Monthly Archive: March 2021

NYPD: Bail Reform Caused Surge in Gun Violence

by · Mar 18, 2021 11:31 am

New York City’s five police unions issued a statement this week citing the state’s bail reform law, which took effect in 2020, as the cause of last year’s 47% increase in murders and 100% increase in shootings.  Rocco Parascandola of the New York Daily News has this story, quoting the head of the Police Benevolent Association, “Our cops on the street warned us that it was happening.  We warned the politicians that this (bail reform) won’t work.  Violence will rise.  And it has.”

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Following Science or Making It Up?

by · Mar 17, 2021 2:46 pm

The Los Angeles District Attorney Office issued this release touting the “accomplishments” of George Gascón’s first quarter in office. Among them is “a 71 percent reduction in enhancements filed by the office when comparing a three-month span between December 2020 and February 2021 to the same period the prior year.”

Why is that an accomplishment? “Conservative estimates suggest the reduction equates to more than 8,000 years of unnecessary exposure and the three-month cost savings are projected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars.” (Emphasis added.)

How do we know that exposure was “unnecessary”? How do we know there is any net “savings” at all, rather than a net cost, when the full cost of the additional crimes that will be committed in the future are factored in? Continue reading . . .

Under Philly DA Krasner “Criminals Aren’t Getting Punishment”

by · Mar 17, 2021 11:01 am

With homicides up 32% in Philadelphia so far this year, after a record-setting 499 people were murdered in 2020, many people including defense attorneys are questioning progressive District Attorney Larry Krasner’s reform policies, including his refusal to prosecute most property and drug criminals.  Joseph Simonson of the Washington Examiner reports that the vast majority (86%) of homicide victims are black although blacks make up just 44% of the city’s population.  Defense attorney Charles Peruto, who’s running to replace Krasner, said that due to his sweeping soft-on-crime reforms he and his colleagues “are down on their number of clients.  This Krasner is killing us.  It sounds funny….but it’s hurting the public.”

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Suing the DA for Discriminatory Pattern of Non-Prosecution

by · Mar 17, 2021 10:47 am

The Supreme Court decided long ago that “a private citizen lacks a judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution or nonprosecution of another.” Linda R.S. v. Richard D., 410 U.S. 614, 619 (1973). But can a victim of crime sue a district attorney on the ground that a long pattern of discriminatory nonprosecution was a contributing cause of the crime? An amicus brief by former Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski joined by former Attorney General and District Judge Michael Mukasey and former District Judge F.A. Little asks the Fifth Circuit to address that question en banc. Beneath it lies a tangled tale as thick as the undergrowth in Louisiana swamp country. Continue reading . . .

Ninth Circuit Upholds Death Sentence for Arizona Killer

by · Mar 16, 2021 2:40 pm

A unanimous panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction and death sentence of habitual felon Robert Walden Jr.  for the rape and murder of one woman and the rapes of two others in 1991.  Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services reports that at the time of the murders, Walden was on probation for aggravated assault and kidnapping charges stemming from separate attacks on two woman.   On appeal Walden raised multiple claims challenging the photo lineup where his surviving victims identified him, the judge’s decision to allow a single trial for the rapes and the murder, and first time claims challenging the competence of his defense counsel.  The court rejected all of them.

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Death Penalty Debate on C-SPAN Tomorrow

by · Mar 16, 2021 2:24 pm

The Federalist Society student chapter at the University of Virginia Law School will be hosting a one hour debate on the death penalty tomorrow, Wednesday the 17th, at 5 pm EDT.  I’m told it will be on C-SPAN.  Carol Steiker, the Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law and Special Advisor for Public Service at Harvard Law School will speak in opposition; I will speak in support.  I have debated Prof. Steiker before and have found her to be a thoughtful, amicable and candid advocate.

Fentanyl Deaths Skyrocket, Policy Responses Vary

by · Mar 16, 2021 12:00 pm

An article by Joe Nelson of The Press-Enterprise from last week, highlights a few of the policy responses by California counties in regards to fentanyl-related overdoses. Mike Hestrin, district attorney of Riverside County explained, “In the last five years, the number of fentanyl deaths has doubled every year.” This increase is alarming, and is cause for immediate action to punish the drug dealers that are selling this lethal drug with the knowledge that it is deadly.  “During a Feb. 22 press conference, Hestrin announced Riverside County’s first Fentanyl-related murder charge…[for a man] who in October allegedly sold Fentanyl-spiked drugs to [an] 18 year old.” Hestrin is responding to the spike in deaths by attempting to deter the sale of drugs containing Fentanyl by charging the sellers with murder if an individual has a fatal overdose due to the ingestion of the drug. 

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Newsom Grants More Pardons and Commutes More Sentences of Violent Offenders

by · Mar 15, 2021 12:58 pm

Fox News published an article yesterday by the Associated Press discussing the latest acts of clemency and commuted sentences as of Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The most recent commuted life sentence is for a woman who was convicted of murder, she allegedly killed her stepfather. According to Newsom’s statement in the article, “[She] has worked hard to better herself by earning an associate degree, a business certificate and participating in extensive self-help programming”. Due to the decision made by Newsom, she is now eligible for immediate release on parole, regardless of her sentence of 25 years to life in Alameda County in 1992. This is just one of many sentences that Newsom has commuted. 

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The Predictable Pattern

by · Mar 15, 2021 12:48 pm

The pro-criminal industrial complex, which includes legacy groups like the ACLU and the NAACP, and newer more aggressive advocates such as the Death Penalty Information Center, Sentencing Project, the Marshall Project and numerous Soros-funded groups with a state or city name like “Californians For Safety and Justice,” are celebrating the expected elimination of the death penalty in Virginia.  In an opinion piece in last Friday’s Washington Post, Ashley Nellis, a senior research analyst at the Sentencing Project notes  “Now, Virginia joins a growing wave of states that have rejected this punishment and chosen to make our criminal justice system more humane, equitable and fair.”

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The Dishonesty of Biden’s Choice for No. 3 at the Justice Department

by · Mar 12, 2021 12:45 pm

President Biden has nominated Vanita Gupta to be Associate Attorney General, the third highest position in the Justice Department.  Gupta was Assistant AG for Civil Rights under Obama.  As such, she was asked by the Attorney General, then Loretta Lynch, for a recommendation whether DOJ should seek the death penalty against the mass killer of black worshipers, Dylann Roof.  Gupta recommended against it on the preposterous grounds that mitigating factors outweighed aggravating ones.

She was asked about her role in making that recommendation at her Senate confirmation hearing.  Instead of telling the truth, she did a fancy dance designed to mislead the Judiciary Committee.  It was a deception worthy of a pickpocket, not someone who hopes to get a job overseeing the prosecution of criminals.  For her flagrant deceit alone, she should be rejected (indeed, her nomination should be withdrawn).

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