From the Campaign 4 Youth Justice Organization, a group dedicated to ending the practice of trying, sentencing and incarcerating children under 18 in the adult criminal justice system:

The Virginia legislature recently passed a bill by Delegate Dave Marsden (D-Fairfax) that amends Virginia's "once an adult, always an adult" law so that it is applied more fairly to youth.

Previously, merely transferring a youth to adult court was enough to trigger the "once an adult, always an adult" law. This meant that youth transferred to the adult system were treated as an adult in all future proceedings, no matter how minor the charge, even if they were acquitted or had their case dismissed.

There was much waiting this morning as the Court decided how to respond to yesterday's jury note.

Here is yesterday's note. It was a question about what was required on Count 3 of the Indictment, pertaining to former Time reporter Matthew Cooper. The count alleges Libby made a false statement to the FBI about his conversation with Cooper in the fall of 2003. This is not the perjury count.

Update: Jane of Firedoglake reprints the text version:

We would like clarification on the charge as stated under Count 3 specifically:

Page 74 of the jury instructions, "Count three of the indictment alleges that Mr. Libby falsely told the FBI on October 14 or November 26, 2003, that during a conversation with M. Cooper of Time Magazine on July 12, 2003, Mr. Libby told Mr. Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that Mr. Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but that Mr. Libby did not know of this was true.

(i.e., is the charge that the statement was made or about the content of the statement itself)

Judge's note at the bottom — I am not exactly certain what you are asking me. Can you please clarify your question?

After the Judge responded, the jury sent back this note, indicating it now understood what it was supposed to do.

Firedoglake is live-blogging deliberations again. I agree with Marcy that the Cooper counts are the weakest in the Indictment.

Yesterday I wrote about the new Human Rights Watch report on the missing CIA prisoners who were whisked off to secret prisons on Ghost Air.

Today, the Washington Post publishes its series of interviews with Marwan Jabour, a prisoner seized in 2004 who was released in 2006.

First note: Jabour, HRW and intelligence officials say the number of secret prisoners far exceed the 14 President Bush said were transferred to Guantanamo. HRW has 38 unaccounted for, an intelligence official says more than 60 were held.

On to Jabour's account of his detention and torture. First, there's the "villa at Islamabad."

An enlightened legislator in Florida has introduced a bill to ban the phrase "illegal alien" from state documents.

"I personally find the word 'alien' offensive when applied to individuals, especially to children," said Sen. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami. "An alien to me is someone from out of space."

She has introduced a bill providing that: "A state agency or official may not use the term 'illegal alien' in an official document of the state." There would be no penalty for using the words. In Miami-Dade County, Wilson said, "we don't say 'alien,' we say 'immigrant.'"

The better phrase, as I've used here on TalkLeft for years, is "undocumented resident." I hope this bill passes...and spreads.

Some new details on the Scooter Libby jury deliberation process:

• The jurors wore jeans today. Certainly a sign they knew they weren't going to finish today...otherwise they would have dressed up.

• Ted Wells is buying courtroom sketches of himself from the sketch artists. His advice: "Always buy your sketches before the verdict."

• Libby's wife, lawyer Harriet Grant and Libby attorney Bill Jeffress hit the park across from the courthouse during the wait to grab a smoke.

• Both sides have waiting rooms in the courthouse. The Government's is bigger.

More...

From Melinda Henneberger:

Before their Iraq briefing at the White House yesterday, the nation's governors were instructed that they were not to ask any pesky questions about a timetable for bringing the troops home. So by the time California's Arnold Schwarzenegger was on his third question about a timetable for bringing the troops home, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Peter Pace was just the tiniest bit out of patience . . .

I got news for General Pace, the American People are out of patience.

TPM Central interviews Tom Andrews on Iraq and the Dems:

The antiwar leader, Tom Andrews, the head of Win Without War . . . is warning that Congressional Dems are at risk of badly botching the public relations battle over Iraq and is urging Congressional Dems to move more aggressively to confront the Republicans in the political showdown over ending the war.

. . . "Democrats have to fight," Andrews tells us. "Where are the voices in Congress reflecting the majority view of the American people?"

. . . "The Republicans should be on their heels," Andrews says. "They have put the troops in these conditions -- and they're the ones on the offensive! There should be a relentless attack" from Dems, Andrews continues. "Dems in Congress should be talking relentlessly about the lack of equipment, the lack of training, the multiple deployments, every day. There should be a relentless demand for accountability."

While I think Andrews has to face the fact that defunding is the way to do it, I'm am with his sentiment.

I really enjoy Atrios' "Wanker of the Day" series. But today he really misses the mark though, naming Richard Cohen Wanker of the Day, thanks to some overblown reporting by Media Matters.

Today Cohen wrote a terrific column on Al Gore. It seems impossible to me that Cohen could be the Wanker of the Day for that column. If that is the worst of the day, then our work is done as bloggers and we can all go back to our previous quiet lives.

Update: The jury had a note at end of the day. Received by e-mail from DOJ spokesperson Randall Samborn:

The Court received a note containing a question from the jury at the end of the day today. Judge Walton will address the note with the parties in court at approximately 9:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, following the conclusion of another matter the Court has scheduled at 9 a.m. The contents of the note will not be disclosed until the note is addressed in court and docketed sometime tomorrow morning.

Update: 5:05 pm ET and no verdict. Looks like everyone comes back for more waiting tomorrow.

********

The 11 remaining jurors are in day 5 of jury deliberations in the Scooter Libby trial. Jane and Marcy of Firedoglake are at the courthouse, as is Aldon Haynes of Orient Lodge (blogging for MediaBloggers.

Lots of people have asked me what's taking so long. I don't think this is a particularly long time yet.

The U.S. Government says there are 500,000 torture survivors living among us. California has Torture Survivor Treatment Centers, and today marks No Torture.Org's beginning of its awareness campaign, which will run through June 26.

The U.S. government estimates that 500,000 torture survivors live in the United States. University of the Pacific’s School of International Studies in Stockton, Calif. is in the process of developing baseline population data for torture survivors in California. The research will be conducted under the supervision of Professor Jean-Marie Stratigos, a former United Nations humanitarian affairs officer.

“Survivors are a hidden population in our state and many obstacles prevent them from receiving adequate healthcare,” said Kathi Anderson, executive director of Survivors of Torture, International. “We hope that this campaign will build knowledge among both medical professionals and the general public.”

It's the largest awareness campaign to date in the U.S. Here are the points they would like to get across:

Once again, no justice for Emmett Till. The grand jury investigating his 1955 murder has returned a "no true bill" against Carolyn Bryant, now 72.

The grand jury in Leflore County wrapped up its work this past week and issued a "no bill" against Carolyn Bryant, the widow of one of two white men originally acquitted of Till's death. A "no bill" means the grand jury found insufficient evidence existed for an indictment on a criminal charge. Documents made public Tuesday show prosecutors sought a manslaughter charge

.....Till was kidnapped from the Leflore County town of Money in 1955. Three days later, the 14-year-old's mutilated body was found in the Tallahatchie River.

Roy Bryant, Carolyn Bryant's husband, and his half brother, J.W. Milam, were acquitted of the crime by an all-white jury. The two men later confessed in an interview with Look magazine. Till had been accused of whistling at Carolyn Bryant, and some witnesses have said a woman's voice could be heard at the scene of the abduction.

David Seth at Daily Kos has the details and a strong reaction.

Lawyers for the three charged Duke lacrosse team players filed a 39 page motion (available here, pdf) today arguing that they still have not received complete DNA analysis in the case.

In the motion, defense attorneys do not blame the special prosecutors for the issues because they said they did not have any direct knowledge of the withholding of evidence.