PA Suspect Charged With Murder Weeks After Release

by · Jan 18, 2021 10:38 am

An habitual felon released on reduced bail December 29, has been arrested for the robbery and murder of a 25-year-old man two weeks later.  Danielle Wallace of Fox News reports that 20-year-old Davis Josephus was facing charges of kidnapping for ransom, auto theft, robbery, and firearms violations when a Philadelphia judge reduced his bail from $200,000 to $12,000 late last month, resulting in his release.  Video surveillance captured Josephus and an accomplice confront recent Temple University graduate Milan Loncar at gunpoint as he was walking his dog in a Brewerytown park last Wednesday.

Continue reading . . .

“Disparity” Debunked

by · Jan 15, 2021 1:58 pm

For many years on this blog I have denounced claims that a “disparity” between the percentage of a given racial or ethnic group subject to some criminal justice action and the percentage of the group in the general population supports an inference that bias in the system is the reason. I call this the Fallacy of the Irrelevant Denominator. The makeup of the general population is irrelevant because the general population is mostly law-abiding people, while serious criminal justice consequences are for people who have committed serious crimes.

Yesterday, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released a study that confirms what I have been saying as applied to violent crimes. Continue reading . . .

Mastermind of Seven Murders Put to Death

by · Jan 15, 2021 9:48 am

Corey Johnson, a drug gang enforcer sentenced to death for arranging the 1992 murders of 7 people in Richmond, Virginia was executed without incident last night.  Jeff Mordock of The Washington Times reports that Johnson’s attorneys made a last-minuted claim that he had tested positive for Covid-19 and that his execution by lethal injection would cause him to suffer the same experience as waterboarding, which would be cruel and unusual punishment.    On Tuesday, District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan stayed Johnson’s execution ruling that it should be delayed until March to allow recovery from the virus.

Continue reading . . .

“2020’s Spike in Urban Homicides Should Not Be a Mystery”

by · Jan 13, 2021 7:24 pm

It’s not news by now that last year saw a dramatic surge in murder across the country.  As recounted by this National Review article: “In 2020, homicides increased by 35 percent from 2019 across the 50 largest urban areas, reaching levels in many cities not seen for more than 20 years.”  But why?  “Some in the media suggest the spike is simply another downside of the pandemic. But this would appear to gloss over the likely link to unintended consequences of the nationwide demonstrations after George Floyd’s death in the custody of Minneapolis police.”

Unintended consequences indeed.  As the author explains, when you legitimate rage at society, you can’t be surprised when the outcroppings of rage arrive on your doorstep.

Continue reading . . .

Court Blocks Philly Drug Injection Site

by · Jan 13, 2021 1:53 pm

In a divided decision announced on Tuesday, the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked a Philadelphia non-profit group’s plan to open a safehouse where addicts can safely inject illegal drugs.  Maryclaire Dale of the Associated Press reports that in the opinion for the 2-1 majority, Judge Sephanos Bibas sympathized with the goal of the non-profit called Safehouse, but noted that federal law makes it a crime to open a property for others to ingest illegal drugs.  Four organizations including the Pennsylvania House of Representatives filed amicus briefs in support of the U.S. Attorney, while fourteen groups, including the ACLU, law professors and several states including California and Virginia,  filed briefs in support of Safehouse.

Continue reading . . .

Does Gascón Want a Crime Wave?

by · Jan 13, 2021 9:52 am

Writing in the Santa Clarita Valley Signal, California  Board of Equalization member Ted Gaines suggests that policies announced by newly-elected Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón indicate that he is planning a crime wave for the nation’s most populous county.   “In the latest example of a state gone haywire, Los Angeles County’s recently elected District Attorney George Gascón laid out a stunning pro-crime agenda that would be viewed as satire in most parts of the country.  In Los Angeles County, here is only a partial list of what will no longer be prosecuted: trespassing; drinking in public; under the influence of a controlled substance; public intoxication; disturbing the peace; criminal threats; driving without a license; and, remarkably, resisting arrest.”

Continue reading . . .

Lisa Montgomery Executed After SCOTUS Clears the Way

by · Jan 12, 2021 11:36 pm

Lisa Montgomery was executed tonight for the 2004 murder of 23 year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett.  The execution took place after the Supreme Court wiped away what has become the routine carnival of defense counsel’s obtaining last-minute stays from friendly district courts, generally with arguments that could have been (or were) presented months or years before.  The New York Times has the story here.  Kent covered it last week here.

From sympathetic accounts, Montgomery led a dreadful life.  But no one forced her to undertake the gruesome murder of a completely innocent person, then cut open her belly to take her baby.

“Legitimacy Matters: The Case for Public Financing in Prosecutor Elections”

by · Jan 12, 2021 11:11 pm

Hat tip to Prof. Doug Berman for his post here (emphasis my own):

The title of this post is the title of this new article in the latest issue of the Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice authored by Rory Fleming.  Here is a part of its introduction:

Part I of this Article will present the results of two interlinked studies on candidate campaign finance in every election with a progressive prosecutor candidate from 2015 through 2019.  The first study examines campaign funding disparities between incumbent prosecutors and progressive challengers, while the second examines the differentials using the Cost Per Vote (CPV) metric.  Part II will discuss the major findings of the two studies, such as how progressive challengers in Democratic primaries seem to only win when a sufficient amount of Soros PAC money is granted, and how higher CPV values translate to greater tensions between local prosecutor offices and their communities.  Part III traces how the Soros-reliant funding model for progressive prosecutors has created an unprecedented crisis of prosecutorial legitimacy in many major urban counties.  Part IV presents public funding for prosecutor selections as one solution that can balance the desirability of competitiveness in prosecutor elections with the need to curb the backlash against prosecutors working to end mass incarceration.

 

Continue reading . . .

California DAs Association Rebukes Gascón

by · Jan 12, 2021 11:22 am

In California, as in most states, trial court prosecutors are elected locally, giving the people of a county some degree of local control over how prosecutorial discretion is exercised. Discretion is not unlimited, though, and there are state laws that cannot properly be brushed aside in the name of local policy.

The California District Attorneys Association today released an open letter to the (Los Angeles) Association of Deputy District Attorneys expressing concerns that the policy directives of new LA DA George Gascón go beyond the limits of policy and place deputies in the position of being ordered to violate their legal and ethical obligations. Continue reading . . .