Crime and Consequences Blog

What Cannibalism Looks Like

2013-05-18T14:39:16Z

It looks like this.

Lafler's principal problem is not that it incentivizes even more lying and sharp practice than goes on right now, although that's one outcropping sure to lie ahead. This was on graphic display yesterday, as OJ and his present crew of lawyers tore into his last crew (and Yale Galanter in particular) for allegedly telling OJ it was legal to use self-help (and armed self-help at that) when OJ was "recovering" what he claimed was his property in a Las Vegas hotel room.

For his efforts, OJ earned an armed robbery conviction and a 9 to 33 year sentence. He is now seeking a new trial, claiming, inter alia, that Mr. Galanter failed to convey a plea bargain that, had OJ known about it, would have created a much more lenient outcome for him.

Ineffective assistance of counsel claims have always produced the ugly spectacle of the current batch of defense lawyers gnawing at the last batch, with the client's most recent (and fabricated or not fabricated, take your choice) version of events providing the teeth. With Lafler having furnished yet another avenue for losing defendants to game the system, the aesthetics, not to mention the honesty, of criminal representation is about to take a nosedive it can ill afford.

DSM-5 Tomorrow

2013-05-17T23:00:13Z

Lena Sun reports in the WaPo on the 5th edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, to be released tomorrow. She also discusses the controversies, some of which we have noted on this blog here, here, and here.

Well, at least they dumped the Roman numerals.

News Scan

2013-05-17T18:47:41Z

CA Corrections Tries to Sugarcoat Realignment: Paige St. John of the Los Angeles Times reports on a new study by the California Department of Corrections promoted by a press release announcing that arrests are down under Realignment. What was not mentioned by the press release is that repeat offenses are up. Roughly half the criminals released from prison before Realignment were rearrested more than once for new crimes. After Realignment 63% of those released are rearrested more than once. Our review of the study found that felony arrests for criminals released after Realignment were up significantly. Also omitted from CDCR's press release is the fact that the number of parolees arrested for new felonies is up. The total arrests are down a little because a decrease in arrests for supervision violations offsets the increase in felony arrests.

Court to Rule on Mississippi Murderer's Second Conviction: A Mississippi man who had his execution for the 1992 murders of two college students stayed by the state Supreme Court earlier this month will receive a ruling on his post-conviction claims for two other murders in late June. AP reporter Jack Elliott writes that Willie Jerome Manning was within hours of execution on May 7th when the state high court issued a stay to allow a DNA test Manning claims will exonerate him. His conviction and death sentence for the 1993 murders of two elderly woman were upheld on direct appeal. A judge's ruling on his post conviction claim that prosecutors withheld evidence will be announced on June 28.

Mr. Nicey Has a Message for America

2013-05-17T04:10:58Z

It didn't take defense-oriented types long to come up with the theory that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was merely the teenage tag-along to his charismatic older brother when he planted the Boston Marathon bomb. He wasn't really a Muslim radical, you see, just a fun-loving, impressionable kid.

That was then. Today comes news that Dzhokhar scrawled a note inside the boat where he hid out. Here's the ABC News headline:

"F*** America, Boston Marathon Suspect Wrote in Boat."

The story begins:

As police searched for him, and as he lay bleeding in his boat hideout, Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev wrote "F*** America" on the side panel of the boat, police in Massachusetts told ABC News.
Officers said they also discovered the phrase "Praise Allah" on the boat's side panels and several anti-American screeds, including references to Iraq, Afghanistan and "the infidels."

A BostonHerald.com story notes that Dzhokhar referred to the victims, including an eight-year old boy, as "collateral damage," echoing Timothy McVeigh's famous phrase.

With any luck, Dzhokhar will be joining Timmy real soon.

Realignment, Federal Version

2013-05-17T03:11:55Z

It's not just California. Fox News carries this story, which begins:

Hundreds of illegal immigrants with criminal records were released earlier this year as the Obama administration prepared for budget cuts, according to newly released data that challenged claims the program involved "low-risk" individuals ****Of the 2,226 detainees that were released in February, the department revealed, "622 have been identified as having some type of criminal conviction."

Down the page, the story relates:

Nelson Peacock, assistant secretary for legislative affairs, said ICE focused on [releasing] those that "posed no significant threat to public safety."

What makes me think that no "significant" threat means that those released are thought to be likely to break into someone's house other than Mr. Peacock's?

Kosher Meals in Prison

2013-05-16T17:40:49Z

Florida prisons must provide inmate Bruce Rich with kosher meals under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), the Eleventh Circuit has held. Jacob Gershman has this post at WSJ Law Blog. "Mr. Rich ... is a lifelong Orthodox Jew who observes the Sabbath and 'believes that keeping kosher is fundamental to the Jewish faith and is necessary to conform to God's will as expressed in the Torah,' his attorneys stated in an appellate brief."

Lifelong? He has not always been so scrupulous about obeying God's will, such as "Honor your father and mother..." and "You shall not murder." Exodus 20:12-13. At least he didn't ask for sympathy because he is an orphan, the classic example of chutzpah.

I'm kind of surprised that Florida officials resisted as long as they did. This is precisely why Congress included prisoners in RLUIPA, for better or worse.

Criminal Implications of the IRS Scandal

2013-05-16T04:16:32Z

When the IRS scandal first broke, I noted one possible criminal violation, 18 USC §241. John Malcolm and Hans von Spakovsky have this post at The Foundry, the blog of the Heritage Foundation, noting this a few other possibilities.

Cop Killer Executed

2013-05-16T00:41:58Z

Jeffrey Williams was executed in Texas for the murder of Houston police officer Troy Blando in 1999. Allan Turner has this story in the Houston Chronicle. The US Supreme Court order denying a stay and a writ of certiorari is here. No dissent is noted.

Ariel Castro Pleads Not Guilty

2013-05-15T21:30:05Z

The problem with the grotesque tale out of Cleveland in which Ariel Castro kidnapped, raped, starved, chained, beat and abused three young women for ten years is not Mr. Castro. It's with those who have prejudged him.

That's the story from his snarling defense lawyers. In today's story, they have this to say (emphasis added):

"The initial portrayal by the media has been one of a 'monster' and that's not the impression that I got when I talked to him for three hours," [defense counsel Craig Weintraub] said to Cleveland's WKYC-TV. "I know that family members who have been interviewed by the media have expressed that as well."
Craig argues that Ariel is a loving father who is committed to his daughter.
He is "extremely committed to the well being and positive future for his daughter, who he loves dearly. And if people find that to be a disconnect from what he's alleged to have done, then the people will just have to deal with it. We just know how he feels about his little girl."

There's the old story of the fellow who murders his parents and then pleads for mercy because he's an orphan, but Castro's defense team has topped that. He deserves mercy, you see, because he (allegedly) loves the girl who came into this world by means of his raping her terrified, chained, teenage mother.

OK, fine. I trust the comments section will be filled by those explaining how this unbelievably vile rendition is really just, ya know, defending the Constitution, etcetera. Have at it, gentlemen.

News Scan

2013-05-15T21:00:00Z

Gov. Brown's New Budget Has Little Impact on Realignment: Andrew Edwards of the Daily Bulletin reports that Gov. Brown's Revised budget proposal will make few changes to current realignment policy. Under the new budget a county could exchange felons facing sentences of three years in county jail with prison inmates whose remaining terms were less than three years. This is a weakened version of recently killed legislation that would have required offenders sentenced to more than three years to serve that time in state prison rather than a county jail. The proposal also allocates a small increase in funds for county probation departments.

Murder Within Prison

2013-05-15T18:16:50Z

What punishment should society impose on a prisoner, already in for life, who murders a correctional officer?

1) Death.
2) No punishment at all (i.e., a meaningless additional prison sentence).

A jury in Everett, Washington made the correct choice today. Steve Miletich has this story for the Seattle Times.

He Keeps Going and Going.......

2013-05-15T04:42:39Z

Had enough of OJ?

No, you haven't. Not content with getting away with double murder almost 20 years ago, OJ is back in court, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel by the lawyer in his 2008 armed robbery trial.

The story is hard to decipher. Apparently, it's some sort of a Lafler claim. But three things are quite clear, not that we should be surprised by any of them.

First, nothing that happened was OJ's fault. It was his lawyer, and OJ was only acting on the advice of counsel. Second, a system that is already vastly over-litigated and overspending is willing to tolerate apparently unending concoctions to soak up yet more time and money. Third, the defense bar relishes its re-birth as the modern incarnation of cannibalism, as one crew of defense lawyers munches on the carcass of the last crew.

In short, the current goings-on display a good deal of what's wrong with the practice of criminal law in this country, and the picture is not pretty.

Drugs, the Victimless Crime, Vol. Eight Zillion

2013-05-14T22:57:52Z

One of the principal arguments for legalizing drugs is that they are "victimless." This is false even when the argument concerns only the user. It is all the more so when one considers the large number of non-user deaths and injuries caused by drug-impaired driving.

There is another category of victims seldom mentioned, however. They are in an even poorer position to protect themselves from the consequences of drug abuse than the driver or pedestrian suddenly slammed into by whomever felt like getting high that day. A story about them appeared on Yahoo News this last Sunday.

I have no illusions that the awful facts the story recounts will give pause to the Drugs Are Wonderful lobby. That's because the lobby has never been about facts. It's about nostalgia for a long-gone youth full of pot smoking, now combined with a snarling ideology that mistakes license for liberty.

Gosnell Gets Life

2013-05-14T22:30:54Z

CBS is reporting that abortionist/butcher Kermit Gosnell has been sentenced to life imprisonment on two of the three first degree murder charges of which he was convicted. The deal is that he escapes the death penalty in exchange for his agreement to forego all appeals.

I hate to say it, but this is probably a wise move for the prosecutors. Given Gosnell's age (72), the possibility that all the controversy about abortion might have produced at least one holdout juror, and that getting from conviction to actual execution in Pennsylvania takes years, if it ever happens, I reluctantly conclude that this was the smart thing to do.

Only three people have been executed in the Keystone State since Gregg effectively reinstated the death penalty in 1976. The last execution there was of Gary Heidnik, in 1999, eleven years after his conviction and sentence (and Heidnik was a "volunteer").

Gosnell's cruelty was savage, and his murders multiple, but even had the jury decided on death, he very likely would have run out the clock before departing this planet on his own. The only consolation, if one wants to call it that, is that his time in prison is likely to be less than fully pleasant.

News Scan

2013-05-14T21:00:00Z

NE Death Penalty Repeal Dies: The Associated Press reports that a bill to repeal Nebraska's death penalty, which had been thought inevitable, was killed Tuesday. The bill was filibustered, a vote to end the filibuster fell five votes short. Though the death penalty remains in Nebraska, some lawmakers expressed frustration with the already hampered process. The state, which has 11 death row inmates, has not carried out an execution since 1997.

WA Prison Guard Killer's Fate Being Considered: The Associated Press reports, that the jury that convicted Byron Scherf for the murder of a prison guard at Washington State Prison began the sentencing trial Monday. Already serving a life term for multiple rapes, Scherf strangled Jayme Biendl to death in the chapel at the prison. In Washington, aggravated murder carries the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Continued from this News Scan.

CA Lax Oversight Leads to Convicts Becoming Counselors: Jim Miller of the Press-Enterprise reports that the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes announced findings Monday indicating that California's no-background check policy for hiring substance abuse counselors has resulted in convicts filling positions. The investigation uncovered convicted sex offenders, child molesters, substance abusers, and embezzlers working as counselors. The report says the power held by such individuals puts those seeking help at great risk. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg says the state must take action to keep children and other vulnerable parties safe. Past efforts to legislate more rigorous background checks have died in committee.