Death Penalty Sought Against CA Baby Killer: The district attorney for Santa Clara County is seeking the death penalty against a San Jose man. Tracey Kaplan of the San Jose Mercury News reports that District Attorney Jeff Rosen will seek the death penalty against 42-year-old Alejandro Benitez, charged with murder in the commission of a dangerous felony, stemming from forcing a 16-month-old boy into a sex act "so brutal that it tore up his lips and throat before suffocating him." Benitez has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer argues that because of a recent National Registry of Exonerations report showing that five inmates sentenced to death were exonerated last year -- though none of them were in California -- means that Rosen's decision "validates a deeply flawed system." Other death penalty opponents argue that the extra costs incurred from a death penalty trial is reason enough to ban capital punishment and not seek it against Benitez. CJLF legal director Kent Scheidegger, however, praised Rosen's decision, saying that no money is wasted "if it's one of the worst of the worst crimes," adding, "That's what a DA should do."
Cartels Using Kids to Divert BP Agents: A Border Patrol union official testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee panel Thursday, revealing that drug cartels are bringing unaccompanied children to the Rio Grande valley in order to distract border security officials from smugglers and drug traffickers. Joel Gehrke of the Washington Examiner reports that Brandon Judd, a National Border Patrol Council official, told the subcommittee that drug cartels have contributed to the influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America that has grown steadily since 2011 by driving them to the middle of the desert, where the children then cross over the Rio Grande and surrender to Border Patrol. This tactic "completely tied up our manpower and allowed the cartels to smuggle whatever they wanted across out border," said Judd. He also noted that with every new policy adopted, such as Department of Homeland Security's recently reinstated policy requiring Border Patrol officials to release more of the immigrants they arrest, gives the cartels a new loophole to exploit.
License Reader Company Stirs Controversy in TX: A controversial issue is arising out of Texas, as a tech company is requesting a 25% cut of debt collected from the "deadbeats and scofflaws" tracked down by its license plate-tracking system. Perry Chiaramonte of Fox News reports that the tracking database, developed by Vigilant Solutions, captures license plate information and converts it into a computer-readable file that tags the plate number and a time stamp before being placed into the database, much like GPS technology. The system has been scrutinized for both its possible infringement on Fourth Amendment rights and the way in which it has transformed Texas police agencies into employees of Vigilant, as they must pay the 25% cut in order to keep the equipment the company provides. Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation is challenging the system as an invasion of privacy and abuse of public safety protocols.
Cartels Using Kids to Divert BP Agents: A Border Patrol union official testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee panel Thursday, revealing that drug cartels are bringing unaccompanied children to the Rio Grande valley in order to distract border security officials from smugglers and drug traffickers. Joel Gehrke of the Washington Examiner reports that Brandon Judd, a National Border Patrol Council official, told the subcommittee that drug cartels have contributed to the influx of unaccompanied minors from Central America that has grown steadily since 2011 by driving them to the middle of the desert, where the children then cross over the Rio Grande and surrender to Border Patrol. This tactic "completely tied up our manpower and allowed the cartels to smuggle whatever they wanted across out border," said Judd. He also noted that with every new policy adopted, such as Department of Homeland Security's recently reinstated policy requiring Border Patrol officials to release more of the immigrants they arrest, gives the cartels a new loophole to exploit.
License Reader Company Stirs Controversy in TX: A controversial issue is arising out of Texas, as a tech company is requesting a 25% cut of debt collected from the "deadbeats and scofflaws" tracked down by its license plate-tracking system. Perry Chiaramonte of Fox News reports that the tracking database, developed by Vigilant Solutions, captures license plate information and converts it into a computer-readable file that tags the plate number and a time stamp before being placed into the database, much like GPS technology. The system has been scrutinized for both its possible infringement on Fourth Amendment rights and the way in which it has transformed Texas police agencies into employees of Vigilant, as they must pay the 25% cut in order to keep the equipment the company provides. Dave Maass of the Electronic Frontier Foundation is challenging the system as an invasion of privacy and abuse of public safety protocols.
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