Author: Kent Scheidegger

Georgia Resumes Executions

by · Mar 21, 2024 10:08 am

In 1993, Alicia Lynn Yarbrough died in a nightmare scenario. The ex-boyfriend who wouldn’t go away broke into her home with two accomplices and abducted her at gunpoint, leaving her baby unattended in the house. The three men later gang-raped her, forced her back into the car, and drove to another location. Willie James Pye then forced her to lie face down and shot her three times. There is no doubt of guilt. The accomplice’s confession is confirmed by DNA. Long overdue justice was finally carried out last night, the first execution in Georgia since the pandemic. Continue reading . . .

Flying Under the Influence

by · Mar 20, 2024 3:04 pm

Gareth Vipers reports for the WSJ:

A Delta Air Lines pilot was sentenced to 10 months in jail for turning up for a flight more than two-times over the aviation alcohol limit.

Lawrence Russell Jr. was caught trying to board a plane with two bottles of Jägermeister in his carry-on luggage, one of which was half empty, according to court filings released Tuesday. Continue reading . . .

Supreme Court Copes with Sloppy Drafting in the First Step Act

by · Mar 15, 2024 2:50 pm

In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act to water down federal sentencing law. I was critical of many provisions of the act at the time, see here, here, and here, though I did agree that some sentences were too harsh and could use a bit of moderation. Mandatory minimums were particularly under assault. I believe they serve a useful function, but some were overboard.

The previous version of 18 U.S.C. § 3553(f) had a safety valve allowing judges to let a defendant off from an otherwise mandatory minimum for certain drug crimes if all five of its listed requirements were met. The criminal history requirement was very narrow, and there is no doubt that the 2018 Congress wanted to open the door wider. But how wide? Unfortunately, the drafting of this section was sloppy, and today the Supreme Court disagreed sharply on how to read it. The case is Pulsifer v. United States. Continue reading . . .

Cal. Supreme Ct. Upholds Life-Without-Parole for Young Adult Murderers

by · Mar 5, 2024 4:28 pm

A California law, enacted directly by the people, provides that the crime of first-degree murder with special circumstanhe ces committed by an adult is punishable by death or life in prison with no possibility of parole. Yet Tony Hardin, who committed a vicious murder at age 25, claimed that the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that he be considered for parole anyway because others who committed lesser degrees of murder at the same age are eligible for “youth offender parole” under California law. A California Court of Appeal panel actually bought that. The California Supreme Court rejected this claim in a 5-2 decision yesterday, reversing the Court of Appeal. Continue reading . . .

Creech Execution Update

by · Feb 28, 2024 11:13 am

Update to yesterday’s post.The U.S. Supreme Court denied Thomas Creech’s three petitions without noted dissent. However, at 11 am MST, the Idaho Dept. of Corrections announced:

At approximately 11am, Director Tewalt, after consulting with the medical team leader, determined that the medical team could not establish an IV line, rendering the execution unable to proceed. Mr. Creech will be returned to his cell and witnesses will be escorted out of the facility. As a result, the death warrant will expire at 11:59 p.m.. The State will consider next steps. Director Tewalt and State witnesses, to include the media, will be arriving in the media center shortly for a brief press conference.

Continue reading . . .

Inconsistent Verdicts

by · Feb 21, 2024 7:53 am

This morning the U.S. Supreme Court issued its first decision in a criminal case for this term. In McElrath v. Georgia, No. 22-721, the high court unanimously reversed a decision of the Georgia Supreme Court regarding inconsistent verdicts. This is not a surprise.

Juries sometimes issue inconsistent verdicts in a single case. That is, they may render verdicts on different counts tried together that contradict each other in the facts that they necessarily require. What effect does the Double Jeopardy Clause of the U.S. Constitution have when a jury issues such a verdict in a state criminal case? Continue reading . . .

Crude Statistics and Discrimination Claims

by · Feb 16, 2024 9:07 am

Here is yet another case of a misleading claim via crude statistics. (See also this post.) This one, unfortunately was actually bought by a federal district judge, with grave implications.

Hans Bader has this post at Liberty Unyielding on a recent decision out of Richmond, Virginia.

A judge recently found that the City of Richmond racially profiles black motorists, dismissing the indictment of a black convicted felon accused of illegally possessing a gun. The judge did not find that defendant Keith Moore had been treated differently than a similarly situated-white motorist. Instead, he ruled that Richmond police stops are racially discriminatory, based on statistics showing blacks are stopped and arrested at much higher rates than whites …. Continue reading . . .