Conviction and Life Sentence Overturned Due to Juror Calculations: A California appeals court yesterday reversed the murder conviction and life sentence of John Davis, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1985, Barbara Martz was found raped and stabbed to death in her San Francisco apartment. The case went cold until 2002, when a crime scene sample was matched to Davis, who was in the California DNA database following a robbery conviction. During deliberations, a juror claiming to have specialized knowledge in the field proposed a formula for calculating the likelihood that one of Davis's four brothers could be the source of the crime scene sample. The court found the jury's reliance on this extrajudicial formula (and a Melendez-Diaz issue) to be reversible error.
U.S. Fails to Counter Homegrown Terrorism According to Report: FoxNews has this story on a new report compiled by the September 11 Commission, which finds that the U.S. has failed to take adequate steps to combat the serious threat of homegrown terrorism. Referring to the deficiency as the U.S.'s "Achilles' heel," the report points to the lack of a specific federal agency charged with preventing radicalization and recruitment of U.S. citizens, as well as instances of domestic terrorism such as the Fort Hood massacre and the unsuccessful Times Square bombing. The report is slated for release on Friday.
U.S. Fails to Counter Homegrown Terrorism According to Report: FoxNews has this story on a new report compiled by the September 11 Commission, which finds that the U.S. has failed to take adequate steps to combat the serious threat of homegrown terrorism. Referring to the deficiency as the U.S.'s "Achilles' heel," the report points to the lack of a specific federal agency charged with preventing radicalization and recruitment of U.S. citizens, as well as instances of domestic terrorism such as the Fort Hood massacre and the unsuccessful Times Square bombing. The report is slated for release on Friday.
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