Jackson Trial Update
Friday May 13, 2005

Mark Geragos became Michael Jackson's attorney around February, 2003, when the nowinfamous Martin Bashir documentary aired, and represented Jackson when criminal charges first were brought against him. Today, Geragos testified for Jackson , and levied some serious criticism at the accuser's family. Jackson partially waived his attorney-client privilege with Geragos to enable him to testify.

Among the points made by Geragos:

A Colorado drug task force agent is under investigation for having sex with his informant. Did he think she was a job perk?

by TChris

Abstinence-only education doesn't stop kids from having sex, it just stops them from learning how to avoid pregnancy. Abstinence-only is emphasized in Texas, a fact that explains the teen pregnancy rate -- one of the highest in the nation -- in an area of south Texas known as the Valley. Of every 1,000 girls, 37 are pregnant before they turn 17.

The need for more informative education became apparent to four students at Mission High School after six of their classmates became pregant. They decided to do something about it: they made a movie.

Two years later, their 16-minute educational film promoting condom use, named "Toothpaste" after a teen code word for condoms, has been ordered by schools around the country. It also will be shown at film festivals and on the Showtime cable channel, according to the organization that produced the film.

If these kids don't become professional filmmakers, let's hope they run for office. It would be nice to vote for someone who wants to solve problems rather than compound them.

by TChris

The first terrorism prosecution that the Justice Department brought after 9/11 fell apart, in part because the Department brought a case it knew to be weak. More importantly, the Department withheld excuplatory evidence from the defense, a fact it reluctantly admitted in an eventual request to overturn the convictions.

In an attempt to save face, the Department compounded its misdeeds by repeating them: bringing a weak case and, at least arguably, withholding exculpatory evidence. Prosecutors brought charges of insurance fraud against two of the accused terrorists, "accusing the men of falsely reporting injuries in a minor car accident."

Prosecutors said at the time that they viewed the insurance scam as a serious offense. But internal Justice Department memorandums show that senior prosecutors had serious doubts about the strength of the case and recommended against bringing it, only to have the department go ahead with the lesser charges.

The emails described the fraud prosecution as a "contingency plan" if the terrorism prosecution didn't pan out. Some members of the Justice Department were sufficiently savvy to understand that the ploy would be recognized for what it is: retaliation against the defendants for their successful effort to defend themselves while providing cover to the Department for its bungling of the first prosecution.

Washington Times Reporter Charles Hurt charges today that Sen. Harry Reid improperly disclosed that Henry Saad, a Bush nominee for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, had negative information in his confidential FBI report.

But this was not confidential, it was in the public domain. In fact, it was broadcast over the Internet at a Judiciary Committee hearing on Saad's nomination in June, 2004. Via Roll Call, 6/7/04 (Available on Lexis.com):

Is This Thing On?
The Senate Judiciary Committee is embarrassed -again.

Fingers are still being pointed over who is responsible for leaving the live Web audio feed on during Thursday's confidential, closed-door session to consider controversial judicial nominee Henry Saad of Michigan.

Senators were deep into their private meeting, raising and answering questions about the contents of Saad's FBI background check when the alarming call came that the entire private session was being streamed live on C-SPAN's audio Web site.

Among the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that were included in the terrorism law passed by Congress and signed by the President last December, was one calling for the creation of a civil liberties oversight board to ensure that privacy and civil liberties concerns are taken into account by the Executive branch in enforcing terrorism laws.

So where is it? Has a Chair been nominated yet? Is it adequately funded? Or is the White House stalling?

Former 9/11 Commssion Chair Thomas Kean has complained about the lack of progress in establishing the commmission.

Here's a heads-up. Watch the news this afternoon, as four Senators, including one Republican, will be demanding an explanation.

In response to a rape, a California legislator has introduced a bill that would require all juveniles 14 and over to be charged as adults for felony sex offenses--and other crimes, including crimes involving sale of more than 1/2 ounce of a controlled substance. It would take away deferred judgments. The bill was defeated twice in Committee, but its sponsors are not giving up.

The purpose of this bill is to 1) statutorily exclude minors alleged to have committed specified sex offenses from eligibility for deferred entry of judgment, as enacted by Proposition 21 in 2000; and 2) change a provision of Proposition 21, concerning the eligibility of minors to be tried directly in adult court, by lowering a cited age from 16 to 14, as specified.

Ian of Political Teen has put up the video of my debate with Hannity and Colmes the other night. It was the two of them against me, and it was....spirited.

Colorado Governor Bill Owens has a bill (SB 05-028) on his desk right now, passed by the state legislature, that would make Colorado the 17th state to extend its employment non-discrimination law to cover sexual orientation. The bill also would prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability or gender identity.

Governor Owens has vetoed 11 bills so far this legislative session and says he may strive for a "personal best" record by vetoing additional bills. This bill could be one of those.

Take a moment and go over to Progress Now and sign this short letter to Governor Owens that reads:

We urge you to do the right thing for all Coloradans and sign into law SB 28. No Coloradan should fear for her job simply because of her sexual orientation. Our nation was founded on the ideal of equality, and expanding employment non-discrimination to include sexual orientation is another step toward that ideal.

The letter asks only for a name and email address.

The FBI announced today that criminal charges are being filed against 16 current and former U.S. soldiers, cops, prison guards and an INS agent who allowed 1,230 pounds of cocaine to get through Arizona checkpoints and accepted more than $222,000 in bribes. It was a sting operation conducted by the FBI for the past three and a half years. The drugs they used were drugs seized in other raids, and none of the drugs made it to the street.

Those charged include a former Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector, a former Army sergeant, a former federal prison guard, current and former members of the Arizona Army National Guard and the state corrections department, and a Nogales police officer, officials said.

None have been arrested. All are going to plead guilty. Talk about a sweet deal....the Government charged them only with a conspiracy to commit bribery and extortion offense that carries a maximum penalty of five years. Since drug counts (and conspiracy to commit drug crimes) carry a maximum of 20 years, and have mandatory minimum penalties, these guys got quite a break.

by TChris

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee discussion of John Bolton today, Sen. George Voinovich said this:

"What message are we sending to the world community when in the same breath we have sought to appoint an ambassador to the United Nations who himself has been accused of being arrogant, of not listening to his friends, of acting unilaterally, of bullying those who do not have the ability to properly defend themselves?"

What message indeed? But then he explained why he would nonethless vote to send Bolton's nomination on to the full Senate:

"That being said, Mr. Chairman, I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective of the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues."

Isn't the exercise of his judgment and perspective exactly what those who voted him into office expect?

by TChris

With the possible exception of Rush Limbaugh, drug addicts tend to be excoriated by the right. In the end, addicts aren't demons who deserved to be vilified; they're humans, with human failings. And, as this story demonstrates, with human strengths, as well.

A homeless man who did odd jobs for a local restaurateur was stabbed to death as he defended her against a knife-wielding intruder, authorities said.

Kelcy Ruiz, 32, was mourned as a hero for coming to the aid of Melida Murillo during an attack Monday at her Colombian restaurant, Mama Leonor. Ruiz, described by relatives as a crack cocaine addict who lived mainly on Miami's downtown streets, did occasional work for Murillo in exchange for food.

As a Miami police detective pointed out, Ruiz was "a forgotten member of society" who "acted better than most people who are not homeless." Let this be a lesson to those (including members of Congress) who believe that rehabilitation and redemption are impossible goals, and that individuals lose their value to society once they commit a drug crime.

I'll be off-line much of the day, so here's a space where you can pick the topics of discussion.