by TChris

A former police officer convicted of negligent homicide for shooting a 14-year-old boy while placing him in handcuffs has been sentenced to five years of probation and 60 days in jail. The Houston officer was also ordered to write a letter of apology to the boy's parents.

Prosecutor Don Smyth asked the judge Thursday to give Carbonneau six months in jail, the maximum jail sentence allowed under probation. Smyth also suggested several other conditions the judge declined to impose, including an open letter of apology to the residents of Harris County. ''They think their police officers are gun-toting, trigger-happy fools," Smyth said after the sentencing. "He's put everybody in fear and he owes everybody an apology."

The jury recommended only probation.

GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain, maker of the new Cannabis-based Medicine (Sativex®) has published results of its preliminary study of the drug, and finds that it reduces pain in cancer patients. [Via NORML).

U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson of Alabama has an op-ed in the New York Times, Sentencing and Sensibility on the recent Booker and FanFan decisions.

... amid the confusion that will undoubtedly follow this decision, we should keep in mind one basic principle: neither consistency nor codification guarantees justice. While few if any are calling for a return to the practically unfettered discretion that judges had before the sentencing guidelines came into effect, the nuances of individual cases necessitate a certain fluidity in imposing punishment. Congress should seek to shape judicial discretion, not to lock it in a vise.

It's an uncorroborated tip....but we're following the details. The hunt is on for 14 Chinese nationals and 2 Iraqis. The tip emanated from a California Highway patrolman. Boston has rev'ed up its security.

You can post any updates here. (don't forget to put your links in html format.)

Ivan Wright is 69 years old. He went to jail 19 years ago, in 1985, after being sentenced to 25 years to life for selling three ounces of cocaine to an undercover officer. Today he became the first inmate released under the newly revised Rockefeller drug laws.

In releasing Wright today, the Judge said he had paid his debt to society. But how will society repay Mr. Wright for depriving him of his freedom for an unconscionable amount of time, making his 11 year old daughter grow up without her father, miss the birth of his grandchild, and probably so much more?

How utterly ridiculous. In a copycat move reminiscent of Jerry Falwell going after the teletubbies, Evangelist James Dobson is calling on schools to reject a video by a non-profit group that includes the cartoon character SpongeBob on the grounds that it "promotes the acceptance of homosexuality."

The video is a remake of the 1979 hit song "We Are Family" using the voices and images of SpongeBob, Barney, Winnie the Pooh, Bob the Builder, the Rugrats and 100 TV cartoon stars. It was made by a foundation set up by songwriter Nile Rodgers after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks to promote the nation's healing process.

SpongeBob, who lives in a pineapple under the sea, was "outed" by the U.S. media in 2002 after reports that the TV show and its merchandise was popular with gays. His creator, Stephen Hillenburg, said at the time that although SpongeBob was an oddball, he thought of all the characters as asexual.

Sgt. Kevin Benderman served 8 months in Iraq and refused to return. He says that what he saw there has turned him into a conscientious objector. The Army has filed charges against him. It takes the position that Benderman must return to Iraq while he waits for a decision on his conscientious objector application.

A conscientious objector is legally defined as one who:

Bump and Update: This is the lead story on the Denver local news. Ahead of the Inaugural.

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Original Post (this morning)

Simply outrageous. For over a year, Crist Mortuary in Boulder, Colorado has had a secret deal with a local Catholic church to stash fetal tissue from an abortion clinic that the mortuary had picked up for cremation. Now, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the church is going to hold a burial ceremony and bury the tissue in its cemetary. The mortuary's general manager is Michael Greenwood.

California prison officals allegedly lied when they told the U.S. Surpreme Court that California's prisoners were not segregated by race.

Correctional officers and inmates told The Press-Enterprise of Riverside that segregation is rampant throughout the system, despite state attorneys' contention that it is limited to inmates' first 60 days behind bars.

"There is no way I'd put a white and a black together," said Charles Hughes, a lieutenant at California State Prison in Lancaster. "I'd be putting my job on the line if I did that."

Dan Markal has an op-ed in USA Today on shaming sanctions as an alternative to imprisonment. I agree with him:

The very goal of shaming is the dehumanization of another person before, and with the participation of, the public. Such punishments are not only ineffective. They are wrong.

[link via Punishment Theory.]

San Franicisco Chronicle reporter Kevin Fagan was a witness at the California execution of James Beardslee this week. Here's his account. Fagan reports the execution took 11 minutes. He says Beardslee slipped quietly into death, but how does he know when one of the drugs paralyzes and prevents the injectee from making any sounds or movements or response?

After 12:21 he didn't twitch a muscle. At 12:29 it was over.

One of Beardslee's last unsuccessful grounds for appeal was that the particular drugs administered amounted to a violation of his first amendment right to scream in agony should he feel it.

Then there was this, according to the reporter, " one slight hitch":