State Court chief justices from around the country had their annual conference this week. Among the resolutions passed was one opposing the Streamlined Procedures Act, a bill that would limit death penalty appeals. The only "nay" vote came from Wallace Jefferson, the chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, who said he hadn't had time to study the bill.

This bill is a bad idea. It would in effect kill habeas rights for prisoners - the chance for federal court review of a state court conviction and sentence.

Prisoners on death row generally reach federal courts using a legal petition known as habeas corpus — a centuries-old method of challenging allegedly illegal imprisonment. The petition gives an inmate a day in court to assert that his constitutional rights were violated at trial, leading to a serious error in the case.

The pending measures "may preclude state defendants in both capital and noncapital" cases from seeking relief in the federal courts "and may deprive the federal courts of jurisdiction in the vast majority of these matters, all with unknown consequences for the state courts and the administration of justice," the chief justices said in their resolution, passed at the group's annual meeting, in Charleston, S.C.

As I said here, this bill gets it a** backwards:

by TChris

Miranda v. Arizona was decided in 1966. Since that time, a whole lot of courts have decided a whole lot of cases refining the requirement that persons in custody be told of their rights to counsel and silence before they are interrogated. The resulting Miranda warning is so routine that a television junkie can recite it from memory. Suprising, then, that Homeland Security can't get it right.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow ruled that statements made by four men accused of smuggling cocaine aboard a cruise ship could not be introduced in court because the Miranda warning failed to spell out that they could have an attorney present during — not just before — interrogation by authorities.

"From a legal standpoint, the warnings on the Homeland Security form are ambiguous, at best," Snow said in her 16-page decision.

Defense attorney Ellis Rubin has a message for Homeland Security: "Somebody has to tell these people, 'Hey, wise up.'" And that's exactly what Rubin and Magistrate Snow did.

by TChris

Unbelievable:

Denver Manager of Safety Alvin LaCabe announced Friday he is suspending the officer involved in the deadly shooting of Frank Lobato for 90 days without pay. LaCabe said the use of deadly force by Officer Ranjan Ford was not reasonable.

Ford shot and killed Lobato in his bed on July 11, 2004 because he thought Lobato was wielding a gun. It turned out to be a soda can.

Update (TL): My opinion on this is at 5280.

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

The District of Columbia arrested a deaf, mute homeless man and detained him in mental institutions for two years, mistakenly believing he was mentally ill. He wasn't. The City yesterday has settled with him for $1M plus attorney's fees.

Some of you might remember the arrest and handcuffing of a twelve year old girl for eating "a single french fry" on a Metrorail platform in violation of the "zero tolerance" no-food policy. Stupid, yes; unconstitutional, no. According to Circuit Judge, Supreme Court Justice to be, John Roberts:

posted by Last Night in Little Rock

The New York Civil Liberties Union sued the City of New York on Thursday for random suspicionless searches of backpacks, bags and briefcases in the subway as reported here.

As a Fourth Amendment buff I'll be watching closely. NYC lost cases last year over its searching protestors around the Republican National Convention.

by Last Night in Little Rock

In a post last month about the LAPD SWAT Team shooting a man holding his toddler, one that generated vitriolic comments from both sides, the autopsy results are out this week: police killed the girl, blowing her brains out according to CNN.com and the LA Times.

Both articles note that the toddler had a small amount of cocaine in her system, either ingested from touching the coke her father had on his desk or from her mother's milk.

Eleven officers fired 100 rounds at the man who first fired on them and then fired 40 rounds.

It is still hard for me to imagine that he could use a toddler as a human shield and not be killed himself. I've tried several murder cases where the ME testified that a shot to the cerebral cortex produces instant death and collapse with no pain felt by the person shot.

by TChris

It's difficult to believe that it took this long for most people to recognize the president's dishonesty.

Less than half of Americans now say they think President Bush is honest, according to an AP-Ipsos poll taken at a time of increasing concerns about Iraq, a potential problem for a president who won re-election declaring that "people know where I stand."

Weren't folks paying attention before the election?

• Happy Birthday to Jesse at Pandagon. He's jones'ing on birthdays (at 23, he talks about aging no less) so go cheer him up with a comment.

• Billmon on Judge Roberts' participation in a gay-rights case. [My take on it is over at 5280 today.]

• Jesus' General has very funny pictures today.

• Mark Kleiman says the AIPAC Indictments are bad news for Karl Rove

• Digby's on another roll, just read them all.

• Arianna's latest Judith Miller post is up - connecting dots between her and David Kelly, the British WMD expert who committed suicide.

• TBogg on AdoptionGate

Crackberries beware. If your phone is being wiretapped by the feds, or at the state level in California, Arizona and Illinois, to name a few places, your text messages are being read as well.

Chicago Police will start intercepting text messages during their investigations now that Gov. Blagojevich has signed a bill expanding state-authorized wiretaps beyond "oral communication."

Lt. John Rowton of the Chicago Police Narcotics and Gang Investigation Section said the department will dismantle computer software that blocks text messages that are retrieved during state-authorized wiretaps of phones. The feds already have the capability to intercept text messages, but Illinois law had lagged behind other states such as California and Arizona, Rowton said.

"This is a great tool," Rowton said of the new law. "We have done wiretaps where you get a text message at a crucial time and are in the dark. You don't know what you are missing."

This is just another step down the road of intruding on our private conversations in the name of fighting crime. With a wiretap, the listening agents are required to minimize (stop listening) to the call once they determine it is not pertinent to the matter they are investigating. How do they do that with a text message?

Ezra Klein, Kevin Drum , Matt Yglesias and Mark Schmidt discuss the new Newt Gingrich today. [hat tip to Crooks and Liars]

Let's not get fooled again. Newt Gingrich's 1994 Contract On America was a doozy of a document. Since I wrote about the proposed legislation regularly for almost two years back in 1995 and 1996, I just can't let this pass. First, an overview:

1995 began with the inauguration of the newly Republican - dominated Congress. The first order of business for the House was to promise the passage of new laws within the first 100 days of the session, lumped together in a decorative but ill-conceived package titled "Contract With America." One of the components of the "Contract" called for the passage of "tougher" crime laws, named the "Taking Back Our Streets Act" (TBOSA), bundled within a set of ten bills.

The Contract was the brainchild of Newt Gingrich, and could best be described as a Republican Nightmare:

I got to watch NBC's The Law Firm tonight. It's an Apprentice-type show with young aspiring trial lawyers, presided over by one of the profession's best, Roy Black. Roy plays the part of The Donald, letting two associates go each week.

My review: The contestants were entirely forgettable, except for Olivier who cursed the judge when he lost the hearing, and Deep, whom I predict is destined to be fired along the road, but who in personality, reminded me so much of Federico of Six Feet Under - with that macho bravado one moment coupled with desperation and humility when he fails in the next.

The only shining star in the show, to no suprise, is Roy Black. He totally plays himself. Roy is great at legal commentary, but you don't really get a sense of him in those 30 second soundbites. On the Law Firm, you get to see him as he really is, and he's great. (Disclosure: Roy is a personal friend of mine as well as a colleague.)

The other great moment of tonight's show went to Burt Katz (another friend, former judge and prosecutor, MSNBC legal analyst and show anchor - definitely with a conservative bent )who played the judge in one of the segments. His delivery of the verdict was priceless, and pure Burt.

President Bush has sent a letter, accompanying an award, to the founder of the Crips gang who is on Death Row in California. The letter praises death row inmate Stanley "Tookie" Williams for demonstrating "the outstanding character of America."

The irony to me is that Stanley "Tookie" Williams deserves not only the award and letter, but to be granted clemency and taken off death row, and that Bush probably had no idea who Tookie is.

Come on, President Bush, do the right thing here. Pick up the phone, call Gov. Arnie, and tell him you think it would be the courageous and right thing to do to grant clemency to Tookie. You know, just one Republican friend talking to another. No pressure, just your friendly suggestion. If it doesn't feel quite right, maybe you could ask Karl Rove to make the call for you.