Category: Notorious Cases

Judge Resentences Menendez Brothers

by · Oct 22, 2025 11:29 am

A Los Angeles judge has resentenced the Menendez brothers, originally serving life without parole, to 50-years-to-life.  ABC News reports that the brothers, who murdered their parents with shotguns in 1989,  are immediately eligible for parole.  Later in the story reporter Emily Shapiro writes,

“It could take months before Erik and Lyle Menendez are assigned a parole date for the resentencing case. They are eligible for that parole date right away, as inmates with a sentence of 25 years-to-life or longer can get their hearing during the 25th year of incarceration, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.”

The 25-year eligibility comes under California’s “youth offender parole” statute. It was originally enacted for inmates under 18 at the time of the crime to address problems created by U.S. Supreme Court decisions. However, the Legislature later expanded it to all inmates under 26 at the time of the crime.

Exceptionally Bad Reporting on the Glossip Case

by · Jul 24, 2025 9:29 am

Reporting on court cases is often bad, but NBC has an exceptionally atrocious report on the Glossip case here. The article says:

The witness, Justin Sneed, admitted killing Van Treese but told prosecutors that the killing was at Glossip’s direction in exchange for $10,000. Sneed, a motel handyman, was sentenced to life for the crime, while Glossip was given the death penalty.

In the Supreme Court’s majority ruling, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that prosecutors “knew Sneed’s statements were false” and that “because Sneed’s testimony was the only direct evidence of Glossip’s guilt of capital murder, the jury’s assessment of Sneed’s credibility was necessarily determinative here.”

Anyone reading that who did not already know the facts of the case would take it to mean that the Supreme Court held that the prosecutors knew Sneed’s statements about the crime were false. That is, a reader would naturally read it to say that the statements referred to in the second paragraph are those described in the first.

But that implication is false. No court has ever held that Sneed’s statements about the crime are false. The statements in the Supreme Court case involved collateral matters about Sneed’s treatment with lithium while in jail. Continue reading . . .

Quadruple Murderer Pleads Guilty to Avoid Death Penalty

by · Jul 1, 2025 11:41 am

Bryan Kohberger, the criminology student charged with the brutal murders of four University of Idaho co-eds in 2022, has agreed to plead guilty in exchange for four consecutive life-in-prison-without-parole (LWOP) sentences.  CBS News reports that in a letter delivered prior to Kohberger’s upcoming trial his attorneys asked for the plea deal, which includes a waiver of his right to appeal.  Overwhelming evidence pointed to Kohberger as the person who, early on the morning of November 13, 2022, entered an unlocked home in Moscow, Idaho and stabbed college friends Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21,  and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 to death while they slept.

Continue reading . . .

Mixed Ruling in El Salvador Case

by · Apr 11, 2025 12:03 pm

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order partly granting and partly denying the Department of Homeland Security’s application in the case of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador, noted in this post Monday. Here is the dispositive paragraph:

The application is granted in part and denied in part, subject to the direction of this order. Due to the administrative stay issued by The Chief Justice, the deadline imposed by the District Court has now passed. To that extent, the Government’s emergency application is effectively granted in part and the deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective. The rest of the District Court’s order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. The order properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to  share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps. The order heretofore entered by The Chief Justice is vacated.

Continue reading . . .

Mexico Extradites Killer of US DEA Agent, 40 Years Late

by · Feb 28, 2025 10:06 am

US DEA Agent Enrique Camarena was murdered in Mexico in 1985. Now Mexico has extradited drug boss Rafael Caro Quintero, who is wanted for the crime, along with 28 others. Santiago Pérez and José de Córdoba have this story in the WSJ.

Better late than never.

It would be understandable for a country to refuse to extradite its citizens if it had a functioning justice system that could and would impose a just punishment domestically. But that is not the case in Mexico when it comes to the drug gangs. Continue reading . . .

More on Trump v. New York

by · Jan 10, 2025 11:00 am

Following up on posts here and here, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a stay of President-elect Trump’s sentencing in New York 5-4. The order reads:

The application for stay presented to Justice Sotomayor and by her referred to the Court is denied for, inter alia, the following reasons. First, the alleged evidentiary violations at President-Elect Trump’s state-court trial can be addressed in the ordinary course on appeal. Second, the burden that sentencing will impose on the President-Elect’s responsibilities is relatively insubstantial in light of the trial court’s stated intent to impose a sentence of “unconditional discharge” after a brief virtual hearing.

Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would grant the application.

The hearing then went forward. The WSJ has this story. Continue reading . . .

Harvey Weinstein Conviction Reversed

by · Apr 25, 2024 10:06 am

New York’s highest court reversed the conviction of the notorious Harvey Weinstein today, on the ground that evidence of other crimes was admitted beyond the limits allowed under New York’s landmark precedent in People v Molineux, 168 N.Y. 264 (1901). The court divided 4-3, with two judges recused and the replacements in the majority. That is, a majority of the court’s regular judges participating in the case voted to affirm. Continue reading . . .

The Problem With Execution by Nitrogen Gas

by · Feb 1, 2024 2:57 pm

In a press release earlier this week The United Nations Office on Human Rights condemned the execution of convicted hitman Kenneth Smith by nitrogen gas as “outrageous” and amounted to “State sanctioned torture.”  The U.N “experts” noted that:

“Smith reportedly took over 20 minutes to die. Witnesses to the execution said that Smith remained conscious for several minutes as he writhed and convulsed on the gurney, gasping for air and pulling on the restraints, shaking violently in prolonged agony.”

Based on that description, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Friday that the White House found the the use of nitrogen gas “very troubling.” She added that President Joe Biden has “broad concern about the death penalty.”  Not so broad one guesses to prevent his Attorney General from seeking the death penalty for Payton Gendron, who murdered ten people at a Buffalo Grocery Store in 2022.  Smith only beat and stabbed a woman to death for $1,000.

Continue reading . . .

Political Violence

by · Oct 28, 2022 10:01 am

The WSJ has this report on the break-in of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and attack on her husband, Paul Pelosi. It appears at this time that the attack was politically motivated.  “The intruder shouted, ‘Where is Nancy?’ before attacking her husband, one of the officials said.” Continue reading . . .