Cop Killer Gets Death Sentence: An illegal immigrant convicted of murdering two California police officers was given a death sentence by a Sacramento jury Tuesday. Angela Greenwood of CBS13 reports that jurors took just four hours to return a unanimous recommendation of the death sentence for Luis Bracamontes. In an October 24, 2014 crime spree lasting four hours, Bracamontes gunned down Sacramento Deputy Sheriff Danny Oliver and Placer County Sheriff's Detective Michael Davis, Jr., attempted to kill two others, and stole two cars before he was arrested. Bracamontes had been deported four times prior to killing the two officers. During his trial and sentencing he swore at jurors and the victims' family members and laughed when the jury forewoman announced their recommendation of a death sentence.
Study Blames "ACLU Effect" for Chicago Crime Spike: A University of Utah study found that a 2015 agreement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Police Department requiring officers to fill out contact cards every time they stopped an individual, virtually eliminated pro-active policing and invited more crime. Michael Tobin of Fox News reports that the agreement, which followed massive demonstrations protesting the 2015 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, reduced police stops of suspicious individuals from 600,000 in 2015 to 100,000 in 2016. The result, said researchers, was a 58% increase in fatal shootings totaling 754 victims that year. The ACLU is calling the study "junk science." Professor Paul Cassell, who coauthored the study, countered that they had reviewed several factors including anger over the McDonald shooting, mistrust of police and even the opiod epidemic, but concluded that burden of documenting police contacts discouraged officers from stopping suspicious people and checking for weapons, leaving more guns in the hands of criminals. The full paper is available on SSRN.
Injunction Blocking CA Executions Lifted: A ruling by a Marin County judge has lifted a 2012 injunction issued by the same court which had blocked executions in California. The ruling in Sims v. CDCR by Superior Court Judge Roy O. Chernus answered a January 21, 2018 motion by the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation (CJLF) on behalf of Kermit Alexander. Alexander's mother, sister, and two nephews were murdered in 1984 by gang member Tiequon Cox, who is on death row awaiting execution. Alexander is also the proponent of Proposition 66, the initiative adopted in 2016 to remove unnecessary delay from the state's death penalty process. One of the causes of delay was a court-ordered requirement that execution protocols be adopted under the state's cumbersome Administrative Procedure Act. The 2012 injunction was issued after condemned murderer Michael Sims claimed that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) had failed to properly meet that requirement. That requirement was eliminated by Proposition 66. In January, CJLF filed the motion, which was later joined by the CDCR.
UPDATE: CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger appeared on the John & Ken Show in Los Angeles yesterday to talk about this ruling. To hear it, click here, pick the full show for 3/28, and use the control panel at the bottom to go 65 minutes in to catch Kent's segment.
Study Blames "ACLU Effect" for Chicago Crime Spike: A University of Utah study found that a 2015 agreement between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Chicago Police Department requiring officers to fill out contact cards every time they stopped an individual, virtually eliminated pro-active policing and invited more crime. Michael Tobin of Fox News reports that the agreement, which followed massive demonstrations protesting the 2015 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, reduced police stops of suspicious individuals from 600,000 in 2015 to 100,000 in 2016. The result, said researchers, was a 58% increase in fatal shootings totaling 754 victims that year. The ACLU is calling the study "junk science." Professor Paul Cassell, who coauthored the study, countered that they had reviewed several factors including anger over the McDonald shooting, mistrust of police and even the opiod epidemic, but concluded that burden of documenting police contacts discouraged officers from stopping suspicious people and checking for weapons, leaving more guns in the hands of criminals. The full paper is available on SSRN.
Injunction Blocking CA Executions Lifted: A ruling by a Marin County judge has lifted a 2012 injunction issued by the same court which had blocked executions in California. The ruling in Sims v. CDCR by Superior Court Judge Roy O. Chernus answered a January 21, 2018 motion by the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation (CJLF) on behalf of Kermit Alexander. Alexander's mother, sister, and two nephews were murdered in 1984 by gang member Tiequon Cox, who is on death row awaiting execution. Alexander is also the proponent of Proposition 66, the initiative adopted in 2016 to remove unnecessary delay from the state's death penalty process. One of the causes of delay was a court-ordered requirement that execution protocols be adopted under the state's cumbersome Administrative Procedure Act. The 2012 injunction was issued after condemned murderer Michael Sims claimed that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) had failed to properly meet that requirement. That requirement was eliminated by Proposition 66. In January, CJLF filed the motion, which was later joined by the CDCR.
UPDATE: CJLF Legal Director Kent Scheidegger appeared on the John & Ken Show in Los Angeles yesterday to talk about this ruling. To hear it, click here, pick the full show for 3/28, and use the control panel at the bottom to go 65 minutes in to catch Kent's segment.
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