by TChris

Anthony Woods was behind bars for 18 years. Add his name to the growing list of innocent defendants who were convicted and sentenced on the basis of a mistaken identification.

A DNA test this week proved that Woods was "actually innocent" and "did not perpetrate the crimes for which he was convicted and sentenced to 25 years," according to an order clearing Woods that was signed Thursday by St. Louis Circuit Judge Donald McCullin.

Woods was paroled from the rape sentence in 2002, so the belated recognition of his innocence won't lead to his release from prison. It does release him from parole conditions and the possibility of further incarceration for parole violations. And it clears his name, which has value. But is that enough?

[H]is former public defender asks, "How do you make up for 20-some years? How do you make up for that?"

Journalist and author David Neiwert of Orcinus writes:

Well, the Minutemen apparently are running low on volunteers -- their Web site currently features an urgent plea for volunteers "on the border to the end of April." According to my sources, the project's numbers have been in precipitous decline in the past week, while the Project is officially supposed to last until April 30.

That hasn't prevented them from declaring victory anyway, even before they've officially wrapped up their three-ring anti-immigration circus.

Sounds like their publicity stunt has run out of gas. Good. They got their 15 minutes, time for them to go back to their cushy investment banker jobs. It's more than time for this self-syled citizen militia to disband, despite their protestations that they will expand.

by TChris

A Washington woman gave new meaning to the phrase "bad hair day" by robbing her stylist at gunpoint a week after getting a haircut that left her dissatisfied. After taking the money, the woman shot the stylist's car, then drove to a different salon to get her hair redone.

by TChris

Richard Boyde will receive a new sentencing hearing as the result of a Ninth Circuit decision yesterday. Boyde had been sentenced to death. The court of appeals concluded that his lawyer failed to provide effective assistance when he compared Boyde to Charles Manson, a comparison that probably didn't endear Boyde to the jurors.

The court said the defense lawyer also failed to present evidence that Boyde was repeatedly and severely beaten and whipped by both his mother and his stepfather and that his stepsisters were sexually abused.

More on the case here. The court's decision is here (pdf).

by TChris

Republican pandering to religious extremists may be endangering the filibuster, but it may also endanger Republican support from religious people who understand the need to keep church and state apart.

As the Senate battle over judicial confirmations became increasingly entwined with religious themes, officials of several major Protestant denominations on Thursday accused the Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist, of violating the principles of his own Presbyterian church and urged him to drop out of a Sunday telecast that depicts Democrats as "against people of faith."

[Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, a top official of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.,] said Dr. Frist's participation in the telecast undermined "the historical commitment in our nation and our church to an understanding of the First Amendment that elected officials should not be portraying public policies as being for or against people of faith."

Tony Perkins, organizer of the telecast, claims that “people of faith … see a connection between the filibuster and judicial activism.” But polls show that more Americans support than oppose the filibuster, and Republican senators may be starting to realize that “extremists of faith” aren’t supported by mainstream “people of faith.”

A confrontation had been expected as early as next week, but it now appears that the showdown may be delayed.

Jurors, take note. Cameras are everywhere. Today you sit in judgment, tomorrow you may become the accused. Hopefully, this is an aberration.

The juror in the Prince William County murder trial swore to the judge that she had not bought any newspapers. The defense attorney swore that she had. T

Then came the videotape.

Ken Lay won a round of sorts today when U.S. Disrict Court Judge Sim Lake agreed to postpone his bank fraud trial until the end of his Enron trial.

Initially, Lay moved for a severance from codefendants Jeff Skilling and Rick Causey, saying he wanted a speedier trial. The Judge denied the request for severance of the Enron charges but severed his bank fraud charges.

The Prosecution, trying to take him up on his speedy trial offer, asked the judge to set the bank fraud charges this summer. Lay then moved for a delay until after the Enron trial. He had already offered to waive the jury and have the Judge decide the bank fraud charges. The Court liked the idea but the Government wouldn't commit to waiving the jury (Jury waivers must be agreed upon by both parties.) Shortly before today's hearing, the Government agreed to waive the jury.

So here is how it will work: Lay, Skilling and Causey go to trial in January on the Enron case. When the jury begins deliberating, expected to be around July, the Judge will begin hearing evidence in the bank fraud case.

Gary Hart II is one of the 72 juvenile offenders whose life was spared by the Supreme Court decision last month banning the execution of those under 18 at the time of their crime as cruel and unusual punishment. Here's what he has to say about it, beginnng with the phone call from his lawyers.

My new sentence is life without any chance of parole, this sentence was never my goal but I can’t help smiling over the life part. The Simmons ruling saved 72 men nationwide, but in reality the decision saved many more. There are teenagers in jail who won’t face capital punishment, former death row inmates not counted in the 72 because their sentence or conviction had been recently overturned and countless numbers of reckless teenage boys who haven’t committed their crimes yet. Five judges saved all of us. What a difference a day makes!

Lisa Thomas is walking - from Alabama to Washington D.C. Today she reached North Carolina, 925 miles so far.

Ms. Thomas is walking to end the death penalty and hunger. She's being followed by a friend in a van, covered with signs referring to both. Project Hope has begun a blog to follow her journey.

Lisa Thomas, 52, the manager of a food bank in Brewton, Ala., has found both hospitality and hostility on her trip, and says she was almost run down by a pick-up truck in South Carolina, but she says she is continuing on her journey to try to make a difference.

“Thousands are seeing my signs,” she said from her cell phone on Route 29 near the North Carolina-South Carolina border today. “If it makes no more difference than that, it makes a difference.”

TalkLeft hit the 6 million visitor mark today. It is very gratifying to know that so many of you out there in Cyberland read us regularly, both for our take on the news and for the discussion in the comments.

Thanks to all of you, from TChris and me, for making TalkLeft a part of your day.

by TChris

Have you ever wished you could be in two places at once? It's easy to do if you have a twin.

The leading candidate for mayor of San Antonio admitted on Thursday using his twin brother as a stand-in at a civic event without telling anyone it was not him.

by TChris

As TalkLeft noted here, the State Department, having issued a misleading report last year concerning worldwide terrorist attacks, decided not to release the statistics this year. Rep. Henry Waxman has written to State Department Acting Inspector General Cameron Hume, complaining that the State Department is denying "public access to important information about the incidence of terrorism." Waxman wonders whether the Bush administration is releasing information selectively, and asked the IG whether the State Department's decision was based on politics.

"There appears to be a pattern in the administration's approach to terrorism data: favorable facts are revealed while unfavorable facts are suppressed," Waxman wrote. "This is wrong," he added. "Regardless of whether disclosure of the terrorism data is in the political interests of the White House, the public has a right to know basic facts about the number of attacks launched by terrorists in 2004."

Waxman isn't alone in recognizing the administation's pattern of concealing data that doesn't support its warped perception of reality. The State Department claims that the data will be released by the National Counterterrorism Center, but that seems to be news to the NCTC. The CIA, speaking on behalf of the newly formed NCTC, said "no decisions had been made on whether to release the data."