April 2014 Archives

CA Legislators Kill Realignment Reforms:  Bills introduced by two Democrat lawmakers to make much needed reforms of California's Realignment law were killed at their first hearing Tuesday.  Brad Branan of the Sacramento Bee reports that AB1449 by Assemblyman Manuel Perez, D Los Angeles, and AB1901 by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D Torrance, were supported by virtually every professional law enforcement organization in the state.  The Perez bill would have required the more intense supervision on state parole for inmates released from prison who had a prior conviction for a serious felony. The Muratsuchi bill would have given judges the authority to determine if a criminal convicted of a new felony should be placed on state parole or Realignment's new name for probation, Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS).  Since Realignment took effect in 2011, several thousand violent and serious felonies and tens of thousands of theft and drug-related crimes have been committed by prison inmates released to light supervision on PRCS instead of state parole.  Unmoved by these facts, the Democrat majority on the Assembly Public Safety Committee voted down both bills.

Second Man Charged in Nursing Student's Disappearance: A second man has been arrested and charged in the 2011 kidnapping and murder of Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo.  Brian Wilson of the Tennessean reports that 39-year-old Jason Autry, who is currently serving a prison sentence for an unrelated aggravated assault was indicted Tuesday on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping after witness statements linked him to the crime along with Zachary Adams, who was arrested and charged in Bobo's death last month.  Bobo was abducted outside of her home in April 2011, and while her body has yet to be recovered, authorities say they have strong physical evidence that may result in the future arrests of more suspects.

MT Teacher's One-Month Rape Sentence Overturned: A Montana teacher who served just 31 days in jail for raping a 14-year-old girl may be headed back to prison after the state's Supreme Court ordered him to be re-sentenced.  Matthew Brown of the Associated Press reports that high court's decision will require the defendant, Stacey Dean Rambold, to serve a minimum sentence of two years in prison.  It is likely that the sentencing court will give Rambold an longer sentence.  Rambold's victim, who happened to be one of his students, killed herself in 2010 while Rambold was awaiting trial.

Colorado has decided to be Real Groovy and take it easy on pot.  What could go wrong?

A Denver medical marijuana dispensary and three other buildings linked to four men accused of laundering money from Colombia to buy a grow house were raided Wednesday.

**********************

One Denver industrial building is linked to one of the suspects, David Furtado, an attorney.

Video and photos from CBS4 during the VIP Cannabis raid showed firefighters breaking into two safes in the parking lot of VIP Cannabis. The dispensary was also raided during a larger federal operation in November.

Prosecutors allege VIP's operators Gerardo Uribe, 33, and his brother Luis Uribe, 28, along with Furtado, 48, wired and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars from Colombia to buy a Denver grow house.

Also charged in the case is Hector Diaz, an associate of the men who was arrested on a weapons charge during the November raids after investigators unearthed photos of him wearing a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency cap while holding two semi-automatic rifles and two handguns. 

By sneaking in at the very end that it's simply a collection of responses from "site visitors" who wanted to put in their two cents.

...but the alternative is worse.

The execution of Clayton Lockett's well-deserved and long-overdue punishment for the murder of 19-year-old Stephanie Newman went badly yesterday.  According to this account from KFOR,

The Director Of Prisons comes back into the room and tells the eyewitnesses that there has been a vein failure. He says, "The chemical did not make it into the vein of the prisoner.  Under my authority, we are issuing a stay of execution."

Lockett died shortly afterward of a heart attack.

Death penalty opponents are predictably calling for a "moratorium," i.e., further delaying justice in cases where it is already very long overdue.  As this statement from Stephanie's parents indicates, that would be a gross injustice to the victims.

As I have noted several times on this blog, lethal injection was a mistake from the beginning.  We should have kept the gas chamber and merely used a different gas.  Carbon monoxide, for example, is painless.

We have lethal injection for the time being, though, and we should make it effective.  Congress should act promptly to lift the restrictions on importation of the needed drugs and to outlaw manufacturers' restrictions on resale of them.

Lest we forget what this is really about, Ziva Branstetter had this article April 20 in the Tulsa World (free registration required), headlined "Death row inmate killed teen because she wouldn't back down."

Neiman was dropping off a friend at a Perry residence on June 3, 1999, the same evening Clayton Lockett and two accomplices decided to pull a home invasion robbery there. Neiman fought Lockett when he tried to take the keys to her truck.

The men beat her and used duct tape to bind her hands and cover her mouth. Even after being kidnapped and driven to a dusty country road, Neiman didn't back down when Lockett asked if she planned to contact police.

Wednesday, May 7 is the Federalist Society's Executive Branch Review Conference in Washington.  The first panel is "Suspension of Laws: What are the Limits of Executive Authority?"

Convicted Killer Charged in Weekend Murder: An Alabama man with a lengthy criminal history including a manslaughter conviction has been arrested and charged with murder after police linked him to a recent homicide.  Carol Robinson of AL.com reports that 41-year-old Walter Rhone's criminal history dates back to the early 1990's and includes arrests for assault and attempted murder as well as multiple gun convictions, Rhone was charged with capital murder in 1998, but pled guilty instead to manslaughter and was given an eight-year sentence.  Rhone is currently being held in county jail in lieu of a $300,000 bond.

Supreme Court Considering Warrantless Cell Phone Searches: The Supreme Court heard arguments in two cases Tuesday morning focused on whether police can execute a warrantless search on a suspect's cell phone.  The Associated Press reports that the cases involve a drug dealer and a gang member whose convictions were largely based upon evidence collected from their cell phones after their arrest.  The justices have suggested that they may vote to limit cellphone searches by allowing officers to only search for evidence related to that specific arrest.  If that is the Court's holding, both defendants would lose their appeal.

Double Execution Draws International Media Attention: Oklahoma's rare double execution scheduled to take place Tuesday evening has resulted in reporters from Japan, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands requesting to serve as media witnesses.  Ziva Branstetter of World Enterprise reports that 17 different news agencies are requesting credentials to witness the executions, but the Department of Corrections will only allow 12 media witnesses chosen by a lottery-type drawing. Barring any last minute delays, death row inmates Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner will be executed at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m, respectively.

In case there is anyone out there who still thinks GPS monitoring is a magic solution, consider this article by Alex Cantatore for the Turlock City News:

A Fresno man who was convicted for sodomizing two infants is now at large, and may be in Stanislaus County.

The California Department of Corrections issued a warrant for the offender, Kenneth Lawson, on April 16. He was released on GPS-monitored parole, but is believed to have cut off his GPS tracking ankle bracelet.

We are, according to a Washington Post story.  It starts off:

Science and law have led to the exoneration of hundreds of criminal defendants in recent decades, but big questions remain: How many other innocent defendants are locked up? How many are wrongly executed?

About one in 25 people imprisoned under a death sentence is likely innocent, according to a new statistical study appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. And that means it is all but certain that at least several of the 1,320 defendants executed since 1977 were innocent, the study says.

Libertarianism has a lot of appeal, let's face it.  This is especially true now, when the reach of government seems limitless; when we have a Supreme Court case about whether throwing away undersized fish is a federal felony; and when little girls get hassled by the cops for running a lemonade stand without a city permit.

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court took up the "anti-shredding" case, Yates v. United States, No. 13-7451.  No, this has nothing to do with guitars or snowboards.  It has to do with fish and broad federal statutes. 

The Eleventh Circuit opinion is here.  The court recites the facts roughly as follows.  Yates is a commercial fisherman who was cited by an inspector for having grouper smaller than the legal limit.  The inspector separated the undersized fish and directed Yates not to disturb them until he returned to port.  Instead he had the crew throw them overboard.

Part of the Sarbanes-Oxley law, 18 U.S.C. §1519, says:

Whoever knowingly alters, destroys, mutilates, conceals, covers up, falsifies, or makes a false entry in any record, document, or tangible object with the intent to impede, obstruct, or influence the investigation or proper administration of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States or any case filed under title 11, or in relation to or contemplation of any such matter or case, shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.

As a matter of policy, it's easy to sympathize with Mr. Yates.  SarbOx is supposed to be about financial matters, not fish.  As a matter of statutory interpretation and the duty of courts to enforce the law as written, I'm afraid the fisherman will get skunked.  Of course a fish is a "tangible object."  You would have to twist the words beyond recognition to get a different result.  Yes, this law is far broader than needed to achieve the policy objective behind it, but this is the law Congress enacted, and this is what it says.

Jonathan Adler has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy.

CA High Court Upholds Death Sentence: By a vote of 7-0, the California Supreme Court upheld the death sentence and murder convictions of serial killer William Suff.  Marylin Jacobsen of The Press Enterprise reports that 63-year-old Suff was sentenced to death in 1995 after being convicted of murder as many as 12 women throughout Southern California between 1989 and 1991.  Suff was sentenced to 70 years in prison in 1974 for the murder of his two-month-old daughter, but was paroled and released from Texas to California after serving just ten years.

Philadelphia Courts Failed to Report Thousands of Drug Convictions: A recently released report by the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper has revealed that the state court system failed for years to follow a state law enacted to keep dangerous drivers convicted of drug offenses off the road.  The Associated Press reports that the law requires each county to notify the state's Department of Transportation whenever someone is convicted of a drug crime.  The first offense results in an automatic six-month license suspension.  According to the report, roughly 11,500 people were supposed to be reported to the Department of Transportation  in 2012, but only four were. 

Egypt Sentences Hundreds to Death in Mass Trial: An Egyptian court has sentenced 683 supporters of the now-banned  Muslim Brotherhood to death, including the group's spiritual leader, after holding a mass trial Monday morning.  The Associated Press reports that the mass trial was in response to deadly riots that erupted in the country last August during the removal of Egypt's controversial President Mohammad Morsi.  A similar mass trial was held last month, and resulted in 529 defendants being sentenced to death, the majority of those sentences have since been commuted to life in prison.

Illinois government enjoys less confidence from its citizens than any other state. Why this is so remains a puzzle, since it's something of a progressive Utopia.  It abolished the death penalty three years ago; is actively considering legalizing pot; its leading city has among the most rigorous gun control laws in the country; and that city's mayor told gay marriage opponents that they and their views can get out of town. Indeed, Chicago is so forward-looking that accused criminals don't even have to wait for the jury to hand down an acquittal from overly zealous charges; for the right price, they can book one in advance.

The idea that doing drugs is a victimless crime is doubtless the most frequently peddled totally preposterous notion out there.  And I'm not just talking about impaired driving, although that's a big part of the problem.  I'm talking about something more fundamental: You can be part of a perfectly ordinary family, take drugs in the privacy of your home, simply sit there to get the high you wanted, and do grotesque damage to other people.

A woman whose two young sons died in a bathroom flooded with scalding water while she was in a drug-induced stupor is trying to get her infant daughter back from child welfare authorities, saying she's turned her life around.

Charles Lane has this article at the City Journal with the above title.  The subtitle is "Public-union power enabled scandalous corruption among the city's correctional officers."

If there were any remaining doubt about how thoroughly this Administration is determined to put the interests of criminals over those of ordinary people, let that doubt now be resolved. The new Pardon Attorney, Deborah Leff, might as  well have been chosen by the NACDL (if she wasn't). 

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed House Bill 2313, which would have expanded the class of murders eligible for the death penalty.

Arizona's death penalty law follows a fairly typical pattern.  Eligibility is narrowed by requirements that the perpetrator be convicted of first-degree murder plus a finding of at least one of a list of aggravating circumstances.  At present there are 14.  One of them is a prior or concurrent conviction of a "serious" offense, a list of violent offenses and burglary.

HB 2313 would have added an aggravating circumstance of, "a substantial likelihood that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that constitute a continuing threat to society."  I would advise against adopting such a subjective rule at the stage of narrowing the eligibility to be considered for the death penalty.  At this stage, the circumstances should be kept as objective as possible.  Letting the jury consider future dangerous in the discretionary decision to impose the penalty isn't as bad, although even there it is problematic.  Predictions are dicey.  Basing sentencing on objective facts produces more consistent and fair results.

The bill would also have added human smuggling to the list of "serious" offenses.  That change is less problematic than the future dangerousness one.  Even so, Arizona's law is broad enough already.  I don't really see the need to add this one.

The governor's veto letter is here, and she is correct.

Legislators who favor the death penalty should be focusing on procedural reforms to get the sentences we already have carried out.  In most states, we don't need any expansions of the scope.

Radley Balko has this post at the WaPo, titled "When fact-checking fails":

This local TV station's "fact check" of a campaign ad in the South Carolina governor's race shows just how easily the fact-checking concept can fly off the rails. At issue is an ad by the Republican Governors Association accusing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Vincent Sheheen of "protecting criminals" and which then points out that "(Sheheen) got a sex offender out of jail time, defended a child abuser and represented others charged with violent acts."

Greenville, S.C., news station WYFF recently reviewed the ad and proclaimed most of it "true." And indeed, as a one-time criminal defense attorney, Shaheen did all of those things. But this is what criminal defense attorneys do. A zealous defense of people accused of crimes is a critical component of our adversarial criminal justice system.

Balko muddles the important distinction between facts and opinions or inferences based on facts, and as a result he is the one off the rails.

I do not approve of the ad's implication that a criminal defense attorney who does his job defending the client to the best of his ability is unfit for office.  Balko's disdain for that implication has merit.  But that is not fact.  The ad is factually correct, and the TV station's "fact check" is correct for saying so.  Criticism of the argument based on those facts is not the function of fact-checking.

OK Supreme Court Rules Against Death Row Inmates: The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected two death row inmates' demands to know the source of the drugs set to be used at their upcoming executions just days after the inmates were granted a stay.  Elliot C. McLaughlin of CNN reports that both convicted murderers are now scheduled to be put to death Tuesday, making this the state's first double execution in nearly 80 years.  The state Attorney General applauded the high court's ruling, and stood by the longstanding precedent of keeping drug sources anonymous.

Holder Cancels Speech at Police Academy Graduation: Attorney General Eric Holder has cancelled a speech that he was scheduled to deliver to graduating police cadets in Oklahoma City after crowds protested his appearance.  Alana Goodman of the Washington Free Beacon reports that protest organizers felt Holder's speech to academy graduates would be "inappropriate", because the attorney general has failed in his responsibilities to uphold the law himself.  Holder made headlines recently after announcing his plan to reduce the sentences for thousands of convicted drug offenders and release them back onto the streets.

Ex-Con Arrested in Brutal Assault: A New York man recently released from prison has been arrested after authorities say he broke into an apartment and attacked three women with a hammer before stealing their belongings.  Joe Kemp of the New York Daily News reports that 29-year-old Lawrence Parsons, released from prison last month after serving a two-year sentence for attempted robbery, stole electronics from the home after hitting the women repeatedly in their heads with a hammer, fracturing  their skulls.  Lawrence was arrested for attempted murder and robbery, he's being held in county jail in lieu of $75,000 bail.
  

Yesterday, I wrote about the political motivation that lies behind DOJ's push to commute the sentences of thousands of drug dealers.  Essentially, it's a move to spike turnout among Obama's base in the mid-term elections later this year.

...the less you like it.

In the United States, when young and otherwise healthy patients show up in emergency departments with symptoms of heart attack, stroke, cardiomyopathy and cardiac arrhythmia, physicians have frequently noted in case reports that these unusual patients are regular marijuana users.

Such reporting is hardly the basis for declaring marijuana use an outright cause of cardiovascular disease. But on Wednesday, cardiologists writing in the Journal of the American Heart Assn. warned that "clinical evidence ... suggests the potential for serious cardiovascular risks associated with marijuana use." And with a growing movement to decriminalize marijuana use, they called for data-collection efforts capable of detecting and measuring marijuana's cardiovascular impact among American users of cannibis setiva.

"There is now compelling evidence on the growing risk of marijuana-associated adverse cardiovascular effects, especially in young people," said Emilie Jouanjus, lead author of the French study...

The United States has had 19 executions so far this year, which is close to one-third over. Extrapolated over the entire year  --  which seems fair to do with this much of the year completed  --  that would mean 57 executions in 2014.  That would be the highest number in the last eight years, and the tenth highest in more than half a century.

CO Fourth Graders Sell Pot at School: School officials in Colorado are urging parents to keep their newly-legalized marijuana locked up and in a safe place after two fourth graders were caught selling the drug at their elementary school.  Clayton Sandell of ABC News reports that the two boys involved took the marijuana from the grandparent's home and began selling and trading it to other students.  One of the young boys took in $11 and an edible marijuana treat.  The students involved are expected to be suspended for a lengthy period of time. Officials have not said if any criminal charges will be filed.  

FL Executes Convicted Double-Murderer: A Florida man convicted in the double murder of his cousin and his cousin's wife was executed Wednesday evening after spending more than 20 years on the state's death row.  Susan Jacobson of the Orlando Sentinel reports that 47-year-old Robert Hendrix brutally murdered the young couple in an effort to prevent his cousin from testifying against him at burglary trial.  Hendrix became the fourth person executed by the state of Florida so far this year.

PRCS Offender Arrested in Major Drug Bust: A California man free on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) under the Governor's Realignment law was arrested Wednesday afternoon in what Citrus Heights police are calling the city's largest drug bust.  Kim Minugh of the Sacramento Bee reports that 31-year-old Jeremy Zahn was arrested and charged with several felonies after officers searched a "stash house" and found multiple firearms, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, and 858 pounds of marijuana-which authorities say has an estimated street value of nearly $2.5 million.  Officers believe this trafficking operation began in September, around the time Zahn was released on PRCS.

The Obama Administration's Department of Justice is going all-out in its drive for clemency for a large segment of federal inmates convicted of drug offenses. It's also making a big display of it, with a prominent rollout this week.

If a criminal defendant argues a debatable question in his appeal in the state courts, those courts rule against him, and the U.S. Supreme Court declines to take up the case (as it does 99% of the time), should the defendant get another bite and the apple in the lower federal courts?  Should a single federal district judge or a three-judge panel of the federal court of appeals be able to effectively overturn the considered judgment of the state supreme court?

For a long time, that was the way it worked.  Perhaps there was a policy justification for it at the time, but beginning in the mid-1970s, the Supreme Court and Congress have been pushing the law in the other direction.  Most debatable constitutional questions in criminal cases today are far removed from the real Constitution and rarely have much to do with our confidence we have the right guy.  On top of that, the asymmetric nature of habeas corpus make it a "heads I win, tails we take it over" form of review tilting in the defendant's favor, a tilt that is unnecessary and unjust when we are not talking about questions of actual innocence.

A big leap forward was made in 1996, when Congress enacted that a claim decided on the merits by the state court could not be the basis for a federal writ of habeas corpus unless the state decision "was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States" or was "based on an unreasonable determination of the facts."

Defendant-leaning federal judges hate this law and have been evading it ever since.  The Supreme Court smacks them down, sometimes harshly, but as one of the worst is rumored to have said, "they can't reverse them all."

Another smackdown came today.  In addition to strong words, though, the Supreme Court closed a loophole, making an important advance for justice.

Convicted Double-Murderer Put to Death: The state of Missouri executed 57-year-old William Rousan early Wednesday morning for his role in the 1993 murders of an elderly farming couple.  Carey Gillam of Reuters reports that Rousan, along with his son and brother, orchestrated the killings in an effort to steal the couple's cattle.  Missouri has executed one death row inmate each month since November, the next scheduled execution is set to take place May 21.

Man Wants 'Murder' Tattoo Removed Before Trial: A Kansas man awaiting trial for first-degree murder is asking to have a tattoo with the word 'Murder' removed from his neck, fearing that the tattoo may negatively affect his case.  Jessica Chasmar of the Washington Times reports that Jeffrey Chapman's defense attorney has filed a motion asking that a tattoo artist be allowed to either remove or cover up the tattoo across his client's neck before the trial begins on Monday.  Prosecutors aren't opposed to Chapman removing the tattoo, but county police have said they will not transport the man to a tattoo parlor for removal.  State law only permits tattoo artists to work in a licensed facility- eliminating the option removing Chapman's tatoo in jail.  Prosecutors have instead suggested that Chapman cover up his neck with a bandage or some type of clothing instead. 

Georgia Law Expands Gun Rights: Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has signed what many are calling an 'unprecedented' bill expanding gun rights for licensed owners.  Fox News reports that the bill increases the list public places where licensed gun owners are allowed to carry guns, including bars, churches, and some government buildings.  The bill also allows for school districts to decide whether or not employees will be allowed to carry firearms under certain conditions, and eliminates the fingerprinting requirement for those renewing weapons carry licenses.

First, we have to define what an over-zealous prosecutor is. That's the easy part:  An over-zealous prosecutor is one who's awake during business hours.

As the kidnappers pulled into a quiet, upscale golf course community, they thought they were about to abduct an assistant district attorney who sent a high-ranking gang member to prison for life, authorities said.

But they had the wrong address and when the prosecutor's father answered the door, they took him instead.

For five days, authorities said the kidnappers held 63-year-old Frank Janssen captive in an Atlanta apartment, tormenting his family by sending text messages threatening to cut him into pieces if police were called or their demands weren't met. They even sent a photo of him tied up in a chair.

A very quick note:  I will be on public radio station KCRW in Los Angeles in a few minutes to talk about DOJ's clemency initiative announced this morning.

In my first year at the Justice Department, one of the senior lawyers  --  seeing that I was frustrated by all the amicus briefs that had been filed opposing the government's position -- told me, "Thank God for your enemies."

The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed the Sixth Circuit in White v. Woodall, reinstating the death sentence of Robert Woodall for the murder of 16-year-old Sarah Hansen in Kentucky.  The vote was 6-3, opinion by Justice Scalia.  We will have more later.

The Court also decided the child porn restitution case, Paroline v. United States, admitting its "approach is not without difficulties."  Yep.

Chicago, Illinois has among the most restrictive gun laws in the county, and no death penalty.  Capital punishment was abolished in Illinois three years ago.

Murder Suspect Accused of Shooting Witness While on Bail: An Alabama man free on bail for a murder charge has been arrested and his bail revoked after authorities say he robbed and shot a witness that was set to testify against him.  Scott Johnson of the Montgomery Advertiser reports that 24-year-old Satarus Smith was charged with murder in December 2013, but was released after posting a $75,000 bond, police say he shot a witness to the December killing in the face earlier this month, leaving that man with a broken jaw.  Smith now faces additional charges of assault, robbery, and intimidating a witness.

OK Court Puts Two Executions on Hold: In a 5-4 decision, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in favor of two death row inmates seeking to delay their upcoming executions.  Tim Talley of the Associated Press reports that the two inmates, both convicted murderers, were granted a stay of execution after challenging Oklahoma's secrecy protocol concerning the source of  its lethal injection drugs.  One of the inmates, Clayton Lockett, convicted of murdering a 19-year-old woman, was scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening.  Charles Warner, convicted of killing an 11-month-old child, was set for execution on April 29.

Thousands of Crack Cocaine Offenders Expected to Apply for Clemency: Thousands of federal prisoners serving sentences for crack cocaine offenses are expected to apply for release when the Justice Department announces new clemency rules later this week.  Bill Mears of CNN reports that the new criteria is aimed at addressing disparities between powder and crack cocaine sentences.  Attorney General Eric Holder is anticipating a dramatic increase in the number of individuals eligible for early release.  In addition to the changes regarding clemency, Holder has been encouraged prosecutors to be more flexible when charging  certain non-violent offenders, urging rehabilitation rather than incarceration for those offenders.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has released a study tracking the rearrest rate of 405,000 felons released from prison in 30 states.  The BJS press release is here.  The study examines ex-convicts released in 2005 who were rearrested for a new crimes over the next five years.  More than 57% of those released were rearrested in the first year.   By the third year 68% had been rearrested.  After five years 77% had been rearrested at least one time, with many rearrested more than once.  In total, ex-convicts released from prison in 2005 were rearrested 1.2 million times for new crimes.   Property criminals, including burglars, car thieves, and identity thieves were rearrested at the highest rate of 82%.  77% of drug offenders, typically drug dealers, were rearrested over the five year period.  Recividism was highest among blacks, followed by Hispanics and whites.  Age and sex were also major factors with 84% of those 24 or younger rearrested.  The rearrest rate dropped to 69% for those 40 or older.  78% of males were rearrested compared to 68% of females. 

There will be two varieties of spin put on this study.  The first and most publicized will come from "Smart on Crime" advocates, which includes the ACLU, the Urban Institute, the Sentencing Project and much of academia.  They will point to these findings as proof that fixed and progressively severe consequences for criminals, such as mandatory minimums and habitual criminal sentencing have failed to rehabilitate criminals.  We will be told that the current transition to alternative sentencing featuring "evidence based practices" and treatment programs will help to reform the current racially biased system, lower the recividism rate, improve  public safety, and remove the stigma on America as the "incarceration nation."  

     

One reason offered for legalizing drugs (or for legalization lite, a/k/a the Smarter Sentencing Act) is that drug enforcement is racist.  Sometimes the argument is that enforcement is explicitly racist, thus mirroring arguments in the stop-and-frisk debate in New York City. Other times, it's that the racism is implicit, because the police focus resources in areas that are certain to produce a disproportionate number of minority (mostly black) arrests.

If a motorist calls 911 and reports having been run off the road, is that sufficient cause for police to stop a vehicle fitting the caller's description?  I would think so.  The Supreme Court decided it was this morning, in a surprisingly close 5-4 decision, Navarette v. California.

For those who like to keep track of ideological designations, the split indicates once again that a one-dimensional liberal-conservative model doesn't hack it.  Libertarianism is an different (though not necessarily orthogonal) dimension.  Justice Breyer was in the majority favoring the government; Justice Scalia wrote the dissent.

After the defendant, Siale Angilau, an alleged gang member on trial in federal court in Utah for racketeering conspiracy, became so disruptive today that the proceedings had to be ended, the judge sua sponte declared a mistrial, saying, "The court finds that this occurrence in the courtroom would so prejudice Mr. Angilau as to deprive him of a fair trial."

The title of this post is, of course, a joke.  Legalized pot was never intended to be carefully regulated, and the promises made to voters in the legalization campaigns were just blowin' smoke, as it were.

Tens of thousands gathered for a weekend of Colorado cannabis-themed festivals and entertainment, from a marijuana industry expo called the Cannabis Cup, to 4/20-themed concerts - acts include Snoop Dogg - to a massive festival in the shadow of the state capitol.

Although it is still against the law to publicly smoke marijuana in Colorado, police only reported 63 citations or arrests on Sunday, 47 for marijuana consumption. They said they had issued 21 citations on Saturday. All were for public consumption of marijuana. One person was arrested Saturday on suspicion of attempting to distribute the drug.

The pot holiday started as a defiant gathering of marijuana activists, but this year the event had an official city permit, was organized by an events management company and featured booths selling food, hemp lollipops and glass pipes.

Chicago Police Accused of Altering Crime Statistics: An impressive decrease in Chicago's crime rate has the city's Police Superintendent celebrating while members of the community are questioning the validity of the numbers and accusing the police of 'cooking the stats'.  Warner Huston of Breitbart reports that an investigation conducted by Chicago Magazine revealed that the city's Mayor and Police Superintendent misrepresented some murders and other violent crimes for example, listing a homicide as a "non-criminal death" after the coroner couldn't determine exactly how a victim was killed.  Investigators also discovered that serious felonies such as robberies and assault were sometimes misclassified, downgraded, or removed from the crime stats all together.

Serial Rapists Remain Free due to Rape Kit Backlog: A report published by the Detroit Free Press has revealed that a backlog in testing more than 10,000 rape kits has allowed serial rapists to remain free on the streets and in some cases commit more attacks.  The Associated Press reports that 11,000 untested rape kits were found in a Detroit police storage facility in 2009, since then, only 2,000 of them have been tested. The Michigan state Legislature recently approved a $4 million measure that will send the remaining  kits to private labs to be tested by the end of the year.  The backlog has been blamed on the 2008 closure of the Detroit's crime lab.

Nebraska Impacted by Colorado Pot Legalization: Nebraska law enforcement officers are growing frustrated with the money and time being spent on the arrest and prosecution people buying legal pot in Colorado.  David Hendee of the Omaha World-Herald reports that law enforcement agencies in western Nebraska have become exponentially busier dealing with cases that involve marijuana that was purchased legally in Colorado, but still remains illegal in the state of Nebraska.  State Attorney General Jon Bruning has said he hasn't ruled out the possibility of taking Colorado to court over increasing Nebraska's law enforcement costs.


 

In a word, no.

[T]here is little systematic evidence of age, race and gender disparities in U.S. Attorney decisions regarding which cases are accepted and which are declined for prosecution.  The most common reason for case declinations reported by U.S. Attorneys was weak or insufficient evidence.  Second, there is some evidence of disparities in charge reductions, but they operate in opposite directions for gender and race.  Male defendants were less likely than female defendants to receive charge reductions but black and Hispanic defendants were slightly more likely than white defendants to receive them. 

The primary argument for the Smarter Sentencing Act  --  the proposal that would slash by half mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers  --  is that MM's, though often only a half to a third of what the guidelines range would be for a given offender, are still unnecessarily harsh, and are driving the federal prison budget through the roof.  To save money if for no other reason, we need for these offenders to be spending less time behind bars.

This morning the United States Supreme Court agreed to review a case in which police officers made a traffic stop for what they believed in good faith was a violation.  The case is Heien v. North Carolina, No. 13-604.  SCOTUSblog's case page has links to the cert-stage pleadings and the state supreme court opinion.

Can the police stop a car if one of its brake lights is out?  I always thought so.  I would consider it a favor to be told that and let off with a warning, if I were unaware of the failure.  In this case, the officer was suspicious of the vehicle for other reasons and looking for a reason to stop the car and request consent to search.  The Supreme Court held some years back that it will not look beyond the objective legality of the stop to ulterior motives.

Turns out that in North Carolina no published decision had ever held whether a car must have all brake lights working or just one, and the intermediate appellate court held in this case that one will do.  This is a clear case of a police officer obeying the law as he understands it at the time of the search, but the defendant seeks suppression based on a new interpretation of the law ex post facto.

Is this a proper case for application of the drastic remedy of exclusion of valid, probative evidence?  Not in my book.  The question the trial court needed to decide in this case was whether Heien was trafficking cocaine.  The evidence proves he was, beyond a reasonable doubt, and that evidence is not challenged on any ground relating to its reliability.  That should be the end of the criminal case.

The Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule should be abolished altogether.  The Fourth Amendment should be enforced in civil cases where its purported violation is the central issue.  Until that day comes, the exclusionary rule should be limited to bad-faith violations.

The high court also took up Johnson v. United States, No. 13-7120, asking whether a prior conviction of possession of a short-barreled shotgun is a "violent felony" for purposes of the federal Armed Career Criminal Act.

There are numerous questions about NSA surveillance:  How much is going on, what information does it actually collect, are government officials telling us the truth, has it helped us capture or kill terrorists, and is the erosion of privacy worth the candle?

As expected, Colorado's legalization of marijuana is producing an influx of tourists.  College student Levy Pongi, 19, traveled with friends from Wyoming to Denver to try it.  He jumped to his death from a hotel balcony.  AP reports:

DENVER (AP) -- A college student eats more than the recommended dose of a marijuana-laced cookie and jumps to his death from a hotel balcony.

A husband with no history of violence is accused of shooting his wife in the head, possibly after eating pot-infused candy.

The two recent deaths have stoked concerns about Colorado's recreational marijuana industry and the effects of the drug, especially since cookies, candy and other pot edibles can be exponentially more potent than smoking a joint.

"We're seeing hallucinations, they become sick to their stomachs, they throw up, they become dizzy and very anxious," said Al Bronstein, medical director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center.

Incidents such as this do not, of course, establish that prohibition enforced by criminal law is necessarily the best policy.  What they do establish is that the pro-pot crowd is engaging in a propaganda campaign.  I call it "reverse reefer madness."  Just as in the past proponents of prohibition ridiculously exaggerated the harmful effect of marijuana, proponents of legalization today falsely minimize or even deny the harmful effects.  Distortion of the truth is wrong whichever way it goes.  We need to move forward in this debate with our eyes wide open.

And why would anyone drive all that way for legal marijuana?  Surely illegal marijuana is readily available in Wyoming.

Legal status does make a difference to some people, clearly.  Legalization will increase consumption.  Pretending it won't is yet another distortion.

Pro-criminal interest groups and academics are constantly admonishing us that we should use "evidence-based sentencing."  The problem is that they don't want consideration of anything a normal person would consider "evidence."  Instead, the "evidence" upon which we are told we should rest our gaze inevitably turns out to be  --  guess what  --  some slanted "study" or "report" done by these self-same groups.

Did Dzhokhar Tsarnaev know what he was doing, and intend to do it, when he planted the bomb that killed three people and grievously injured dozens more?

Is it that we've locked up to many criminals, or that we have too much crime?

Americans feel even more strongly that the biggest problem with the criminal justice system is that too many criminals are set free. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 68% of U.S. adults believe that the bigger problem with law enforcement and the legal system is that too many criminals are released, not that too many innocent people are arrested. Eighteen percent (18%) hold the opposite view and think the bigger problem is that too many innocent people are arrested. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.

Tennessee May Revive Electric Chair: The Tennessee House has adopted a bill that will allow use of the electric chair as an alternative execution method if lethal injection drugs are unavailable.  Erik Schelzig of the Associated Press reports that the bill would keep lethal injection as the preferred method of execution, but will allow the electric chair if execution drugs are not available or executions are delayed by legal challenges to the protocol.  Last week the state Senate passed similar bill.  Tennessee is currently holding 76 condemned murderers on death row.  The state has not carried out an execution since 2009.

NE Murderer May Receive Death Penalty: A Nebraska man who went on a 10-day murder spree days after being released from prison has been convicted of four murders may receive a death sentence.  Katie Knapp Schubert of Reuters reports that 27-year-old Nikko Jenkins began the killing spree less than two weeks after he was released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence for robbery.  A three judge panel will determine if Jenkins is eligible for the death sentence.  Nebraska has put just three people to death since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld capital punishment in 1976.  The last execution was in 1997.

Heroin Use Increasing Across the U.S.: Law enforcement officials from around the country are beginning to voice concerns about the growing problem of heroin use which in many parts of the county is killing more people than violent crime and car crashes.  Kevin Johnson of USA Today reports that a surge in the availability and purity of heroin has dramatically increased  overdoses. In 2012, roughly half of New York City's 730 drug overdose fatalities were from heroin and other opiates.  That was twice the number of NYC murder victims that year.  A yet-to-be released National Drug Threat Assessment rated heroin as the second highest drug risk behind methamphetamine.  "This kind of sneaked up on us,'' said Attorney General Eric Holder, who supports reduced sentences for drug dealers.   

Off topic but funny, Ellen Huet has this post at SFGate on typos literally set in concrete in the City by the Bay.

Lynne Tuohy reports for AP:

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- New Hampshire's Senate has voted to leave intact the state's centuries-old death penalty.

Lawmakers voted 12-12 Thursday on a death penalty repeal measure. The tie means capital punishment will stay on the books.

Last month, the House voted in favor of repeal, and Gov. Maggie Hassan (HASS'-ehn) had said she would sign the measure into law.

My understanding was that the governor had said she would sign it only if she were confident it would not prevent the execution of cop-killer Michael Addison.  Given the immediate attack on existing sentences in Connecticut, despite a very clear prospective-only clause in the bill, nobody can honestly guarantee that.

Hopefully the voters of New Hampshire, and other states, will elect more persons of sense in the coming election, the repeal threats will recede, and we can get back to the business of reforming the review process to make the penalty effective.

PA Mayor to Limit Police Cooperation with Immigration Officers: Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is expected to sign an executive order to limit collaboration efforts between his city's police department and federal immigration authorities.  Julie Shaw of Philly News reports that the order would prevent police from honoring detainer requests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless the case involves a person convicted of a first or second-degree felony.  Prior to this order, ICE officials were able to request that a person suspected of being a non-citizen be held by city police up to 48 hours until immigration officers could take custody of them.

CO Police Suspect Accused Murderer was Hallucinating from Marijuana: Denver police are investigating to determine if a man accused of fatally shooting his wife Monday was hallucinating from edible marijuana.  Paresh Dave of the Los Angeles Times reports that the man's wife called 911 Monday night and told the dispatcher that her husband was "talking about the end of the world" and hallucinating, and mentioned that he may have eaten some marijuana. During the 911 call, 47-year-old Richard Kirk retrieved a gun from a locked safe and shot his wife in the head while the couple's three children hid in a bedroom.  Kirk was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, but has not yet been officially charged.

Advocates of increased use of pot through legalization often mock the 1930's film, "Reefer Madness."  The idea seems to be that only Puritanical, moralistic, anti-science zealots could think the pot might adversely affect brain development.

Casual marijuana use may come with some not-so-casual side effects.

For the first time, researchers at Northwestern University have analyzed the relationship between casual use of marijuana and brain changes - and found that young adults who used cannabis just once or twice a week showed significant abnormalities in two important brain structures.

The study's findings, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, are similar to those of past research linking chronic, long-term marijuana use with mental illness and changes in brain development.

My post yesterday describing White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler's remarks about Presidential clemency did not go nearly far enough.  Now that I take a closer look at the AP report, I have to wonder whether something very, very broad is afoot. Specifically, I wonder whether the President is planning to implement the heart of the Smarter Sentencing Act on his own.  It would scarcely be the first time this President by-passed Congress.

"The president believes that one important purpose [of executive clemency] can be to help correct the effects of outdated and overly harsh sentences that Congress and the American people have since recognized are no longer in the best interests of justice," Ruemmler said in remarks prepared for delivery Tuesday at New York University's law school. "This effort also reflects the reality that our overburdened federal prison population includes many low-level, nonviolent offenders without significant criminal histories."  ***

[She also] said the Justice Department plans in the coming weeks to encourage worthy inmates to request commutations, with bar associations offering to help with applications. She said Obama's new budget proposal calls for seven more staffers to be added to the Office of Pardon Attorney to handle applications, saying that the two years the office has taken to resolve petitions in recent years has been "unacceptably long." She said Obama met with U.S. attorneys last month and asked them to personally review petitions to consider "whether granting clemency would be consistent with the values of justice and fairness that are the hallmark of the best traditions of the Department of Justice."

Here are a few notes on legislation on the death penalty in several states.

In Delaware, a bill to repeal the death penalty came up a vote short to get out of committee.  Representative John Atkins has this letter in the Cape Gazette.

In New Hampshire, a repeal bill squeaked out of committee on a 3-2 vote and heads to the floor of the Senate.  Supporters of the bill claim that it will apply prospectively only and not effect the death sentence of cop-killer Michael Addison, the state's lone death-sentenced inmate.  If the bill does pass, I would bet every penny I have that the death penalty opponents will then join Addison's efforts to claim that the bill does require his sentence to be set aside.  We already saw this in Connecticut.

Some years ago, the North Carolina legislature passed a stealth repeal by playing the race card and enacting legislation that enabled death row inmates to have their sentences overturned by producing statistics on race and the death penalty that don't actually prove anything.  The Death Penalty Quota Act (misnamed the Racial Justice Act) was repealed when persons of sense regained control of the legislature, but cases decided in a lower court before repeal were argued yesterday in the North Carolina Supreme Court. Martha Waggoner has this story for AP.

It's by now no surprise to readers that I have been doing what I can to oppose the so-called Smarter Sentencing Act.  I made probably my most comprehensive case against it here.

Habitual Offender Accused of Murder: A Georgia man with a lengthy criminal past has been named as the prime suspect in a recent shooting death.  Alexis Stevens of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that 30-year-old Kendrick Cheeves, who was on parole at the time of the killing, has spent the majority of his adult life in prison after being convicted of crimes including child molestation, statutory rape, and several drug charges.  Cheeves has been charged with felony murder and aggravated assault, and if found guilty, faces a possible death sentence.

Teen up for Release After Serving Four Months of Eight-Year Sentence: A Texas woman is outraged after the teenager who robbed her home will be eligible for release after spending only four months behind bars out of a possible eight-year sentence.  Jason Whitely of KHOU Houston reports that 19-year-old Brandon Jordan, who was already on probation for theft at the time of his most recent arrest, will be eligible for release under 'shock probation', which allows for a judge to summon a convicted felon back to court up to six months after being sentenced.  This type of probation is rarely used since very few convicts qualify, and was intended as a rehabilitation tool for young offenders. 

Convicted Triple-Murderer Set to Die: A Texas man convicted of the stabbing murders of his ex-girlfriend, her three-year-old son and her mother is scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening after spending nearly 12 years on death row.  Michael Graczyk of the Associated Press reports that attorneys for Jose Villegas are seeking a last minute stay of execution from SCOTUS based on the claim that they have new evidence indicating that their client is mentally impaired.  On Monday the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied that request.  At the time of the killings, Villegas was out on bond for a sexual assault charge.

Much of what we hear about the Boston Marathon murders is  --  excuse me  -- unadulterated mush.  Have we had enough yet of teddy bears, plastic flowers and yellow ribbons? Have we had enough of the vapid talk that seems inevitably to follow them?  Take this, for example, from yesterday's Washington Post article commemorating the bombing:

"Incarceration nation" is the slogan of the hour.  In the pages of every liberal paper, you can't go more than a few days without some earnest editorial, or some quasi-editorial masquerading as a "news story," telling us that we have too many people in jail.  All this jailing is expensive, inhumane, and counterproductive.  For these reasons and more, we should curb the use of imprisonment.

One of the principal arguments for the Smarter Sentencing Act is that its reduced use of incarceration will help curb the federal debt.

Today is the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing.  Dozens of people received life-long, disfiguring injuries.  Three died: Krystle Campbell, 29; Chinese national Lu Lingzi, 23; and  Martin Richard, 8.  The latter was  to have started his first season in Little League in a few weeks.

One of the staples of abolitionist lore is that we execute innocent people. Abolitionists squabble among themselves as to what the number is, although they largely coalesced around the Roger Keith Coleman innocence hoax as the star attraction.

...and some don't.

AP reports that the 35-year court-martial sentence of mass leaker Pvt. Bradley Manning, who now calls himself Chelsea, has been confirmed by the commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Jeffery S. Buchanan.  The sentence can be further appealed to the Army Court of Criminal Appeal.

Manning's appellate lawyers, Nancy Hollander and Vincent Ward, told supporters Sunday in Washington that they expect to argue that the sentence unreasonable. It is the longest prison term ever given by a U.S. court for leaking government secrets to the media. They said they also expect to argue that Manning's speedy trial rights were violated, that the Espionage Act was misused and that high-ranking commanders improperly influenced [the] case.

CA Murder Suspects had Lengthy Criminal Past: Police in Southern California have arrested two registered sex offenders as the prime suspects in the murders of four women.  The Associated Press reports that both men were being supervised by police after being arrested in 2012 for removing their court-ordered GPS devices and fleeing to Nevada.  Police believe both men targeted their victims because of their ties to prostitution and escort services, and are determining if there are more victims in California and other parts of the U.S.

Felons Able to Buy Guns Amid Background Check Backlog: More than 360 guns were sold in Maryland last year to people prohibited from owning them due to an overwhelming backlog in conducting gun ownership background checks.  Erin Cox of The Baltimore Sun reports that all but four of the guns sold to those prohibited from owning them were recovered by undercover troopers, and police believe there was only one incident to date involving a gun being used by a prohibited buyer.  Just last week, the Maryland State Police were able to clear the backlog of background checks that at one point, stood at 60,000 requests.

White Supremacist Arrested in Triple Homicide: A Missouri man with a history of racist and anti-Semitic activity has been arrested as the person responsible for three murders this weekend, two of which occurred at a Jewish community center and the other at a Jewish assisted living facility.  Fox News reports that 73-year-old Frazier Glenn Miller has been involved with white supremacist groups for the majority of his life, and was the subject of a nationwide manhunt in 1987 after police say he violated the terms of his bond while appealing a conviction for operating a paramilitary camp.  The Justice Department has announced plans to file hate crime charges against Miller, he is scheduled to be arraigned this week.

A couple of days ago, I said that race mongering had gone stark raving mad, by comparing Martin Luther King unfavorably to sneering cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.

When it is nothing more than a ratification of the long-existing status quo.

Inmate Arranges Kidnapping While Behind Bars: Federal authorities say a North Carolina inmate was able to use a smuggled cell phone to help orchestrate the recent abduction of  the father of the prosecutor's who sent him to prison.   Michael Biesecker and Allen G. Breed of the Associated Press report that 49-year-old gang member Kelvin Melton used the smuggled phone to send over 123 calls and text messages to a group of five people who assaulted 63-year-old Frank Janssen over the weekend.  Janssen was taken from North Carolina to Georgia by the kidnappers who sent several threatening text messages to Janssen's wife threatening to behead her husband if she notified the authorities.  FBI agents were able to rescue Mr. Janssen Thursday morning. 

Border Patrol Overwhelmed by Migrants Seeking Asylum: Border Patrol agents working in the Rio Grande area of southern Texas have been overwhelmed with the recent increase in migrants illegally crossing the border seeking asylum and a permanent home in the U.S.  Todd Heisler of the New York Times reports that thousands of migrants from Central America are flooding the borders day and night seeking asylum from their native countries, putting a strain on resources and causing a huge backlog in immigration courts.  In the last six months alone, Border Patrol agents made more than 90,000 apprehensions, a 69 percent increase from last year. 

Teen Charged as Adult in Brazen Killing:  A 16-year-old Indiana criminal, whose record includes 29 violent crimes, will be charged as an adult after authorities say he shot and killed a 24-year-old newlywed and father-to-be during a morning walk.  Alex Greig of the Daily Mail reports that Simeon Adams, who laughed and smiled during his murder arraignment, shot and killed the man during a robbery attempt last Tuesday. Police also believe Adams is responsible for a shooting that occurred just two days prior.  Adams has been charged with felony murder and attempted robbery, his trial is scheduled to begin June 2.

I have written often to try to expose what's really going on with Eric Holder's support for so-called smarter sentencing initiatives.  I could not possibly do more to expose it, however, than Holder himself did two days ago by praising these initiatives at none other than race-huckster Al Sharpton's National Action Network Convention.

Thank you, Reverend [Al] Sharpton - and thank you all for such a warm welcome.  It's a pleasure to be back home in New York City.  And it's a tremendous honor to join the National Action Network - once again - in helping to open your important Annual Convention....

[W]e have modified the Department's charging policies so that defendants accused of certain nonviolent, low-level federal drug crimes will face sentences appropriate to their individual conduct, rather than stringent mandatory minimums, which will now be reserved for the most serious criminals.  We are increasing our emphasis on innovative diversion programs like community service initiatives that can serve as alternatives to incarceration. 

As noted in the last entry, the Sentencing Commission voted today for an across-the-board lowering of drug sentences, given that drugs are no longer a problem the Commission has become partial to the defense bar.

"I regret that, before we voted on the amendment, the Attorney General instructed Assistant United States Attorneys across the Nation not to object to defense requests to apply the proposed amendment in sentencing proceedings going forward," Judge William Pryor, Jr. said at a public hearing in Washington. "That unprecedented instruction disrespected our statutory role, 'as an independent commission in the judicial branch,' to establish sentencing policies and practices under the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984."

Day One, April 9, 2014  --  Sheriffs warn of violence from Mexican cartels deep into interior of U.S.:

Outmanned and outgunned, local law enforcement officers are alarmed by the drug and human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping and money laundering that Mexican drug cartels are conducting in the U.S. far from the border.

The United States Sentencing Commission voted today at a public meeting to reduce the sentencing guideline levels applicable to most federal drug trafficking offenders...The Commission voted unanimously to amend the guidelines to lower the base offense levels in the Drug Quantity Table across drug types.

Somebody, please, wake me up.  My nightmares didn't used to be this weird.

TX Executes Convicted Killer: A Mexican national convicted of murdering a former Baylor University history professor was executed Wednesday evening after spending nearly 15 years on death row.  Michael Graczyk of the Associated Press reports that 44-year-old Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas entered the U.S. illegally after escaping from a Mexican prison where he was serving a 25-year sentence for a murder he committed in 1989.  He had also been linked to the rape of a 15-year-old girl and had been accused of slashing another inmate in the face while awaiting trial.  Hernandez-Llanas was the sixth Texas murderer executed this year.

Murderer May Avoid Death Sentence due to Poor Health: A Missouri man convicted of one murder and suspected in two others may avoid a possible death sentence after a series of delays and his deteriorating health has stalled the case.  Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that 62-year-old Gregory Bowman was convicted of killing a teenager in 1977.  In a separate case, he was convicted of murdering another teen and a 21-year-old woman the following year.  On appeal, Bowman's convictions in the 1978 killings were overturned, but the Missouri Supreme Court upheld his conviction in the 1977 murder and ordered him to be re-sentenced.  Delays has pushed his sentencing hearing back to April 2015.  Bowman may not be able to attend after the judge was informed that he is suffering from a potentially fatal kidney ailment. 

What's the difference between an unrepentant cop killer and Martin Luther King?

Mark Lewis Taylor, a professor of theology and culture at the Princeton Theological Seminary, identified [a major difference] between Abu-Jamal and King, saying the former radio journalist has worked more obviously than the assassinated civil rights leader within an "international framework of justice struggle."

"In this case the EEOC sued the defendants for using the same type of background check that the EEOC itself uses."

When Adam Lanza murdered twenty children and six adults in the Newtown school shooting in December 2012, the President wasted no time politicizing the gruesome tragedy as another episode of  "gun violence" for which more federal gun control legislation is needed. The White House statement is here.

DNA Links Illinois Man to Cold Case Murder: Authorities have made an arrest in the 1997 killing of a 14-year-old girl after DNA collected from the scene several years ago linked 36-year-old James Eaton to the crime.  The Associated Press reports that investigators linked Eaton to the crime after positive matches came from both fingerprints at the scene and DNA evidence collected from a cigarette butt he recently discarded.  14-year-old Amber Creek's body was found in a marsh two weeks after she was reported missing in January 1997.  She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and suffocated with a plastic bag.  Eaton has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide and hiding a corpse, he is currently being held on $1 million bail.

Drug Cartel 'Enforcer' Confesses to Dozens of Murders: Jose Manuel Martinez, a self-proclaimed drug cartel enforcer, is facing nine murder charges in California after authorities say he confessed to at least 30 killings in several states across the country.  Russell Goldman of ABC News reports that Martinez, who is currently in custody in Alabama on a murder charge from 2013, has confessed to a string of crimes he committed dating back to the 1980's including several murders for hire.  Aside from the murder charges, Martinez is also facing allegations of lying in wait and kidnapping, making him eligible for a possible death sentence.

Yesterday, I noted that, contrary to what Eric Holder told Congress, the so-called Smarter Sentencing Act does  not "restore discretion" to judges.  The main thing it does is cut the minimum sentences applicable to dealers in heroin and other extremely dangerous drugs. But the sentences would still be mandatory.

But Ed Whelan of NRO's  Bench Memos reminds us:

Convicted Killer Arrested Shortly After Release: A Missouri man convicted of murder and sentenced to spend thirty years behind bars was arrested and charged with burglary shortly after he was released from prison.  KMOV St. Louis reports that Daniel Blount was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a murder he committed in 1991 and was supposed to serve at least 85 percent of that sentence, bit was release two years early.  Shortly after his release, Blount broke into a home that he was hired to work on and stole several high-dollar tools, he was arrested and charged with burglary and likely faces more prison time.

Buenos Aires Overwhelmed by Increasing Crime: The governor of Buenos Aires, Argentina's largest and most populated province, has declared a 12-month state of emergency in order to address an overwhelming crime rate.  Merco Press reports that Governor Daniel Scioli introduced a series of anti-crime measures including a multi-million dollar investment in security equipment and an 'immediate call' to retired police agents to rejoin preventative action aiming at a 5,000 member force. Magistrates are also being accused of being too lenient toward criminals, and are arguing for legislation providing tougher sentencing.

Supreme Court Denies Execution Drug Claim.  The U.S. Supreme Court has denied review of a murderer's claim that he is entitled to a hearing to determine what type of drug will be used in his upcoming execution and where it was acquired. In a surprisingly biased news article Richard Wolf and Gregg Zoroya of USA Today report that Christopher Sepulvado, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to death in 1993, appealed to the Supreme Court after the state of Louisiana reported that either pentobarbital or a combination of midazolam and hydromorphone would used for his execution.  Sepulvado's attorneys argued that their client has the right to know which drug will be used.  The high court has denied similar requests twice this year. 

Cutting and pasting from his last 3000 speeches,  Attorney General Holder testified today before the House Judiciary Committee.  He repeated his standard lines in favor of cutting by half the minimum required sentences for drug dealers  --  which, of course, he never actually identifies as "cutting by half the minimum required sentences for drug dealers." Instead, he talks in roundabout language designed to obscure what's actually going on. Thus, he uses the always-a-good-tipoff set of phrases like "evidence-based," "commonsense change," and "tough and smart."

Because one of them might turn out to be Al Sharpton.

The NYT had an opinion box up yesterday titled, "What it Means if the Death Penalty is Dying."  Six people are given the chance to voice their views, four abolitionists and two supporters (if the opinion box reflected the electorate, the numbers would  be reversed).

Bills Introduced to Address Realignment: Members of Coachella Valley law enforcement have teamed up with California State Assemblyman Manuel Perez to introduce AB 1449, one of four bills designed to address the issues surrounding prison realignment.  Reza Gostar of The Desert Sun reports that if passed, AB 1449 would allow the courts to consider an offender's full criminal history when deciding if they should be supervised at the state or county level and also allows for anyone convicted of three serious probation violations to be sentenced to one year in prison.  The bills are scheduled to be heard by the state Senate's public safety committee later this month.

Repeat Sex Offender Released from Prison: A Southern California community has become the new home for a repeat sex offender with a lengthy history of violent sexual assaults.  Sarah Wright of the Liberty Voice reports that Christopher Hubbart has been behind bars for nearly 20 years after being found guilty of violently raping more than two dozen women over the course of several years.  Hubbart has been in and out of police custody since 1972 for his repeated sexual assaults against women, he has been paroled twice before and re-offended both times less than a year after his release. 

Crime up 30 Percent in Housing Projects: Public housing developments in New York are proving to be a dangerous place to live after members of the New York Police Department report that crime has increased by 30 percent over the last five years.  Lisa Evers of Fox 5 News reports that the crime rate in public housing developments is 10 times higher than the rest of New York City, and residents say it's the living conditions and economy that are contributing to the increasing rates of crime and violence.  Reports of domestic violence assaults have also increased in the neighborhood, however, police believe that may be a response to recent awareness campaigns.

One of the pleasures of teaching law is the opportunity to meet some exceptionally bright students.  One of mine was Jarrett Dieterle, now in his third year, getting ready for his upcoming clerkship with a federal judge.

Joshua Keating has this post with the above title at Slate. "With India, Japan, and Indonesia rejoining the U.S., the world's largest democracies are death penalty countries and the practice has heavy popular support in all of them."

When I debated the merits of the proposed Smarter Sentencing Act before the Senate Republican Policy Committee, my opposite number was John Malcolm, formerly Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.  John has been a friend for years, and I was fortunate to have such an affable and knowledgeable opponent.

Marijuana Black Market Thriving in CO: The black market for marijuana sales is still thriving in Colorado despite a recently passed law making the drug legal.  Cheryl Chumley of The Washington Times reports that legalizing marijuana in the state has actually enhanced the black market, as marijuana "customers" are able to purchase the drug tax-free from black market dealers as opposed to buying it in a state regulated store.  Police are also worried that recent increases in violent crimes are connected to the drug's legalization. 

'Warning Shot' Bill Approved by Florida Lawmakers: Members of the Florida Senate have passed what is being called the 'warning shot bill' in an effort to revise a state law which punishes the use of a gun.  The Associated Press reports that the bill is in response to a 1999 law that required a mandatory 10-20 year sentence whenever a gun was displayed or used during a crime-even if it was in self-defense.  The 'warning shot bill' would distinguish the use of a gun in self defense from use by a criminal during the commission of a crime.  The bill now heads to Governor Rick Scott's desk for final review.

CA Senator Indicted on Corruption Charges: California Senator Leland Yee was formally indicted this morning on several corruption charges stemming from his March 26 arrest.  The Associated Press reports that Yee, along with 28 others, have been officially charged in connection with an organized crime investigation that involved exchanging illegal weapons for campaign contributions as well as trading political influence for cash.  Yee is out on $500,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned next Tuesday.

No.  We should follow the Constitution.  But we can learn from international law, absolutely. We can learn something this very day, as it happens, from the world's largest democracy. Too bad the Supreme Court didn't get it a few years back.

Michael Graczyk reports for AP:

A serial killer was put to death Thursday in Texas after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his lawyers' demand that the state release information about where it gets its lethal injection drug.

Tommy Lynn Sells, 49, was the first inmate to be injected with a dose of newly replenished pentobarbital that Texas prison officials obtained to replace an expired supply of the powerful sedative.

Sells declined to give a statement. As the drug began flowing into his arms inside the death chamber in Huntsville, Sells took a few breaths, his eyes closed and he began to snore. After less than a minute, he stopped moving. He was pronounced dead 13 minutes later, at 6:27 p.m. CDT.

For all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the undisclosed sources, we see once again that the single-drug method with pentobarbital is the way to go for lethal injection.  Another murderer snores his way to eternity and removal to a higher court.

To the extent that anyone is faced with a potentially painful execution by the substitution of other drugs, the blame for that falls squarely on the shoulders of those obstructing the supply.  For a manufacturer to restrict resale of its product should be illegal.  It is a restraint of trade.  Eliminating the barriers to supply is the solution.

The Supreme Court orders are here and here.  No dissent is noted.

We have another Ft. Hood shooting.  This time with "only" three victims dead, and many more wounded.

I never know how much stock to put in surveys like this, but this one has C&C as the top-rated pro-prosecution blog.

TX Set to Execute Convicted Killer: A Texas man convicted of killing a 13-year-old girl and attempting to kill another girl is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening after an appeals court rejected his final challenge.  Brendan O'Brien of Reuters reports that 49-year-old Tommy Lynn Sells went to the home of a man who owed him drug money and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl and stabbed her to death before he slit the throat of another little girl sleeping in the bed above her.  According to media reports, Sells has also confessed to 70 additional murders which he claims to have committed since the age of 16.  If his  execution is carried out, he will be the 15th murderer put to death in the U.S. this year.

Murder Defendant Accused in Cellmate's Death: A Phoenix man who told authorities that he murdered his 12-year-old half-brother last month because he "felt like it" is now accused of stabbing his cellmate to death in a Maricopa County Jail last night.  Paul Davenport of the Associated Press reports that officers found the body of 27-year-old Andrew Ward's cellmate Wednesday evening after hearing reports of an inmate fight.  33-year-old Douglas Walker had been stabbed in the eyes with a pencil and had his throat cut with a plastic playing card before he was beaten to death in the cell he shared with Ward.  Ward admitted to officers that he was responsible for Walker's death.   
 
Shooting at Ft. Hood Leaves Four Dead: A shooting yesterday at Ft. Hood in Texas left several injured and four dead, including the gunman.  Dana Ford of CNN reports that the suspect, an Iraq war veteran who had been transferred to Ft. Hood in February, opened fire on the Army post Wednesday afternoon killing three and injuring 16 more before turning the gun on himself.  A similar mass shooting incident took place at Ft. Hood in November 2009, that incident left 13 dead and 32 injured.  The suspect in the 2009 shooting, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was convicted of murder and the jury has recommended a death sencence.

In debating the Heroin Dealers Bonanza Act Smarter Sentencing Act, I hear one question again and again:   Since some states like Texas and Michigan have reduced their prison populations over the last few years and  have seen the decline in crime continue, why can't the federal prison system do the same?

Convicted Killer Accused in Another Murder: An Oregon man who spent 27 years in prison for murder will now face another trial for a second killing authorities say he committed after being released.  Greg Bolt of the Register-Guard reports that 58-year-old David Taylor was sentenced to life in prison in 1977 for the murder of a female gas station attendant, but a parole board voted in favor of releasing him in 2004 after serving just 27 years of his sentence.  Police say Taylor went on a months-long crime binge in 2012 and is responsible for several crimes including bank robbery, kidnapping, and the murder of a 22-year-old man.  If convicted on the murder charge, Taylor faces a possible death sentence.

FL Governor Signs Tough Sex Offender Laws: Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed four new bills aimed at toughening sex offender laws aimed at making Florida the most "unfriendly state" for sex offenders and predators.  ABC 3 reports that the new legislation will require homeless offenders to let police know where they will be spending their time and make it easier for authorities to keep sex offenders in treatment programs after serving their prison sentences.  The new laws also mandates that the most serious sex offenders be sentenced to a minimum of 50 years to life as opposed to the current law which set the minimum at 25 years. 

Woman Arrested After April Fools' Prank: A South Carolina woman was arrested after an April Fools' prank resulted in local police swarming a community college campus in response to a fake school shooting.  Fox Carolina reports that the woman, an employee at the college, sent a text message to her daughter saying there was a gunman on campus and that she could hear gunshots while hiding in the bathroom.  The woman's daughter called 911 and several officers headed to the school preparing for the worst, only to discover there was no gunman and the entire situation was a prank.  54-year-old Angela Timmons was charged with disturbing a school campus, aggravated breach of peace, and two counts of unlawful use of a telephone.

Michael Moore is, in my view, a malevolent buffoon.  I won't even go into his antics and years of rancid anti-Americanism.  Still, as they say, every blind pig finds an acorn, and Mr. Moore seems to have found his.  Thus, as the Washington Examiner recounts:

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore believes that whoever was responsible at General Motors for failing to recall a faulty ignition switch deserves death.

"I am opposed to the death penalty, but to every rule there is usually an exception, and in this case I hope the criminals at General Motors will be arrested and made to pay for their pre-meditated decision to take human lives for a lousy ten bucks," he wrote.

Louisiana House Votes to Expand Death Penalty: Members of the Louisiana House overwhelmingly voted in favor of a bill that would make the murder of correctional worker punishable by death.  Lauren McGaughy of NOLA.com reports that House Bill 278 adds correctional facility employees to a list of first-degree murder victims, allowing prosecutors to pursue the death penalty or an automatic life without the possibility of parole sentence.  The bill, which was approved by a vote of 73-19, now heads to the Senate committee. 

Convicted Killer to get New Trial: Mississippi death row inmate Michelle Byrom, who was scheduled to be executed last week for the murder of her husband, will get a new trial after a rare ruling was made by the state's high court.  The Associated Press reports that attorneys for Byrom say they have new evidence in the case that points to her son being the killer, alleging that he even confessed to the crime during conversations with a forensic psychologist.  Byrom's son originally testified against her as part of a plea bargain, and was sentenced to 50 years in prison with 20 years suspended.

D.C. Mayor Signs Marijuana Decriminalization Bill: Washington D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray has signed a bill that decriminalizes possession of up to one ounce (28 grams) of marijuana in the nation's capital.  Ian Simpson of Reuters reports that the new law makes possession of marijuana a civil violation punishable by a $25 fine, possession used to be classified as a misdemeanor carrying up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.  The measure will now undergo a 60-day congressional review.

Several weeks ago, the so-called Smarter Sentencing Act was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 13-5 vote, with all ten Democrats and three Republicans (Lee, Cruz and Flake) voting in favor.  The opposition was led by Ranking Member Chuck Grassley.  I have previously analyzed the law and the politics of the SSA.  If enacted, it would be the most significant generally applicable piece of federal sentencing legislation since the SRA 30 years ago.

Cass Sunstein has this post at BloombergView (emphasis added):
 

In the nation's history, 112 people have served on the Supreme Court of the United States. Suppose that we were to select the all-time greats. Who would make the cut?

To answer that question, we need a metric. It makes sense to consider two factors: historical significance and legal ability. It would be too contentious to include only those justices with whom one agrees, so let's make this list ideology-free. We'll also exclude the current justices, because it is too early to tell whether any will count among the all-time greats.

I largely agree with his list, and any "greats" list that includes both William Brennan and William Rehnquist has a decent claim to be "ideology-free."  I definitely agree with Sunstein's assessment that Robert Jackson was the best writer.