Bump and update: Don't miss part two and three of the Houston Chronicle series on Ruben Cantu. Also, Instapundit weighs in with some criticism for the prosecutor in the case and the system in general. Law Prof Dan Markel has more thoughts.

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Original Post:

Did Texas execute an innocent man - one who was 17 at the time of his alleged crime and had no prior convictions? The Houston Chronicle today features the case of Ruben Cantu. The paper conducted its own investigation and concludes most likely he was innocent.

Newsday reports:

In the 23 years since New Jersey reinstated the death penalty, the law has cost taxpayers about $253 million and executed no one, according to a new study.

"Money For Nothing? The Financial Cost of New Jersey's Death Penalty" was released Monday by New Jersey Policy Perspective, a research group.....From a strictly financial perspective, it is hard to reach a conclusion other than this: New Jersey taxpayers over the past 23 years have paid more than a quarter of a billion dollars on a capital punishment system that has executed no one.

The study is available here. [Via Sentencing Law and Policy.]

This is pretty amazing. A memo has been uncovered that shows Bush planned to bomb an al Jazeera tv network and Tony Blair talked him out of it.

A source told the Mirror: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush. "He made clear he wanted to bomb al-Jazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.

"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do -- and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it." Another source said: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men." A spokesman for Blair's Downing Street office said: "We have got nothing to say about this story. We don't comment on leaked documents."

Bush calls the claim "outlandish."

Court TV Extra will be live streaming the trial of Saddam Hussein that begins Monday. They charge $5.95 a month for the service.

The court docket in Scooter Libby's case shows San Francisco lawyer John Cline has filed an entry of appearance. He's an expert in classified documents. The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Cline has been involved in several high-profile criminal cases whose outcomes turned in part on demands for the introduction of such government secrets at trial. These have included the criminal defense of Oliver North and the case of Wen Ho Lee, a former nuclear scientist who had been accused of mishandling nuclear secrets. Reached in Washington on Monday, Cline confirmed that he had been retained by Libby, but he said he could not comment on the case.

The Chronicle has this assessment of why Libby added Cline to the team:

After a three hour hearing and ordering briefs from counsel, the Judge in the Tom DeLay case said a ruling would take about two weeks. He told DeLay's lawyers, who want an early trial, not to expect it will before January 1.

by TChris

Despite administration protests that it is "irresponsible" to suggest that the U.S. should establish a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, the idea finds support among Iraqi leaders.

Reaching out to the Sunni Arab community, Iraqi leaders called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of resistance.

Shouldn't an administration that has frequently labeled post-invasion Iraq a sovereign nation respect the wishes of its leaders?

Is anyone else trying to get ready for Thanksgiving? Here's an open thread with open topics until I get back this afternoon.

The Government has indicted Jose Padilla. He's charged with conspiracy to kill and maim people overseas. The indictment does not allege Padilla was planning attacks in the U.S.

• President's Memo - November 20, 2005
• Notice of Release and Transfer - November 22, 2005
• Indictment - November 17, 2005

On December 5, Dick Cheney is scheduled to speak at a big-time fundraiser for Tom DeLay's 2006 re-election campaign.

Some of the highest-ranking Republicans in Texas, including Gov. Rick Perry and Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, are serving as chairs of the fundraising event.

For $4,200, a donor gets an invitation to a VIP reception, a photograph with Cheney, and recognition at the event. For $2,100, attendees can rub elbows at a "congressional reception" and have their photo taken with DeLay. Regular tickets to the event cost $500.

DeLay returns to court in Houston Tuesday, for a hearing on his motions to dismiss the state indictment against him. Here are the issues he has raised:

Good for Pajamas Media. They have decided to give up the bland, already claimed moniker "open source media" and return to being Pajamas Media. Pajamas Media has personality and a history, or at least a story behind it. OSM seemed like a corporation rather than a creative syndicate.

The other thing Pajamas could use is a hand-rolled newsfeed. It looks like they paid big bucks to some corporate outfit to create their newsfeed, and it seems to me to be an automated, overly-inclusive, non-specific feed that doesn't inform on any topics bloggers would be interested in.

For a lot less money they could have hired one person to create a unique feed using uncomplicated software that would automatically update throughout the day.

Former DeLay aide and Abramoff associate Michael Scanlon pleaded guilty today to a five year count of conspiracy that included bribery of public officials and devising a scheme to defraud his firm's lobbying clients. The plea agreement called for $19 million in restitution. The agreement isn't up on the court's website yet, but with that amount of restitution, his sentencing guidelines would be at the maximum range of 5 years. [Update: Findlaw has it here (pdf).

The court agreed to defer his sentencing until his cooperation is over, which means if he tells the truth from the Government's point of view, the Government will file a motion before sentencing seeking a reduction below his guideline range. That is not likely to occur for some time, as the Court is going to hold status conferences every three months, and set the first one for March 1, 2006.