A Bettah Bayou

Under a new law LA Inmates could be compensated for having been wrongly incarcerated.

Under the bill, those who are falsely convicted and serve jail time could collect damages of as much as $500,000 and get a state-paid education and job-training benefits. House Bill 663, applies to inmates whose convictions have been reversed because the facts proved their innocence. The state Pardon Board must also have recommended a full pardon for the individual.

Meanwhile...

Fellow slatester David Cole has this interesting piece on the present day McCarran-Walter Act. In essence, Cole explains how this new legislation means that pretty much any non-citizen with political beliefs can now be deported just for having expressed those beliefs. Scary stuff that is worth a read.

The Beginning of the Booker Backlash

Ushering in a potentially awful age of mandatory minimum sentences, the House just passed a bill that would make gang crimes federal offenses Read it and weep.

Take that Sneddon

it's hard to get a sense of just how outrageous some of the crap judge Melville has allowed into evidence is, but today's testimony by McCauley Culkin gies you a pretty good idea.
Not only did the judge allow unbelievably predjudicial prior allegations into evidence, he allowed them in through the back door. So here's the defense presenting the supposed victim to deny the allegations. It's so Alice in Wonderland, or maybe Michael in Neverland.

And once again, I LOVE that the prosecutors are so absurdly rigid that they still seem to think everyone was molested whether they remember it or not. 'Must have been while they were sleeping.'

Swiss Christo!

Swiss put glacier under wraps to slow ice melt

Yes it's true, in Gemsstock, they are wrapping a part of their glacier to try to preserve it. That's one solution, of course Kyoto might have been a better one. Then again, with an administration that seeks to maximize short term profit at the risk of global disaster, many more cute factoids like this await us.

Treatment for hating your life

It seems fitting in this age of therapy that the
Runaway Bride has entered a treatment program. When asked what she was getting treatment for, no one could really provide a clear answer. You know--it's treatment, like for treating people who need some treatment, like when they run away and say black people kidnapped them--that kind of treatment. You know.

Eyewitness Mayhem

Another excellent piece on how shaky eyewitness testimony can lead to jail. A very good read.

Capital Scum

Here is a perfect example of how corporate america preys on the poor and middle class.

Some consumers complained that they received pre-approved offers of credit that advertised credit limits of up to $5,000, but received cards with limits of $200 or $300. Consumers also complained that these low limit cards had very high fees: a $59 annual membership fee, a $29 late fee, and a $29 over-limit fee.

Consumers who charged amounts close to the $200 limit the first month would already be over limit when they received their first statements because of the $59 annual fee.

Some consumers quickly realized they could not afford to keep the card because of the high fees and high interest rates. Consumers who tried to cancel their cards were told they could not cancel so long as there was an outstanding balance.

In the meantime, late fees, over-limit fees, and interest continued to accumulate even after the consumers tried to close their accounts. Paying their minimum monthly balance did nothing to reduce these consumers' balances.

Oh Radosh--Ouch

This from the enchanting snipe-fest between my friend (and journalist) Daniel Radosh and (journalist) Peter Landesman:
A snarky Radosh post citing Landesman's early work for "Full House Stephanie"

Now this is a tiny bit mean--the guy's gotta make a living and I imagine everyone's written some crap sometime. But what I like most about it is that Radosh's post links to an amazon page and so, thanks to a quirk of cookies, if you scroll down, Amazon will tell you that the same people who are interested in "Full House Stephanie: Ten ways to ruin a date" are also reading:
* The Underminer : The Best Friend Who Casually Destroys Your Life by Mike Albo
* Created in Darkness by Troubled Americans : The Best of McSweeney's, Humor Category by DAVE EGGERS and
* Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell

Just in case you were wondering about Radosh.net's best seller list...

This from Wisconsin

Keith Belzer and Keith Findley are doing good stuff in Wisconsin which may finally prompt Wisconsin to adopt a proposal to videotape a defendant's statements.

Curses Snubbed Again

The National Law Journal has it's annual 40 under 40 list of lawyers and And as usual there is not a single front line defender or civil legal aid lawyer among them.

There are a number of prosecutors (of course there are) a few other government lawyers, a few academics a bunch of corporate tools, and one or two token 'do gooders' but no-one on the defense side. And no one who does the tough front line stuff. (They had to reach down to a 29 year old at CCR just to fill the impact litigation niche).

I find this offensive. It is a perfect reflection of just how poorly the public defender community is viewed by the larger legal community. Unlike being a prosecutor, PD work is dismissed. It doesn't occur to most people that many of the PD's (I know this having been invoved in hiring them over the years) have fancier degrees, sharper minds and quicker tongues than most of the corporate lawyers at the fancy wall street firms.

It is high time that they be included in lists like these.

Quotable...

Here's what Mickey Sherman (who also defended Skakel) had to say about his new client who is accused offaking checks worth $43 million:

"He's an enterprising finance guy, an extraordinarily intelligent young man. At some point, I think the facts will either indicate that he is culpable or is not culpable."

There's a confidence inspiring endorsement of innocence.

Riker's Race

Hey Great Idea! Let's run around Rikers!

Yes indeed, there is nothing quite like seeing the world's largest penal colony as a recreational opportunity.

Let's not ponder the question of why when crime rates are plummeting incarceration rates are still on the rise...oh no, instead, let's get some corrections officers and some awful upper east siders and have a little race.

Here's a little taste of the times's coverage of the Riker's race:

"The prison yards were empty, but cheers, jeers and obscenities could be faintly heard from narrow window openings. It was tame compared with years when prisoners would heckle and cheer enthusiastically, said Paul Epstein, 33, a corporate lawyer from the Upper East Side who was running the race for the fourth time.

'One year, they were really cursing us out, so I ran like this to get them back,' he said, putting his hands behind his back, as if cuffed. 'I didn't hear much after that.'

His cousin, David Epstein, 64, a real estate broker from Manhattan, said he had run the race about six times. He said he enjoyed visiting prisons around the world and jogging around them."

Are you kidding? What's wrong with these people?

Hey, Paul Epstein--it's very cool for a corporate lawyer to be mocking poor black incarcerated people. That's really hip--and a fair fight too: you're running around with a bunch of CO's and they're inside cages--try being that smug in the South Bronx you moron.

All I can say, is that I truly hope imbeciles like the Epstein brothers someday get to watch the race from the other side of the walls.

Ft. Tresspass

Quick, Call the Cops!
Someone's building a Snow Fort in the High-School Parking Lot!

Yes it's true Jason Osorio was just convicted of tresspassing for making a snow-fort in the high-school parking lot. Sentencing is set for May 16th.

Give Flaming Eagle his Peyote Back!

In a phenomenal editorial, The Daily Herald, in Provo Utah writes:

"If Utah County prosecutors want to save themselves from further embarrassment, they will immediately give back James Warren 'Flaming Eagle' Mooney's peyote and other items they improperly confiscated from his church."

What follows is the story of an out of control prosecutor and his bizarre hounding of a small native american church.

When do Judges LOVE Public Defenders?

Sorry for the belated blogging...
The judge in the Blystone case said such nice things about the Public Defender. Of course he did--he wanted a death verdict to stand and didn't want the PD found ineffective.

Go Slow Mesereau

With the case against MJ having turned (as I predicted) into complete shit, I have to wonder whether Tom Mesereau's decision to call several witnesses to say they weren't molested was wise. Then again, he clearly knows his adversaries better than I do. Because, according to today's reports, on cross-examination, Deputy District Attorney Ron Zonen challenged Robson's assertion Jackson had never touched him inappropriately.

"What you're really telling us is that nothing ever happened while you were awake," Zonen said to Robson at one point.

Are you serious? Now we're at: The abuse happened, but the "victims" were asleep and never knew about it.

Oh god--please revoke these prosecutor's licenses--where's the good faith basis for that question?

Coke on Coke

A Woman Named Denise Coke Arrested on Cocaine Charges. 33 pounds to be exact.

Saving Grace...

I may have to blog more about this later but for now, this one Speaks for itself.

For the third time Nancy Grace's conduct as a prosecutor has been criticized by an appellate court.

In 1997, the Georgia Supreme Court skewered Grace for her actions in prosecuting Weldon Wayne Carr for allegedly setting fire to his house and murdering his wife. Carr later was freed when Fulton prosecutors waited too long to bring him up for a retrial. While the court reversed Carr's 1994 conviction for other reasons, the justices said Grace withheld evidence entitled to the defense and made improper opening statements and closing arguments.

"We conclude that the conduct of the prosecuting attorney in this case demonstrated her disregard of the notions of due process and fairness, and was inexcusable," wrote then Chief Justice Robert Benham. Carr v. State, 267 Ga. 701 (1997).

In 1994, the Georgia high court voted 6-1 to reverse a heroin trafficking conviction won by Grace because she "exceeded the wide latitude of closing argument" by referring to drug-related murders and serial rape, which were not at issue. Bell v. State, 263 Ga. 776 (1994).

And now this...

Leash Girl Cops Out (Not!)

Yes indeed, it's a mistrial thanks to Charles Graner, the Lothorio of Abu Ghraib (he's already impregnated England, boned someone else and married a fellow inmate).

Eeeew what was she thinking?
Who would sleep with THAT GUY?
(Thanks to Anony. my original post was a bit of a generalization--)

Quick Taser the Handcuffed Guy...

Thanks to Karol for this:
Yes, a cop really did taser a handcuffed guy at the hospital.
Twice.

"Before the Taser was used, Wheeler aggressively resisted efforts to insert a catheter in order to get a urine sample, officials said.


Linnenkamp wrote in a statement to investigators that he "administered the Taser discharge upon Mr. Wheeler in order to get him to release his penis so that the catheter could be inserted." After Wheeler was shocked in the forearm area two times with the Taser, the report says he "voluntarily provided a urine sample to the medical staff."

Sneddon is off his his rocker!

What the hell is Sneddon
doing and why the hell is Mellville letting him do it?
The Jackson case has turned into a schooling on how a mad-dog DA with an agenda backed by a judge who seems to care only for a conviction, can consipre to pervert the code of evidence and turn a criminal trial into a zany witch-hunt. Sneddon deserves to be recalled for his antics and Mellville should be (and probably will be) reversed for his.

Most recently, after being burried by a witness he himself called, Sneddon called a cop in order to testify that the witness he just put up
(Michael Jackson's ex-wife) actually called him a 'sociopath.' That's great Tom--impeach your own witnesses. Gooooood.

When you get to this level of absurdity--the introduction of legal books from a 1993 raid, and calling cops to impeach your own witnesses, as far as I'm concerned you've gone over the edge from questionable prosecution to making an utter mockery of the system itself.

Radosh v. Landesman Part Deux

Ignore the bluefin above, (It was just too cool to omit) and tune into Radosh.net for an astonishingly candid if occasionally vitriolic exchange between my friend Daniel Radosh and Peter Landesman (who I've only met once) concerning Landesman's cover story in the NYTM.

Guard-Inmate Sex Goes Unprosecuted

The headline says it all.

FYI--Blogging may be a bit light over the next few days as I'll be off at a 'leadership training' conference.

How Could I Forget?

To file a quick post about one of the greatest threats to indigent defense out there now-- A Michigan law that essentially denies appellate counsel to many of the state's indigent. This one could be very very bad....

Leash Girl Cops Out

Lynndie England (who reputeldy suffers from learning disabilities and psychatirc problems) is pleading guilty and going to prison while the only higher-up to be tarnished (Karpinsky) gets a "reprimand". That's our response to Abu Ghraib? Pathetic. Even scarier--I'm pretty sure she and Charles Graner (serving 10 years) had a baby together. Both (I think) were jail guards stateside before exporting their intimate knowledge of inmate treatment to Iraq. Imagine that kid.

P-BS

Does this guy LOOK like a Republican hatchet man or what?



I try not to blog about NY Times pieces anymore, but this one really hit me. It concerns the Republican efforts to pressure PBS into becoming more conservative.

The picture above is of Ken Tomlinson--CPB's chairman.

It makes my blood boil--objective news reporting isn't liberal. It's objective. The fact that these guys can't stand objectivity is itself a cause for grief. That they control all three branches of government is cause for terror.

Only an Asshole...

Would actually try to prosecute the runaway bride.

I mean isn't it enough that she ditched her 600 person wedding? She's shamed for life for heaven's sakes. Should we really spend taxpayer money to put her in jail? Seems a bit stupid to me. A bit like a bunch of cops and prosecutors looking to capitalize on a high profile humiliation. Hey doofus--how about you go arrest some white collar criminals huh?

Better Cancer than Sex

Thanks to my friend Oren to directing me .to this scary post.

More Friend News

My buddy Peter Maass has this excellent piece in the New York Times Magazine titled The Way of the Commandos.

The piece follows Adnan Thabit, the leader of Iraq's most fearsome counterinsurgency force (and a former general under Saddam) and includes a chilling account of his visit to a detention center. Peter gently makes the point that while effective, there are dangers in getting into bed with a guy like this. For more of his stuff, you can get to his site via my blogroll.