As long as the Executive Branch does not exceed its constitutional authority, the Judicial Branch must generally defer to a prosecutor's charging decisions. Judges are nonetheless occasionally critical of particular prosecutions. Rarely are they as vocal as Judge Phil Gilbert.

Gilbert says even though [Katie] Heath co-operated with a drug investigation, she was hit with a mandatory sentence of 20 years. That's after she's already served time in state prison.

Katie served a year in state prison on a methamphetamine distribution charge. After her release, she made progress toward living a stable life. She got a job. She went back to school. She was taking care of her kids. Leave it to the federal Justice Department to destroy her chance at living a meaningful life.

"She obviously was trying to turn her life around and then this federal indictment hits her with a 20 year mandatory minimum" says Judge Phil Gilbert. "It just raised a lot of questions of fairness."

Judge Gilbert recused himself rather than imposing the 20 years. He has the integrity to refuse to play along with the Executive Branch’s vicious and heartless charging decision. Good for him. (more ...)

This story addresses British sex offender laws, but it teaches a lesson to state and federal lawmakers in the United States: courting votes by advancing whatever new “tough on crime” legislation is in vogue only leads to confusing and conflicting legislation.

The simple question before the judges was whether the defendant was guilty of an offence of failing to register as a sex offender contrary to the 2003 Sexual Offences Act. “Any intelligent observer would have been baffled to discover there could be any doubt about whether or not the defendant was guilty of this criminal offence," said the judge, one of a panel of three hearing the case.

“For the Court of Appeal to decide the issue, we heard detailed submissions about the legislative provisions in no less than five statutes... The problem was so complicated that three judges had to reserve judgment because at the end of the hearing we could not work out whether or not the defendant was guilty. After reserving judgment we concluded that no offence had been committed. Yet the appellant had spent time in custody.”

Almost all acts or omissions that can sensibly be criminalized have been criminalized. Give it a rest, lawmakers. We don’t need the hodgepodge of criminal statutes you enact in a rush every election year. Criminal justice codes should be revised and simplified on occasion to further coherent and consistent policies. Sentencing practices in most jurisdictions would benefit from comprehensive reform. Unless legislators want to deal with the criminal justice system as a whole, they should learn to leave it alone.

A federal grand jury indicted Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona on charges of mail fraud and witness tampering. The indictment alleges that Carona and others (including, reportedly, his wife and mistress) used illegal campaign contributions to secure Carona’s election and then used Carona’s official position to enrich themselves.

The details are reported here.

Here's the movie trailer to Running Down the Dream, a 4 hour documentary by Peter Bogdanovich covering the past 30 years of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

It just was released last week and Sundance Channel aired it the other night. I saw about 2 hours of it and loved it. It will air again Nov. 1 at 3am ET, so tivo it if you get the Sundance Channel.

A Studio and bigger version of trailer here.

Big Tent Democrat and I will be live-blogging tonight's Democrats Debate at Drexel University.

The New York Times says all eyes will be on Obama.

Hillary has already fired the first salvo.

I just hope some sparks fly.

Updates below, mostly in the comments.

"The Justice Department and the FBI cannot discuss the facts of the Blackwater case, which is under active investigation. However, any suggestion that the Blackwater employees in question have been given immunity from federal criminal prosecution is inaccurate. The Justice Department and the FBI continue the criminal investigation of this matter knowing that this investigation involves a number of complex issues. We are unable to comment further at this time."

*****
Original Post
Wording of Blackwater Immunity Deals

ABC News has obtained the text of the use immunity provided Blackwater guards by the State Department.

More....

Capital punishment watchers have been anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court's action on the execution of Earl W. Berry, scheduled for tonight in Mississippi.

With 15 minutes to spare, the Court has stayed the execution. The vote was 7 to 2. Scalia and Alito dissented.

Is this a signal that the Court will find lethal injections to be cruel and unusual punishment when it decides the Kentucky case it has agreed to review?

ABC News has more, as does Capital Defense Weekly and Scotus Blog.

Via TPM:

President Bush's nominee for attorney general told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday that he does not know whether waterboarding is illegal. He pledged to study the matter and to reverse any Justice Department finding that endorses a practice that violates the law or the Constitution. "If, after such a review, I determine that any technique is unlawful, I will not hesitate to so advise the president and will rescind or correct any legal opinion of the Department of Justice that supports the use of the technique," Michael Mukasey wrote to the committee's 10 Democrats.

Incredible. Shameless. Outrageous. Disqualifying.

Last year, TalkLeft called attention to the serious questions surrounding the convictions of three teenagers -- dubbed the "West Memphis 3" by the media -- for the gruesome murders and mutilations of three 8-year-old boys. In a court filing yesterday, defense attorneys raised those questions.

[A]ccording to long-awaited new evidence filed by the defense in federal court on Monday, there was no DNA from the three defendants found at the scene, the mutilation was actually the work of animals and at least one person other than the defendants may have been present at the crime scene.

An HBO documentary, Paradise Lost, and a follow-up documentary highlighted the problems with the case against the defendants. Court documents and considerably more information about the case can be found at this website.

Say it isn't so! Crooks and Liars has the details. Apparently, a Clear Channel memo went out .

Shorter version: Old Springsteen tunes are fine but not the new ones. Some speculate his age is behind the decision. Also missing from Clear Channel:

There is no sign at major radio stations of new albums by John Fogerty or Annie Lennox, either. The same stations that should be playing Santana’s new singles with Chad Kroeger or Tina Turner are avoiding them, too.

Like Springsteen, these "older" artists have been relegated to something called Triple A format stations — i.e. either college radio or small artsy stations such as WFUV in the Bronx, N.Y., which are immune from the Clear Channel virus of pre-programming and where the number of plays per song is a fraction of what it is on commercial radio.

Are they going to play the new Eagles' album? Are Tom Petty or the Rolling Stones too old? The age excuse is hard for me to believe -- it sounds like speculation to me.

Howie Klein, who should know if anyone does, doesn't buy the age excuse either. In an update, he points out the story isn't totally right as some independent-minded Clear Channel stations, like Boulder's great KBCO, are playing it.

Hillary Clinton released this statement today, opposing the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General.

We need an Attorney General who has the strength to challenge this Administration when it is wrong, who is committed to reestablishing the independence of the Department of Justice and to restoring respect for the Constitution and the rule of law. I am deeply troubled by Judge Mukasey’s continued unwillingness to clearly state his views on torture and unchecked Executive power.

The Attorney General is the chief defender of the rule of law in our country. After Alberto Gonzales's troubled tenure, we cannot send a signal that the next Attorney General in any way condones torture or believes that the President is unconstrained by law. When we leave any doubt about our nation’s policy on torture, we send a terrible message to the rest of the world.

More....

Breathe a sigh of relief. The House today passed a bill banning state taxes on internet access until before 2014. Since the Senate has already approved the measure, it goes to Bush for his signature.

Taxing consumers to access the internet is a horrible idea. And it wasn't just the tax:

Under the “streamlined” plan, a “national collection center” would be established and would monitor and store your personal information and Internet shopping habits.