Penalty Killer

Teen Probation Enforcement Works

Glen — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:35:06 +0000

Portland police Sgt. Tony Passadore got “ticked off” when he’d run into youths causing trouble on the street, then learn they were on probation and violating their conditions. Calls to their probation officers wouldn’t result in immediate action. Police supervisors and prosecutors began to meet with juvenile justice officials to find a better way to hold these kids accountable and keep them from getting into further trouble, The Oregonian reports. They came up with Project Safe Streets. It started in February as a pilot program to target high-risk youth, and now police, prosecutors and juvenile justice leaders have agreed to extend it for one year, through June 2010.

The pilot gave a limited number of police supervisors the power to bring a youth to the Donald E. Long Juvenile Detention Center, if an officer had probable cause to believe the youth was violating probation. Kathy Brennan, who is in charge of juvenile custodies for the county and has worked in juvenile detention for more than 20 years, had her doubts. “As a social worker type, I was very worried handing carte blanche access to custodies to police,” she said. She also was concerned the police might unfairly target minorities. Now, she is one of the program’s biggest supporters. “This program works,” she said.

Complications of Death Penalty Cases Cost California Millions

Glen — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:57:05 +0000

The death penalty in California is enormously expensive compared to the sentence of life without parole. One death penalty case has already taken 28 years and may cost $5 million dollars. Chief Assistant Attorney General Dane Gillette, head of the criminal division, said Michael Ray Burgener’s case has been delayed because of legally required reviews. "When you have a new judge, you have to have that judge take a look at the record and base their decision on the review of the record." Burgener's case, which begain with his death sentence for murder in 1981, has been overturned numerous times, including decisions by conservative judges. Santa Clara University Law Professor Gerald F. Uelmen, who served as executive director of a state commission that examined criminal justice, called Burgener’s case "a great example" of the cost of imposing death instead of life without parole. Uelmen estimated that by the time Burgener's appeals are exhausted, the cost to the state could total $5 million more than the expense of a life term without parole. He also pointed out that an inmate on death row costs $92,000 a year more than an inmate in regular prison. He estimated that the state’s legal bill for appeals "has come to well over $400,000.” Uelman concluded,"It just shows that in California, a sentence of death is usually a sentence of life without parole, except it costs us a lot more."

2010 Olympics torch looks like marijuana joint…

Glen — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:02:48 +0000

The Olympics torch for the 2010 winter games in Vancouver is officially supposed to evoke "the cool, crisp and modern lines that are left behind in the snow and ice from winter sports." But a lot of people are saying the 37-inch white torch, with crimped ends and twist in the middle, resembles a hand-rolled marijuana joint, especially when it's lit (and viewed in the horizontal position).

It doesn't help that Vancouver is a major marijuana-producing area. The Olympic torch has now been dubbed the Olympic Toke.

Photo: © VANOC/COVAN

Environmental Groups See Divide over Landmark Climate

Glen — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:31:35 +0000

After months of debate and millions of dollars in lobbying, a House panel has approved a climate and energy bill to reduce greenhouse gases. While several environmental groups have welcomed the bill, others remain critical of its concessions to the coal, nuclear, gas and oil lobbies, the scaling back of the greenhouse gas reduction target, and the giving away of the majority of pollution credits for free, instead of auctioning them. We host a discussion with Tyson Slocum of Public Citizen and Dan Lashof of the Natural Resources Defense Council. [includes rush transcript]

Obama’s “Preventive Detention” Plan Goes Beyond Bush Admin Policies

Glen — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 12:16:15 +0000

We get reaction to President Obama and Vice President Dick Cheney’s dueling speeches on torture from Vince Warren, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Warren took part in a secret meeting Wednesday between Obama and several human rights groups. Warren says although he welcomes Obama’s willingness to hear critical views, he’s disappointed in Obama’s new support for preventive detention.

U.S. v. Heron-Salinas

Glen — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 17:30:00 +0000

U.S. v. Maness, No. 06-30607 (5-19-09). The 9th considers the issue of self representation at re-sentencing. The court should have allowed the defendant to represent himself at the re-sentencing. This was error. However, the 9th distinguishes between a structural error for the right to self-representation at the trial stage and at sentencing. The 9th holds that error in not allowing self representation at sentencing does not infect or call into question the integrity of the process. (Ed note: Really? Isn't sentencing as important and occasionally more important than the guilt phase?). Here, the error was harmless because the defendant did file briefs, and pleadings, and participated.

U.S. v. Heron-Salinas, No. 08-50276 (5-20-09). The 9th, in a per curiam, holds that a conviction for assault with a firearm under Calif. Penal Code 245(a)(2) is a categorical crime of violence and an aggravated felony for immigration purposes. The 9th considers a plain reading of the statute as satisfying the mens rea requirements of 18 U.S.C. 16(a) and (b) because the offense's elements of unlawful attempt, plus a present ability, to commit a violent injury on a person with a firearm, mean that the defendant acts in disregard for the safety of another.

U.S. v. Price, No. 05-30323 (5-21-09). This is a strong opinion on the prosecutor's obligation to disclose Brady material. The defendant was convicted of being a felon in possession when a gun was found under the driver's seat of a car in which he was riding as a passenger in the rear. The key piece of evidence was testimony by a witness that she had seen the defendant with a gun in his waistband 15 minutes prior. This witness, by all accounts, had little regard for truth and honesty. She had a lengthy history of run-ins with the police and convictions -- all of which was NOT disclosed to defense counsel despite a request. The witness was attacked for faulty perception and memory, but the Brady material was not uncovered until after the trial (it was disclosed in defendant's brother's case). The trial court held that the prosecutor may not have had the information, and so he was not responsible, and that it was harmless. The 9th (Reinhardt joined by Goodwin and Pregerson) was aghast. The opinion makes clear that a prosecutor has a responsibility to check with law enforcement for such information. "Under longstanding principles of constitutional due process, information in the possession of the prosecutor and his investigation officers that is helpful to the defendant, including evidence that might tend to impeach a government witness, must be disclosed to the defense prior to trial. It is equally clear that a prosecutor cannot evade this duty simply by becoming ignorant of the fruits of his agents' investigations." The error was prejudicial. The conviction is vacated and the matter remanded for a new trial.

Howard Zinn: I Wish Obama Would Listen to MLK

Glen — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:34:58 +0000

Legendary historian Howard Zinn joins us to talk about war, torture and the teaching of history. Zinn says Obama had Obama heeded the lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he wouldn’t be escalating US attacks abroad and increasing the size of the US military budget. We also play excerpts of the forthcoming documentary, The People Speak, featuring dramatic readings based on Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States.

Tax to increase next year?

Glen — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:28:50 +0000

Old-timers at the Statehouse are already wondering, while the echoes of the gavel that adjourned the 2009 Legislature are still faintly ringing in the building, about next year.

We’re especially wondering about the Kansas House, which institutionally looks at life in two-year segments, the length of the term of a state representative.

What we are seeing is a real gamble, some reason for taking that gamble, and the prospects for the 2010 Legislature, all while some just-returned-home lawmakers are reacquainting themselves with their pets.
This was a session of dramatic budget cuts, hundreds of millions of dollars pulled out of state agencies that we expect to do their jobs. Practically, it’s ugly stuff. But, for a new House Speaker, Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, who relentlessly opposed raising taxes or even putting already-in-law tax cuts on hold, the session was just what he proposed.

For a first-year Speaker, he got the end result he was after, and while it wasn’t pretty, it worked, and he and his House followers can say they delivered on their promise. Not a bad start, is it?

But next year, with a projection of $570 million in shortfalls again, including tax boosters that haven’t been approved anywhere, we’re looking at probably $650 million in cuts ahead.

The presumption is that next year turns out to be a year of tax increases. Oh, and did we mention that those tax increases come during a year when House members stand for reelection?

(The Senate? Members aren’t up for reelection until 2012, when it’s very possible that the economy will have rebounded and they’ll be able to base their brochures on recent nice things they’ve done for Kansans.)

Was this the right order? Spending cuts this year, tax increases next year?

Or, you have to wonder, was O’Neal’s no-tax victory this year a necessary step that will give him additional horsepower next year on rejecting or at least minimizing tax increases next year?

Upward Variance in Child Porn Case

Glen — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:50:00 +0000

U.S. v. Ray, 2009 WL 1133133 (4/28/09) (unpub'd) - The 10th affirms upward variance for transporting child porn from 180-210 months to 270 months because the defendant was a danger to the public, as evidenced by a very bad psychosexual evaluation. The d. ct. adequately considered the defendant's offer to be chemically castrated by explaining its variance grounds, even though the court didn't mention the castration proposal.

Magistrate Judge can decide self-representation

Glen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:05:00 +0000

In U.S. v. Schultz, No. 06-11673 (April 22, 2009), the Court affirmed fraud convictions and dismissed the defendant’s appeal in part for lack of jurisdiction.
The Court found no error in having a Magistrate Judge, as opposed to an Article III district court, decide Schultz’s Faretta motion for self-representation.
The Court noted that it lacked appellate jurisdiction to review the rulings of a Magistrate Judge, and therefore could not review Schultz’ challenge to the Magistrate Judge’s order denying self-representation. The Court noted that Schultz’ attorney orally objected at the commencement of trial in the district court to the lack of self-representation, and that the district court ruled "denied." However, the Court noted that Schultz’ oral motion did not alert the district court to the Magistrate Judge’s order. The Court rejected Schultz’s argument that the Magistrate Judge failed to inform him of the 10-day deadline for filing objections. The Court pointed out that the 10-day deadline notice requirement applies to reports and recomendations, not to pre-trial orders, and, further, was not yet in effect at the time of Schultz’ proceedings prior to September 2005.