by TChris

Two days ago, this post remarked: "It seems that a week rarely goes by without a new report of an innocent accused being cleared (after conviction) by DNA testing." This week, only two days have passed.

Luis Diaz was arrested in 1977 when a teenage girl identified him as the man who had raped her a few nights earlier. The police were unconvinced that the girl identified the right man, and they eventually let him go. After a series of rapes in the Miami area, police began putting Diaz' picture into photo arrays. A victim picked out Diaz' picture, so they threw Diaz into lineups, where six more victims identified him.

All those people can't be wrong, right? The fact that Diaz, at 5'3", was smaller than the assailant that many witnesses described to the police didn't trouble the jury for long. And so Diaz, who has always protested his innocence, was sent to prison for life, convicted of seven sexual assaults. But now, DNA testing of evidence from two victims provides persuasive evidence that the crimes weren't committed by Diaz.

Barry Scheck and others explain how so many witnesses got it so wrong:

More on the Sensenbrenner flap from the American Judicature Society (AJS), a national, non-partisan organization established in 1913 to promote the administration of justice. The group has condemned the attempt by the House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) to secure a change in an appellate court decision that would increase the sentence of a convicted drug conspirator.

"What bothers us is not so much that Sensenbrenner and his counsel, both lawyers, were insensitive to the spirit, if not the letter, of both House Ethics Rules and the rules of professional responsibility in privately communicating with a court about a particular case before that court....Nor are we particularly concerned that they appear to have been wrong about the legal rules governing the failure of the government to appeal from what was admittedly an unauthorized sentence," ....

"Our concern is, rather, that this incident is another in a distressingly long series of incidents that demonstrate Sensenbrenner's ignorance of the proper functions of Congress with respect to the federal judiciary and his arrogance in purporting to speak for the American people when attempting to bully federal judges."

Meet the Scorpions. They interrogate you, and then you die. The Washington Post has reviewed the declassified documents in the case of murdered detainee Iraqi General Abid Hamed Mowhoush.

When Army efforts produced nothing useful, detainees would be handed over to members of Operational Detachment Alpha 531, soldiers with the 5th Special Forces Group, the CIA or a combination of the three. "The personnel were dressed in civilian clothes and wore balaclavas to hide their identity," according to a Jan. 18, 2004, report for the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division.

If they did not get what they wanted, the interrogators would deliver the detainees to a small team of the CIA-sponsored Iraqi paramilitary squads, code-named Scorpions, according to a military source familiar with the operation. The Jan. 18 memo indicates that it was "likely that indigenous personnel in the employ of the CIA interrogated MG Mowhoush."

Then the fun began.

Psychedelic mushrooms are making a comeback - medically. Here's the low-down on the medical 'shrooms:

In the past two years scores of British cluster headache sufferers have turned to magic mushrooms, prompted by reports from the US that suggest that LSD and psilocybin - the active ingredient of magic mushrooms - may be able to control the intensity and duration of their headaches.

Although some have experimented with psychedelics before, the majority have no history of drug taking. But many say they would rather risk jail than forgo a substance that lets them lead a normal life.

Spurred on by the large number of patients who find relief from the mushrooms,

researchers at Harvard Medical School are hoping for permission from the US food and drug administration to conduct a controlled trial.

Chris Bowers of My DD reports he's having trouble posting but all precincts are now accounted for in the Ohio House race between Republican Jean Schmidt who had been considered a shoo-in and Democrat and Iraq war vet Paul Hackett:

753 of 753. Schimdt 57,974--54,401 Hackett. Hackett will conceede. He will run again in 2006, and win. Its over--but not for long. Any other district in Ohio and he would have won. This has been a collosal victory for the netroots. It's tidal, if you ask me."

Swing State Project has been reporting live from the field for a week, and Daily Kos and Atrios have been all over this David vs. Goliath election.

Kudos to the netrooters and to Hackett for such a close result. Republicans should take heed....

The New York Times reports Rove aides Susan Ralston and Israel Hernandez were questioned about Matthew Cooper's grand jury testimony during their grand jury stint last Friday - and the telephone call Cooper said he made to Karl Rove on July 11, which wasn't entered on Rove's phone log.

In an article in Time last month about his grand jury appearance, Mr. Cooper wrote that he had telephoned the White House and been transferred to Mr. Rove's office. "I believe a woman answered the phone and said words to the effect that Rove wasn't there," Mr. Cooper wrote, "or was busy before going on vacation. But then I recall she said something like 'hang on,' and I was transferred to him."

Mr. Cooper wrote that Mr. Rove told him that Ms. Wilson had worked at the C.I.A. and had been responsible for sending her husband to Africa. But Mr. Cooper added that Mr. Rove did not identify Ms. Wilson by name or suggest that he knew of her status as a covert officer.

Digby has an excellent post discussing whether former CIA director George Tenet was one of Novak's sources. Bob Somerby of Daily Howler is on this as well.

Remember this from Joe Wilson's book that I wrote about here? Could he be describing George Tenet?

There's an interesting debate on RoveGate today between Mickey Kaus and Arianna. Arianna updates here. It's mostly about whether Rove told Miller or Miller told Rove.

Tom Maguire weighs in here. And Matt Yglesias says he'd rather see Miller fall than Rove.

At any rate, it all sort of hinges on what the truth comes out to be, but it seems to me that a strong case can be made that wrecking Miller's career would be a preferable outcome here to wrecking Rove's.

I'd rather see Rove or someone else high up in the Bush Administration go down because it would hurt Bush and the Republicans, and that could influence the next election cycle. But I'm still not convinced Rove will go down as opposed to someone on Cheney's side of the office.

If you're not a blogger, this won't have any meaning for you. But if you are, and you're considering moving from Blogads to Pajamas Media, go read Ann Althouse....and let me know here what you think. Which one do you think is a better deal for bloggers?

Think Progress tips us to this exclusive in today's The Note:

Based on ABC News sources (and our own video camera) it appears that at least two witnesses testified before the grand jury last Friday, both close associates of Karl Rove.

ABC News has learned that one was Susan Ralston, Rove's long-time right hand. The other, per ABC News' Jake Tapper, was Israel "Izzy" Hernandez, Rove's former left hand (and now a top Commerce Department official). It isn't clear if either had been asked to testify before last week.

This may or may not mean Fitgerald is going after Rove. The two witnesses could be providing evidence that corroborates Rove's version. It's interesting, but not quite up to being a "dot" yet.

Benyam Mohammed, an alleged accomplice of 'dirty bomb' suspect Jose Padilla, has been around the block. Beginning as a 'ghost detainee' picked up in Pakistan, he spent two and one half years in prisons in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Morrocco and Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon recently declassified his lawyer's 28 page diary of notes taken in interviews with Mohammed describing the torture inflicted on him which the Guardian has obtained and printed today.

In an statement given to his newly appointed lawyer, Mohammed has given an account of how he was tortured for more than two years after being questioned by US and British officials who he believes were from the FBI and MI6. As well as being beaten and subjected to loud music for long periods, he claims his genitals were sliced with scalpels.

....The lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, says: "This is outsourcing of torture, plain and simple. America knows torture is wrong but gets others to do its unconscionable dirty work.

Here's the diary entry describing the slicing of his genitals.

Videoblogger Crooks and Liars has opened a Cafe Press store with some cool looking items that helps pay for bandwidth. My favorites are here .

TalkLeft recently added a Cafe Press store but it's not nearly as impressive, because I'm graphically challenged. But, I do like the 4th Amendment subway tote (click on larger version.) Somehow, it seems appropriate to hand a bag that reminds the officer searching through your personal items without a warrant or probable of the wording of that great Amendment.