The Government reached a new low in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial this week, in my opinion. At a hearing outside the presence of the jury, AUSA William Weinreib complained about the security costs and FBI time spent ensuring the safety of five of Tsarnaev's relatives who traveled here from Russia to testify for him. They threatened to the FBI will take them back to Russia if the defense doesn't call them by Friday.

“It’s an enormous expense and distraction for the agency, and that’s just part of the expense that the government has endured,” federal prosecutor William Weinreb said during a closed-door meeting Monday with the defense and Judge George O’Toole, according to transcripts shown on the court's public terminal.

The Sixth Amendment compulsory process clause guarantees defendants the right to have witnesses brought to trial to testify for the defense: [More...]

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the case involving lethal injection drugs.

Conservative justices accused opponents of capital punishment of disingenuous delaying tactics regarding the drugs used in executions. Liberal justices suggested state officials were shading the facts to rush condemned men to the execution chamber.

The case involves the drug midazolam, which was used in the botched Oklahoma execution of Clayton Lockett. (More here.) Three death row inmates brought the case. One, Charles Warner, was since put to death using midazolam. His last words: [More...]

Hillary Clinton today announced a plan to revamp criminal justice policy and end the focus on mass incarceration ad draconian sentences, policies favored during the Bill Clinton administration.

Clinton unveiled a sweeping set of proposed criminal justice reforms that would dismantle much of what her husband did. .. Whereas Bill looked to lock up offenders and throw away the key, Hillary is seeking to “end mass incarceration.” His focus was on resources for law enforcement; hers is on transparency meant to protect suspects.

Bill promoted zero tolerance, while Hillary is inclined to lend a second chance. “Keeping them behind bars does little to reduce crime, but it does a lot to tear apart families,” she said of children guilty of nonviolent offenses.

[More...]

Indonesia President Joko Widodo, already getting justly raked over the coals of international opinion, isn't doing any better at home. The editorial in the Jakarta Globe yesterday, hours before the executions, concludes he was hoodwinked by his aides (which doesn't say much for his leadership ability) and that the executions are not in Indonesia's best interest:

With regards to the planned executions, we doubt that such action is really aimed at creating deterrence. We are afraid that it was born out of political strategy of people surrounding Joko, and the president might be only a victim of his aides who provided him with false data and arguments.

It goes on to oppose the executions and say they have nothing to do with the problem of drugs in Indonesia: [More...]

Central Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Noer Ali says Indonesia used 1,400 police personnel to secure the executions of the 8 non-violent drug offenders yesterday. This doesn't include military personnel who were also involved.

As I've written before, Indonesia was obsessed with security, to the point where they used four fighter jets armed with sidewinder missiles and a fully equipped navy warship to move the two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan from one island to another. [More...]

Indonesia President Joko Widodo is in the doghouse. Leaders all over the world are condemning Indonesia's executions today.

Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott has recalled their Ambassador to Indonesia. [More...]

From Vermont Public Radio:

VPR News has learned from several sources that independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday. Sanders will release a short statement on that day and then hold a major campaign kickoff in Vermont in several weeks.

This is welcome news imo.

Update: Thumbing its nose at the world, Indonesia executed eight drug offenders tonight, including two models of rehabilitation, Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso was spared, but only temporarily, after the woman who recruited her to act as a drug courier gave herself up to police in the Philippines. Her government said she was the victim of human trafficking and today said she is needed as a witness against her recruiter. Indonesia says her execution has been temporarily delayed so she can testify against the trafficker. [More...]

Sunday it seemed French citizen Serge Atresi Atlaoui of France had gotten a stay of execution. The court denied his appeal Monday. It's not clear if he will be executed today with the others, or if he'll just sit in the isolation cell a bit longer.

There will be at least 7 executions tonight, just after midnight (Wednesday), including Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and Mary Jane Veloso. It's not clear if Rodrigo Gularte, the mentally ill Brazilian will be among them.

The press won't be notified of the executions until after they have taken place. Myuram's mother says the killings will take place at midnight Indonesian time.

They will be taken to a shooting field, offered a last cigarette, and then a target will be placed over their hearts as the firing squad shoots away. [More...]

After spending my non-working hours today reading and and writing about death penalty trials and riots, I'm switching gears.

Unimas tonight begins re-airing El Cartel de los Sapos aka Cartel of Snitches -- the Narcodrama that started the phenomenon. It will have the option of viewing with English captions. This really is supposed to be the first and best of them all. I've only seen a few episodes in Spanish, which I couldn't quite follow. It's about the take-down of the Norte Valle cartel, and was written by former cartel member (now best selling author) Andres Lopez Lopez, when he was in prison (he only got 2 years for cooperating with the DEA against his cartel buddies.) While the names are changed, almost all the characters are based on real life figures and everyone is in it, including Pablo Escobar, Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and his brother Miguel (leaders of the Cali Cartel), Juan Carlos Ramírez Abadía, Carlos Castano (one of the Castano brothers), Diego Montoya, Wilber Varela (Soap), Amado Carrillo Fuentes (Senor de los Cielos), Miguel Félix Gallardo and many more. [More...]

Baltimore was in chaos today when riots erupted after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a young African American who died in police custody.

Gray's family was shocked by the violence... they hoped to organize a peace march later in the week, said family attorney Billy Murphy. He said they did not know the riot was going to happen and urged calm.

"They don't want this movement nationally to be marred by violence," he said. "It makes no sense."

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency in Baltimore and activated the National Guard.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's defense team began making the case for life instead of death today. From David Bruck's opening statement: (Taken from WBZ reporter Jim Armstrong's live tweets in court.) [More...]