16 April 2012

April 16, 2012   Today's Stories

George Zimmerman in Court--The New TV Trial of the Decade? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If George Zimmerman goes to trial for shooting Trayvon Martin in Florida, "it has the potential to be as big as the O. J. Simpson trial - and just as divisive," CNN's Piers Morgan tells the New York Times. Already, the fallout from the killing has become a prolonged and politically controversial news story. Along with giving Americans a shared national conversation, "it has filled the void left by a political process that lacks excitement or suspense," said Jonathan Wald, Morgan's executive producer. "The electronic media is thankful that this took place in Florida," said Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker staff writer and CNN legal analyst, "because Florida has the most open rules in the country about cameras in the courtroom." The Zimmerman trial almost certainly would be televised live on channels like HLN, a sibling of CNN that showed the Casey Anthony trial. HLN set a ratings record the day Anthony was judged not guilty of killing her daughter. "Could this be the trial of the decade?" the MSNBC host Ed Schultz asked, in a clip satirized by "The Daily Show." One of that show's correspondents, John Oliver, joked, "People are already calling it the trial of the millennium." New York Times

Experts Cautious About Finding Trend in Officer Killing, Assault Data ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Two high-profile shootings of police officers in small towns are highlighting a sharp spike in police officer deaths nationwide during the past two years. Experts caution the Christian Science Monitor against the conclusion that criminals are ramping up a new "war on cops," instead suggesting that the statistics merely show an end to a 40-year decline in officer fatalities. Killed Thursday in Greenland, N.H., was Chief Michael Maloney, one week short of retirement; four other officers were shot. Also on Thursday in Modesto, Ca., a civilian and a sheriff's deputy were shot and killed by a homeowner who opened fire to avoid being evicted. Last year, 72 officers were killed in the line of duty, up from 41 in 2008. But the 2011 number is similar to 2001, when 70 officers were killed. In 1973, 143 officer deaths were reported. "Newton's law of criminology states that what goes down must eventually go up," says criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University. "After that long a decline, it's not surprising at all that the number has finally jumped." The number of assaults against police officers has reached more than 50,000 per year, "and we think that is underreported. The FBI thinks that's only half the number," says John Firman of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The IACP runs the Center for Prevention of Violence Against Police, funded by the U.S. Justice Department. "We are taking an aggressive position against this kind of backlash against police in which a bad guy thinks he can just start shooting," he says. "We are out to change the police practices and protocols to deal with it." Christian Science Monitor

Obama: Drug Legalization Could Lead to More Corruption ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ President Obama said drug "legalization is not the answer" at a summit meeting of Western Hemisphere leaders in Colombia this weekend, the New York Times reports. The issue was placed on the agenda by Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos. Santos suggested he had in mind some middle ground short of fully decriminalizing the drug trade that for years has undermined societies in his region. "We have the obligation to see if we're doing the best that we can do, or are there other alternatives that can be much more efficient?" Santos said during a panel discussion with. Obama and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil before the summit began. "One side can be all the consumers go to jail. On the other extreme is legalization. On the middle ground, we may have more practical policies." Obama said, "I think it is entirely legitimate to have a conversation about whether the laws in place are ones that are doing more harm than good in certain places." He added, "I personally, and my administration's position, is that legalization is not the answer." Drug operations could come to "dominate certain countries if they were allowed to operate legally without any constraint," he said, and "could be just as corrupting if not more corrupting then the status quo." New York Times

11 Secret Service Agents Off Obama Trip After Prostitution Reports ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. Secret Service has placed 11 agents on administrative leave amid allegations that the men brought prostitutes to their hotel rooms in Cartagena, Colombia, on Wednesday night and that a dispute ensued with one of the women over payment, the Washington Post reports. Secret Service Assistant Director Paul Morrissey said the agents had violated the service's "zero-tolerance policy on personal misconduct" during their trip to prepare for President Obama's arrival at an international summit. Rep. Peter King (R-NY), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said Secret Service officials conducting an internal investigation told him that the staff at the Hotel Caribe summoned local police after discovering a woman in the room of one agent after 7 a.m., against the hotel's policy for visitors of paying guests. King praised the agency for removing the men, but he added that "everything they did was a violation of proper conduct." He said, "First of all, to be getting involved with prostitutes in a foreign country can leave yourself vulnerable to blackmail and threats. To be bringing prostitutes or almost anyone into a security zone when you're supposed to protect the president is totally wrong." Washington Post

NRA's LaPierre: Media Focus on Florida, Ignore "Everyday Victims" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ National Rifle Association executive Wayne LaPierre accused the news media of engaging in sensationalized coverage of Florida's Trayvon Martin killing, the New York Times reports. Speaking at the NRA annual convention in St. Louis, LaPierre said, "In the aftermath of one of Florida's many daily tragedies, my phone has been ringing off the hook." He criticized news organizations for singling out one killing and ignoring many other violent crimes that happen every day in the U.S. "You manufacture controversy for ratings," he said. "You don't care about the truth, and the truth is the national news media in this country is a national disgrace, and you all know it." He added, "By the time I finish this speech, 2 Americans will be slain, 6 women will be raped, 27 of us will be robbed, and 50 more will be beaten. That's the harsh reality we face, all of us, every single day. But the media, they don't care. Everyday victims aren't celebrities. They don't draw ratings, don't draw sponsors. But sensational reporting from Florida does." He would not comment on the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case in detail. New York Times

Romney Barely Mentions Guns at NRA; Group Vows to Beat Obama ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney mentioned guns only once in his speech to the National Rifle Association convention, which may have reflected a reluctance on Romney's part to delve into his record on firearms or credentials as an outdoorsman, which has generated criticism in the past, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. While running against Sen. Ted Kennedy in 1994, Romney supported the Brady Bill, which instituted background checks on gun purchases, and a federal assault weapons ban. Later, during his first campaign for president, Romney said he had been a hunter "pretty much all my life." It was later revealed that, at the time, he had been hunting only twice. Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Republican governors Bobby Jindal (LA), Rick Perry (TX), and Scott Walker (WI) also addressed the NRA convention. NRA leaders were blistering in their criticism of President Obama. "When the sun goes down on Election Day, Barack Obama will have us to thank for his defeat," said NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Bloomberg, NRA Members Throw Pot Shots at Each Other ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ New York City Michael Bloomberg may be the most unpopular person at the National Rifle Association convention, and he isn't even there, says the New York Daily News. NRA members took aim at Bloomberg for his bold campaign against illegal guns. They called him a bastard, told him to mind his business and challenged his credibility. "Outlawing gun ownership or preventing people from defending themselves isn't going to solve any problems," said Tom Seeba, 67, an NRA member from Reno. "And I think Mayor Bloomberg is an arrogant bastard to try to implement such a strategy." Bloomberg drew the group's ire on Wednesday when he went to the National Press Club in Washington to announce a partnership with black leaders to reform or repeal stand-your-ground laws on the books in 25 states. "The NRA's leaders weren't even interested in public safety," Bloomberg told the Daily News. "They were interested in promoting a culture where people take the law into their own hands and face no consequences for it." New York Daily News

Study: Quick Eyewitness Identifications Are More Accurate ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ More than 75,000 prosecutions every year are based entirely on the recollections of others, says the Wall Street Journal. While perjury is a felony, the overwhelming majority of eyewitness errors aren't conscious or intentional. Rather, they're the inevitable side effects of the remembering process. Neuroscientists have documented how mistakes happen. It turns out that the act of summoning the past to the surface actually changes the memory itself. Neil Brewer, a psychologist at Flinders University in Australia, studied police lineups, in which witnesses are asked to pick out a suspect from a collection of similar looking individuals. He knew that strong memory traces are easier to access than weak and mistaken ones, which is why he gave his witnesses only two seconds to make up their minds. He also asked them to estimate how confident they were about the suspects they identified, rather than insisting on a simple yes-no answer. He was able to get a large boost in accuracy, with improvements in eyewitness performance ranging from 21 percent to 66 percent. Even when subjects were quizzed a week later, those who were forced to choose quickly remained far more trustworthy. The larger lesson is that, when it comes to human memory, more deliberation is often dangerous. We can talk ourselves into having a memory that doesn't actually exist. Wall Street Journal

Capital Punishment Opponents Say CT Vote is Evidence They Are Succeeding ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The fight against the death penalty is gaining momentum, opponents of the practice say, with Connecticut's decision this month to abolish capital punishment making it the fifth state in five years to so do, reports the Los Angeles Times. Connecticut will be the 17th state to do away with capital punishment and the seventh state to stop the death penalty since it was reinstated as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976. Opponents of capital punishmentl cite moral and religious arguments, but another force behind the recent trend is cost. California spends an additional $184 million per year total on its more than 700 death row prisoners than if they had been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, said a study by Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. An Urban Institute study in 2008 found that a single death sentence in Maryland costs almost $2 million more per case than a comparable non-death-penalty case. In California, an initiative on November's ballot will allow voters to decide whether to repeal capital punishment. Oregon issued a moratorium on executions in 2011 and is conducting a study of alternatives to the death penalty. Pennsylvania also started a study of how the death penalty has been applied there. Los Angeles Times

How Much Gun Control Will the Supreme Court Allow? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today marks five years since the massacre at Virginia Tech, where a mentally ill student used two legally-bought handguns to kill 32 people and wound 25 others. Other than a minor law to improve the national database used for background checks, no significant gun-control legislation followed, writes UCLA law Prof. Adam Winkler in the Washington Post. Since then, there have been several mass shootings. Gun control may be dead politically but it remains alive and well in the courts. Second Amendment experts predict that the next major gun case at the Supreme Court will be a challenge to one of the remaining state or local laws that effectively bar the carrying of concealed weapons. Given that most states allow almost anyone to carry guns on the streets, what the justices have to say about concealed carry will be less significant than what they say about the role of the courts in scrutinizing gun laws. Will the justices respect the long-standing tradition of gun control? Or will they create novel, untested hurdles for such laws? Winkler says that in a hostile political environment, the courts have been gun-control advocates' best friend. Whether that 200-year friendship can last much longer will be the question that next confronts the Supreme Court. Washington Post

GSA Official Seeks Criminal Probe of Conference Spending, Gifts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The U.S. General Services Administration's inspector general has asked the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation of the senior official at the center of an investigation into a lavish Las Vegas conference, the Washington Post reports. Jeffrey Neely, a senior official who hosted a four-day training conference for 300 staff members that cost $823,000, reportedly took electronic items for his personal use from a GSA storeroom. Inspector General Brian Miller asked prosecutors to review possible contracting improprieties and other violations in connection with the conference, Neely allegedly took gifts purchased for an employee rewards program in the San Francisco-based region, where he is on administrative leave from his role as acting regional commissioner. The gifts included an iPod and speakers, a Global Positioning System, camera and Sony eReader. Miller has turned over to prosecutors evidence that Neely, 57, and his staff approved contracts that were not competitively bid, as federal rules require. The sole-source deals included $59,000 to an audio-visual firm, a $12,500 commission to an outside event planner, and $75,000 to a company that led GSA staff members in a bike-building event. Washington Post