Here's the New Governor Arnie. He's willing to support parole, and is on track to review his first death penalty case.

Next month, he is likely to face his first decision on the death penalty, a practice that he has said he generally supports. The next convict in line to be put to death is seeking clemency and has the support of groups that oppose capital punishment. They are planning statewide demonstrations to urge Schwarzenegger to spare his life. And that is only the beginning of the pressures the new governor has begun to face on the issue of crime and punishment.

California runs the nation's largest penal system, housing more than 160,000 convicts. It also has some of the country's toughest and most controversial sentencing laws, including a "three strikes" measure that can put a third-time felony offender in jail for life even for a nonviolent crime such as theft. And by many accounts, the state agency that oversees prisons is mired with problems.

A federal report issued this month called it beset with management corruption and rogue prison guards. Last fall, state investigators also denounced California's parole policies as a "billion-dollar failure" because most released inmates end up back behind bars. At a hearing convened last week to examine the troubles plaguing prisons, state senators called California's penal system a "tarnished institution" in dire need of reform.

His administration, facing a $14 billion budget shortfall and desperate to find savings, may restructure parole policies in ways that would return fewer parolees to prison for minor violations of the terms of their release. It also is considering easing sentencing laws for some nonviolent offenders. Both of those moves could save California several hundred million dollars a year.

All good moves, Arnie.

Our congrats to Charlize Theron for winning Best Actress at the Golden Globes for her portrayal in the film Monster of serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who was executed in October, 2002 in Florida. From our post at the time of her execution:

Aileen Wuornos, 44, one of the nation's first known female serial killers, was convicted of fatally shooting six middle-aged men along Florida highways in 1989 and 1990.

At the time of the killings, Wuornos was working as a highway prostitute. She said all of the men violentlyattacked her. She was only tried once for the murder of one of the men. Her lawyer had her plead guilty to the other five. Here are details of her case which some believe indicate she acted in self-defense and didn't receive either a fair trial or effective assistance of counsel. Her supporters also say sexism, anti-lesbian and anti-prostitute prejudice were used to condemn her to death.

Aileen wanted to die. In April, 2002 she asked for and received permission from the Court to drop her appeals and fire her lawyers. Her lawyers argued she was incompetent to make the decison. Jeb Bush granted a temporary stay for her to be examined by psychiatrists. She was judged competent to be executed and the stay was lifted.

Our comment on the execution:

The state of Florida should not engage in either state-assisted suicide or the killing of a mentally ill woman. Why are we still sinking to these levels?

We hope this award for Ms. Theron will raise public awareness of and condemnation for the execution of the mentally ill.

by TChris

Four jurors who voted to convict Kevin Cooper are joining Denzel Washington and other actors in asking Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to postpone Cooper's February 10 execution in order to hold a clemency hearing. Cooper was sentenced to death in 1985 after being convicted of murdering four people, including two children, in Chino Hills.

In its plea to the governor, Cooper's newly assembled defense team said there was evidence that could exonerate Cooper, including an alleged confession by a mental health patient and possible DNA evidence from hairs found in the hand of one of the victims.

Prosecutors dismiss the evidence as old news, but the question is whether Schwarzenegger will think it casts enough doubt on Cooper's guilt to warrant greater scrutiny of facts that the jury never considered. He may be influenced by the unusual effort jurors have made to communicate their concerns about unanswered questions in the case and the conduct of police detectives.

Cooper's defense team includes Lanny Davis, "the Washington, D.C., attorney who helped the Clinton White House with damage control during the Monica Lewinsky scandal," and "ex-boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who spent nearly 20 years in a New Jersey prison before his conviction for three murders was overturned." Interestingly, Cooper's request for a clemency hearing is supported by Denzel Washington, who portrayed Carter in the movie "The Hurricane," and by actors Sean Penn and Richard Dreyfuss. Will the pleas of his fellow actors capture the Governor's attention? If so, enlisting their support was a smart move.

by TChris

In a less depressing story from Houston than the one below, Judge Larry Standley has defended his decision to require a man who slapped his wife to attend yoga classes as a condition of probation. Noting that publicity surrounding the sentence had caused the case to take on a life of its own, Judge Standley (apparently concerned that he might be viewed as taking a lenient view of domestic abuse) emphasized that probation had been recommended to him by both parties as part of a plea agreement, and noted that he only tacked on the yoga class as an additional condition. Asked to explain why he required the Yoga class, Judge Standley responded:

I'll tell you what compelled me to do it, simply put, anger is a result of a feeling of a loss of control. And more and more I start seeing people that feel like they can control others around them. And the people that are really into yoga, just being in their presence, it is calming. And if it takes effect, I think it will help this individual. If not, then he will get revoked and do a year.

Asked whether he was worried that the sentence didn't send a sufficiently strong message to people who slap their spouses, Judge Standley assured CNN that he would be "tough on crime" in the appropriate case and pointed to offenders he had sentenced to the Harris County Jail for the maximum term of a year.

by TChris

Supporters of Andrea Yates, the mentally ill woman in Houston who drowned her children in a bathtub, argue that she should be treated in a mental health facility, not confined in a prison for life. Andrea's lead attorney, George Parnham, reports that Andrea is not coping well with prison life.

Yates is a bright woman, a former cancer nurse. But these days, her short-term memory is poor. She seems to understand what she is told, then she forgets. She isn't agitating to leave her prison home, Parnham said. For her, for now, there is a nightmarish past and no future.

Dr. George Ringholz, the chief of the section of behavioral neurology and neuropsychology at Baylor College of Medicine, tested Yates and concluded that she suffers from schizophrenia. Prison doctors think she suffers from a bipolar disorder. Another expert thinks she may have schizo-affective disorder, but argues that the precise diagnosis is less important than making sure the symptoms -- which include visual and auditory hallucinations -- are treated correctly.

Dr. Ringholz and Andrea's husband, Rusty Yates, believe the medical system failed Andrea by misdiagnosing her developing mental illness as postpartum depression and by viewing her problems "as isolated events, as opposed to a disease unfolding."

In mid-February, Andrea's lawyers, now working pro bono, will be filing documents seeking a new trial.

by TChris

A clash between federal supremacy and states' rights is heating up in Colorado. Attorneys for federal agents who refuse to follow a state court order to return confiscated marijuana to a medical patient have asked a judge to dismiss a motion seeking to hold the agents in contempt. TalkLeft has written about the case here and here.

Don Nord was entitled under Colorado law to possess the marijuana as medicine. When no charges were filed after the marijuana and other items were seized during the execution of a search warrant, Routt County Judge James Garrecht ordered everything returned to Nord, including two ounces of marijuana. Federal officers returned everything but the two ounces of pot, citing the status of marijuana as contraband under federal law.

In response to a motion asking that the agents be held in contempt for failing to return the marijuana, Justice Department lawyers have asked for the contempt proceedings to be dismissed. They wrote:

"It is not the intent of officers or agents of the U.S. to violate state law in the performance of their duties or to ignore orders of state court judges. In this instant, regrettably, such violation was mandated by federal law, a circumstance that is unfortunate and rare."

The government lawyers wrote that the agents were required to follow federal law in the performance of their job duties, and that they might be subject to discipline, including termination, if they obeyed the court order.

Nord's attorney, Kristopher Hammond, is not persuaded by the government's response.

"If they didn't like the judge's order to return the marijuana, they should have appealed that order. They didn't and I believe that every court has the right to enforce its orders.

"We all have to obey court orders even if we don't like them. Sounds to me like they're being a bunch of crybabies."

Hammond makes a good point. In a society based on the rule of law, the proper response to a court order the government considers to be flawed is to appeal the order, not to disobey it.

GenFoods makes the argument, with pictures, that President Bush may suffer from cocaine-induced Parkinson's Disease.

We seem to remember that the President's last public bout with alcohol and whatever else was at his 40th birthday party at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs.

We're not endorsing the theory, just pointing out the post.

by TChris

Noting that 600,000 inmates will be released from prison this year, President Bush proposed in his State of the Union address "a four-year, $300 million prisoner re-entry initiative to expand job training and placement services, to provide transitional housing, and to help newly released prisoners get mentoring, including from faith-based groups." As Bush recognized, "America is the land of second chance, and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life."

Federal District Court Judge Nancy Gertner applauds the thought, but is concerned that Bush's proposal is "too little, too late."

The problem is that the policies our government has implemented, long before those prison gates are open, undermine a prisoner's opportunity for a second chance. Too many prisoners are serving sentences that are too long under conditions that are not remotely conducive to rehabilitation. We must change our approach long before reentry.

In fact, Bush's $300 million initiative reminds me of a homeowner who, midwinter, turns up the thermostat but leaves the front door open. It seems like a great idea, but it misses the real problems.

Judge Gertner notes that legislation requiring lengthy prison terms, while politically popular, actually makes the crime problem worse. Offenders come out prison with no job skills and no job prospects, resulting in the destruction of communities and the decimation of families "that are already struggling, especially in our inner-cities. And from those decimated communities comes more crime."

Drawing upon her visits to the programs that the federal Probation Office uses to support the efforts of ex-offenders to restart their lives, and upon her observation of the policies and practices of the Bureau of Prisons, Judge Gertner concludes that the President's call for a "reentry" program sounds laudable, but is in essence "a cruel joke in a society where the race to punish has made it next to impossible for ex-offenders to get public assistance or qualify for a host of government programs." In Judge Gertner's view, the President's proposal is undermined by harsh sentences and by prison philosophies that emphasize punishment over rehabilitation. She makes a persuasive argument that "Reentry should begin at sentencing, and not a moment later."

Judge Gertner bases her forceful argument on experience and insight. She's right, and her editorial is well worth reading.

by TChris

The judge in Michael Jackson’s criminal prosecution has responded to media requests for the release of an affidavit made in support of a search warrant application by sealing the documents.

The judge, Rodney S. Melville of Santa Barbara County Superior Court, said Friday that the documents contained "reports of statements of a minor about events of a sexual nature" and ordered them sealed indefinitely.

Judge Melville also said releasing the material as requested by the news media would "complicate the process of selecting an unbiased jury."

The judge criticized prosecution and defense attorneys for comments made earlier in the case. He singled out District Attorney Thomas Sneddon Jr.’s reference to Michael Jackson as “Wacko Jacko” during an appearance on Court TV, and also noted that Mark Geragos had stated on “Larry King Live” that the case against Michael Jackson was a “scam.”

Geragos’ remark seems simply to be a comment upon what he expected the evidence at trial to prove, while Sneddon engaged in inappropriate and unprofessional name calling. The court has since entered an order prohibiting the lawyers from discussing the case publicly.

by TChris

When the police publicly identify someone as a suspect in a notorious crime, the injury done to that person’s reputation may be irreparable. Just ask Richard Jewel.

James Van de Velde is doing his best to restore his reputation after the New Haven Police Department identified him as one of 5 to 10 suspects in the stabbing murder of one of his students at Yale in 1998. No other suspect was named. He passed a lie detector test in 2000 and in 2001 the state’s attorney for New Haven announced that DNA from skin found under the victim’s fingernails did not match that of Van de Velde. Still, the police have not made a public statement that Van de Velde is no longer a suspect.

Van de Velde has turned to the courts for help in his quest to restore his reputation. He recently settled a libel suit against Quinnipiac University arising out of its false claim that he had been fired from two television internships, and has a lawsuit pending against The Hartford Courant. Also pending is a lawsuit seeking damages from the New Haven Police Chief, four detectives, and Yale University officials for causing him to be publicly branded as a suspect in the murder.

But Mr. Van de Velde wants something money cannot buy: his good name. His lawyer said Tuesday that although the lawsuits can "hold people accountable for what they've done to Jim, he isn't sure the Police Department will ever recant its statement implicating him."

"I hope someday the New Haven Police Department will have the integrity to admit it wronged James Van de Velde," he said. "I have real doubts whether that is going to happen."

Restoring a reputation after the police recklessly identify someone as a murder suspect is as difficult as putting the toothpaste back in the tube. Whatever redress he wins in court will be well deserved, but the damage will probably never be undone.

Roy Black, attorney for Rush Limbaugh, issued this statement regarding confidential correspondence that was released to the media by Palm Beach State Attorney Barry Krischer.

“My letter to Mr. Krischer regarding Mr. Limbaugh’s case asked that Mr. Limbaugh be afforded the treatment anyone else would receive. The State's response was preposterous, but consistent with their double standard in this case. The facts are: Mr. Limbaugh went to these doctors to relieve chronic, intractable pain; there was no doctor shopping. Mr. Limbaugh never considered accepting the State’s ludicrous offer. He was not going to plea to something he did not do. We sent them a letter suggesting Mr. Limbaugh be treated in a similar manner that others had been treated. They responded with a preposterous offer. Discussions ended at that time. At no time was there ever a plea agreement of any kind.

Our good pal TChris will be back at TalkLeft tomorrow--fresh off a victory in a sex assault trial. After a week long trial, the jury came back at 11:00 last night with a not guilty verdict on two counts. He's attending a martini-tasting tonight, and unless he's too hung over, which we doubt, he'll be posting here tomorrow.

TChris is smart, articulate, writes really well and shares our views on just about every issue. Leave some comments to his posts, so he'll want to come back more often!

We'll be posting occasionally as well.