Edmond Brandy's first strike was robbing a Beef Bowl with a BB gun at age 19. While serving his sentence, he earned his second strike for his involvement in a prison yard fight. Brandy, now 32, faces 25 to life if he's convicted of his third strike.

Brandy has been charged with pointing a gun at another motorist in an alleged episode of "road rage." The California Highway Patrol traced the car to Brandy. Two months after the alleged incident, the police raided his house to search for a gun. They didn't find one, but they arrested him anyway.

The people in the car who say they were threatened can't get their stories straight. [more ...]

Joe Amrine spent 17 years on death row waiting to be executed for a crime he didn't commit. He writes on behalf of Moratorium Now!, a campaign to bring about a national moratorium on executions. Before advances in DNA technology began to demonstrate the shockingly significant risk that an innocent person will be put to death, Amrine knew that mistakes happen. He's lucky to be living proof of that fact.

We know now that eye-witness testimony, jailhouse informants or “snitches,” and even confessions do not always result in a proper conviction. But what have we done to ensure that these potentially deadly mistakes aren’t made?

Missouri has never had a thorough examination of our death penalty system. The state set me free, acknowledging an innocent man had been in prison awaiting execution for nearly two decades. Five years have passed, and still no study has been done to guarantee that another person won’t be set to die for a crime he did not commit. This baffles and horrifies me.

The last sentence in his essay is inarguable:

The state can always set the innocent free; bringing the dead back to life is outside its capacity.

With 23 days to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver, it's no surprise that local news coverage is expanding daily.

In addition to writing TalkLeft, for the past four years I've been blogging daily on local issues at Elevated Voices, the blog of Denver's terrific monthly magazine, 5280. Now we have a special blog just for the DNC, DNC Daily. (The RSS feed is here.)We're just getting started and more writers will be joining us, but bookmark it now.

The August issue of the magazine is now out, I just picked mine up at Whole Foods. It's terrific -- especially the pullout guide to everything Denver, from where to eat, shop, party, relax, get a quick beauty fix and more. I'm going to keep it in my 4th Amendment tote bag at all times to have ready answers for the out-of-towners. (Tote bags available here.)

Much of the issue is available free online. Here are some highlights: [More...]

Gnarls Barkley is scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza tomorrow.

What makes you crazy?

From the "If it ain't broke ..." department:

The U.S. Postal Service has ended a decades-old tradition in which mail was delivered to [Sutton Island, Maine] by a private ferry service and left in a specially marked trash can on the dock for recipients to pick up. Postal Service higher-ups got wind of the practice used to serve those living in the island's 25 or so seasonal homes and decided it had to be halted for security reasons. ...

Shea Howell, who lives in Detroit, Mich., during the winter, said residents will now have to make the 2-mile ocean journey to the post office in Northeast Harbor. "That can mean a three-hour trip out of your day just to get the mail," she said.... Howell said having mail service is important, especially for older residents who stay on the island for several months at a time and rely on deliveries to pay bills, stay in touch with loved ones and even receive essential medications.

Security issues apparently don't trouble UPS or FedEx, which will continue to deposit deliveries in the trash can.

I love Survey USA's poll reporting. They provide you the demographic breakdown to REALLY analyze their poll. In today's Missouri poll, SUSA has MCCain up 5. But getting into the numbers is always the fun part of a SUSA poll.

Here are the basics, McCain wins men 53-41 (49% of the electorate), Obama wins women 48-45 (51%). McCain wins whites 53-39, with 7% undecided (86% of the electorate), Obama wins A-As 88-10 (11% of the electorate.

More . . .

For seven years, the identity of the person who mailed letters contaminated with anthrax has been a mystery. The FBI, once quite certain that Steven Hatfill was the culprit, eventually expressed regret at ruining an innocent man's life with its false accusations. Now the FBI has decided that Army scientist Bruce Ivins was the guilty party. Ivins' apparent suicide conveniently allows the FBI to close its investigation without being bothered to prove that he was any more guilty than Hatfill.

The FBI views the suicide as a confession. In the absence of a suicide note that actually admits the crime, that assertion is speculative. Ivins' lawyer points out that people who are dogged with life-ruining accusations, true or false, might lose the will to live.

Tom Daschle correctly argues that the public deserves to know whether the evidence against Ivins was compelling. If not, the true criminal may still be at large. [more ...]

John McCain's approach to crime:

Asked what he would do about crime, Mr. McCain pointed to Rudolph W. Giuliani’s success lowering crime in New York City.

You'll recall that the Giuliani approach sacrificed civil liberties for "safe streets" and encouraged the NYPD to engage in misconduct and brutality. New York City residents who were homeless, particularly those who tried to make a living by washing windshields with squeegees, were endlessly harassed so that more affluent residents could have a better "quality of life" (i.e., a life that didn't expose them to the less fortunate). Giuliani is not a model we should want anyone to emulate. [more ...]

Your turn.

Barack Obama is having a press conference this morning and it is being dominated by questions about the 'race card.' That makes it a good press conference for McCain. The big hook for McCain is the fact that Obama supporters disgracefully smeared Bill and Hillary Clinton during the Democratic primaries. The McCain riposte to pushback from Obama supporters is "that's what you said about Bill and Hillary Clinton." Take Bob Herbert for instance. Today he writes:

John McCain didn’t appreciate them. RACE CARD! RACE CARD! The McCain camp started bellowing, and it hasn’t stopped since. With great glee bursting through their feigned outrage, the campaign’s operatives and the candidate himself accused Senator Obama of introducing race into the campaign — playing the race card, as they put it, from the very bottom of the deck. . . . Senator McCain is the head of a party that has viciously exploited race for political gain for decades. He’s obviously more than willing to continue that nauseating tradition.

Here's the problem -- Bob Herbert spent the entire Democratic primary accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of having no class, being persons without scruples and of playing the race card. He is now disqualified from pushing back against John McCain's race baiting and disgraceful campaign. Indeed, McCain welcomes a blast from Bob Herbert. Why? Because he can quote what Herbert wrote and said about Bill and Hillary Clinton. More . . .

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