by TChris

Businesses and professionals don't like to be sued when their carelessness leads to injury or death, and so their lobbyists have spread the myth that "tort reform" is needed to save us from frivolous lawsuits. A recent survey reveals that federal judges -- the people who should know best -- disagree with the proposition that frivolous litigation is a serious federal problem.

The survey, conducted by the Federal Judicial Center, was based on the responses of 278 federal district court judges. Seventy percent of the respondents called groundless litigation either a "small problem" or a "very small problem," and 15% said it was no problem at all. Only 1% called it a "very large problem," 2% called it a "large problem" and the rest rated it as a "moderate problem" in their courts.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today held a press conference to proudly announce the capture of 10,000 fugitives as the result of a week-long project called Operation Falcon.

Officials acknowledge the decision to provide such a massive show of force at one time was expected to prompt publicity and help highlight the mission.

Blogenlust says:

You don't just find and capture 10,000 fugitives in a week, because if it was that easy, we probably wouldn't have had 10,000 to catch, right? What am I missing? Bueller?

Oh, and wouldn't it be great if we could set up a week long dragnet called Operation FIND OBL. Imagine how successful that would be!

A federal grand jury has returned Indictments in the UN Oil for Food Program scandal.

A Texas businessman, as well as a British and a Bulgarian citizen, have been indicted in New York for reportedly paying millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's government in Iraq as part of the United Nations oil-for-food program.

The company indicted is Bayoil. Austin Bay has been live-blogging the Indictments. The Counter-Terrorism blog has links to the Indictments:

The Texas Senate today approved a law (S.B. 60) that would require capital juries to be advised that if they did not return a death sentence, the defendant would be required to serve life with no parole. Life with parole would no longer be an option.

Under current law, Texas juries that find a guilty a verdict in a capital murder case can decide whether the defendant receives the death penalty or a life term with the possibility for parole. Under the bill, the two options would be execution by lethal injection or life in prison without parole.

This is good news because it is expected that fewer jurors would vote for death if they know LWOP was the only other option and the killer would never be released. Just last week the bill looked like it was on life-support, this is quite a victory.

Some editorials supporting LWOP are
here and here.

by TChris

US District Judge Mark L. Wolf, like many others, is hoping he's seen the last of misconduct perpetrated by federal prosecutors. In particular, Judge Wolf is fed up after reviewing "a series of related cases that have demonstrated extraordinary misconduct by the Department of Justice in its investigation and prosecution of members of the Patriarca family of La Cosa Nostra."

Judge Wolf concluded that prosecutors withheld evidence during plea negotiations with Vincent Ferrara, who was sentenced to 22 years in 1992. Ferrara pled guilty to ordering the murder of Vincent "Jimmy" Limoli, among other charges.

Immediately after the plea, Ferrara told probation officials that he hadn't ordered Limoli's murder, but felt he was in an untenable position. If he maintained his innocence at trial and a jury convicted him anyway, Ferrara figured, he would be sent to prison for life, according to Wolf's decision.

Prosecutors were able to place Ferrara in that position by failing to disclose "that a key witness for the government had tried to recant his allegation that Ferrara ordered the slaying." The witness eventually admitted that prosecutors "coerced him into sticking to his story."

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an 1868 Florida law that refuses to allow those with felony convictions to vote, even after they have served their sentences.

Tuesday's 10-2 ruling widens an existing split of opinion on the issue among the federal appellate courts across the country and could set the stage for the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve the issue. The decision affirmed a 2002 summary judgment by Senior U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King in Miami.

During the 2000 Bush - Gore election campaign, six former offenders had sued the Clemency board seeking the restoration of their right to vote. They based their claim on Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the federal Voting Rights Act.

A disproportionate percentage of felons in Florida are African-Americans, and blacks vote heavily Democratic. In a state where 7.6 million Floridians cast ballots in last year's presidential election, the possible inclusion of 600,000 felon voters could swing close races. But the appeals court, in an opinion noting that about 70 percent of the plaintiff class is white, tossed the case out of court in a 79-page ruling.

A federal judge has issued an injunction preventing the Bush Administration from ending the "shock incarceration program" until it has complied with the Administrative Procedure Act. Sentencing Law and Policy has the details. Background from Professor Berman is here. We addressed it here.

You can download the decision here.

The Hall of Shame award today goes to San Quentin for its prison health clinics. A new report by independent examiners shows that despite court orders, they operate in filthy conditions. San Quentin should be closed. It will be interesting to see Gov. Arnold Schwarznegger's reaction to the report. If he's serious about prison reform, this is a good place to start.

Doctors and nurses misdiagnosed illnesses, gave patients the wrong medications, neglected them for months and even years or delayed sending them to emergency rooms until they were fatally ill, the experts discovered.

The examiners watched a dentist examine inmate after inmate while wearing the same pair of gloves. Records were in such disarray that doctors reported that they could not find medical files for at least 30% of the inmates they examined.

Based on visits to the prison earlier this year, the experts' April 8 report documented filthy clinics and patient housing. Dental examinations are done in a place without light or water; inmates are initially evaluated in a room without a sink for washing hands; nurses until recently used a broom closet as an examination room; and wheelchair-bound patients cannot roll into the hospital cells on their own because the doors are too narrow.

by TChris

Is Ronald Bell another innocent man on death row? A week after a jewelry store robbery that left the manager dead, Ronald's brother was found in possession of a ring from the store. Ronald resembled his brother, explaining why witnesses might have mistakenly identified Ronald as the killer. The brother had an alibi, conveniently supplied by his girlfriend, but they weren't in church together during the robbery:

The two had spent the afternoon and evening together, she claimed, shooting cocaine at the lovely Sea Horse Motel, which rents rooms by the hour.

The first jury hung, and the second was barely able to return a verdict. The California Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, "although Justice Stanley Mosk issued a blistering dissent in which he blamed prosecutorial misconduct for tipping the case against the accused."

Tom DeLay reportedly apologized Wednesday for his over-the-top comments about federal judges made during the Terri Schiavo case.

DeLay created a furor last month by saying that "the time will come" for federal judges who refused to restore the brain-damaged Florida woman's feeding tube "to answer for their behavior," and by criticizing what he called an "arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary."

If one of my clients gave this kind of apology at a sentencing, the Judge would throw the book at him:

"I said something in an inartful way, and I shouldn't have said it that way, and I apologize for saying it that way," he said. "It was taken wrong. I didn't explain it or clarify my remarks, as I'm clarifying them here. I am sorry that I said it that way, and I shouldn't have."

So he's not sorry for the content of his intemperate remarks, only for the way he phrased them. That's like saying he isn't sorry for the crime, only that he got caught.

Tom DeLay apparently doesn't care that Newt Gringrich has dropped him like a hot potato. On his website, he is still praising Newt's 1994 "Contract With Amercia." He's even comparing it to the Magna Carta. Since I wrote about the proposed legislation regularly for almost two years back in 1995 and 1996, I just can't let this pass. First, an overview:

1995 began with the inauguration of the newly Republican-dominated Congress. The first order of business for the House was to promise the passage of new laws within the first 100 days of the session, lumped together in a decorative but ill-conceived package titled "Contract With America." One of the components of the "Contract" called for the passage of "tougher" crime laws, named the "Taking Back Our Streets Act" (TBOSA), bundled within a set of ten bills.

The Contract was the brainchild of Newt Gingrich, and could best be described as a Republican Nightmare:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales met with the ACLU today in an effort by the group to bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution. The ACLU reports (by email, check their site later for the press release):

ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero addressed the most extreme provisions of the Patriot Act, including those that involve "sneak and peek" warrants, the so-called "library records" provision, and the overbroad definition of terrorism. These provisions came under heavy, bipartisan scrutiny from lawmakers in recent weeks, during Congressional hearings on the Patriot Act. Some parts of the act are set to sunset, or expire, this December.