For the first time in 40 years, a death penalty trial is taking place in Vermont. Vermont doesn't have the death penalty. But that didn't stop former Attorney General John Ashcroft from insisting the case be transferred to federal court so the death penalty could be sought.

In 2002 federal prosecutors and defense attorneys had reached a plea deal to have Fell plead guilty in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. But that deal was struck down by the Justice Department, which insisted on the death penalty.

Jury selection began today. If there's any good news, it's that the Justice Department has been losing most of these trials. See, these two cases in Puerto Rico; this one in Binghamton, NY.; this one in Miami; this one in Brooklyn, NY. More here.

Only in America, folks. Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, who was in charge of Abu Ghraib during the height of the prisoner abuse, is in line for a promotion by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Such a move, which has been urged by senior U.S. Army officers and civilian officials now that an Army inquiry has cleared Sanchez of wrongdoing, seems to reflect a growing confidence that the military has put the abuse scandal behind it. It is one of two changes being considered that would involve new posts for senior generals who had previously been ruled out for nominations to the commands because of the U.S. Senate's outrage over Abu Ghraib, the officials say.

What kind of message would this send to the Arab world....that not only don't we hold senior Administration officials accountable for what happens on their watch, but we reward them with promotions? [link via Huffington Post.]

The AP reports that the July issue of GQ magazine (subscription only) features an interview by Lisa De Paulo with three U.S. soldiers who guarded Saddam after his 2003 capture. They say he's friendly - and a hygiene nut.

Thrust unexpectedly into the role of prison guards for Saddam Hussein, a group of young American soldiers found the deposed Iraqi leader to be a friendly, talkative "clean freak" who loved Raisin Bran for breakfast, did his own laundry and insisted he was still president of Iraq, says a report published on Monday.

Saddam liked Ronald Reagan, thought Clinton was okay, and initially disliked the Bushes:

"The Bush father, son, no good," one of the soldiers, Cpl. Jonathan "Paco" Reese, 22, of Millville, Pa., quotes Saddam as saying. But his fellow GI, Specialist Sean O'Shea, then 19, says Saddam later softened that view. "Towards the end he was saying that he doesn't hold any hard feelings and he just wanted to talk to Bush, to make friends with him," O'Shea, of Minooka, Pa., told the magazine.

A third soldier, Spc. Jesse Dawson, quoted Saddam as saying of Bush, "'He knows I have nothing, no mass weapons. He knows he'll never find them.'"

The soldier's are not breaking rules with the interview. Their agreement with the Government pertains to logistics of Saddam's detention but not their interaction with him.

Scotus Blog has this early post up:

The Supreme Court, on a day on which it issued six decisions, released none of the major controversies still to be decided -- the Ten Commandments displays cases, music and movie downloading and copyright, government seizures of private property for private re-development, and access to cable companies' broadband lines for high-speed Internet connections. Eleven cases overall remain to be decided....

The Court did issue a decision in a habeas case involving the one year filing deadline under AEDPA, and I'll update when it's available.

Also, the court reversed a death penalty sentence for ineffective assistance of counsel in Rompilla v. Beard, No. 04-5462:

The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a new trial for a Pennsylvania death row inmate in a 17-year-old murder case, ruling that his attorney was sloppy in failing to investigate possible evidence of mental retardation.

You can add former President Bill Clinton to the list of prominent public figures calling for Guantanamo to be closed or cleaned up. In an interview with Financial Times, Clinton says:

"Well it [Guantánamo Bay] either needs to be closed down or cleaned up. It's time that there are no more stories coming out of there about people being abused.”

Bump and Update: Time Magazine's interview with Porter Goss is here.

Via Reuters:

CIA Director Porter Goss said he has an "excellent" idea where Osama bin Laden is hiding, but the al Qaeda leader will not be brought to justice until weak links in counterterrorism efforts are strengthened, Time magazine reported on Sunday.

Here's what he might look like, according to this Pakistani paper:

Goss thinks he's in the border area of Pakistan and Afghanistan. But, the border's a pretty big place.

In May, 2004, TChris wrote about Sean Baker.

Sean Baker was a member of a Military Police company assigned to Guantanamo Bay in January 2003, when he was ordered to play the role of a detainee during a training exercise. Baker quickly learned how detainees are treated when things go wrong.

Baker says what took place next happened at the hands of four U.S. soldiers - soldiers he believes didn't know he was one of them - has changed his life forever. "They grabbed my arms, my legs, twisted me up and unfortunately one of the individuals got up on my back from behind and put pressure down on me while I was face down," said Baker. "Then he - the same individual - reached around and began to choke me and press my head down against the steel floor. After several seconds, 20 to 30 seconds ... when I couldn't breath, I began to panic and I gave the code word I was supposed to give to stop the exercise, which was 'red.'"

UPI:

Sources close to the White House have revealed President Bush may be considering appointing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, suffering from thyroid cancer, has not officially announced his retirement, but experts expect him to step down at the end of the court's term next week, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

The Post said Bush and his advisors are focusing on three candidates, including Gonzales and federal appeals Judges John Roberts and J. Michael Luttig. The newspaper said Bush's dilemma revolves around conflicting desires to pick a reliable conservative and to make history with the first Hispanic chief justice.

The Huffington Post has begun a feature called "Russert Watch" in which "E-Z Pass" Tim is brought on the carpet for not asking the tough or important questions. Today's example: Senator John McCain was on the show, and after he mentioned all the failures of the Administration, Russert didn't follow up on any.

So after McCain ran down this laundry list of failures (and is there a more serious area for a president to fail than in war?), one would assume Russert would have asked him a question that would draw a conclusion of accountability for these mistakes. After all, these “mistakes” didn’t just happen. Shouldn’t Russert have pointed out, with all due respect to the senator, that “we” didn’t make these mistakes. That they were made, with not a small amount of hubris and incompetence, by specific people. And shouldn’t he have asked the “Straight Talk” senator to name these people?

Not that the piece sings the praises of McCain (or I probably wouldn't be highlighting it.)

Are police too quick to use tasers? They say no. This is incredible.

The Aug. 6, 2004 incident began as a normal traffic stop but took an ominous turn when the driver refused to get out of her SUV. It ended with a Boynton Beach Police officer hitting the 22-year-old woman twice with his Taser during her arrest.

Sgt. Sedrick Aiken, a training officer in the Boynton Beach Police Department, narrates the traffic stop, including the moment Officer Rich McNevin (in video) spots Victoria Goodwin’s speeding Isuzu Rodeo and when he twice hits her with 50,000 volts with a Taser. Post reporter Dani Davies interviewed Aiken.

  According to Aiken, McNevin correctly used the stun gun to subdue the driver instead of:

• using his baton
• physically forcing driver out of SUV
• using pepper spray
• getting in SUV to handcuff driver

[hat tip to Cliff]

Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) said on CBS's Face the Nation today he intends to run for President. (Crooks and Liars has the video.)

Democratic U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden said on Sunday he intends to run for president in 2008, two decades after he dropped out of the race amid charges he plagiarized a British politician's speech.... Biden campaigned for the 1988 Democratic nomination but withdrew early in the race after charges he plagiarized parts of a speech by British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock and exaggerated his academic record.

Joe Biden also brought us the Rave Act and has been a supporter of increased rights for law enforcement and wiretapping. He won't get our support. Here's his voting record on issues of import:

• Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
• Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
• Rated 60% by the ACLU, indicating a mixed civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
• Rated 36% by NARAL, indicating a mixed voting record on abortion. (Dec 2003)

Biden also brought us this bill:

With all the calls for an exit strategy from Iraq, maybe this bill introduced in Congress on Thursday could gather momentum. From Democracy Rising:

A Bi-partisan group of Members of Congress - two Republicans and two Democrats - introduced the Homeward Bound Act on June 16, 2005 to begin the process of putting in place an exit strategy from Iraq. The resolution calls for bringing the troops home no later than October 1, 2006. Below are statements from the website of three of the original co-sponsors. Two other Members immediately joined as sponsors Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Martin Meehan (D-MA).