Knight, for January 7, News Service of Florida reports.

On December 19, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the circuit court decision rejecting Muhammad's attack on Florida's new lethal injection protocol.  See prior post of Dec. 2.

Knight was already on death row for two other murders when he stabbed and killed corrections Officer Richard James.

There is a movement in Congress to repeal or dramatically scale back mandatory minimum sentencing laws.  Specifically, four bills are on the table for a Senate Judiciary Committee markup on December 19.  The most brazen is the Leahy/Paul bill, which would effectively repeal mandatory minimums by allowing judges to ignore them at will.  A less radical plan is the Durbin/Lee bill, which would slash mandatory minimums by roughly half.  There are two other bills for what are called "back-end" reductions in sentencing.  In a way, these bills are even worse, because they hide from public view their slashing of mandatory minimum sentences; the sentences would be sliced and diced for ever-malleable "good behavior" well away from the time of conviction, much less any press coverage.

Kent and I posted about some of the events at the recent Federalist Society National Convention.  The highlight, for my money, was the sit-down discussion with Justice Clarence Thomas.

The US Supreme Court today denied an application to vacate a stay issued by USCA5 in Planned Parenthood v. Abbott, No. 13A452. The decision of the Court is one sentence, but Justice Scalia wrote a concurring opinion, joined by Justices Thomas and Alito, and Justice Breyer wrote a dissent, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan.

CJLF takes no position on the underlying question, the Texas abortion law.  I note the case here for the material it provides regarding granting and vacating stays.  Our readers who work on capital cases may find it useful.

Yesterday, as noted in today's News Scan, the Florida Supreme Court granted a stay of execution in one of the oldest capital cases, that of Thomas Knight, a.k.a. Askari Abdullah Muhammad.  The order is here.  Two justices dissent.

Knight/Muhammad challenges Florida's new injection protocol, which substitutes midazolam hydrochloride for the first drug of the three-drug protocol that was standard until the last few years.  The protocol includes a check for consciousness after the first drug, the safeguard that Justice Ginsburg found critically missing from the Kentucky protocol upheld by a majority in Baze v. Rees.

The usual constitutional test in prison medical cases is "substantial risk of serious harm."  As the Baze plurality indicated, in the lethal injection context that translates to a substantial risk of severe pain during the execution.  The Florida Supreme Court majority concludes that Muhammad "has raised a factual dispute, not conclusively refuted, as to whether the use of midazolam hydrochloride in Florida's lethal injection protocol will subject him" to such a risk.  So they send the matter to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing, followed by a rapid briefing schedule, and oral argument, if necessary, on December 18.  The stay expires in a little over a month, December 27.

On the merits, the dissent is probably right.  As a practical matter, I think the court's action is for the best.  The stay is brief.  With an evidentiary hearing, findings of fact, and a state court opinion on the merits, the resulting judgment should be close to bulletproof when (not if) the attack is made in federal court.  When these steps are missing or inadequate, the federal courts are more likely to step in, and the overall delay is likely to be longer.

The Federalist Society had its usual excellent national convention last week.  Among the panels was one on "Criminal Law Enforcement vs. the Free Press."  It was moderated by the brilliant Judge Ray Randolph of the DC Circuit, and featured extremely knowledgeable speakers including Eugene Volokh of the "Volokh Conspiracy," Adam Liptak of the New York Times, and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey.  The latter did a superb job of pointing out the hypocrisy, and the danger, of the current Administration's high-minded talk about the need for robust (to say the least) NSA surveillance, combined with its leaking numerous, very sensitive items of national security information to improve its own sagging political standing.

Tougher Sentencing for Sex Offenders Considered:  The proposed discharge of a serial rapist from the Minnesota Sex Offender Program has prompted public officials to call for longer prison terms for sex offenders.  Chris Serres of the Star Tribune reports that Thomas Duvall was convicted of separate violent sexual assaults on three teenaged girls after he was released from prison.  Legislators and law enforcement officials asking whether public safety would be better served if violent sex offenders were treated while in prison, rather than being committed to a treatment center.   A three-judge panel will hear arguments today over whether to hold an in-depth hearing to discuss Duvall's release.  If released, he will be only the second individual discharged from the center in 20 years.

Alleged Murderer Violated Parole Multiple Times:  A New York man suspected of torturing and killing his former roommate was released from prison one month before the crime occurred with no supervision, despite violating his parole twice in three years.  Matt Porter of WBNG reports that spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision asserts that the law required Nigel Saunders to be released without further supervision because he had served "every possible day under parole supervision in accordance with the law."  Saunders and another suspect broke into the home of Saunders' former roommate on October 4, tied him and his pregnant fiancee up in their basement, stabbed them, doused them with lighter fluid, and set them on fire, killing the roommate.  The fiancee managed to escape during the attack, and her and her unborn child are expected to survive.

Lifetime Registration for Juvenile Sex Offenders Deemed Unconstitutional:  A Pennsylvania law that imposed lifetime registration requirements on juvenile sex offenders has been ruled unconstitutional by a York County judge.  The ruling held that the law fails to acknowledge the unique attributes and considerations of juvenile offenders. The judge noted that the law did not take into account studies showing that juvenile sex offenders have a greater capacity to reform than adults. Matt Miller of Penn Live reports that the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, was passed in 2011 to comply with federal law and prevent the loss of federal funding.  The judge's decision is being reviewed by the county prosecutor for a possible appeal to the Supreme Court. 

More Florida Inmates Forging Documents to Gain Early Release: Seven inmates in Florida's prison system have attempted to facilitate their early release by using forged documents.  Fox News reports that prison officials are attempting to gain control of the situation by verifying early-release orders with multiple sources prior to an inmate's release.  Last week, two inmates serving life-sentences for murder, were released ahead of schedule and on the run for more than a week after successfully forging release-documents.

California Gets Extra Month to Address Prison Overcrowding: A panel of federal judges has granted Governor Brown an additional month to reduce its prison population.  Don Thompson of Associated Press reports that judges pushed back the deadline requiring the state to reduce its prison population by nearly 10,000 inmates from January to February 2014.  Governor Brown has asked for a three-year delay in the court-ordered population reduction in order to allow proposed rehabilitation programs a chance to work.  

Florida Killer Given Execution Date: A Florida man who has been on the state's death row for nearly 40 years is now scheduled to die on December 3, 2013.  The Associated Press reports that Askari Abdullah Muhammad, formally known as Thomas Knight, was convicted of murdering a prison guard in 1980 while he was already on death row for two previous murders he committed six years earlier.  Despite being convicted in multiple murders, the death warrant signed by Florida Governor Rick Scott only refers to the case involving the murder of the correctional officer.

ATF Blows Grenade Walking Case: Photo evidence turned over to Congress earlier this week shows a stash of grenade parts and ammunition that was smuggled across the US/Mexico border by a man who was detained and questioned by ATF agents, and then released.  Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News reports that the ATF had been tracking Jean Baptiste Kingery, an alleged drug cartel arms dealer, and intercepted his massive grenade purchase and marked the weapons before delivering them to him in hopes of being able to follow him to his elusive weapons factory.  The ATF's plan failed, suggesting that the federal agency was more interested in making a big case than protecting public safety.  

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Today is the golden anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and Martin Luther King's famous speech. These are, by far, the most important words Dr. King ever spoke.  They are the most important for the same reason that the Declaration of Independence is the most important document Thomas Jefferson ever wrote.  These are words that transcend the individual author.  They were embraced by the nation as the distillation of the idea that motivated a great movement, a leap forward in the cause of freedom.

If you visit the MLK memorial in Washington, don't bother looking for these words among the many engraved quotations.  They aren't there.  They have been banished by Political Correctness.

The special master has delivered his report in the case of Missouri death row inmate Reginald Clemons.

This proceeding is a state habeas corpus petition filed after the usual state postconviction review and the federal habeas corpus have been completed.  In substance, then, it is like a successive habeas petition.  Missouri law apparently follows the pre-AEDPA federal successive habeas petition law of McCleskey v. Zant (and current federal procedural default law).  The petitioner must satisfy a "gateway" test of either "cause and prejudice" or actual innocence before the merits of the petition will be considered.

Clemons may win the case on a fairly routine basis -- a nondisclosure claim under Brady v. Maryland with passage through the gateway via "cause and prejudice."  The special master recommended in his favor on that claim.  (Page 102.)

The case is nationally notorious, though, because of Clemons's claim he is actually innocent.  The master rejects this claim.  A few excerpts follow the jump.

Ohio Murderer Kills Himself Prior to his Execution: Billy Slagle, an Ohio man sentenced to death for stabbing his neighbor, was found hanged in his cell Sunday morning just days prior to his scheduled execution date.  Thomas Sheeran of the Associated Press reports that Slagle was found in his cell alone, and authorities don't believe there were any other inmates involved in his death.  Prior to his suicide, the parole board had denied a stay of execution for Slagle despite a rare plea from the prosecution to sentence him to life without the possibility of parole.

Police Search for Motive After Deadly Hit-and-Run Attack: A Los Angeles man is being held in lieu of $1 million bail after he walked into the police station and admitted to being involved in a hit-and-run attack that left one woman dead and 11 others injured.  Fox News reports that 38-year-old Nathan Campbell surveyed the Venice Beach boardwalk area prior to getting into his vehicle and intentionally driving around security barriers and into a crowd of hundreds of tourists.  Police have yet to determine a motive, but have revealed that they don't believe it was an act of terrorism.  

Inmate Murderer Leading California Prison Hunger Strike: A California prison hunger strike  that started on July 8 with 33,000 inmates involved has dwindled down to 499 inmates as of Thursday.  SF Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders notes that the hunger strike, which is aimed at protesting the use of "solitary confinement" in California prisons, is being led by Todd Ashker, a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, convicted of stabbing another inmate to death in 1987.  The California Department of Corrections stands by their policy of isolating roughly 3% of the prison population in order to keep the rest of the inmate population safe from potentially violent gang activity.    

The big news out of the US Supreme Court today is, of course, the same-sex marriage cases.  CJLF takes no position on the underlying issue.  We are quite interested in the "standing" question.  When the state's executive fails to defend the constitutionality of an initiative measure in court, can the proponents step in and defend it?

The answer should be yes.  Initiative proponents invest much time and money getting their measure qualified and then campaigning for it.  Whether their interest is tangible or intangible, that investment should be more than enough to allow them to defend their measure in court.

Even more importantly, without such standing, the people's precious power of initiative can be defeated by collusive litigation between an opponent and an executive that simply does not want to enforce the measure.  This is a very dangerous situation indeed.

Today in the Prop. 8 case, the Ninth Circuit is directed to dismiss the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, leaving in place an unreviewable district court injunction against enforcing a state statute.  Even if one disagrees with the statute and believes it to be unconstitutional (a point on which I know our readers are sharply divided), this is not a good result.

Justice Kennedy dissents, joined by Justices Thomas, Alito, and Sotomayor, a line-up you don't see every day:

In my view Article III does not require California, when deciding who may appear in court to defend an initiative on its behalf, to comply with the Restatement of Agency or with this Court's view of how a State should make its laws or structure its government. The Court's reasoning does not take into account the fundamental principles or the practical dynamics of the initiative system in California, which uses this mechanism to control and to bypass public officials--the same officials who would not defend the initiative, an injury the Court now leaves unremedied.

The US Supreme Court today decided a case on the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), a law passed by Congress in 2006.  The majority upholds SORNA as applied to the particular offender in a rather peculiar and fact-specific opinion.  The case is United States v. Kebodeaux, No. 12-418.

The US Supreme Court today upheld, 3-2-4, a prosecutor's comment on the fact that a murder suspect failed to answer a single question during a voluntary interview.  He was not under arrest at the time, and the case had been litigated on the assumption he had not received Miranda warnings.  (He actually had, according to the state's brief, but apparently no one brought that to the attention of the trial court.)  The case is Salinas v. Texas, No. 12-246. CJLF's brief is here.

The plurality opinion by Justice Alito (joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Kennedy) is based on the fact that the suspect did not expressly invoke his Fifth Amendment right.  In Berghuis v. Thompkins, decided three years ago, the Court held that a prolonged silence during most of an hours-long custodial interview did not invoke Miranda rights so as to require a cut-off of questioning, and thus the suspect's response to a single question was admissible.  This case is a mirror-image.  Salinas freely answered most questions but made no verbal response to the one most incriminating question.  The plurality extends, slightly, the express invocation requirement to cover this situation.

Justice Thomas, joined by Justice Scalia, concurs in the judgment on the broader ground that commenting on silence is not compulsion within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment, and Griffin v. California, 380 U.S. 609 (1965), forbidding comment on the defendant's failure to testify at trial, was wrongly decided.  There is zero chance of overruling Griffin with the current Court, but there is much to be said for not extending it.

The US Supreme Court today decided, 5-4, that an amendment to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that increases the guideline range for a crime cannot be applied to a crime committed prior to the amendment.  Such application would violate the Ex Post Facto Clause of Article I, Section 9.  (The same holding would apply to states under the parallel Article I, Section 10 clause.)  The case is Peugh v. United States, No. 12-62.

The federal system adopts procedural measures intended to make the Guidelines the lodestone of sentencing. A retrospective increase in the Guidelines range applicable to a defendant creates a sufficient risk of a higher sentence to constitute an ex post facto violation.

Justice Kennedy did not join part III C of Justice Sotomayor's opinion, making that part a plurality opinion.  That part concludes, "But, contrary to the dissent's view, see post, at 11-13, the Ex Post Facto Clause does not merely protect reliance interests. It also reflects principles of 'fundamental justice.' "

What makes this case close is that the Sentencing Guidelines were transformed from mandatory to advisory in the Booker case.  Justice Thomas notes in the dissent (joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Scalia and Alito):

First, the Guidelines do not constrain the discretion of district courts and, thus, have no legal effect on a defendant's sentence. Second, to the extent that the amended Guidelines create a risk that a defendant might receive a harsher punishment, that risk results from the Guidelines' persuasive force, not any legal effect. The Guidelines help district judges to impose sentences that comply with §3553(a). The risk of an increased sentence is, in essence, the risk of a more accurate sentence--i.e., a sentence more in line with the statutory scheme's penological goals. Guideline changes that help district courts achieve such pre-existing statutory sentencing goals do not create a risk of an increased sentence cognizable under the Ex Post Facto Clause. We have never held that government action violates the Ex Post Facto Clause when it merely influences the exercise of the sentencing judge's discretion.

It's always a good sign when someone with day-to-day exposure to the realities of the criminal justice system gets a voice in a body as powerful as the US Senate. Today, Gov. Chris Christie, himself a former US Attorney, appointed his one-time chief adviser in the USAO, Jeff Chiesa, to serve as the interim Senator from New Jersey, taking the seat of the late Frank Lautenberg.

Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health has announced that the organization will not use the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders:

In a few weeks, the American Psychiatric Association will release its new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This volume will tweak several current diagnostic categories, from autism spectrum disorders to mood disorders. While many of these changes have been contentious, the final product involves mostly modest alterations of the previous edition, based on new insights emerging from research since 1990 when DSM-IV was published. Sometimes this research recommended new categories (e.g., mood dysregulation disorder) or that previous categories could be dropped (e.g., Asperger's syndrome).

The goal of this new manual, as with all previous editions, is to provide a common language for describing psychopathology. While DSM has been described as a "Bible" for the field, it is, at best, a dictionary, creating a set of labels and defining each. The strength of each of the editions of DSM has been "reliability" - each edition has ensured that clinicians use the same terms in the same ways. The weakness is its lack of validity. Unlike our definitions of ischemic heart disease, lymphoma, or AIDS, the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure. In the rest of medicine, this would be equivalent to creating diagnostic systems based on the nature of chest pain or the quality of fever. Indeed, symptom-based diagnosis, once common in other areas of medicine, has been largely replaced in the past half century as we have understood that symptoms alone rarely indicate the best choice of treatment. (emphasis added).

But with its reliability also in question, the new DSM5 is turning out to be quite controversial.

The US Supreme Court took up a federal criminal case from Iowa.  Here is the Eighth Circuit's summary of its decision:

113602P.pdf 08/06/2012 United States v. Marcus Burrage U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 11-3602 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines [PUBLISHED] [Benton, Author, with Bye and Beam, Circuit Judges]
Criminal case - Criminal law. District court did not err in rejecting defendant's proximate cause instructions as this court has held that a showing of proximate cause is not required in a prosecution under 21 U.S.C. Sec. 841(b)(1) for distributing heroin resulting in death; use of "contributing cause" language was appropriate under this court's case law; prosecutor's cross-examination of defendant and his closing comments as to whether the voice on a tape sounded like defendant were not improper; evidence was sufficient to support defendant's conviction; even if a police officer's testimony regarding defendant's status as a drug dealer was hearsay, its admission was harmless in light of the other evidence in the case.

The Supreme Court limited its review to "questions 1 and 2 presented by the petition."  These are apparently the causation issues, not the evidence issues.

The Court dumped Boyer v. Louisiana, a speedy trial case.  As is normal for dismissals "as improvidently granted," the opinion of the Court is a one-liner.  Justice Alito, joined by Justices Scalia and Thomas, explains why they concur in the dumping.  Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan, dissents.

The cross-petitions in the Phillips case, previously noted in this post, have been denied without comment, after six relists.  Wonder what went on behind the scenes.

Boston Bomber Suspect Could Face Death:  The Associated Press reports that suspected Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could face the death penalty under federal prosecution. Although Massachusetts does not have the death penalty, Tsarnaev is expected to be charged federally with using weapons of mass destruction to kill people, which is a capital offense. Because of the nature of the attack, Tsarnaev will be interrogated by the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team, a group of CIA officers who have been involved in questioning prominent terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay. The suspect will be tried in a civilian court, rather than as an enemy combatant, because he became a naturalized U.S. citizen in September 2012. According to a report by the Boston Herald, Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino would support a death penalty sentence, saying that Tsarnaev "should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Continued from this News Scan.

NC Killer's Death Penalty Trial Delayed Over Mental Evaluation:  WRAL News reports that Mario Andretti McNeill, charged with the murder, rape and kidnapping of Shaniya Davis, 5, has had his trial delayed pending questions of his mental capacity. The child's body was found on November 16, 2009 six days after her mother had reported she was missing. McNeill's capital murder trial was put on hold when defense attorney's asserted he may not have the mental capacity to proceed. Superior Court Judge Jim Ammons has postponed the trial, ordering jurors to reconvene next Monday.  The judge has ordered an independent mental evaluation for McNeill, to be conducted this week. McNeill is alleged to have taken Davis from her mother, Antoinette Nicole Davis, because the woman failed to pay a drug debt. The mother is also facing multiple charges including first-degree murder, indecent liberties with a child, and human trafficking.

TX Ex-Justice of The Peace Suspected of Murdering DA, Wife:  FOX News and the Associated Press report that Eric Lyle Williams, a former justice of the peace in Texas, was arrested Saturday on charges of making a terrorist threat. Williams is now a prime suspect in the murders of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife. Williams, 46, was arrested after agents investigating the killings found multiple weapons and a car similar to one described leaving the neighborhood of the murders in a storage unit linked to him. An email threatening another attack against Kaufman County officials was traced back to Williams' computer. McLelland and Mark Hasse, also recently slain, were both crucial to prosecution against Williams over theft charges last year. The trial resulted in Williams losing his justice of the peace position. Williams has a reputation of making violent threats. He is known to have threatened his ex-girlfriend Janice Gray with a gun on multiple occasions. Continued from this News Scan.

Court to Review Order Blocking CA Executions:  Howard Mintz of the Mercury News reports that on Tuesday, the 1st District Court of Appeal will review a Marin County judge's 2011 order halting executions. The ruling announced that the state had failed to adequately follow the Administrative Procedures Act when revising its execution protocol.  The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation appealed the ruling.  The State Attorney General office argues CA satisfied the rules and did more than was required, including holding public hearings and considering 29,000 public comments. Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, said such administrative rules should not take precedence over enforcement of a state law such as the death penalty statute. Continued from this News Scan.

CO Teen Enters Not Guilty Plea for Murder of Girl:  Thomas Peipert of the Associated Press reports  that Austin Sigg, 18, pleaded not guilty to murder, kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery on Friday. Allegedly, Sigg earlier confessed that he kidnapped, murdered, and dismembered Jessica Ridgeway, 10. Some of her remains were also found at Sigg's home. He also pleaded not guilty to attacking a 22-year-old jogger in the same neighborhood as Jessica, in May. Three counts of sexual exploitation of a child have also been entered by prosecutors based on the alleged discovery of child pornography in the investigation. Because he was 17 when the slaying occurred, he is ineligible for the death penalty. A maximum sentence would give him life in prison with possibility of parole after 40 years. Continued from this News Scan.

OK Court Set to Hear Murderer's Appeal:  Tim Talley of the Associated Press reports that Oklahoma Death Row inmate Roderick Lynn Smith will have his appeal heard on May 7. Smith was convicted of the 1993 murders of his wife Jennifer Smith and her four children.  Two of the children, Glen Carter Jr., 9, Ladarian Carter, 7, were stabbed to death. The other two, Shemeka Carter, 10, and Kanesha Carter, 6, had been strangled. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals will hear arguments that Smith's death sentence should be overturned because the jury failed to consider evidence that Smith is mentally retarded. His defense attorney alleges he was deprived of his constitutional rights because of improper jury instructions. Smith, 47, first went to death row in November 1994 when he was convicted on five counts of first degree murder. His five death sentences were overturned in 2004 by the Tenth Circuit ruling finding ineffective assistance of counsel at sentencing.  Resentencing resulted in Smith receiving two death sentences for the girl's murders and LWOP for the stabbing of his step sons and wife.

CA Child Killer Suspect in Several Cold Cases: KTVU News reports that the FBI is looking for six more victims of convicted child killer Curtis Dean Anderson. In 2007, one month before he died, Anderson told investigators he had killed six other victims. Anderson had been convicted of kidnapping and murdering 7-year-old Xiana Fairchild in Vallejo. He also confessed to the kidnap-murder of Amber Swartz.  From 1986 to 1999, Anderson had been arrested and released from prison 10 times. Anderson told the federal investigator he would have continued killing more women if released. The FBI is out of leads and is seeking help from the public to solve these murders.

Transient Boxer is a Suspected Serial Killer: Russell Goldman of ABC News reports that career criminal Samuel Little, 72, is being investigated as a possible serial killer. Little had been arrested in Kentucky in September for the possession of drug paraphernalia. He was extradited to Los Angeles after his DNA was linked to three 1989 unsolved murders. In all three cases, the victims were knocked out and strangled. Little's criminal record covers 56 years of crimes across 24 states. There have been a significant number of unsolved cases matching Little's method of operation in areas and at times when he resided nearby.  

Realignment Criminal Arrested After Robbery Spree: Kim Minugh of the Sacramento Bee reports that Emanuel Looney, 28, was arrested Tuesday for multiple robberies in the Sacramento area. At about 1 a.m. on Tuesday, Looney allegedly entered a convenience store and robbed the clerk at gunpoint. Immediately after, he allegedly knocked on the door of a home, still armed, and forced his way inside when the door opened. He demanded money and stole the victim's car. The vehicle was spotted by officers at 1:45 a.m. Looney led officers on a pursuit then fled the car on foot. He was arrested after running into a park which deputies surrounded. In 2008, Looney received a 3-year prison sentence for the felony charges of possession of stolen property, grand theft auto, resisting arrest, and falsely identifying himself to police. He was released on probation (called Post Release Community Supervision) rather than parole because of Realignment. 

CA Convicts Released Early, Unsupervised:  The Associated Press reports that many California counties are sentencing the majority of convicts to straight jail sentences in lieu of a combined custody and supervision program. Due to continued jail overcrowding under Realignment, convicts are being released before their time is served and are exempt from supervision under the terms of their sentences. Law enforcement and probation officers say they have no way of tracking these felons, stressing the growing threat to public safety. According to data covering October 2011 through September 2012, only 31 percent of convicts realigned to county jails have been given split sentences; Over two-thirds have opted for straight time without supervision upon release. Only five percent of inmates in Los Angeles County are serving split sentences. More in this blog entry.

CA GPS Trackers Flawed:  The Associated Press reports California officials replaced thousands of parolee ankle monitors last year after field tests confirmed flaws. The devices were found to have inaccurate location reporting problems and ineffective tamper alert systems. Some devices could be disabled when covered with foil, or by using illegal GPS jammers. 3M Co., the GPS supplier for about 4,000 parolees, was denied a state contract worth approximately $51 million over a six year period after a second round of tests confirmed the faulty nature of the devices. Although a Sacramento County judge ruled that Denise Milano, head of the state's GPS monitoring program, violated  contract laws by rejecting 3M Co.'s bid, her decision was still upheld based on the flaws discovered. The devices were replaced by another company, Satellite Tracking of People, based out of Houston, Texas. About 7,900 people are currently monitored by the new devices.

Double Cop Shooter Gets 60 Years:  The Sun-Times reports that Rashaun Carlisle was sentenced Tuesday to 60 years in prison for shooting two Illinois police officers in 2010. Carlisle, a gang member, got into a fight with rival gangsters at around 2:30 a.m.on May 8, 2010 in a liquor store parking lot. Following the altercation, he retrieved a sawed off double-barreled shotgun from his home then returned to the parking lot. The area had been vacated except for police officers and one of the men involved in the fight. Carlisle opened fire on the officers, permanently disfiguring the face of one and killing another with a shot to the chest.

Aryan Brotherhood May Be Responsible for TX Law Enforcement Killings:  Pierre Thomas and Russell Goldman of ABC News report that investigators are examining whether a white supremacist prison gang played a role in the recent Texas slayings of District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife and Assistant DA Mark Hasse. Both men were responsible for indicting members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and members of Mexican drug cartels. Law enforcement officials have been on the alert for retaliation since December, a month after 34 suspected associates of the prison gang were indicted on federal racketeering, murder and drug conspiracy charges. Ten of those indicted could receive death sentences. Authorities also suspect they may be involved in the March killing of Colorado Prisons Chief Tom Clements. Alleged gang member Evan Ebel had various white supremacist tattoos on his body. Continued from this blog entry.

DNA Helps Close Cold Case From 1996:  The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Florida convict Rafael Crespo was linked to the 1996 rape and murder of 17-year-old Anjeanette Maldonado Monday in Philadelphia. The match came from a sample that was entered into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Combined DNA Index System during the cold case investigation.