22 Feb 2012

February 22, 2012 Today's Stories

IL Gov. Quinn Calls for Prison Closings, Including Super-Max ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Illinois Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn will deliver a bad-news budget today, suggesting that the state close numerous prisons, mental health centers and social service offices, and other cuts, says the Chicago Tribune. The problem is the same as it's been for years: there's not enough money coming in while costs are rising. The governor will suggest closing the controversial Tamms super-max prison in far southern Illinois, the women's prison in Dwight and juvenile justice centers in Joliet and downstate Murphysboro. Shutting down the super-maximum prison already is drawing plaudits from critics who contend the conditions at Tamms are so harsh that it qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment. John Maki of the John Howard Association, said Tamms is "overly harsh" on prisoners, who are kept in near-isolation. The prisoners face psychological damage that can make behavior worse, he said. While it would be cheaper to house super-max inmates elsewhere, Maki said, it "doesn't make sense" to close the women's prison at Dwight and it doesn't address cells that are "seriously overcrowded." Chicago Tribune

School Crimes: 17 Student Homicides, 359,000 Violent Cases in Year ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A new federal edition of school crime indicators says that of the 33 violent deaths in schools in the year ending June 30, 2010, there were 25 homicides, five were suicides, and three were "legal interventions." The cases included 17 student homicides and one student suicide. In 2010, students ages 12-18 were victims of about 828,000 nonfatal victimizations at school, including 470,000 thefts and 359,000 violent victimizations, 91,400 of which were serious violent victimizations. In 2009, 31 percent of grade 9-12 students said they had been in a physical fight in the previous year U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Newspaper: Give LA DA's Discretion to Avoid Mandatory Minimums ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No state in the nation, and no country in the world, sends people to prison at Louisiana's high rate. That's counterproductive in many cases, particularly nonviolent crimes by first-times offenders, says the New Orleans Times-Picayune in an editorial. The state also can't afford it. The inflexibility politicians added in recent decades to sentencing laws has contributed to the large prison population. Mandatory minimums throughout the criminal code eroded much of the discretion prosecutors and judges once had. The state sentencing commission, after spending months forging law enforcement consensus, wanted to restore some of that discretion by recommending that district attorneys be allowed to seek sentences below the mandatory minimum for all crimes except murder and aggravated rape. Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration objected. At the request of the governor, the commission excluded all violent crimes and all sex crimes from its proposal to give district attorneys more discretion. Legislators should consider the sentencing commission's original proposals and give the justice system more discretion than what Gov. Jindal favored, the newspaper says. New Orleans Times-Picayune

High Court Blocks Suit Against CA Officers Over Defective Warrant ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California police officers cannot be sued because they used a warrant that may have been defective to search a woman's house, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today, 6 to 3, according to the Associated Press. The court threw out the lawsuit against Los Angeles County Sheriff's Detective Curt Messerschmidt and other police officials. They were sued after searching Augusta Millender's house looking for her foster son, who shot at his ex-girlfriend with a sawed-off shotgun. The warrant said the police could look for any weapons on the property and gang-related material. The weapon and the shooter were not found but police confiscated Millender's shotgun. Millender contended that the lawsuit was overbroad. Lower courts let her sue officers personally despite their claims of immunity. The high court reversed that ruling in an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts; the court's three female members dissented. Washington Post

NRA Claims "Massive Obama Conspiracy" Against 2nd Amendment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gun sales have skyrocketed since Barack Obama became president, says Bloomberg Business Week blogger Joshua Green. During that time, the stock of gunmaker Sturm Ruger (RGR) has outperformed gold. Analysts aren't sure what's causing the trend. Many anticipated a boost in sales from gun owners fearful that Obama might outlaw assault weapons - the "fear trade." They expected a brief spike, no more. Instead, gun sales kept rising, and they've continued to rise even since last fall. Ruger, up 400 percent at the time, is now up more than 500 percent. Despite the fact that Obama hasn't made the slightest feint toward regulating guns, firearms enthusiasts have whipped themselves into a paranoid frenzy, convinced that this is all just part of some elaborate conspiracy. National Rifle Association executive director Wayne LaPierre told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) two weeks ago of a "a massive Obama conspiracy to deceive voters and hide his true intentions to destroy the Second Amendment during his second term." The website ammo.net has a graphic on just why Obama is, as they put it, the "greatest gun salesman in America." Bloomberg Business Week

Meth Busts Up 7% in Missouri; Database Gets Some Credit ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Methamphetamine lab busts in Missouri increased 7 percent in 2011 but declined in areas where decongestants containing the key ingredient are available only by prescription, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Missouri finished 2011 with 2,096 lab seizures. Illinois, with twice Missouri's population, raided 584 meth labs. St. Louis saw one of the biggest jumps, a sixfold increase to 24 labs from four. City police already have seized eight meth labs so far this year, said Lt. Adrienne Bergh. "It's because a lot of the outlying areas are requiring prescriptions for pseudoephedrine products and it's still not a requirement in the city to have a prescription," she said. A database financed by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents the pharmaceutical industry, began tracking purchases of pseudoephedrine on Jan. 1, 2011. The system blocked 49,000 consumers from topping monthly or annual sales limits. The association's Elizabeth Funderburk said the database may account for the increase in raids. "In terms of labs being on the increase, law enforcement has an effective tool to find methamphetamine labs and it stands to reason that when you have a good tool, you will find more labs - just like if you have a radar gun, you will catch more speeders," she said. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

How Informants Help FBI Break Major Terrorism Cases ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ An increasingly active informant pool is helping the FBI identify suspects involved in alleged plots against the U.S. from within, says USA Today. Since the 9/11 attacks, when virtually no anti-terror intelligence network existed, federal authorities have tapped into a vast network of informants - many in the Muslim community - who have assisted in the arrests of suspects. Civil rights advocates and defense lawyers have complained that the tactics smack of a disproportionate focus on Muslims. "We are getting regular calls from people across the country who are being approached by the (federal government) to act as informants," said Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American Islamic Relations. "And we are concerned about what kind of pressure is being used to get that cooperation." FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said, "We do not investigate people based solely [ ] on their race, ethnicity, national origin or religious affiliation," In the complaint last week in a plot to bomb the U.S. Capitol, FBI agent Steven Hersem noted that the informant not only brought the suspect to the FBI but accompanied the suspect and the undercover agent Friday on the drive toward the Capitol where the suspect was arrested. USA Today

PA Judge: Court-Appointed Capital Lawyer Pay "Grossly Inadequate" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A report to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concludes that the pay for court-appointed lawyers in Philadelphia death-penalty cases is "grossly inadequate" and "unacceptably increases the risk of ineffective assistance of counsel," says the Philadelphia Inquirer. Last year, The Inquirer reported that scores of death-penalty cases had been reversed by appellate courts or sent back for new hearings because of serious errors by defense attorneys. Low pay is a key reason, critics say. In Philadelphia, fewer than 30 of 11,000 lawyers are willing to take capital-case appointments for indigent clients and also meet minimum state requirements for doing so. Philadelphia pays less than any other county in Pennsylvania, according to defense lawyers who petitioned the Supreme Court to increase the fees or halt death-penalty cases until that happens. The high court said more information was needed and asked Common Pleas Judge Benjamin Lerner, who oversees homicide cases in Philadelphia, to determine if the pay for court-appointed lawyers was "so inadequate that it can be presumed that court-appointed counsel are constitutionally ineffective." Lerner found that, the compensation of court-appointed capital defense lawyers in Philadelphia is grossly inadequate, both as to the dollar amount of the compensation and as to the compensation schedule provided by the present fee system. Philadelphia Inquirer

Ohio's Capital Punishment System Could be On Its Own Death Watch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ohio's capital punishment system could be under its own death watch as scrutiny over how the state executes prisoners has led to calls for significant changes of the death penalty, if not an outright repeal, says the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Despite the issues plaguing the state's execution process, Ohio officials say they are are getting this call on life-or-death right. "I feel that we have a solid protocol, and I know that we have the professionally trained staff to execute that protocol," said state corrections director Gary Mohr. Mohr knows there are plenty of people from judges to former prison officials to anti-death penalty activists who have heavy concerns about the death penalty. They question why some criminals land on death row and others do not, whether the state's execution procedures are legal and whether the system can be revamped to restore waning public trust. Ohio has botched one execution, which had to be postponed, and had two others with lengthy delays, including one in which the inmate, while strapped to the gurney in the execution chamber, cried out, "This isn't working." Under legal duress, the state switched from a three-drug concoction to a one-drug dose for lethal injection, a change that is the subject of a lawsuit. Cleveland Plain Dealer

Supreme Court Limits Need for Miranda Warnings to Jailed Suspects ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Supreme Court yesterday limited the circumstances in which prisoners must be told of their rights before they are questioned, the New York Times reports. The question was whether an inmate's confession to a sex cime should have been suppressed because he didn't get Miranda warnings before he was questioned. The answer turned on whether he was in custody at the time. Justice Samuel Alito wrote tor the 6-3 majority that "custody" for these purposes "is a term of art that specifies circumstances that are thought generally to present a serious danger of coercion." The inmate, Randall Fields, was in a Michigan jail for disorderly conduct when he was taken to a conference room and questioned for five to seven hours by armed deputies who used a sharp tone and profanity. He was told he was free to return to his cell but was not given Miranda warnings. The key inquiry, Justice Alito said, was whether a reasonable person in those circumstances would have felt free to end the questioning and leave. He said the fact of imprisonment did not by itself provide the answer. On balance, Alito said, Fields was not in custody, and so no warnings were required. New York Times

Judge Strikes Down LA Law Banning Sex Offenders from Social Media ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A federal judge has struck down a Louisiana law that banned sex offenders from using social media sites, ruling that the law was overly vague and violated free-speech protections, reports The Hill. The law prohibited registered sex offenders who had been convicted of child pornography or another similar crime from using "social network websites, chat rooms and peer-to-peer networks." The law defined the prohibited sites broadly. A "chat room" was defined as "any Internet website through which users have the ability to communicate via text and which allows messages to be visible to all other users or to a designated segment of all other users." Judge Brian Jackson noted that the law seems to ban offenders from using email, news sites that allow reader comments, Amazon, eBay and even government sites like Louisiana's official hurricane preparedness site or the website for the federal court. Lawyers for sex offenders said their clients were afraid to access the Internet at all, including to research safety and technical information related to their jobs. The Hill (Washington, D.C.)

NYC Underage Drinking Cases Up, Enforcement Down ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At a time when New York state's booze patrol has downsized to its lowest level in 15 years, city hospitals have seen an alarming jump in emergency room cases stemming from underage drinking, reports the New York Daily News. The number of bombed teens in ERs has nearly doubled as the State Liquor Authority's depleted staff has scaled back its routine enforcement to focus on bars and businesses with the worst records for alcohol infractions. "The SLA says that they have zero tolerance when it comes to selling liquor to minors. I'd like them to put their money where their mouths are," said City Councilman James Vacca. He said the agency's skeletal staff depends on tips from the New York Police Department to root out establishments serving alcohol to minors or violating other rules of their liquor license. "If it wasn't for the NYPD, there'd be an explosion of illegal sales," said Vacca. "The NYPD is picking up the slack for the SLA." Binge drinking by teens has become such a crisis that the city Health Department launched a $200,000 ad campaign in 2011 warning of the perils of alcohol abuse. New York Daily News