When we last checked in on Julie Amero, she was facing sentencing for "impairing the morals of a child and risking injury to a minor" by showing porn sites on the web to students in her seventh grade class. Amero's side of the story, which proved (albeit belatedly) to be convincing, is that the computer was infected with malware that kept popping up porn sites faster than she could close them. The state's "expert" testified that Amero must have deliberately accessed the porn, a false proposition that computer experts from across the nation derided after Amero was convicted.

The good news: "In June of 2007, [Superior Court Judge Hillary] Strackbein threw out the initial conviction and ordered a new trial." The bad news:

Unbelievably, more than 13 months after Strackbein set aside Amero's conviction on charges that she allowed seventh-graders to view pornography in her classroom, the state is apparently still planning to bring Amero back to trial.

Why? [more ...]

Rudy Escobedo, a mentally ill resident of Fort Wayne, Indiana, called 911 "asking for help."

He said he was on cocaine and Antabuse – a drug given to some alcoholics – and ready to kill himself. He apparently had hallucinations of police already in his home, according to a transcript of the 911 call.

How did police respond to the call for help? Escobedo called at 4:30 a.m. He apparently made five calls after that to a police cell phone, but the battery was dead. At some point he apparently had some conversations with the police in which he was asked to "surrender." His responses were "erratic," as one might expect from a mentally ill suicidal man. By 8:30 a.m., officers decided to use overwhelming force to break into Escobedo's home.

This happened after police halted communications with him, released 12 times the normal incapacitating dose of tear gas into his apartment and launched a flash-bang grenade into his room that exploded near his head.

[more ...]

TChris and I have been focused on crime this morning and Big Tent Democrat is attending to some other matters, so for those of you with politics or other things on your mind, here's an open thread.

Mississippi mayor Frank Melton has been indicted on federal civil rights violations over a crack house raid.

In August 2006, Mr. Melton and his two police bodyguards, Michael Recio and Marcus Wright, ordered the occupants out of the house at gunpoint and directed a group of youths to attack the house with sledgehammers, the indictment said. The mayor, who ran for office on an anti-crime platform, himself broke out the windows with a large stick, the indictment said.

No drugs were found in the raid. [More...]

A quarter century of "tough on crime" political rhetoric has in many states spilled over into the juvenile justice system, based on illogical platitudes like "commit an adult crime, do adult time." With the exception of a few status offenses like truancy, every crime is an "adult crime" in the sense that it can be committed by an adult. That's no reason to pretend that a 14 year old has the same maturity or reasoning ability (pdf) as an adult.

The "lock 'em up" strategy that prevails in our adult criminal justice system has infected the juvenile justice system, as well. Fortunately, as a New York Times editorial recognizes, there are more productive alternatives than shipping children off to juvenile (or adult) prisons where they'll be warehoused with minimal effort to rehabilitate.

One proven way to prevent borderline young offenders from becoming serious criminals is to treat them — and their families — in community-based counseling programs instead of shipping them off to juvenile facilities that are often hundreds of miles away from home. ... In addition to saving young lives, the community-based programs cost a lot less: $20,000 per child per year versus as much as $200,000 for holding a child in a juvenile facility.

[more ...]

Almost 400 undocumented workers, mostly from Guatemala, were arrested at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant near Waterloo, Iowa on May 12. Instead of following the customary practice of deporting them, the Justice Department decided to charge a large number with fraud for falsifying social security numbers in order to be hired. The result was assembly line justice:

During fast-paced hearings in May, 262 of the illegal immigrants pleaded guilty in one week and were sentenced to prison — most for five months ....

The immigrants were threatened with heavier identity theft charges and more time if they didn't promptly accept the government's deal. An interpreter who was horrified by the proceedings is now speaking out. [more ...]

Karl Rove did not appear today before the Congressional Committee that subpoenaed him to testify regarding its investigation into the politicization of the White House, including the Don Siegelman matter.

His lawyer, Robert Luskin, explains why here (pdf). While Rove didn't claim any personal privilege, Luskin notes the White House directed Rove not to appear. His letter includes a written letter from the White House dated yesterday and two memorandums from the Justice Department explaining why Rove, as a former close adviser to the President, cannot be compelled to answer questions about matters that arose during his tenure and relate to his official duties. Luskin says Rove is immune from compelled Congressional testimony.

More...

I've been in court all day so I'm ready for a new segment of America's Best Dance Crew on MTV tonight -- especially since Bachelorette Deanna and her snowboarder fiancee Jesse will be on. It starts at 8pm MT and repeats.

What are you watching tonight?

On the campaign trail this week, some sharp differences emerge (or reemerge) between candidates McCain and Obama.

Obama would require employers to expand family and medical leave, for example, while McCain said Thursday it should "be subject to negotiations between management and labor."

Negotiations between management and labor? What power do employees have to negotiate family leave rights? Does McCain assume that most employees belong to a union that can bargain collectively for them? This from the man who voted to block a Senate vote on the union-friendly Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that Obama co-sponsored.

On reproductive rights: [more ...]

Whether or not it makes sense to require eighth grade students to take algebra, as California will now do, the state's effort to comply with the No Child Left Behind Act raises a bigger issue. Sure, a basic understanding of science and math is useful, and exposure to those subjects (at least with good teachers) may encourage kids to explore fields that they didn't realize were of interest to them.

But as important as science and math may be, isn't it equally important for students to understand the basic structure of government and to have a fundamental grasp of the United States Constitution? Aren't children being left behind if they don't know that the Constitution protects rights and imposes limits upon governmental authority? What is the purpose of a law that focuses on "core" subjects like reading and math while neglecting a subject that is equally important to a functioning democracy: the workings of American government and the role that voters are supposed to play in shaping it?

Kevin Drum discusses Andrew Sullivan' reaction to the Obama kids doing an Access Hollywood interview. Personally, I have a hard enough time being a father to my own girls without taking time off to critique how anyone else is raising their own. But I was struck how Sullivan rates this and others issues in terms of importance:

A few things have unsettled me these past couple of weeks about the Obama campaign. It is not the small adjustments to previously-held positions - FISA, the Second Amendment, Iraq. It's a sense that Obama's ample self-regard is lapsing into hubris. The signs of this are pretty trivial on the surface, but they are troubling nonetheless.

That simulated faux-presidential seal was both tacky, silly and presumptive - a small version of "Mission Accomplished" Obama could well do without. The decision to give his acceptance speech in a stadium, rather than the traditional convention hall is also an unnecessary over-reach. . . . Lastly, I was gob-smacked by the Obamas' decision to include their children in a soft-focus TV interview.

(Emphasis supplied.) More . .

We never know what the future holds, but for the present, Senator Kennedy is still fighting the good fight.

Mr. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, flown in virtual secrecy to Washington, stirred the normally staid chamber to a rousing ovation and moved many colleagues to tears when he made a surprise appearance in the Senate in the late afternoon to break a Republican filibuster on a Medicare bill. ... Once it became clear that Democrats had the votes to push the bill through, Republican resistance collapsed and the procedural obstacle was cleared on a vote of 69 to 30.

You could call the appearance a profile in courage.

Mr. Dodd said that Mr. Kennedy’s medical team had cautioned against the visit but that Mr. Kennedy would not be deterred.

I join Jeralyn (who discussed the merits of this important bill yesterday) in saying: Thank you, Senator Kennedy.