by Kent Scheidegger · Oct 13, 2020 9:13 am
The U.S. Supreme Court released an orders list this morning, taking up one set of consolidated civil cases. No criminal cases were taken up. No action was taken on a widely anticipated case regarding the Confrontation Clause and testimony on DNA test results, Chavis v. Delaware, No. 20-317. That case will likely be considered in another conference soon. Continue reading . . .
by Michael Rushford · Oct 9, 2020 12:52 pm
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the appeal of one of three convicted murderers who robbed, tortured and murdered a 19-year-old man in 2000. The Associated Press reports that Briley Piper claimed his admission of guilt in the murder was involuntary and that his lawyer was ineffective for allowing it. An earlier South Dakota Supreme Court decision on the same claim noted that Piper had an experienced defense attorney with whom he agreed that, in the face of overwhelming evidence of guilt, admitting responsibility for the crime might convince jurors to give him a life sentence. They didn’t.
by Michael Rushford · Oct 1, 2020 1:34 pm
With shootings and homicides up in 27 of the nation’s largest cities, researchers are trying to come up with a reason, according to this story Richard Winton in today’s Los Angeles Times. Winton reports that the authors of a new study by the non-partisan Council on Criminal Justice believe that the increase has been caused by either police social distancing during the pandemic, or the distrust of police resulting from the George Floyd killing, causing people to turn to “street justice.”
by Michael Rushford · Sep 30, 2020 2:33 pm
A 36-year old habitual criminal was charged today with the September 12, ambush shooting of two Los Angeles police officers. CBS News reports that detectives identified Deonte Lee Murray as the man caught on video running up to a parked patrol car and firing multiple times at the two officers inside, seriously injuring them both. Murray was arrested three days after the shooting, for the September 1 armed carjacking of the same Mercedes he used to flee the police shooting scene. During the carjacking Murray shot the car owner in leg with a rifle. Murray, who police say is affiliated with a street gang, has priors for drug trafficking, burglary, illegal firearm possession and terrorist threats. I wonder how many times he has been arrested and released under California’s compassionate sentencing reform laws.
by Michael Rushford · Sep 28, 2020 9:32 am
The federal government executed double-murderer Christopher Andre Vialva last Thursday. Jolie McCullough of the Texas Tribune reports that Vialva was convicted of the 1999 carjacking, robbery and murder of an Iowa couple on their way home from church. Because the murders occurred on federal land (Fort Hood) Vialva was prosecuted under federal law. During the carjacking, Vialva forced the young couple into the trunk of their car, then tried to withdraw money from their bank accounts and pawn the woman’s wedding ring. Eventually, Vialva shot both victims while they lay in the trunk, killing the husband, but the wife was still alive when he and his accomplices set the car on fire. In his appeal for clemency Vialva did not deny his guilt, but said that he was a redeemed man. His execution was uneventful.
by Michael Rushford · Sep 16, 2020 2:30 pm
Since the televised George Floyd killing in late May, a well-organized and funded army of thousands of activists have invaded scores of U.S. cities to protest against what Black Lives Matter leaders characterize as systemic racism infecting every facet of American society. While much of the mainstream media has told the public that these protests were peaceful, or mostly peaceful, local news outlets and independent on-site reporters have confirmed that, in many if not most cases, these protests turned violent, destroying millions of dollars of property, and injuring or killing dozens of law enforcement officers, property owners and occasionally a random bystander. On May 28, MSNBC reporter Ali Velshi won the “Baghdad Bob” award for standing in front of burning buildings in Minneapolis while telling viewers “this is mostly a protest. It is not generally speaking unruly. But fires have been started.”
by Michael Rushford · Sep 14, 2020 10:20 am
With huge swaths of Washington, Oregon, and California suffering from raging wildfires, five people have been arrested in the three states for intentionally setting fires. Peter Aitken of Fox News reports that the Police Chief in Ashland, Oregon believes that there is good reason to believe that the Almeda fire, which has killed two and destroyed hundreds of homes, was intentionally set. Police have arrested 41-year-old Michael Bakkela after witnesses reported seeing him set fires near homes. In California a woman was arrested for setting fires along the coast highway near Monterey. In separate incidents, two unidentified men were arrested in Washington for setting fires near state highways.
by Michael Rushford · Sep 9, 2020 11:48 am
Seven people were found shot to death Monday at an illegal marijuana grow in the small rural town of Aguanga, California. The Associated Press reports that police responded to a call reporting gunshots at a home in the one stop-sign town, and found a woman suffering from gunshot wounds, who later died, and six other victims who were dead. Officers found over 1,000 pounds of processed marijuana and several hundred plants. In February police arrested four people in the same community and seized nearly 10,000 plants and 400 pounds of pot. After recreational marijuana became legal in 2018, illegal grows have actually increased in the state.
by Michael Rushford · Sep 8, 2020 12:20 pm
A federal district judge’s July 23, order restricting federal law enforcement agents from removing journalists and observers from restricted areas around federal buildings and the federal courthouse during violent protests in Portland was lifted last week by a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Sam Simon of Politico reports that the court’s 2-1 ruling held that preventing federal agents from removing everyone, including journalists, from areas around federal buildings they are trying to protect undermines the objective and threatens their safety.
by Michael Rushford · Sep 8, 2020 11:32 am
A unanimous panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has held an Oklahoma City ordinance prohibiting panhandling on traffic medians unconstitutional. The Associated Press reports that in an earlier ruling, a federal District Judge had upheld the ordinance. The case of McGraw et al. v. City of Oklahoma City involves a lawsuit by two panhandlers, two joggers and an activist, all claiming that they had a constitutional right to use traffic medians to solicit money, sell newspapers, jog and chat with friends, hand out leaflets and display political signs.
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