Fourth Amendment Arguments: Adam Liptak has this story in the NYT on the Gant and Herring arguments. After noting the endless variation in scenarios of Fourth Amendment cases, he observes, "these cases were more interesting than usual, thanks to a discussion of a larger theme that has engaged several Supreme Court justices in recent years: does the exclusionary rule, which requires the suppression of some evidence produced by police misconduct, still make sense?"

Precious Doe Verdict: Erica Green lived only 3 years, but it took 4 years to identify her body, found naked and headless near Kansas City in 2001. In the interim, she was known as "Precious Doe." Harrell Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder today, according to this AP story by Andale Gross.

Technicality Cuts Bail To $1 In Child Molestation Case: Matt Miller from the Midstate News reports that Cumberland County, PA's President Judge Edgar B. Bayley has reduced the bail of a man accused of molesting a child from $500,000 to $1 after ruling that prosecutors missed a legal deadline for bringing him to trial. Bayley ruled that Kenneth Clark was arrested in March and should have been tried by early September. District Attorney David Freed said that the deadline was impossible to meet and that he is considering whether to appeal or ask Bayley to reconsider his decision.

High Drama at Maryland DP Hearings: The commission reviewing Maryland's death penalty generated some fireworks yesterday when one of its members, the state's attorney for Baltimore County, said that under the state's current process there is virtually no chance that an innocent person can be executed. A story on Washington Post.com by John Wagner reports that another commission member, exonerated from a murder conviction fifteen years ago by DNA evidence, found the statement "a little cavalier." The state's attorney pointed out that, in effect, that was then, this is now. It should also be noted that there is a huge difference between an innocent person being convicted and an innocent person being executed. Kirk Bloodsworth's death sentence was overturned on the very first review of his case -- direct appeal. He was never remotely close to execution.

Justice is on Hold in Abu-Jamal Case according to this editorial in today's Delaware County Times. Mumia Abu-Jamal, (formerly Wesley Cook) who was sentenced to death on strong evidence for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer 25 years ago, lost his most recent bid for a new trial in the Supreme Court last Monday (see our previous post and blog scan). The piece points out that the facts don't seem to matter to the foreigners and Hollywood types that make up the "free Mumia" movement, claiming that racism is the reason he was sentenced to death.