Preisdential hopeful John Edwards will give the Top 10 List on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight --CBS.

Bump and Update: U.S. District Court Judge Sam Sparks stopped the execution by granting a 60 day stay. [Ed. changed from our earlier erroneous report that the Governor had granted the stay. See comments for those who spotted our error.]

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Original Post

The next Texecution is set for Thursday. Louis Panetti, 45, has been in and out of mental hospitals 14 times. He represented himself at trial--in a cowboy outfit. He tried to subpoena Jesus Christ, John F. Kennedy and Anne Bancroft as witnesses. Governor Rick Perry can still stop the execution:

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the verdict and sentence in 1997, ruling that whether Mr. Panetti was competent to represent himself was not the issue. "The appropriate question is whether he is competent to choose the endeavor," said the court, which ruled that he was.

It found that "a mere mental disease or defect, though it may constitute a form of insanity known to and recognized by medical science, does not excuse one for committing a crime." The court found evidence that Mr. Panetti knew that what he was doing was wrong.

At a news conference in Austin on Tuesday, representatives of the Texas Defender Service, a private nonprofit law firm representing indigent capital defendants, called on Mr. Perry for a 30-day reprieve to allow a review of the case.

"Allowing a schizophrenic in a cowboy costume to represent himself in a death penalty case gives new meaning to the term `frontier justice,' "said Jim Marcus, executive director of the defender service. "Given the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' history of tolerance for defense lawyers who sleep or use drugs and alcohol throughout death penalty trials, however, its laissez-faire approach is hardly surprising," he said.

Panetti did have standby counsel during the trial. His view:

Scott Monroe, who was named standby counsel with no authority to aid the defense unless asked, said: "It was very obvious from his mannerisms and the way he conducted himself that he was mentally ill. There was never a question about that. That was very well documented, but still he was allowed to defend himself in that case, and basically I sat around and watched him do it."

Update: Take action here.

A Colorado sheriff's officer has been suspended for using an inmate for target practice with his taser gun.

A Chaffee County sheriff's officer was suspended Tuesday and could be fired for allegedly using an inmate for Taser practice at a training session. Detentions officer Scott Glenn was placed on administrative leave after an investigation by Sheriff Tim Walker, the same day the sheriff learned of the allegation from The Denver Post.

"It was extremely poor judgment," Walker said. "There's no way a detention officer should ever use an inmate in that capacity."

Thomas Montoya, a prisoner serving an 18-month sentence from a probation violation relating to a 1999 domestic-violence-related assault, said he was shocked with a Taser during a sheriff's training class on Oct. 17, 2003. "Imagine 50,000 volts traveling through your body. Would it hurt?" said Montoya, who suffered no injury but said he was left with a burn mark.

We say fire the bum.

A new racial profiling study is out. Houston Police have the worst record in all of Texas:

Black motorists stopped by the Houston Police Department are 3.5 times more likely to be searched than Anglos, the worst disparity reported by any major Texas city, according to the first statewide compilation of statistics since law enforcement agencies have been required to report racial data on traffic stops. An analysis of the data from 2002 also found that Latino drivers stopped by HPD officers are 2.4 times more likely than Anglos to be searched.

The study of statistics from 413 law enforcement agencies released Tuesday was commissioned by the Texas State Conference of NAACP branches, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and the Texas Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.

More report details are here. The full report is here. (pdf)

We hope you have noticed and clicked on the ad for the movie "SIX" on the right side of TalkLeft. It's a documentary by Dr. Helen Smith (who happens to be married to Instapundit and law prof. Glenn Reynolds.) It's a remarkable film that raises important issues society should be addressing with respect to violent juvenile crime. Dr. Smith points out:

"The bigger issue is-- ”we've got dangerous people out there in society, what do we do about it? We look at it and say--”these people just sort of did this and we don't know why. We do know why. We don't do anything about it. We don't deal with the mentally ill. If somebody's sick, we don't keep them in a hospital. The police don't deal with them. The schools don't deal with them.

"If the systems won't deal with them and the families are having problems themselves--"what do we do? We need to decide to deal with it as a society--”or we just say, no, it's not our job but we are going to allow this to happen. And we're not going to be surprised about it."

Check out the movie's website . We've watched the film and it is quite compelling. You can order a copy from the website.

In a first for Ohio, the city of Cleveland is considering a law that would take city contracts away from companies that discriminate against ex-offenders. The proposed law bars companies with city contracts to refuse work to an applicant solely because of a criminal record.

If the law passes, companies who fail to comply could have their contracts with the city terminated and other benefits, such as tax abatements or grants, discontinued. Companies could still ask about an applicant's criminal record and would not be penalized for failing to hire an applicant whose previous crime relates to a job.

Maureen Black, a deputy director with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, said the proposed law would complement existing efforts to link ex-offenders with jobs and job training, and incentive programs for companies who hire ex-offenders.

We hope this passes, and spreads to other cities and states. It's a much needed reform that benefits all of us.

We first reported last week on a new report blasting the California Youth Authority for keeping kids in cages and ignoring mental health issues.

New reports to be released this week show how dire the situation is in California's youth prisons:

Reports to be released this week offer a chilling look into how the state handles incarcerated kids, depicting the California Youth Authority as operating violence-plagued institutions where some wards are kept in cages or forced to spend hours on their knees with their hands bound behind their backs.

Teens with mental health problems are made worse, not better, by a system that is failing in its mandate to rehabilitate kids who commit crimes, according to the reports by independent experts. The reports suggest the state is running a system that provides little help for young offenders who want to change their ways, prison watchdogs say.

"Instead of rehabilitating and treating kids, they're pushing them out the door in worse shape than when they came in,'' said Don Spector, director of the Prison Law Office. "It's like a factory for prisons.''

The LA Times reports "Inmates and staff are in danger, experts say, and medical care and counseling fall short." The LA Times Editorial, Junkyard for Young Lives, says:

Experts who studied the miserable lives of juvenile inmates in the charge of the California Youth Authority released reports this week showing a system in worse shape than most outsiders could have imagined. The state subjects its charges to the harshest punishments of any juvenile detention system nationwide, leaving teenagers confined in steel-mesh cages when guards aren't prying them from their cells with mace and tear gas.

There is a 90% recidivist rate among juveniles, the highest in the country. There is a failure to provide oversight and rehabilitation programs.

The Massachussetts Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favor of gay marriages:

The Massachusetts high court ruled Wednesday that only full, equal marriage rights for gay couples - rather than civil unions - would be constitutional, erasing any doubts that the nation's first same-sex marriages would take place in the state beginning in mid-May.

The court issued the opinion in response to a request from the state Senate about whether Vermont-style civil unions, which convey the state benefits of marriage - but not the title - would meet constitutional muster. The much-anticipated opinion sets the stage for next week's constitutional convention, where the Legislature will consider an amendment that would legally define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Without the opinion, Senate President Robert Travaglini had said the vote would be delayed.

A big raspberry today to Ohio--the Legislature has passed, and the Governor is poised to sign, one of the most sweeping same-sex marriage ban bills in the nation:

The bill stipulates that same-sex marriages would be "against the strong public policy of the state." The bill also prohibits state employees from getting marital benefits spelled out in state law for their unmarried partners, whether homosexual or heterosexual.

Thirty-seven states have passed laws recognizing only marriages between men and women. Gay rights groups consider Ohio's legislation particularly restrictive because of the benefits ban.

Phil Spector has changed lawyers, leaving Robert Shapiro for Leslie Abramson :

Abramson, who became famous for her role in the murder trial of brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, said she had been phasing out her defense practice with an eye toward retirement when she was contacted by Spector.

"I was about to hang it up when I got the call," she said. "No other defendant would get me to give up my freedom. No other defendant was someone I considered an idol, an icon and the definition of cool."

It's nice to see Leslie back on the scene. She's a dynamo and will do a great job for Spector. Marcia Morrissey, another great LA defense lawyer, will be working the case with her.

CNN reports that with 100% of the votes counted, Wesley Clark leads Edwards by less than 1200 votes. They haven't called him the winner yet though. Looks to us like both Clark and Edwards are still in the race. We think it will come down to Kerry and Edwards. Is Dean on his last gasp? Here's his strategy according to one reporter.

Here's why we're going to keep going and going and going and going and going just like the Energizer Bunny," Dean told supporters in Washington state, which votes Saturday. "We're going to pick up some delegates tonight and this is all about who gets the most delegates in Boston in July and it's going to be us."

Dean's White House bid hangs on a last-chance strategy: keep plugging along despite more impending losses while other underdog candidates spend themselves out of the race. Then engage front-runner John Kerry directly.

Praise for Joe Lieberman who did the right thing tonight and withdrew from the Democratic race for President:

Sen. Joe Lieberman, unable to inspire Democratic voters who embraced his 2000 vice presidential campaign, ended his presidential bid Tuesday night after a string of disappointing defeats. He said he believed his "mainstream voice" was the right message for his party, but acknowledged that voters disagreed.

"The judgment of the voters is now clear," Lieberman told about 150 longtime supporters who gathered in northern Virginia. "For me, it is now time to make a difficult but realistic decision. I have decided tonight to end my quest for the presidency of the United States of America. Am I disappointed? Naturally. But am I proud of what we stood for in this campaign? You bet I am."

A classy exit.