You would think Ken Lay's lawyers would be shaking in their Texas boots after yesterday's conviction of Worldcom's Bernard Ebbers. Not so. Lay may have been more hands-off and less involved in the financial aspects of Enron than Ebbers was at WorldCom. His lawyer, Mike Ramsey, says another big difference will be the cooperating co-conspirators: Andrew Fastow is not Scott Sullivan.

"At Enron we had a trusted employee who was stealing and hiding his theft from the people above him," Ramsey said of ex-CFO Andrew Fastow. "But Sullivan at WorldCom appears to be just a cheat, and not a cheat and a thief."

As many credibility problems that Sullivan had, I think Fastow may have even more. He kept denying his and Ken Lay's involvement until the very end--when his wife was either going to have to go to trial or take a deal. The Government said no deal for Lea Fastow unless Andrew pleaded guilty and took a ten year hit. That' not only purchasing Fastow's testimony, it's practically extorting it. How credible is a man going to be whose testimony was obtained by threatening the mother of their two young children with a long prison sentence....or a five month sentence, to be served after he goes in so the children don't spend any time without at least one parent?

This may not last long, so I better publish it while I can. Technorati's Top 100 Blogs list tonight:

95. TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime 2,483 links from 1,923 sources
96. Blogs for Bush 3,282 links from 1,921 sources

[Note, the number of sources determines placement.]

A new study by the Coalition for Juvenile Justice finds that recidivism is higher among teenagers who have been charged as adults for their crimes.

Juvenile advocates say a decadelong crackdown on teenage crime has backfired by depriving youthful offenders, who disproportionately are members of minority groups, of adequate counseling, drug treatment, and education.

A survey of several states with large numbers of youths in the adult system found increased recidivism among youths who are treated as adults.

In other words, "Adult time for adult crime" is a failure. The report is called, "''Childhood on Trial: The Failure of Trying and Sentencing Youth in Adult Criminal Court." [link via CrimProf Blog.]

The New York Times reports:

The convictions of dozens of death-row inmates in California are coming under legal scrutiny because of accusations that Jews and black women were excluded from juries in capital trials in Alameda County as "standard practice."

The allegation is contained in an affidavit filed in a habeas appeal of a death row inmate. It was written by the prosecutor:

Mr. Quatman, who worked for 26 years as a deputy district attorney and prosecuted the case, said the trial judge, Stanley Golde, advised him during jury selection that "no Jew would vote to send a defendant to the gas chamber."

"Judge Golde was only telling me what I already should have known to do," Mr. Quatman's statement said. "It was standard practice to exclude Jewish jurors in death cases."

Brian Nichols' has a new lawyer, Chris Adams, and he's an outstanding capital defense lawyer. Chris is the Director of the Office of the Georgia Capital Defender.

Chris has been the Capital Resource Counsel for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers ( NACDL). During that time, he spent his time at the Southern Center for Human Rights, trying cases. Here's one of his big wins. Here's another. He regularly participates in death penalty training for defense lawyers like this one, (which lawyers refer to as death camp.)

Who becomes a death penalty defender? While each defender has his or her own reasons, here is Chris' background.

I've got stuff to do, some MSNBC and then the jail, so here's a place for you to talk.

The verdict is in on Bernie Ebbers in the WorldCom trial. Guilty on all counts.

If you haven't been following the case, the New York Times has a good audio slide account.

Thanks to Political Teen who put up this video of our Ebbers comments today on MSNBC's Connected Coast to Coast.

Background and trial developments here, here and here.

Supreme Court Justice Anton Scalia gave a speech Monday. I can envision massive protests in the streets if Bush has the audacity to name him Chief Justice when Justice Rehnquist retires.

Justice Antonin Scalia criticized the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down the juvenile death penalty, calling it the latest example of politics on the court that has made judicial nominations an increasingly bitter process.

In a 35-minute speech Monday, Scalia said unelected judges have no place deciding issues such as abortion and the death penalty. The court's 5-4 ruling March 1 to outlaw the juvenile death penalty based on "evolving notions of decency" was simply a mask for the personal policy preferences of the five-member majority, he said.

"If you think aficionados of a living Constitution want to bring you flexibility, think again," Scalia told an audience at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a Washington think tank. "You think the death penalty is a good idea? Persuade your fellow citizens to adopt it. You want a right to abortion? Persuade your fellow citizens and enact it. That's flexibility." "Why in the world would you have it interpreted by nine lawyers?" he said.

He might as well say the Constitution is a piece of flotsam, to be flushed away whenever a majority of a state's voters decide to enact a law that refuses to recognize the rights embedded within it. If he doesn't think he should be protecting the Constitution, he should retire, not lobby for a promotion to Chief Justice.

Courtwatch commentator Andrew Cohen, writing about the accuser's cross-examination Monday by Thomas Mesereau:

"If prosecutors were hoping that Michael Jackson's accuser would come to the witness stand Monday and cement into place their case, they surely are disappointed, and perhaps even mortified, by the young man's courtroom demeanor and testimony. The alleged molestation victim did not talk or act like one in court. And on Monday, during the heart of the prosecution's case, no part of his story was immune from serious and substantial questions about its accuracy or reliability."

There has been quite a dust-up in the MSM and blogosphere about, depending on your perspective, the lack of, or plentitude of, women political columnists and bloggers. I can't remember who started it, but the first post I read about it was this one by Kevin Drum. Kevin, who certainly is no chauvinist, later somewhat sheepishly noted his post didn't go over very well with women. (See the comments to his post. Mine, which basically sums up my views on the topic, is here)

Jude Nagurney Camwell of Iddybud has compiled a lengthy list of women political bloggers. Michelle Malkin provides her list of women bloggers today (I'm flattered that TalkLeft is listed in the liberal category.)

If you missed the entire discussion, Culture Kat has catalogued it, from 2002 through the present, as part of her dissertation which she describes as "a feminist rhetorical analysis of gender and blogging practices."

New York Times Columnist Maureen Dowd weighed in yesterday. One line that struck me:

Male bloggers predominate, as do male TV shouters.

by TChris

A Texas prosecutor crossed the line during opening statements today in the trial of a nurse accused of killing ten elderly patients.

Vickie Dawn Jackson's attorney asked for the mistrial after prosecutor Ralph Guerrero said no one may ever be able to provide a motive - not even Jackson herself - for the crimes at Nocona General Hospital four years ago. Defense attorney Bruce Martin said that indicated Jackson would testify when she is not required to do so.

The judge initially denied a mistrial motion, then reconsidered and granted the mistrial after taking a two-hour break. The case will resume, with a new jury selection, on March 29.

by TChris

Once again, Halliburton is accused of overcharging the government for its work in Iraq. TalkLeft's previous coverage of the Vice President's former employer is collected here.

Leading U.S. defense contractor Halliburton may have overcharged the U.S. government by more than $100 million under a no-bid oil deal in Iraq, said a military audit released by a Democratic lawmaker on Monday. The Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit, parts of which were released by California Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman on his Web site www.democrats.reform.house.gov/, questioned $108 million in costs by Texas-based Halliburton unit Kellogg Brown and Root for delivery of fuel to civilians in Iraq in 2003 and 2004.

Waxman and Rep. John Dingell wrote to the president, pointing out that "the administration has withheld these audits from Congress for months and Halliburton has repaid nothing under this contract."

They complained to the president that the administration had ignored more than a dozen requests for copies of KBR oil contract audits.