Author: Kent Scheidegger

Coronavirus Pandemic Changes Policing, Including Fewer Arrests

by · Mar 27, 2020 10:14 am

The WSJ has this article with the above headline, subhead As crime falls, police focus on keeping social order, enforcing social distancing:

Law and order is changing across America during the novel coronavirus pandemic, as police pull back on arrests for small-time crimes and instead focus on breaking up gatherings that pose health risks, all the while coping with the perils of a job that can’t be done with social distancing. Continue reading . . .

A Corona Jailbreak

by · Mar 26, 2020 10:29 am

The litigation over California’s prison system continues in federal court despite Realignment, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57. Part of the sales pitch for Proposition 57 was that without it we would “risk a court-ordered release of dangerous prisoners.”* Yet the suit drags on without end, and now the inmates are seeking, yes, another “court-ordered release,” including “release of dangerous prisoners.” Continue reading . . .

Successive Petitions and Federal Prisoners

by · Mar 25, 2020 1:48 pm

In the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, Congress cracked down on prisoners making repeated collateral attacks on their convictions and sentences. AEPDA included a very strict rule for successive petitions by state prisoners in 28 U.S.C. §2244(b)(1)&(2). A less stringent rule for federal prisoners was added to the end of the separate section for federal-prisoner collateral review, §2255, language that is now designated subdivision (h) of that section.

Does the rule for state prisoners also apply to federal prisoners? Of course not. I’m surprised anyone ever thought it did. Yet it appears that six federal courts of appeals have so held. On Monday, the Supreme Court turned down a case attempting to raise the issue, but Justice Kavanaugh noted the Court should address it soon. Continue reading . . .

Colorado Legislative Cowards Block People’s Right to Review Their Decision on Death Penalty

by · Mar 24, 2020 11:17 am

Today the Governor of Colorado signed the bill repealing the death penalty. Repeal is a subject that reasonable people can and do disagree on. However, in a shameless act of legislative cowardice, the Legislature put a patently false declaration in the bill for the sole purpose of defeating the power of referendum that the people of Colorado have reserved to themselves. For that, every legislator who voted for this bill deserves to be defeated at their next election. Continue reading . . .

An Insanity Debate Goes to the Dogs

by · Mar 23, 2020 3:57 pm

This morning I noted the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Kahler v. Kansas, upholding a Kansas statute that limits the insanity defense to inability to know what one is doing, omitting the traditional alternative of inability to know that what one is doing is morally wrong. There are many interesting aspects of the debate between Justice Kagan’s opinion for the Court and Justice Breyer’s dissent, but for this post I will focus on just one. The hypothetical that Justice Breyer invokes repeatedly in his argument makes no sense.

Continue reading . . .

Constitution Does Not Require Morality-Based Insanity Defense

by · Mar 23, 2020 7:47 am

The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected the claim that the Constitution requires a State to recognize an insanity defense based on the defendant’s inability to know his conduct is wrong. It is sufficient, if a State so chooses, to limit the defense to the defendant’s inability to know what he was doing. Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion of the Court in Kahler v. Kansas, No. 18-6135.

Continue reading . . .

Frivolous Pleadings for Murderers at Taxpayer Expense

by · Mar 20, 2020 2:20 pm

Adam GomezRaymond MataRaymond Mata is very justly sentenced to death for the murder of 3-year-old Adam Gomez. (I have reserved the stomach-turning facts for the end of the post.) He has the right to government-paid counsel to make his defense, but shouldn’t the government insist on some kind of threshold of non-frivolousness before it forks over taxpayers dollars? Do we really need to pay for complete garbage? That is exactly what Nebraskans have paid for in Mata’s latest petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Continue reading . . .

Philadelphia U.S. Attorney Calls Out D.A.

by · Mar 17, 2020 4:35 pm

William McSwainWilliam McSwain, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which includes Philadelphia, issued a remarkable statement yesterday:

“Last Friday, Philadelphia Police Corporal and SWAT team member, James O’Connor, a proud 23-year veteran of the Department from a family of police officers, was gunned down in the City’s Frankford section while trying to arrest Hassan Elliott, who was wanted for murder. Elliott was on the street for one reason: because of District Attorney Krasner’s pro-violent defendant policies. Those policies – which include permissive bail conditions for violent offenders, failing to pursue serious probation and parole violations by violent criminals, offering lenient plea deals for violent offenses, and outright withdrawing cases against violent felons – put dangerous criminals like Elliott on the street.”

Continue reading . . .

Justice Delayed

by · Mar 16, 2020 9:36 am

The U.S. Supreme Court will postpone the argument session scheduled for next week. The press release says:

In keeping with public health precautions recommended in response to COVID-19, the Supreme Court is postponing the oral arguments currently scheduled for the March session (March 23-25 and March 30-April 1). The Court will examine the options for rescheduling those cases in due course in light of the developing circumstances.

Continue reading . . .