Cal. Prisoner Litigation: "Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has denounced a court order to release more than
one out of every four state prisoners in California as
counterproductive interference by judicial activists, and said state
officials were still deliberating Wednesday whether to appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court," reports Carol Williams in the LA Times. Doesn't seem like a hard call to us.
Once a Thief: Gregory Luhn was disbarred after embezzling $300K from his law firm. He got another job preparing tax returns for a new employer, and, well, you know. Martha Neil has this story for ABA Journal. Luhn's former partner calls it "sad, but predictable." Poor employment prospects for released felons are one of the big reentry problems, but there are no easy answers when employers need to protect themselves and past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. (The story doesn't say Luhn was convicted of a crime in the prior theft, but the incident illustrates the repeater problem nonetheless.)
Cold Cash: "Former congressman William J. Jefferson was convicted of corruption charges Wednesday in a case made famous by the $90,000 in bribe money stuffed into his freezer...," report Jerry Markon and Brigid Schulte in the WaPo. Update: On top of the conviction, he doesn't even get to keep the money. "A federal jury has ruled that [Jefferson] must forfeit roughly $470,000 in bribery receipts," reports Matthew Barakat for AP.
The Death Penalty Racial Quota Act, mislabeled the Racial Justice Act even though its purpose is to block justice, has passed the North Carolina General Assembly and gone to the governor. James Romoser has this story in the Winston-Salem Journal. No doubt the expense of litigation under this act will now be counted as a cost of the death penalty and used as an argument for abolition.
Virginia Pardons: "Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine on Thursday ordered freedom for three of four former sailors convicted of raping and killing another sailor's wife in 1997," report Dena Potter and Larry O'Dell for AP. Novelist John Grisham was among those pushing for clemency. Victim Michelle "Moore-Bosko's dismayed parents said Kaine bowed to political pressure.... 'Obviously, Mr. Grisham's wealth and influence are far more important to Governor Kaine's political aspirations and public image than truth or justice,' Moore and her husband John said in an e-mailed statement."
Sotomayor confirmation final vote was 68-31. Julie Hirshfield Davis has this story for AP. Complaints of partisanship from the Democratic side of the aisle have some truth to them, but let us not forget who poisoned the soup in the first place. The WSJ has this editorial.
Once a Thief: Gregory Luhn was disbarred after embezzling $300K from his law firm. He got another job preparing tax returns for a new employer, and, well, you know. Martha Neil has this story for ABA Journal. Luhn's former partner calls it "sad, but predictable." Poor employment prospects for released felons are one of the big reentry problems, but there are no easy answers when employers need to protect themselves and past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. (The story doesn't say Luhn was convicted of a crime in the prior theft, but the incident illustrates the repeater problem nonetheless.)
Cold Cash: "Former congressman William J. Jefferson was convicted of corruption charges Wednesday in a case made famous by the $90,000 in bribe money stuffed into his freezer...," report Jerry Markon and Brigid Schulte in the WaPo. Update: On top of the conviction, he doesn't even get to keep the money. "A federal jury has ruled that [Jefferson] must forfeit roughly $470,000 in bribery receipts," reports Matthew Barakat for AP.
The Death Penalty Racial Quota Act, mislabeled the Racial Justice Act even though its purpose is to block justice, has passed the North Carolina General Assembly and gone to the governor. James Romoser has this story in the Winston-Salem Journal. No doubt the expense of litigation under this act will now be counted as a cost of the death penalty and used as an argument for abolition.
Virginia Pardons: "Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine on Thursday ordered freedom for three of four former sailors convicted of raping and killing another sailor's wife in 1997," report Dena Potter and Larry O'Dell for AP. Novelist John Grisham was among those pushing for clemency. Victim Michelle "Moore-Bosko's dismayed parents said Kaine bowed to political pressure.... 'Obviously, Mr. Grisham's wealth and influence are far more important to Governor Kaine's political aspirations and public image than truth or justice,' Moore and her husband John said in an e-mailed statement."
Sotomayor confirmation final vote was 68-31. Julie Hirshfield Davis has this story for AP. Complaints of partisanship from the Democratic side of the aisle have some truth to them, but let us not forget who poisoned the soup in the first place. The WSJ has this editorial.
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