USCA-DC Denies Stay for Child Killer

by · Aug 26, 2020 9:19 am

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit yesterday denied a stay of execution for Keith Nelson. According to the DOJ Press Release of June 15, “Keith Dwayne Nelson kidnapped a 10-year-old girl rollerblading in front of her home, and in a forest behind a church, raped her and strangled her to death with a wire.”

Nelson now claims he will suffer too much pain in the very brief interval between the time he is injected with a massive overdose of pentobarbital and the time he becomes insensate to pain as a result. Continue reading . . .

CAL Supremes Overturn Scott Peterson’s Death Sentence

by · Aug 24, 2020 3:44 pm

In a unanimous ruling announced today, the California Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence given to murderer Scott Peterson in 2005.  Barnini Chakraborty of Fox News reports that the high court did not dispute Peterson’s guilt for the murders of his wife Laci and unborn son, but the court held that errors in the selection of jurors, including dismissing jurors who were opposed to the death penalty invalidated his death sentence.

Continue reading . . .

Chipping away at cash bail in California

by · Aug 24, 2020 1:57 pm

In re Humphrey (S247278) has been fully briefed and pending before the California Supreme Court for almost two years.  As a general rule, a published Court of Appeal opinion has “no binding or precedential effect” while review is pending (Calif. Rules of Court 8.1115(e)(1)).  The California Supreme Court, however, may so order otherwise (Calif. Rules of Court 8.1115(e)(3)).  As reported by Bob Egelko of the San Francisco Chronicle, last week, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra asked the court to utilize its authority to reclassify the Court of Appeal’s opinion as “binding and precedential” while the case is pending review.  Becerra claims that the issue of keeping people incarcerated due to “their inability to afford bail has become critically important because of ‘the unexpected change in circumstances caused by the unprecedented impacts of the novel coronavirus pandemic.'”

Kenneth Humphrey, a repeat offender, was charged with robbery and burglary.  Bail was initially set at $600,000, then later reduced to $350,000.  Humphrey’s request for pretrial release on his own recognizance without financial conditions was denied by the trial court.  The Court of Appeal decision granted Humphrey a new bail hearing in which inquiry must be made on his ability to pay money bail.  If unable to pay money bail, non-monetary alternatives must be addressed. CJLF filed an amicus brief in the case that can be found here.

Continue reading . . .

We Keep Giving Them a Pass, and They Keep Proving We’re Fools

by · Aug 23, 2020 1:26 pm

In “Our Under-Incarceration Problem, Portland Edition,” Paul Mirengoff shows graphically the savage costs of the nostrum that passes for High Wisdom among criminal justice reformers, to wit,  that “everyone deserves a second chance.”  Of course many, possibly most, criminals deserve a second chance, but as long as we refuse to ask, “Who specifically are we dealing with?” and “Second chance to do what?” we are thoughtlessly opening the door to more criminal brutality.  And we’ll get what you usually get when you open that door  —  as a Portland, Oregon driver learned last week.

Continue reading . . .

A Unique and Thoughtful View on Race and Policing

by · Aug 23, 2020 12:24 pm

Jim Copland of the Manhattan Institute has something to teach us from a personal perspective.  He begins his article:

We can’t talk about policing in the United States without talking about race. It’s personal to me. I’m white. But I’m married to a black woman, and we’re the proud parents of a biracial son who, as he grows up and navigates American life, will face challenges that I never had in my own youth. He’s nine years old now and only barely beginning to wrestle with questions of race and identity. Yet as he matures into adulthood, he’s more likely to have encounters with police than I have been. These encounters are more likely to include some police use of force than if he were white.

But Jim’s perspective leads him to think and not just emote.

Continue reading . . .

Joe Biden’s Spokesman for “Criminal Justice Reform” — a Torture Killer

by · Aug 21, 2020 8:13 pm

It’s not a secret that the Democratic National Convention was scripted to showcase Joe Biden’s stance on the issues (just as the RNC will be scripted to showcase Donald Trump’s).  Thus it’s more than a little revealing that the person chosen to do a short slot reading the Preamble to the Constitution was Ms. Donna Hylton.  Ms. Hylton was previously most notable for being a a convicted murderer and kidnapper implicated in a gruesome 1985 torture-killing.

Want to know what “criminal justice reform” is actually about?  I’m grateful that the organizers of the DNC were forthcoming enough to give us this insight.

Continue reading . . .

The Clinesmith Plea Was Invalid and Will Have To Be Re-Opened

by · Aug 21, 2020 6:56 pm

Kevin Clinesmith is the ex-FBI lawyer who inserted the false statement that Trump staff aide Carter Page was not a CIA source into material used to secure an ex parte FISA warrant for surreptitious electronic surveillance on the Trump campaign.  He got caught and was charged with a violation of the false statements statute, 18 USC 1001.  He purported to plead guilty this week.  But because he refused to admit, and in fact specifically denied, a key element of the offense  —  intentional deceit  —  the plea is invalid.  The Assistant US Attorney should have caught this, and at all events the court should not, and legally could not, have accepted the plea when the defendant unambiguously maintained that he did not have the statutorily-required bad intent.  The plea hearing will have to be re-opened, or the case will have to go to trial.

Continue reading . . .

Crime Up in Communities With Soros-Funded DAs

by · Aug 21, 2020 2:52 pm

Hedge fund billionaire George Soros has pumped millions into local District Attorney campaigns in recent years to elect pro-criminal, anti-police progressives to head prosecution offices.  James Varney of the Washington Times reports on how that’s working out.  In St. Louis, Soros funded PACs contributed more than $190,000 to progressive Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner’s campaign back in 2016.  Today, violent crime is up just under 9% making St. Louis the most violent city in the country.   In Philadelphia, where defense attorney Larry Krasner got $1.7 million from Soros’ Pennsylvania Justice and Public Safety PAC to get elected DA, homicides are up 34% this year.

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Justice Appeals to Reinstate Boston Bomber Death Sentence

by · Aug 21, 2020 1:10 pm

Attorney General William Barr announced yesterday that the Justice Department will appeal the 1st Circuit’s ruling last month overturning the death sentence of Boston Bomber Dzhokbar Tsarnaev.  Tsarnaev and his older brother were responsible for the April 15, 2013 bombing, which killed 3 and injured 260.  Boston 25 News reports that the federal appeals court ruling held that the trial judge in the case had failed to adequately vet potential jurors about their knowledge of the crime in the highly publicized case.  “We will do whatever is necessary.  We will take it (the case) up to the Supreme Court and we will continue to pursue the death penalty,” said Barr.

Ex Post Facto

by · Aug 20, 2020 3:17 pm

On Tuesday, August 18, the Supreme Court issued an order in Mnuchin, et al. v. Collins, et al., No. 19-563 and the cross-appeal that began, “Mnuchin, et al., shall file an opening brief on the questions presented by the petition in No. 19-563, limited to 13,000 words, by Monday, August 17, 2020….” Continue reading . . .