After John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, former Attorney General Dick Thornburgh doesn't seem so bad. Sure, he didn't think that federal prosecutors should play by the same ethical standards that bind defense attorneys. Yes, he rabidly fought the drug war. But at least he didn't run the entire Constitution through a paper shredder. And unlike Gonzales, who took instruction from Karl Rove, Thornburgh was once sued by Rove.

In yesterday's New York Times, Thornburgh argues that white collar criminals deserve to be prosecuted, and urges the Obama administration to hire more FBI agents and prosecutors, but not to change any laws. He has it just about backwards.

Thornburgh seems to understand the problem. [more ....]

Congrats to Bristol and Levi on the birth of Tripp, a healthy, 7 pound boy.

(It was as long overdue as the start of the singing in the clip from Tommy above...."It's a boy" comes on around the five minute mark.)

No word yet on whether Levi was present for the delivery.

With the execution of Darold Ray Stenson on the horizon, Dr. Marc Stern resigned his position as the top medical officer employed by the Washington Department of Corrections.

Dr. Marc Stern, who lives in Olympia, said the American Medical Association and Society of Correctional Physicians oppose physician involvement in executions, "and they say physicians should not supervise somebody who is involved in executions."

One of the department's assistant secretaries disingenuously "characterized Stern's objections as more individual than professional."

The American Medical Association says physicians shouldn't take part in "an action which would assist, supervise, or contribute to the ability of another individual to directly cause the death of the condemned."

Following the AMA's ethical guidance sounds professional, doesn't it?

Andrew Collins, the narcotics officer for the Benton Harbor (Michigan) Police Department, didn't bother to turn over drugs he seized from dealers and users. He just kept them for himself. But that's not the worst.

Collins also reported fictitious drug sales he made as an officer to improperly gain search warrants and embezzle funds from the police department.

Collins has been arrested and indicted. After meeting with the FBI, Berrien County Prosecutor Arthur Cotter decided to reopen and dismiss seven cases that resulted from "perjured testimony, planted evidence, or false information contained in affidavits which were used to obtain warrants." More unlawfully obtained convictions may be vacated as the review of Collins' work continues.

Cody Davis had nothing to do with the robbery of the Foster's Too pub in West Palm Beach, but witnesses identified him as the robber. Why?

Witnesses said the robber had a tattoo on his neck. One witness described the tattoo as resembling "Chinese characters." Davis had his name -- "Cody" -- tattooed on his neck, and an informant told the police they should take a look at him. That was good enough for the police.

Investigators put together a photo lineup. Six mug shots included Davis, who was the only one with a tattoo distinctly visible on his neck.

A judge who cared about fair play would have tossed the tainted identifications, given the suggestiveness of the photo array. That didn't happen, and jurors convicted Davis, despite his alibi, despite the dissimilarity of his appearance to witness descriptions of the robber. [more ...]

MADD scores a round in Illinois. As a result of their efforts, first time DUI offenders will have 14 days to install a "breath-alcohol ignition-interlock device" in the dashboard of their car.

With the device, if a driver has a blood-alcohol content above 0.024, the engine won't start....Drivers who register a 0.08 or higher blood-alcohol level at the time of their arrest will be required to drive with the monitoring devices for five months. Drivers who refuse alcohol testing but are convicted must use the devices for 11 months.

....The gadgets also will require drivers be tested periodically while the car is running. Drivers will have to blow into the device again within the first 5 to 15 minutes of a trip, then at least twice every hour.

More...

Forbes and the New York Post are making a big deal out of former IMClone President Sam Waksal getting 9 months off his 87 month sentence for having participated in RDAP, a 12 month residential drug and alcohol program for inmates.

The papers seem offended that Waksal didn't acknowledge an alcohol program until he was about to be sentenced. So what?

Waksal pleaded guilty to the charges as filed against him. He pleaded guilty without a plea agreement and he didn't cooperate against anyone else. A perusal of the court docket sheet in his case shows he paid more than $4 million in fines and restitution.

Waksal was on home detention prior to his surrendering to prison. Even the granting of his request to visit his elderly, sick mother for a day was met with a barrage of conditions A court order available on the case docket sheet advises him: You can leave after 8 am, you must be home by 8 pm, you can't make any stops along the way and you must call the probation department at noon.

I'm not surprised someone stuck at home 24/7 and subjected to such rigid restrictions would develop a drinking problem. As far as Waksal's reduction is concerned, I think he earned it. [More..]

A few days before Christmas, Miguel Roman received the best present imaginable: freedom from unjust imprisonment.

Superior Court Judge David P. Gold ... ordered a new trial and set aside the guilty verdict and 60-year prison sentence that had confined Roman to prison for a murder it now appears he did not commit. Loud applause followed the judge's order.

Prosecutors agree that DNA analysis (unavailable at the time of Roman's 1990 trial) points to another man as the likely murderer. Connecticut will certainly dismiss the charges against Roman, given that the other man has now been charged with the murder.

[more ...]

I am traveling this evening so I won't be posting today. As you can see, TChris is around and Jeralyn as well I think. In the meantime, here are some excellent posts from our diarists:

Scribe on Bush's unpardon:

Edger reports on the petition for a special prosecutor:

lilburro offers two diaries on the torture issue - Stephen Kappes on the rendition of Abu Omar and The broader CIA Critique.

This is an Open Thread.

It isn't surprising that Rush Limbaugh is amused by the song "Barack the Magic Negro," but did Chip Saltsman really believe he was helping his bid to become RNC chairman by sending the song to RNC members for Christmas? Even Newt Gingrich criticizes the song's offensive, racist lyrics. And does Saltsman honestly think that refusing to apologize, even as current RNC chair Mike Duncan (who hopes to keep his job) professes to be "shocked and appalled" by the song, is a smart strategy?

Saltsman has defended his decision to send the CD, releasing a statement saying that "our party leaders should...refuse to pander to [the media's] desire for scandal."

The story hasn't received much press, but it's actually Saltsman who fed the "desire for scandal" by his insensitive behavior. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer argues that Saltsman's attitude "only serves to promote divisiveness and distracts us from our common goal of building our party." The promotion of divisiveness built the modern GOP. Saltsman's Christmas present is simply the latest manifestation of that destructive and defeated philosophy.

Most of the 140 on-duty police deaths in 2008, as in other years, were accidental. The good news is that the number of police officers killed by non-accidental gunfire was smaller than it has been in more than 50 years.

Forty-one officers were shot and killed in 2008, down 40% from 68 in 2007. That's the lowest number since 1956, when 35 officers died from gunfire. The U.S. population today is 305 million, compared with 169 million in 1956.

Philadelphia had the most deaths of any police agency, with four.

Worth noting:

• Following a nationwide trend, death sentences have been declining in North Carolina over the past ten years. Only one North Carolina defendant was sentenced to death in 2008, the smallest number since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment. The jury rejected death in eleven of the state's twelve capital trials.

• An 18-year-old who set fire to a house in Youngstown, killing two women and four children, was sentenced to life without parole after a jury rejected the death penalty.

• The Boston Globe chastises New Hampshire for imposing its first death sentence since 1939.

[more ...]