Monthly Archive: January 2025

Alabama Murderer Faces February 6 Execution

by · Jan 28, 2025 3:41 pm

A Michigan man convicted of the 1991 rape, robbery and murder of 40-year-old Pauline Brown in her Birmingham, Alabama apartment is challenging his death sentence set for February 6. The facts presented at trial and multiple appeals indicate that on the night of November 27, 1991, Demetrius Frazier noticed a light on in Brown’s ground-floor apartment. He entered the apartment through a window and found $10 in cash. He then went to another room, where he found Brown asleep. After waking her up, Frazier demanded more money, and she gave him $80. Frazier then threatened her with a gun, and raped her as she begged for her life. When he was finished he shot her in the back of the head.  After confirming that nobody heard the shot, Frazier made sure that Brown was dead, searched the apartment for more money, ate two bananas and left, throwing his gun in a ditch. Ralph Chapoco of the Alabama Reflector reports that attorneys for Frazier are petitioning in Federal District Court for a stay of execution claiming that the state’s use of nitrogen gas will cause him to suffer, in violation of the Eighth Amendment bar against cruel and unusual punishment. If the execution is carried out, Frazier will be the fourth condemned murderer dispatched by nitrogen gas.  UPDATE:  Frazier’s execution was carried out without incident on the morning of February 6.

Continue reading . . .

Californians Made it Clear They Want a Different Approach to Addiction and Homelessness

by · Jan 28, 2025 11:35 am

Vern Pierson, District Attorney of El Dorado County,* California, has this op-ed with the above title in Cal Matters.

California’s drug crisis has only escalated, with so-called “compassionate solutions” like harm reduction and past policies that decriminalized hard drugs making things worse.

 *        *        *

Normalizing addiction is neither compassionate nor effective — it’s destructive. California must ensure the success of Prop. 36. Alongside drug courts and prevention-focused public education, this new law can address the root causes of addiction and homelessness, offering people a chance at recovery and stability.

Continue reading . . .

Preemptive Pardons and Hypocrisy

by · Jan 21, 2025 1:49 pm

“The idea of a kind of prospective pardon, this sort of permanent federal Get Out of Jail Free card, That seems to be what we’re talking about in the case of this, right?” said MSNBC Chris Hayes. “I wouldn’t ask for a pardon. I don’t think I deserve one because I don’t think I’ve done anything criminal. But like, where does that come from? That concept you can just kind of wave your magic pardon wand?”  he continued.

“Have you ever heard of somebody getting a preemptive pardon who was innocent of all crime, who’s just an innocent person? Have you ever heard of that, just somebody getting a blanket pardon and they’re an innocent person?” MSNBC’s Joy Reid asked Congressman Adam Schiff.  “No,” Schiff responded. “It’s the president’s own family. It’s people that have been covering up for the President, in addition to his own family.”

In another interview CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Schiff, “Would you see that. . . as essentially an admission of guilt?” “I certainly would view it that way,” Schiff told Blitzer. “I think millions of Americans would view it that way. If there was no belief in criminality, why would he think a pardon was necessary?”  As reported by Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Kristine Parks of Fox News, these statements were made in 2020 after a December 1, New York Times headline “Trump Has Discussed With Advisers Pardons for His 3 Eldest Children and Giuliani.” The rumor turned out to be false.

Continue reading . . .

Executive Order on Death Penalty

by · Jan 21, 2025 9:44 am

Among the torrent of executive orders issuing from the White House is one titled “Restoring the Death Penalty and Protecting Public Safety.”

One of its provisions directs the Attorney General to assert federal jurisdiction and seek the death penalty “for every federal capital crime involving: (i) The murder of a law-enforcement officer; or (ii) A capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country.” We shall see how that works in actual practice.

Also included is a directive to help states obtain execution drugs and to get DOJ off its tush with certifying states under the comatose Chapter 154 fast track program.

Along with the latter, the illegal poison pill inserted by the Obama Administration on its way out the door needs to be repealed.
Continue reading . . .

Garland Reduces Sentence For Gang Murderer

by · Jan 16, 2025 11:07 am

The Biden justice department is allowing the illegal alien leader of the brutal MS-13 gang to plead guilty to involvement in the murders of seven people in exchange for a reduced sentence. Michael Ruiz of Fox News reports that Attorney General Merrick Garland has agreed to a plea deal for Jairo Saenz, a 28-year-old illegal from El Salvador, which sentences him to 40 to 60 years in prison, instead of the death penalty or life-without-the-possibility-of-parole (LWOP). Suffolk County police introduced evidence that Ruiz and his brother Alexi murdered two Brentwood High School girls; Kayla Cuevas, 16, and her friend Nisa Mickens, 15, in 2016 after one of the girls criticized the gang on facebook. The girls were hacked to death with machetes. “It’s disgraceful. It’s an insult to the families,” Suffolk County Police Benevolent Association President Lou Civello said of the plea deal Wednesday. “When you look at how barbaric these crimes were, murdering young kids with machetes, baseball bats, this is a clear case for the death penalty.”  If Saenz serves the lower end of his sentencing range, that amounts to less than six years per murder, Civello told Fox News Digital.

Continue reading . . .

Kathy Cady

by · Jan 11, 2025 2:00 pm

The Metropolitan News-Enterprise has this profile of Kathleen Cady by Sherri Okamoto. Kathy is a tireless advocate for victims of crime. See prior posts here and here. Until recently she has been co-counsel with us in Jessica M. v. CDCR, a case mentioned in the article.

Newly elected Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman has brought her back to the DA’s office as Director of the Victim Witness Division, an excellent choice. We wish her well in her new position.

Immigration Enforcement, the Laken Riley Act, and State Standing

by · Jan 11, 2025 10:08 am

The House of Representatives has passed the Laken Riley Act by a whopping 264-159. The bill may set up a constitutional showdown on the question of the standing of states to sue federal officials for failure to enforce federal law, but not any time soon.

The bill adds theft offenses to the crimes for which aliens may be taken into custody. In addition, though, it grants standing to state attorneys general to sue the Secretary of Homeland Security for a variety of failures to enforce several immigration laws. Can Congress do that? 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 . . .

San Francisco Proves Tough on Crime Works

by · Jan 9, 2025 2:14 pm

Three years ago San Francisco voters fired their soft-on-crime District Attorney and elected a replacement who promised to start prosecuting criminals, and particularly the so-called “low level criminals” like thieves, drug dealers and burglars. The new DA, Brooke Jenkins, partnered with the police to go after criminals breaking into cars, smash-and-grab retail thieves and even protesters blocking streets and bridges. The result, crime has dropped dramatically as reported by Danielle Echeverria of the San Francisco Chronicle. The latest numbers from SFPD show significant declines in both property crime and violent crime outpacing the nation as a whole. Violent crime fell by 14% between 2023 and 2024. Property crime fell by 31% over the same period. This is happening in what used to be the most tolerant city in the U.S.

Continue reading . . .

Former AG Meese on Trump v. New York

by · Jan 9, 2025 9:02 am

Former Attorney General Edwin Meese, a long-time friend and advisor to CJLF, has filed this amicus brief in the Supreme Court in Trump v. New York, No. 24A666, noted in yesterday’s post. The brief is joined by Professor Steven Calabresi. Gene Schaerr is counsel of record.

The brief discusses long-standing positions taken by the USDoJ Office of Legal Counsel regarding prosecution of sitting Presidents and argues for the case to be dismissed rather than merely stayed. Continue reading . . .