A civil rights suit filed against Wal-Mart by undocumented workers was amended Monday to include a charge that the store locked its janitors inside stores during their shifts.

The amendment to the lawsuit comes as a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania weighs evidence to determine whether Wal-Mart will face criminal charges in the use of illegal immigrants to clean its stores.

....INS agents raided Wal-Mart stores across the country on Oct. 23 in a sweep that resulted in the arrest of hundreds of janitors on immigration charges. Among those arrested were the 17 named plaintiffs in the civil suit, including 11 Mexican immigrants who were the original plaintiffs, plus six Eastern Europeans added to the list Monday. The lawsuit seeks class-action status for perhaps thousands of immigrants.

The lawsuit is being brought under the federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, charging that Wal-Mart systematically violated workers' rights and tried to shield itself from liability by using independent contractors to employ the immigrants.

Our prior coverage of the Wal-Mart arrests and lawsuit is here, here and here.

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In a first ruling of its kind, three former agents got prison time for denying care to an immigrant who died:

...a Houston federal judge sentenced three former immigration agents to prison Monday for denying medical care to a paralyzed illegal immigrant who later died of his injuries.

A federal jury convicted the three men in June of acting with deliberate indifference for failing to get timely medical care for Serafin Olvera after his neck was broken during a struggle with immigration agents in Bryan on March 25, 2001.

Olvera, a Mexican citizen who had been living in Houston since 1977, died in February 2002. U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal sentenced Richard Henry Gonzales to 78 months in prison, Louis Rey Gomez to 41 months and Carlos Reyna to 33 months.

Prosecutor Eric Morales, who works for the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., said this is the first case he is aware of in which federal agents were convicted of failing to provide medical aid to illegal immigrants.

A 20 year old murder conviction was thrown out today by a California judge who cited the unreliable testimony of a jailhouse snitch and thin evidence as a reason for the reversal.

After a 15-minute hearing, the judge, Arthur Jean of Los Angeles County Superior Court, said he was voiding the conviction of Thomas Lee Goldstein, 55, "because of the cancerous nature of the appearance of this case." Judge Jean's ruling followed opinions from two federal court judges and an appeals court panel who ruled that Mr. Goldstein had been wrongly convicted and should be released from prison immediately.

How can the perils of jailhouse snitch testimony be reduced? According to Cardozo Law School's Innocence Project:

Judges should presume, and instruct the jury, that a jailhouse informant's testimony is unreliable. Moreover, the prosecution should be required to overcome that presumption before the jury even hears said testimony.

Any deal or reward offered or accepted with regard to informants or snitches must be in writing. All verbal communication should be videotaped.

Meet Carlos Lavernia. After sixteen years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, he's free. Or is he? How does one reenter society after such a long time spent as a Rip Van Winkle? With great difficulty.

Lavernia moved in with his stepdaughter in Leander and began to rebuild his life. He phoned his mother in Cuba, who had thought he was dead because he was too ashamed to write her from prison, he said. She plans to visit him in May.

He used some of the $435,416.65 he received from the state for wrongful imprisonment to buy upscale cars for himself and his stepdaughter. He started a home-remodeling business. But the money couldn't solve everything. Something was wrong. His stepdaughter's house was isolated and reminded him of a penitentiary, he said.

So he moved to South Austin a few weeks ago. Now, he said, he's been afraid to leave his sparsely furnished apartment except to work. He avoids nightclubs and won't walk along Town Lake near his apartment. "I'm scared of women," he said. Both cases against him relied on the testimony of female witnesses. A woman testified in 1985 that he raped her while she was jogging along a trail by Barton Creek in 1983. DNA tests weren't available at the time, and Lavernia received a 99-year sentence.

From a press release from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL):

A new study of Virginia's indigent defense system released Monday concludes that the state is still failing miserably in providing constitutionally-adequate representation in criminal cases to persons who cannot afford it. The report, "A Comprehensive Review of Indigent Defense in Virginia," was prepared by The Spangenberg Group and sponsored by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, the Washington, D.C. law firm Covington & Burling, and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

"The Spangenberg Report documents what is painfully obvious - that Virginia fails to protect its innocent citizens from wrongful conviction," said Steve Benjamin, Richmond, president of the Virginia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "For decades, Virginia has refused to honor its constitutional duty to provide legal representation to citizens who are accused of a crime, but who cannot afford the high cost of their own private attorney. This failure means that innocent people go to prison, while guilty criminals remain free. Without adequate resources for public defenders and appointed counsel, Virginia can’t hope to ensure that our criminal justice system reliably determines the truth of a criminal accusation." Benjamin also serves on NACDL's Board of Directors and is a vice chair of the NACDL Indigent Defense Committee.

A summary of the report is here. The full report is here. (pdf)

Update: Here's a news article on the report.

First, Colorado Congressman Mark Udall said he didn't want to run against Ben Nighthorse Campbell. Then Gary Hart. Now recently departed Denver Mayor Wellington Webb declines the honor. All three of them would be a valuable addition to Colorado's congressional delegation. We're sorry they all said no. We wish Congressman Udall would re-think his decision.

Howard Bashman's 20 Questions interview with 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt in today's "How Appealing" is a must read. TalkLeft's appellate friend Peter Goldberger says, "The judge's answers present a powerful, articulate and persuasive defense of the philosophy and practice of a true liberal judge, proudly in the Brennan tradition."

Again, our congratulations to Howard who opened up his own law practice today--a Pennsylvania appellate boutique--the press release is here. His new office address, if you want to send a card or a plant, or something (our idea, he hasn't asked for anything) is:

Law Offices of Howard J. Bashman
1250 Virginia Drive
Suite 1000
Fort Washington, PA 19034
Phone: (267) 419-1230
Telecopy: (267) 419-1231
Email: hjbashman@comcast.net

You thought fingerprint technology was a science and error-free? Think again. Today's Boston Globe has an excellent op-ed by Jennifer L. Mnookin, a visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School, that debunks this commonly held notion.

A big thanks to our guest blogger TChris who filled in for us this weekend. He wrote some great stuff, we hope you will scroll down and read it. We have court this morning and will return this afternoon.

"Too Hot of a Potato: A Citizen Soldier's Encounter With the Polygraph" is a personal account of the life-changing consequences of wrongly failing an FBI polygraph examination -- and of a soldier's exercising his First Amendment right to speak publicly on polygraph policy. George Maschke was a soldier with a security clearance in the interrogations program. He served in the first Gulf War, was an Arab translator at interrogations and then had an opportunity to work with federal prosecutors on the World Trade Center bombing case. He decided to apply to the FBI to become an agent. Then the nightmare began:

On Monday, 15 May 1995, FBI polygrapher Jack Trimarco met me for the first time in his life and within three hours concluded that I am a spy, drug dealer, and drug abuser.

The FBI rejected my application to become an FBI special agent and entered my polygraph examiner's false accusations of deception into my permanent FBI Headquarters file. The FBI's accusations have had life-changing consequences for me, and I am telling my story to help hasten the day that our government ends its misplaced reliance on the pseudoscience of polygraphy, a practice it has with good reason prohibited the private sector from employing.

In 2000, Mr. Maschke and Gino Scalabrini co-founded AntiPolygraph.org and published The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, a free e-book with chapters on polygraph validity, policy, procedure, and countermeasures.

We included information on countermeasures not to help liars beat the system, but to provide the truthful with a means of protecting themselves against the random error associated with an invalid test.

by TChris

Californians in need of medical marijuana will be able to choose from several varieties at a new store in Roseville -- at least until the feds move in to shut it down. The store doesn't bother the local police chief, who acknowledges that Proposition 215 made the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes a legal business under state law.

Federal law is a different story. Listen to Richard Meyer, a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Francisco:

"Federal law is clear about marijuana: It is illegal to cultivate, possess or distribute it," Meyer said. "So if that club is selling marijuana, it's going to be in violation of federal law.

"Just because (the Roseville club) is in operation doesn't mean it's legitimate or that we condone it. They should not be surprised if one day we show up with a warrant at their door."

Although Meyer complained that staff shortages made it difficult to close marijuana clubs, the Roseville business has reason to worry. Other distributors of medical marijuana have been arrested or shut down, and the Ashcroft Justice Department seems determined to stand in the way of states that enact sensible legislation to benefit the sick and dying.

A female prison guard held hostage for two weeks by inmates at an Arizona prison has been released. There aren't many details yet, only that the guard is receiving medical attention.

A nightmare, we're sure, but we're glad she is safe.

Update: A later AP story:

"Her voice is exceptionally strong," said Corrections Department Director Dora Schriro. "I would characterize her spirit as being exceptionally strong. To the eyes, she looks well."

Gov. Janet Napolitano, who went with Schriro to meet the medical helicopter that transported the female guard, said the officer told the director, "Thank you for not leaving me, thank you for not rushing the tower, they would have killed me."

How did the hostage-taking event happen to begin with?

No information was immediately released on what led to the surrender at the medium- to high-security Arizona State Prison Complex-Lewis, but in one concession, one of the inmates was allowed to give an interview to a radio station.

"It was initially an escape attempt. We were on our way out," Ricky Wassenaar, told KTAR-AM radio in an exclusive interview. "This was a stopping point to get some arms, firearms, to get out of here. Unfortunately, the plan went bad."