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TX Defenders Lead Rare Probe of Prosecutor For Wrongful Conviction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Combining tenacity with legal creativity, lawyers for Texan Michael Morton are doing something that has never been attempted in the nation's 280 previous DNA exoneration cases, says the Austin American-Statesman: They're investigating the prosecutor who sent Morton away for a murder he did not commit. Armed with court-given power not typically available to defense lawyers, Morton's legal team has pried open investigative files and forced former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson to answer questions under oath and against his will. The team has also combed court records and interviewed current and former county officials to flesh out allegations that Anderson hid evidence that could have spared Morton from serving almost 25 years in prison for the murder of his wife, Christine. Law Prof. Bennett Gershman of Pace University in White Plains, N.Y., author of books on prosecutorial ethics, said several states have created innocence commissions to examine wrongful convictions in hopes of avoiding future mistakes. Gershman he has heard of no similar post-exoneration investigations led by defense lawyers that seek to assign blame for a wrongful conviction. |
FL System of Disciplining Cops, Prison Guards "Flawed at Every Level"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Opa-Locka, Fl., police officer German Bosque's personnel file looks more like a rap sheet than a résumé, with 40 cases, says the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Still, he has kept his badge. In Florida, the process of investigating and disciplining police officers and prison guards is flawed at every level, allowing troubled lawmen to return to work after repeated acts of misconduct, a Herald-Tribune investigation found. Law enforcement agencies around the state employ officers despite cases of serious misconduct in their past, involving everything from violence and perjury to drugs and sexual assault. Many more cases stay hidden because agencies fail to investigate or report complaints thoroughly. When agencies try to rid themselves of problem officers, they often are thwarted by powerful law enforcement unions, which have lobbied to give officers better protections and more opportunities to overturn negative findings. At the same time, the group of state officials that is supposed to be the last line of defense against wayward officers declines chance after chance to strip them of their certifications. No officer exemplifies the system's failure better than Bosque. |
40 Years After MA Experiment, Some States Cut Juvenile Incarceration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The outlook may be promising for at least some states to reduce the number of juvenile lawbreakers held in custody, experts told a forum in Washington, D.C., yesterday. Reviewing trends over several decades, Barry Krisberg of the University of California Berkeley Law School said that about a dozen states have enacted progressive juvenile-rehabilitation laws in recent years, after 47 states went the other way in the 1990s, passing some form of "get tough" laws on juvenile crime. Krisberg, who noted that California has reduced its total of 10,000 juveniles in prison to under 1,000, said a principal challenge now is to persuade prosecutors not to increase the number of cases in which accused juveniles are tried as adults. Among other speakers, Missouri official Tim Decker described how his state has modernized its juvenile-rehabilitation programs, and Vinny Schiraldi talked about how he worked to improve juvenile corrections in Washington, D.C. (he now is New York City probation chief.) The discussion was held during a session sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Youth Advocate Programs, Inc., marking 40 years after Jerome Miller closed Massachusetts' longstanding system of "training schools" for delinquents. From 1969 to 1973, Miller, as Massachusetts' first Commissioner of Youth Services, substituted more than 250 non-profit programs and agencies for the former training schools. The Casey Foundation says that 18 states have closed 52 youth corrections facilities since 2007, but as of that year, more than 60,000 youths remained confined, leading the foundation to declare that "America's heavy reliance on juvenile incarceration is unique among the world's developed nations." |
As Justice Probes, Seattle Orders "Complete Revamp" of Officer Rules
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Addressing concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice, Seattle Police Chief John Diaz ordered a "complete revamp" of how the Police Department develops its "professional standards and expectations" for officers and has created two new panels to oversee the use of force, the Seattle Times reports. The Police Department is conducting a "top-to-bottom review and rewrite" of its policies and procedures and invited the Justice Department to assist in that effort, Mayor Mike McGinn said. The sweeping moves, eight months after the Justice Department launched a civil-rights investigation into allegations that Seattle police have used excessive force and engaged in biased policing against minorities, appears to be a pre-emptive strike in anticipation of federal findings. McGinng told the Justice Department the city is engaging in a "more comprehensive approach to moving SPD forward and increasing public trust." Included is a new "Force Review Board" and a "Force Investigative Team" within the department. The department already has a Firearms Review Board that determines whether shootings by officers are justified. |
New Legislative Review On Employment Barriers for People With Criminal Records
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Three organizations collaborated to identifying policies that reduce the employment barriers faced by people with criminal records. As policy makers and advocates evaluate opportunities for reform heading into next year's state legislative sessions, the groups--the National Employment Law Project, the Sentencing Project, and the National HIRE Network--focus on proposed legislation that seeks to reduce crime and reward rehabilitation. People with criminal records now confront unprecedented employment challenges that are not solely the result of a weak labor market. The groups summarize laws on the subject enacted in 2010 and 2011 and report on "state trends of concern that broadly restrict employment based on a criminal record." |
For Third Time Recently, Supreme Court Revisits Confrontation Clause
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The issue of how prosecutors may use crime lab reports at a trial made its third appearance at the Supreme Court yesterday since a 5-4 ruling in 2009 said such reports may not be used in criminal trials unless the analysts responsible for creating them provide live testimony, reports the New York Times. In June, also by a 5-to-4 vote, the court said that only the analyst who did the work, rather than a colleague or supervisor, would do. The new question for the justices is whether expert witnesses could offer opinions linking defendants to crimes based on lab reports that had not been admitted into evidence. Justice Antonin Scalia, leading a movement to breathe new life into the Sixth Amendment's confrontagtion clause, said that expert testimony may not be used to smuggle evidence into a criminal trial without testimony from those who created it. The clause gives a criminal defendant the right "to be confronted with the witnesses against him." Justice Stephen Breyer said yesterday there were good reasons to make an exception to the usual rules for reports from accredited, independent crime labs. The alternative, he said, was "a sea change in normal criminal law practices" that could require testimony from 10 analysts in a single case, pushing "the system in the direction of relying on less reliable eyewitness testimony rather than more reliable technical laboratory DNA-type evidence." |
Copper Thefts Bedeviling Rapid Transit in San Francisco Area
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit says a project intended to speed trains in Contra Costa County, which was supposed to be done by now, was delayed 10 months after crooks stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of copper, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Rapid transit officials intend to spearhead a task force on metal theft in hopes of reducing a problem vexing numerous public agencies, utilities and businesses, costing millions of dollars a year. In Vallejo, Ca., officials said thieves have stripped copper wire from 77 streetlights and signal lights at five intersections since May. The cash-strapped city has been unable to replace much of the wiring, plunging some streets into darkness and forcing three of the intersections to be turned into four-way stops. Copper theft has been a problem for decades, but became particularly bad in the past eight years as prices for the metal rose along with demand from China and other industrializing countries. In the past few years, metal thieves have damaged grave sites and gutted foreclosed homes. They made off with a famous church bell from San Francisco, a brass plaque honoring assassinated Supervisor Harvey Milk, a bronze pelican, and pieces of a memorial to victims of a 1991 fire. |
Federal Board Orders Utah Police Chief Removal In Hatch Act Case
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The federal Merit System Protection Board ordered Ogden, Ut., to remove Jon Greiner as police chief for violating the Hatch Act or possibly face the loss of federal funds, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. In 2006, while he was police chief, Greiner was elected to the Utah Senate. He was running for re-election in 2010 when Democrats complained he was violating the Hatch Act, which bars government employees who oversee federal funds or are paid with them from seeking or holding partisan elected offices. In March 2010, an administrative law judge ruled that Greiner had violated the Hatch Act, and he dropped his bid for re-election. Earlier, Greiner said, "Our founding fathers would probably roll over in their graves at the notion that a part-time state or local citizen legislator would be denied his or her First Amendment rights." In his appeal, Greiner argued that his duties regarding grant funding were minimal and that most of them were performed before he ran for the state Senate |
NYC Investigating Alleged Officer Criticism of West Indians on Facebook
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Politicians and officials are criticizing the New York Police Department after the release of comments on Facebook in which users claiming to be officers heaped scorn on revelers at the annual West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn, says the New York Times. Police Commissioner, Raymond Kelly wouldn't comment, citing an internal affairs investigation pending. The Facebook page's existence had been noted during a trial in Brooklyn, and that the page disappeared from public view after a defense lawyer had found it, but not before he saved all the data. "Disgusting," the city public advocate, Bill de Blasio, said. "Reprehensible," said the Manhattan borough president, Scott Stringer. "Racist," said the Brooklyn borough president, Marty Markowitz. |
NY Settles Case for $3.5 Million Over Death of Teen In Detention
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New York state has settled a federal lawsuit for $3.5 million over the death of a Darryl Thompson, 15, who died during a 2006 altercation in the now-closed Tryon Boys Residentail Center, reports the Albany Times-Union. Thompson's civil rights lawsuit helped trigger a U.S. Department of Justice probe that forced the state to look at changes in the way its youth prisons are operated. "This was a tragic, very upsetting case," said E. Robert Keach III, who who sued the state on behalf of Thompson's family. The death occurred after Darryl Thompson had been denied recreational time, which led to a shouting match with two employees. The aides restrained Thompson, and they didn't release him until he became unconscious, despite his complaining that he couldn't breathe, the lawsuit said. A grand jury declined to indict any worker involved in the death. |
Some Dallas Bail Bondsmen Claim Defendant Rearrests With No Proof
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the very least, the standard operating procedure underpinning Dallas County's bail bond system should be "trust but verify," says the Dallas Morning News in an editorial. The actual situation is more like "look the other way and approve." In a series of articles, the newspaper detailed numerous cracks and loopholes in the county's bail bond system. Shoddy follow-through is costing county taxpayers and making a mockery of a system intended to assure that a defendant doesn't simply disappear. The latest fiasco involves bondsmen who filed court papers claiming that clients whom they had helped get out of jail - and who later skipped town - had been rearrested. Those rearrests of bail jumpers saved the bondsmen substantial money. The problem is that many bondsmen didn't file - nor did judges and lawyers demand - basic documentation to back up the rearrest claims. Some bondsmen make up these stories. |
Feds Issue New Rules to Crack Down on Fraud in Public Food Benefits
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Federal officials unveiled new rules to crack down on fraud in public food benefits, including targeting illegal sales on social media sites and investigating recipients who report their cards lost repeatedly, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Milwaukee area residents had offered to buy and sell benefits on Facebook and other sites. A state official said one Wisconsin resident has been disqualified from the state's food assistance program for using social media to sell benefits. A U.S. Department of Agriculture official said the agency was taking action after Internet trafficking of food assistance benefits had been highlighted by both the media and state officials around the country. The program formerly known as food stamps is now called FoodShare in Wisconsin and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at the federal level. A review by the Journal Sentinel - part of a larger investigation into FoodShare fraud - found nine Facebook users in Milwaukee and about 70 altogether nationwide who posted to Facebook seeking to either buy or sell food assistance benefits illegally or help others do so. |
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