Defense Attorney Wants Brown to Commute Death Sentences: A retired Sacramento federal defender and longtime opponent of the death penalty penned a letter to California Gov. Jerry Brown imploring him to commute the death sentences of every murderer on death row. Denny Walsh of the Sac Bee reports that in his letter, Quin Denvir, one of the lawyers who saved Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski from possible execution, cites Pope Francis' Year of Mercy, an "imperfect" criminal justice system and the risk that the death penalty will be imposed "in an arbitrary, discriminatory and unreliable manner." Denvir encouraged Gov. Brown to exercise his clemency power to commute the sentences of all condemned murderers to life without parole, a power which is "not wholly unrestricted." As outlined in California's constitution, the governor may not grant a pardon or commutation to a person "twice convicted of a felony except on recommendation of the Supreme Court, 4 judges concurring."
TX Man Facing Execution Granted Stay: Wednesday's scheduled execution for a Texas inmate convicted of killing his two young daughters 15 years ago while their mother listened helplessly on the phone, has been halted by a federal appeals court seven hours before it was to be carried out. The AP reports that attorneys for 60-year-old John David Battaglia argued he deserved a court-appointed attorney to investigate and a fair hearing to determine his mental competency, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. In May 2001, Battaglia fatally shot his two daughters, aged nine and six, as revenge to his estranged wife, the girls' mother, for reporting complaints to his probation officer that resulted in the issuance of an arrest warrant. He would have been the 10th convicted killer executed in the U.S. this year and the sixth in Texas.
Orange County Police Blame Prop 47 For Crime Spike: Orange County, California, saw a 23% jump in crime last year, the greatest single-year jump in at least a decade, and the county's police officials believe Proposition 47, a measure that reduced several felony theft and drug offenses to misdemeanors, is to blame. Jordan Graham of the OC Register reports that the steepest increases in the county were in stolen vehicles, aggravated assaults, thefts and burglaries, surges that many officers attribute to Prop. 47, which makes it difficult to keep drug addicts and other low-level offenders behind bars, "leaving them on the streets to repeat the same crimes and steal to feed their addictions." The uptick was felt broadly across the county, with 32 of 34 cities reporting more serious crimes, in some cases spikes of 30 to 50%. Statewide, violent crime rose 13% and property crime jumped 9% in the first half of 2015, while nationally, violent crime rose 1.7% and property crime fell by 4.2% over the same period.
TX Man Facing Execution Granted Stay: Wednesday's scheduled execution for a Texas inmate convicted of killing his two young daughters 15 years ago while their mother listened helplessly on the phone, has been halted by a federal appeals court seven hours before it was to be carried out. The AP reports that attorneys for 60-year-old John David Battaglia argued he deserved a court-appointed attorney to investigate and a fair hearing to determine his mental competency, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. In May 2001, Battaglia fatally shot his two daughters, aged nine and six, as revenge to his estranged wife, the girls' mother, for reporting complaints to his probation officer that resulted in the issuance of an arrest warrant. He would have been the 10th convicted killer executed in the U.S. this year and the sixth in Texas.
Orange County Police Blame Prop 47 For Crime Spike: Orange County, California, saw a 23% jump in crime last year, the greatest single-year jump in at least a decade, and the county's police officials believe Proposition 47, a measure that reduced several felony theft and drug offenses to misdemeanors, is to blame. Jordan Graham of the OC Register reports that the steepest increases in the county were in stolen vehicles, aggravated assaults, thefts and burglaries, surges that many officers attribute to Prop. 47, which makes it difficult to keep drug addicts and other low-level offenders behind bars, "leaving them on the streets to repeat the same crimes and steal to feed their addictions." The uptick was felt broadly across the county, with 32 of 34 cities reporting more serious crimes, in some cases spikes of 30 to 50%. Statewide, violent crime rose 13% and property crime jumped 9% in the first half of 2015, while nationally, violent crime rose 1.7% and property crime fell by 4.2% over the same period.
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