TXCURE.ORG December 12, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law , add a comment
This TX CURE group is “composed of prisoners and their families, corrections professionals, public officials, and ‘ordinary citizens’ concerned about criminal justice in Texas.”
It’s getting pretty deep! December 10, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution, Criminal Law, Law Enforcement , add a comment Everybody knows shit runs down hill. When it gets up to the neck of a top White House stooge, THAT IS PRETTY DEEP!
The Bush White House has refused to comment on unresolved questions in the Libby case — such as why no White House staff member was ever reprimanded — on the grounds that the appeals process was still unfolding. Now that argument is moot, as Libby has dropped his appeal.
‘Bad’ Legal Advice and the Death Penalty December 8, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law, Death Penalty , add a comment Does this case suggest a lawyer must advise a client to plead to a life sentence rather than risk a death sentence?
It was the defense lawyer’s misfortune to receive the … case at a moment when death-penalty law was in a particularly high state of flux. Just six weeks [earlier], the Ninth Circuit had invalidated Arizona’s death penalty law on the ground that it gave too much fact-finding power to the judge. Since Idaho’s death penalty law was indistinguishable, and Idaho is also in the Ninth Circuit, Mr. Wellman reasoned that even if his client received a death sentence, it would be overturned on appeal.
However, Mr. Wellman was unaware that four days before the plea bargain was offered, the Arizona Supreme Court, in a separate case, had rejected the Ninth Circuit’s reasoning and had upheld the Arizona death penalty statute.
I’ve only lost one trial. December 7, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law , add a comment I had my first criminal trial this week. After about 90 minutes, the jury convicted the defendant on two counts of Harassment By Persons in Certain Correctional Facilities. The range of punishment was 2 to 20 years. The judge sentenced him to 9 years, with almost 5 years of time credit.
States rethink charging youths as adults December 1, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law, Law Enforcement , add a comment Is the pendulum going the other way at last? States rethink charging youths as adults
“There was an organized effort to label kids and make people afraid of juveniles. . . . People were saying their mothers had smoked crack, their DNA had changed. … they were no longer the same people. They tried to make it seem these kids are different from your kids and that you need to do something.”
