The New York Observer has an article today about white collar prosecutors leaving the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York for the other side. The article, while telling and factual, draws the outline of the real picture, but being a news as opposed to an opinion piece, doesn't explain the dots. I will.

U.S. Attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorneys leave the office and get picked up by the other side for one reason: the money. The white-shoe firms that hire them believe, justifiably so, they will be a huge draw to the increasing number of white collar defendants. But, it's a promise without substance. Once they leave the Department of Justice, they have no more clout than a lawyer who has never earned a dollar working there. Yet, that's not the real problem.

The real problem is most of these former high-level prosecutors can't make the mental shift. They don't have it in them. They thought they were doing G-d's work for the prosecution and feel more than a tad sleezy about working for the other side. You can read my rant about who is really doing G-d's work here and here where I take Law & Order chief Dick Wolf to task.

The truth is, most prosecutors can never be true defense lawyers. They don't have it in them to empathize with their clients. In the Observer article, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, being heralded in the media and the blogosphere for objecting to Bush's warrantless NSA electronic surveillance program, gives a quote I couldn't even make up to illustrate the point:

Update: What a travesty. Contrary to media reports that 12 of the 13 trapped miners had been found alive, it now turns out only one miner has been saved.

Grief and anger replaced jubilation early Wednesday as mine officials announced that, despite earlier reports, only one of 13 trapped miners had survived a West Virginia mining accident. ate Tuesday, word spread among family members that 12 miners had been found alive at the Sago Mine. Celebrations erupted as church bells rang out.

Hours later, however, some miners' loved ones -- some angry, others silently dejected -- began leaving the community church that had been their sanctuary since the ordeal began Monday morning. What they had to say was unbelievable in light of the earlier news of a "miracle" in the mine.

The few who would talk to the gathered media said mining officials had told them only one of the miners had survived. Mining company officials then confirmed it at a news conference.

How could this have happened?

CNN reports receiving an email from Jack Abramoff's attorney, Neal Sonnett, stating that Abramoff will plead to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud tomorrow in Miami, while other charges would be dropped as part of the plea deal.

These are five year counts. Assuming he pleads to two counts,as reported here, the maximum he could get is ten years. Because he is cooperating, he will get less. As I analyze here, in D.C., the sentence could be as little as four to five years. The same is probably true of the Florida sentence. With the sentences to run concurrently, Abramoff did very well. Good work by Neal and Abbe Lowell.

The Washington Post recaps the Florida Indictment here.

On a related note, Jane and Digby are very skeptical of Chief of DOJ's Criminal Division Alice Fisher's ability to be impartial in the investigation of congressional wrongdoers that results from Abramoff's cooperation. As I reported here, Bush snuck Fisher in as a recess appointment after Senators had blocked her confirmation. At the time, The Houston Chronicle reported:

Texas DA Ronnie Earle, who is prosecuting Tom DeLay, has subpoenaed a multitude of documents in the Abramoff investigation.

In the Texas case, Earle sought records from Abramoff's former employers, legal firms Greenberg Traurig LLP and Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds, LLP. He also subpoenaed records from a lawyer for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a former Abramoff client, and from a representative for the Barona Band of Mission Indians, a California tribe.

DeLay attorney Dick DeGuerin said Earle "goes where the fish bite." "Ronnie Earle is an opportunist," DeGuerin said. "He issues subpoenas to try to make a connection between his case and the latest scandal, whatever it happens to be. The Abramoff thing is the latest he's doing. It has nothing to do with the case in Texas. Nothing. Zip."

Here's what Earle is seeking:

Update: Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has refused to hold a private clemency meeting for Allen. Last week he refused to hold a public meeting. Things don't look good.

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Clarence Ray Allen is the next prisoner set for execution in California -- on January 17.

He is still recuperating from a major heart attack in September that [his lawyers] maintain requires surgery. Diabetes has damaged other organs and left him legally blind and confined to a wheelchair. His lawyers also argue that San Quentin's inadequate medical care, the subject of a federal lawsuit, has contributed to his condition.

Allen has received support from former San Quentin warden Daniel Vasquez, who visited the inmate several weeks ago and told Schwarzenegger in a letter that executing him would be ``shameful.'' Former California Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grodin, who wrote a 1986 ruling upholding Allen's death sentence, also urged the governor to grant clemency, saying the execution would ``violate societal standards of decency.''

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will decide whether to rant Allen clemency. Most see it as a longshot. I'll be debating the case tonight and advocating clemency on ABC radio in Los Angeles at 7pm PT, you can listen online here.

It's an issue that is going to rise again and again as death row's population becomes grayer.

by TChris

In April 2004, TalkLeft pointed to evidence that a New York homicide detective used deceit to obtain a confession from a 17-year-old kid, Martin Tankleff, who was convicted of murdering his parents despite the lack of significant evidence against him beyond the confession that Tankleff promptly repudiated. This follow-up story in June 2004 discussed new evidence that implicated another individual in the killing.

In the last year-and-a-half, Tankleff’s lawyers have presented a compelling case that Tankleff is innocent. At the very least, it should now be apparent that there is substantial doubt about Tankleff’s guilt.

Mr. Tankleff's lawyers make these claims: a botched initial investigation produced a false confession, new evidence identifies the real killers, the police detective in the case lied about his ties to one of the killers, the district attorney has connections to the killers, and prosecutors ignored evidence, coerced defense witnesses and shielded the real culprits.

Objective observers recognize that Tankleff doesn’t belong in prison, given the newly-developed evidence.

by Last Night in Little Rock

Medical marijuana was approved in Rhode Island today when the legislature overrode Governor Carcieri's veto, as reported this afternoon on NYTimes.com and the Providence Journal. The bill is here in .pdf format.

Rhode Island becomes the eleventh state to legalize medical marijuana, according to a NORML e-mail:

Rhode Island joins Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington State in protecting sick and dying patients who find relief in medical marijuana.

Only three states have done it through the legislature. The other states have done it by initiative petition.

Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr has a new column in Time Magazine on how Bush's warrantless NSA surveillance program damages the U.S.

Let's focus briefly on what the President has done here. Exactly like Nixon before him, Bush has ordered the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct electronic snooping on communications of various people, including U.S. citizens. That action is unequivocally contrary to the express and implied requirements of federal law that such surveillance of U.S. persons inside the U.S. (regardless of whether their communications are going abroad) must be preceded by a court order.

This is an unusual story about a woman who witnesses an execution -- that of her brother, who killed his three year old daughter. About the unlikely author:

Gina Farthing, 44, has been the features editor at The News Virginian since September 2004. She was a Navy brat born in Morocco, was raised on Long Island, N.Y., and now lives in Waynesboro. She has worked at the Danville Register & Bee and Reidsville (N.C.) Review/Eden Daily News. She is married to Jim Farthing, a corrections officer, and has two grown children.

It's a long series, beginning here, but one well worth reading. Her brother pleaded guilty to the crime and waived appeals of his death sentence. Ms. Farthing says of her reasons for writing the article:

Update: Abramoff's lawyer Neal Sonnett told CNN Abramoff will plead guilty in the Florida case tomorrow. The charges there pertain to Abramoff and Adam Kidan allegedly falsifying a $23 million wire transfer in order to obtain a $60 million loan to purchase SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of offshore gambling boats.

Update: The Plea Agreement in the Washington case is now available here. (pdf)

Some quick notes: The agreement binds only the Public Integrity Section and Fraud Section of the Criminal Division and the Tax Division of the Department of Justice. It does not bind any other prosecutors or agencies. It does not bind the Civil Division of the IRS. Restitution to victims is set at $25 million. He will pay 1.7 million restitution to the Criminal Division of the IRS for his tax evasion, and this will be used to offset any civil tax liability for 2001 to 2003, but there is no promise that he won't owe them more. He cannot transfer assets to avoid paying restitution, but he does not need permission to use his assets for living expenses, business expenses or attorneys' fees.

His guidelines come out at level 31 (108 to 135 months), including his three point reduction for acceptance of responsibility. For his cooperation, he will receive an as yet unspecified reduction. The Government is recommending that any sentence in the D.C. case be concurrent with the sentence he receives in Florida.

Assuming his guidelines in Florida are not higher than those in the D.C. case, it looks like Abramoff got a great deal. A cooperation reduction of between 25 and 50% is not unusual. Doing the math, he could come out with a sentence between 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 years if the Government went with a 50% reduction.(edited to reflect 3 point reduction included in guideline computation)

by TChris

Other than a troop withdrawal, the one thing that might increase support for the U.S. in Iraq is a serious commitment to reconstruction. The Washington Post tells us that half the money already spent has been "eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein." Although only 20 percent of the funds already authorized for reconstruction remain unallocated, the Bush administration has announced that it won't seek further funding from Congress, despite "what authorities say is tens of billions of dollars of work yet to be done merely to bring reliable electricity, water and other services to Iraq's 26 million people." Perhaps this is the administration's answer to critics who complain of its willingness to rebuild Iraq while largely ignoring the need to rebuild New Orleans.

No matter what money the administration spends in Iraq, it can't overcome the damage it causes by its continuing use of violence against the innocent:

A U.S. air strike that Americans said was directed at suspected bombers killed a family of 12 in their home north of Baghdad Monday night, Iraqi officials said Tuesday. A Washington Post special correspondent watched as rescuers removed the bodies of women and children still in their nightclothes.

Don't miss acclaimed playwright Sheldon Yellen's new Huffington Post piece, Bush as Bad Theatre. It's devastating, and so true.

Bush is our own Tartuffe, Molière's insufferable pseudo-religious comedic character who uses his so called piety to gain power over the lives of others.

....Hypocrites are easy to expose while true believers like Bush stand fast as reality implodes around them. He appears to believe what he says even as he plays the leading role in our national drama. He would serve nicely as a foolish father in a sit-com, or a ridiculous boss in an office comedy, but he is the Commander-in-Chief who can and does send young men and women to their deaths. Sadly, he does not even have the true villain's consciousness of when he has done wrong. This is why apology and admission of error is so difficult for him. He believes in his God-given rectitude in all situations.

The final paragpraph is the best. I won't spoil it, go read.