Police Agencies Lose Military Gear: Surplus military equipment which has been donated to local police agencies since 1997, is being recalled by the Obama Administration. Adam Shaw of Fox News reports that an Executive Order issued by the President following the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Mo, requires police departments to return armored personnel carriers, weapons, ammunition, and protective gear in order to reduce concerns about the militarization of police, which he said gives people the impression that they are an "occupying force." Sheriffs are speaking out, noting that the personnel carriers protect officers and are used for rescues. One Alabama Sheriff told Fox News " As has been demonstrated in Paris....the response to those kind of attacks in the U.S. will be local law enforcement and whatever resources we have on hand now will be what we can bring to the table if that happens."
Missouri High Court Overturns Murder Conviction: In a 4-3 ruling announced yesterday, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction and death sentence of Reginald Clemons for the 1991 rape and murder of two sisters. Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that Clemons was less than two weeks from execution in 2009 when a federal appeals court granted a stay based upon concerns about the lethal injection process. A special master appointed in 2012 to review the case reported that he found no direct evidence of Clemons' innocence but determined that procedural errors and the withholding of evidence by prosecutors were not the harmless errors characterized by earlier court rulings. During that review Clemons took the fifth 30 times. Clemons and three accomplices were found guilty of the 1991 robbery, gang-rape and the murder of two sisters by throwing them off an abandoned bridge. The victims' cousin, a firefighter, who witnessed the attack, was forced to jump off the bridge, but he survived to identify Clemons and his accomplices. The opinion is this case (Reginald Clemons v. Steve Larkin) is worth reading.
Missouri High Court Overturns Murder Conviction: In a 4-3 ruling announced yesterday, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction and death sentence of Reginald Clemons for the 1991 rape and murder of two sisters. Jim Salter of the Associated Press reports that Clemons was less than two weeks from execution in 2009 when a federal appeals court granted a stay based upon concerns about the lethal injection process. A special master appointed in 2012 to review the case reported that he found no direct evidence of Clemons' innocence but determined that procedural errors and the withholding of evidence by prosecutors were not the harmless errors characterized by earlier court rulings. During that review Clemons took the fifth 30 times. Clemons and three accomplices were found guilty of the 1991 robbery, gang-rape and the murder of two sisters by throwing them off an abandoned bridge. The victims' cousin, a firefighter, who witnessed the attack, was forced to jump off the bridge, but he survived to identify Clemons and his accomplices. The opinion is this case (Reginald Clemons v. Steve Larkin) is worth reading.
The Clemons murder conviction reversal is a travesty of justice. Missouri has that silly state bar picks the judicial nominees---yet another reason to junk that nonsense.
Justice in this case was subordinated to politics. It's sickening to see.