Monthly Archive: June 2022

SCOTUS’ Last Death Penalty Abolitionist Says Goodbye

by · Jun 30, 2022 8:37 pm

Over the history of the Supreme Court, only a very few justices opposed the death penalty in all circumstances:  Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer.  Today, the last remaining member of that group, Justice Breyer, retired, leaving the Court without a single categorical opponent of the death penalty for the first time in decades.  I believe we now have the most pro-DP Court of my lifetime.

Justice Breyer was pretty much a down-the-line liberal on criminal justice issues, but is a modest and friendly man with a wicked sense of humor, and never had the driven and angry edge to him that many abolitionists do.  It remains to be seen whether his replacement, Justice Brown Jackson, will match his intellect and fair-minded outlook.  We can hope, and we wish her the best as she begins her tenure on the Court.

 

Murder Victim’s Family Fights Gascon’s Sentence Reduction Policy

by · Jun 29, 2022 2:22 pm

Another Los Angeles County murderer is seeking to benefit from progressive District Attorney George Gascón’s policy of reducing all death sentences to life without parole.  My News LA reports that Scott Forest Collins was sentenced to death for the 1996 robbery and murder of Fred Rose in North Hollywood.  Now, twenty-six years later, Gascón’s hand picked deputy, former defense attorney  Shelan Joseph, is partnering with the murderer’s attorney to request that Collin’s death sentence be vacated.  On behalf of Rose’s widow and two daughters, former LADA Steve Cooley and former Deputy DA Kathleen Cady have petitioned the court to deny the murderer’s request.

Continue reading . . .

Damage Control in SCOTUS on “Indian Country”

by · Jun 29, 2022 1:31 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court today decided a major case on prosecution jurisdiction in Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta, No. 21-429. This is an example of the Court in damage-control mode. An earlier, disruptive, and legally dubious decision has had severe impacts on criminal justice. Rather than overrule it, the Court acts to limit the damage.

Two years ago, the Court decided 5-4 in McGirt v. Oklahoma that large portions of that state were still “Indian country”* because Congress had not formally diminished or disestablished the original reservations, even though the land in question had not been part of a reservation in practice for a very long time. Continue reading . . .

Alabama Set to Execute Murderer

by · Jun 24, 2022 10:26 am

An Alabama man who murdered his ex girlfriend in 1994, is scheduled for execution by lethal injection on July 28.  Ivana Hrynkiw of the Birmingham News reports that Joe Nathan James, Jr.  was convicted and sentenced to death in 1999 for capital murder during the commission of burglary.   James had dated Faith Hall in the early 1990s but the relationship was volatile and Hall broke up with him.  For the next several years James would stalk Hall, showing up at her home and threatening to kill her.  On the day of the murder, James forced his way in to an apartment Hall was visiting, demanded information about a man she was seeing, and shot her three times when she attempted to escape.  After shooting Hall in the stomach and chest, he shot her in the head as she lay on the floor.  On appeal James’ claim of ineffective assistance of counsel was denied by several courts.  In 2020 the Eleventh Circuit upheld his conviction and sentence, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined review.

Deference, Discovery, and Making AEDPA Actually Reduce Delay

by · Jun 21, 2022 2:21 pm

When Congress enacted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, the first title was habeas corpus reform. It was intended to achieve the “effective death penalty” part by drastically cutting the delays in carrying out capital sentencing, at least the part attributable to the federal courts.

It did not work because it was not properly implemented. But 26 years later we may finally see that change. Today’s decision of the Supreme Court in Shoop v. Twyford, No. 21-511 is a large step in that direction. Continue reading . . .

Gascón’s Soft-on-Criminals Policy Blows Up in His Face

by · Jun 21, 2022 11:52 am

On June 14, two El Monte police officers responding to a domestic violence call were shot and killed by a habitual felon free on probation due to the reduced-sentencing policy of Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón.  According to the Los Angeles Times the shooter, Justin Flores, a gang member with multiple priors, served 10 days of a 20-day sentence in county jail for a 2021 gun and drug conviction that made him eligible for a three-year prison sentence.  Under Gascón’s ban on sentence enhancements for criminals guilty of multiple offenses Flores was free to kill the two officers.  The County Coroner has concluded that Flores shot himself as other officers closed in on him.   Eric Siddall, Vice President of the Association of Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys, has this post on the fallout from these two murders.

Under California law, Flores should have been in a state prison cell on the day he murdered the two officers. Instead, because of George Gascón’s policies, he was in a hotel room in El Monte beating his girlfriend until two officers responded for the call for help. Now two officers are dead.

Continue reading . . .

Attempted Robbery Is Not Violent?

by · Jun 21, 2022 9:02 am

The U.S. Supreme Court continued its chip-by-chip undermining of federal sentence enhancements for violent crimes, making one more narrowing of the definition of “violent felony.” In United States v. Taylor, No. 20-1459, it’s attempted robbery under the Hobbs Act that bites the dust. This will come as no surprise to those who have watched the steady parade of decisions excluding from the term “violent felony” crimes that common sense would tell us are violent. See, e.g., this post. Continue reading . . .

Court: Police Questioning of Minorities is Illegal

by · Jun 13, 2022 11:37 am

On Friday morning, April 9, 2019,  a police officer patrolling a high crime neighborhood in Pierce County, Washington, noticed a car parked near the entrance to a church with both the driver and the passenger asleep.  The officer knocked on the window for a while and the driver slowly woke up.  The officer asked the driver, Palla Sum, if he owned the car, and the driver responded that the car was not his.  The officer then asked both the driver and the passenger for their names and date of birth.  Sum gave the officer a false name and birthday, the passenger gave his correct name and date.   As the officer returned to his patrol car to check the names, Sum drove away at high speed, running stop signs and multiple red lights before crashing onto a yard.   Police found registration in the car indicating the Sum was the owner.   They also found a handgun.  In a unanimous ruling last Thursday, the Washington Supreme Court held that, because Sum was a minority (Asian), the police questioning of him was illegal.

Continue reading . . .

Go Ahead and Say “Never” on Bivens Extensions

by · Jun 10, 2022 11:32 am

Way back in Reconstruction, Congress created a civil cause of action against state and local officials who violate federal constitutional rights. Today, that statute is 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Congress did not, however, create a parallel right to sue federal agents. In 1971, the Supreme Court made one up anyway in the case of Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents.

The Court extended Bivens to a couple of new contexts in the early years afterward but soon came to realize it had overreached. In Wednesday’s decision in Egbert v. Boule, Justice Thomas notes in the opinion of the Court, “Over the past 42 years, however, we have declined 11 times to imply a similar cause of action for other alleged constitutional violations.” In Egbert, the Court declined to extend Bivens to a claim of allegedly excessive force allegedly used by a Border Patrol agent against an American citizen on U.S. soil. Continue reading . . .