California death row inmates are alone and locked in their cells 20 of 24 hours a day. So how would one get a syringe and heroin?

A convicted murderer awaiting execution at San Quentin State Prison has died of an apparent heroin overdose -- making him California's first inmate to OD on Death Row.

Michael Camacho, the L.A. deputy district attorney who prosecuted Rodriguez for the 1999 crimes, said the apparent overdose didn't surprise him. Rodriguez had a history of drug use, he said, and drugs are easy to get in prison -- even on Death Row. "The accessibility of narcotics is rampant in the Department of Corrections, even though they would prefer not to admit it,'' Camacho said.

Ann Coulter opposes the nomination. [Via Drudge]

The left side of the Blogosphere is all over the map on Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts. Here are some of the various views:

Billmon: It's not a question of if we oppose him but whether we go to the mat to fight him. As of now, Billmon concludes we should save our ammunition for the next nomination - but he says the liberal lawyer-types discussing the nomination need to learn to fight dirtier because this is all about a continuation of the Republican's down and dirty power grab.

This note was forwarded to me today. It had been posted on a criminal defense list-serv by a criminal defense lawyer and law school classmate of Judge John Roberts. I don't know the author, but I thought I would share it:

I suggest that we not all go running off the cliff here.

John Roberts has the best professional credentials of any nominee in the last twenty years. He's not a raving nut case, and he's not a Scalia or Thomas wedded to an agenda without regard to precedent or process. I went to law school with Roberts and we were in the same study group first year. He's the most intellectually gifted person I have ever met, including the professors. He is also one Hell of a nice guy.

by TChris

A dishonest cop. A dishonest prosecutor. A judge who doesn't seem to care. And a potentially innocent man who faces three life sentences.

The cop, Det. Joseph Godoy, investigated a robbery and triple homicide in Tucson, but found no leads until anonymous sources identified some men who may have been involved. After Godoy had that information, he interviewed Keith Woods, a repeat drug offender facing 25 years, who supposedly identified three men he claimed were involved in the crime.

Godoy interviewed Woods, but didn't record the first 45 minutes. "No plausible explanation" was offered why some of the interview was untaped, the Arizona Supreme Court found.

During the trial of two of the men, Godoy testified (falsely) that he first learned of the defendants during the interview with Woods. He didn't mention the anonymous calls. The inference is that Godoy fed the names he received from the anonymous callers to Woods during the unrecorded portion of the interview, then let Woods parrot back the information during the recorded portion. In exchange for his help, Woods got a break in his own case.

The prosecutor, Kenneth Peasley, twice named Arizona Prosecutor of the Year, knew that Godoy intended to commit perjury, but he elicited the false testimony at trial. Having concealed evidence that could have discredited Woods, he argued to the jury that Woods' testimony should cause the jury to convict the two men. The jury did as he asked and the men were convicted.

Joe Conason comes down pretty hard on jailed reporter Judith Miller. Too hard, or is he right?

Sports Book is giving odds on Karl Rove being fired or resigning:

Washington, D.C. (July 20, 2005) - Sportsbook.com has entered the fray in the latest political storm to rock the White House by offering odds on the future of its Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove. The opening line is that Rove will not be dismissed or resign in the wake of an ongoing criminal investigation, with odds at 1-6.

The betting line is a reflection of President Bush's seeming flip-flop on the issue based on comments he has offered since the scandal broke in 2003. Initially, Bush said he would fire anyone from the administration found to have been the source of the leak. After Rove was revealed to be the source, however, Bush said he would only dismiss an administration official who had engaged in criminal activity.

This just in:

Committee investigates leaking of classified information:

SENATE AND HOUSE DEMOCRATIC PANELS TO HOLD OVERSIGHT HEARING ON NATIONAL SECURITY CONSEQUENCES OF DISCLOSING THE IDENTITY OF A COVERT INTELLIGENCE OFFICER 10:00 AM -- FRIDAY, JULY 22

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- The U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) and the U.S. House Government Reform Committee Minority will conduct a joint hearing at 10:00 AM, Friday, July 22, in Room 138 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, to examine the national security implications of disclosing the identity of a covert intelligence officer. The hearing will be co-chaired by Senate DPC Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and U.S. Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Government Reform Committee.

The panel of witnesses will include former intelligence officers and analysts who will discuss the impact of such disclosures, based on decades of experience and service to our country on intelligence and national security matters.

There's plenty to talk about today, including the hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the Reporter's Shield law. But, topics are open.

The House Education and Workforce Committee will be voting today on an amendment by Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) to completely repeal the Higher Education Act Drug Provision. The Andrews amendment would reinstate financial aid to all of the more than 160,500 students who have been affected by this misguided law.

Contact your legislators and tell them to support the Andrews amendment to scrap the Drug Provision once and for all. Click here to take action now.

This will be the first time Congress has revisited the Drug Provision since it was slipped into the Higher Education Act Reauthorization as an amendment in 1998. Since then, more than 160,000 students with drug convictions have been blocked access to federal financial aid.

In 1998, this amendment quietly became law without debate or recorded vote. Now, seven years later, we finally have a chance to get members on the record about whether or not they truly want to help at-risk young people get the education they need to live productive lives and be responsible citizens.

Editorials in the New York Times and Minneapolis Star Tribune today explain how cutting student aid will foster crime and why we need to make it easier, not harder, for drug offenders to get an education.

[Via Students for a Sensible Drug Policy.]

Moazzam Begg is a British citizen who was recently released after three years of incarceration, first at Bagram AFB and then at Guantanamo. His nightmare began when he was arrested at gunpoint at his home in Pakistan. Alternet has a transcript of an interview with him. Don't miss it. Here is his description of two inmates whose beating deaths he witnesses. At the end, he also commends some of the other prison guards.

DEEPA FERNANDES: I wonder if you can talk us through what happened to you from when you were picked up from your house in Pakistan to your time in prison at Guantanmo Bay.

MOAZZAM BEGG: Yes. It was three years of my life, so it is very difficult to condense into a few minutes. But, I can try to highlight the most profound parts of my incarceration including being held by the Americans in Kandahar, in Bagram, and ultimately in Guantanamo for 2 years. During my time there, I witnessed things that I would have never perceived the United States would be capable of. With my own eyes, I witnessed the killing of at least two detainees by military police with their own hands.

DEEPA FERNANDES: That is a grave charge. What happened?

Professor William Stuntz has an interesting article in the New Republic on the Supreme Court's role in the criminal justice system. Sentencing Law and Policy has excerpted some of the most pertinent quotes.

[T]he Supreme Court's most important job is not managing the culture wars. Regulating the never-ending war on crime is a much bigger task. Alas, it may also be the job the Court does worst.

Civilizations define themselves by when, how, and whom they punish. Those choices are especially important in a society like ours, with a long history of both criminal violence and official racism. Forty-five percent of American prisoners are black. The imprisonment rate — the number of prison inmates per 100,000 people — stood at 482 in 2003. Among black males, the figure was 3,405. For black men in their late twenties, the number exceeds 9,000. Court decisions that help shape those numbers are vastly more important than the latest church-state fight. And the justices do shape those numbers, both by what they regulate and by what they leave alone....