Johnnie Earl Lindsey, age 56, became the 20th Dallas, TX inmate to be cleared by DNA testing and today was freed from prison.

Lindsay served 25 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit. His letters over the years requesting DNA testing were ignored.

Then District Attorney Craig Watkins was elected.

Lindsey, his lawyers and the judge repeatedly praised Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who since taking office in January 2007 has examined wrongful convictions and not opposed attempts by prisoners seeking DNA testing. Mitchell said the job of a prosecutor is "not to convict but to see justice is done. We're fortunate to have a district attorney with the courage, dignity and honor to fulfill this duty."

Lindsey was at work when the crime was committed. At his trial, he produced his time cards and his employer testified for him. How did he get convicted? Erroneous eye-witness identification and faulty police lineup procedures. [More...]

The St. Petersburg Times has been conducting focus group testing on undecided voters.

Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.

Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.

Among the comments: [More...]

Big Tent Democrat has a brief due and will be off-line most (if not all) weekend.

Crooks and Liars has Jon Stewart's take on the Hannity-Palin interview, it's great.

Also: Markos' take on how Sarah Palin is going to drag down the Republican ticket and law prof Patricia Williams comparing the Palin effect to an Andy Warhol soup can project.

Here's an open thread to get you started on the weekend. Keep it civil please, and I'll check back in later.

The report in TrooperGate will be out Oct. 10 as scheduled.

The Alaska lawmaker directing an abuse-of-power investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin promised Friday the probe will be finished before the election, despite refusals by key witnesses to testify, including the governor's husband.

After waiting 35 minutes for Todd Palin and two state administrative employees to appear under subpoena before the state Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Hollis French condemned their refusal to testify and the attorney general's broken promise that seven other witnesses would testify who were not subpoenaed.

Prediction: It will be critical of Palin, and Palin will complain it's one-sided, making no reference to her and her husband and staff's refusal to cooperate.

Palinspeak: The only probe I'll cooperate with is one in which those making the decisions are under my direction and control (like the state personnel board.)

Palin's already peaked. It's almost crash and burn time. [More...]

I was one of a few bloggers and reporters on a Hillary Clinton conference call this afternoon. Also on the call were Ann Lewis and NH Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen. Listeners included Hillary delegates, supporters and state volunteers, among others.

The purpose of the call: to announce the formation of Hillary's new grass roots action program, Hillary Sent Me. Starting tomorrow, you can read all about it at Hillary's HillPac website.

Hillary was totally excited about this, you could hear it in her voice. It's a program to get out the vote both for Barack Obama and congressional candidates (particularly in the Senate) in the battleground states.

The program kicks off in New Hampshire Sept. 27/28, and Hillary is asking people to travel there to campaign for Obama and Senate candidate Jeanne Shaheen.[More...]

The AP reports:

Alabama Prisons Commissioner Richard Allen stopped a voter registration drive for inmates Thursday under pressure from the Alabama Republican Party.

In a letter to state Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard, Allen said individuals conducting the program "were not doing anything for the inmates that they could not do themselves by simply contacting the Secretary of State's Office for the voter registration postcard."

Allen's absurd rationale: [More...]

On September 25, the 10th Circuit, en banc, will conduct a rehearing of a three judge panel's reversal of former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio's insider trading conviction.

The issue is whether the trial judge improperly excluded testimony from Nacchio's expert witness who would have disagreed with two Government experts on an issue that was central to Nacchio's guilt or innocence.

This is about fundamental fairness and affects defendants in all cases, not just Nacchio or white collar cases. A defendant’s ability to call witnesses on his behalf at trial is an integral part of the Sixth Amendment right to put on a defense. [More...]

In his statement today on the financial crisis, Senator Barack Obama said, in part:

[W]e cannot only have a plan for Wall Street. We must also help Main Street as well. I’m glad that our government is moving so quickly in addressing the crisis that threatens some of our biggest banks and corporations. But a similar crisis has threatened families, workers and homeowners for months and months and Washington has done far too little to help.

[MORE]

Jeralyn posted Hillary Clinton's great speech on our current financial crisis and I think the most important discussion from that speech was Clinton's championing of the HOLC (Home Owners Loan Corporation) model over the RTC (Resolution Trust Corp.) model. I urge you to watch the speech. In the meantime, hear is a nice post from December 2007 from the Consumer Law and Policy blog on these competing choices, highlighting the Center for American Progress proposal.The post:

If you compare the records of Barack Obama and John McCain, it’s clear that Barack Obama stands with women on the issues that are important to them: equal pay for equal work, the right to choose, comprehensive health care reform. Examples, as received from the Obama campaign, below:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which had sued AT&T over its participation in the National Security Agency's warrantless electronic surveillance program, only to have Congress throw a wrench in it by passing a law giving the telecoms retroactive immunity, has filed a new lawsuit against President Bush, Dick Cheney and the Government, taking a different approach.

. "For years, the NSA has been engaged in a massive and massively illegal fishing expedition through AT&T's domestic networks and databases of customer records. Our goal in this new case against the government, as in our case against AT&T, is to dismantle this dragnet surveillance program as soon as possible."

In addition to suing the government agencies involved in the domestic dragnet, the lawsuit also targets the individuals responsible for creating, authorizing, and implementing the illegal program, including President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

The complaint is here (pdf). I encourage everyone to read at least the prelimary statement that outlines the scope of the old TSP (Terrorist Surveillance Program) and how it continues to be used today. Your e-mails, phone records and more are subject to being swept up in this dragnet surveillance program.[More...]