Regarding the man who choked on marijuana and died when stopped by police while changing a flat tire...and the woman who died at the Seattle Airport during a similar police encounter, Seattle criminal defense attorney and NORML board member Jeff Steinborn writes the following, in a letter that might be called, Liberty is Always an Unfinished Biz:

What's the excitement all of a sudden about overly "aggressive" cops? Cops beat up an informant? Cops rough up a citizen over a marijuana pipe at the airport and she dies? Cops bully a witness until they get the testimony they want? This is nothing new. I meet several clients every month who, along with their families, have been bullied and physically terrorized while being arrested for marijuana. Often the witnesses against them recant, saying that police forced them to sign false statements accusing the suspect.

In 1963 the Seattle ACLU was working on a project to get civilian review for the police. 40 years later we still don't have it and demonstrably out of control police officers still suffer no consequences unless the unthinkable happens: a fellow officer tells the truth about their misconduct. .

The simple fact is that for a small but readily identifiable minority of police officers, as one prosecuting attorney told me when I complained about a frail pot smoker being roughed up, "that's the way they investigate." Judges, too, turn a deaf ear. Although our constitution requires that the fruits of unlawful police conduct be "suppressed" at trial, the fact that police acted like sadistic gangsters while searching your home will not result in the suppression of the evidence, no matter how extreme the police conduct.

It's a good thing that for this brief moment the daylight is shining on this shadowy corner of law enforcement. Among our otherwise fine law enforcement agencies in this state there is a small but traditionally well-protected group who can only be described as malicious children without adult supervision. This would be a good time for responsible law enforcement officers to join in to help eliminate these abuses. Let's hope this doesn't get buried as it has been for the last 40 years.

Yours very truly,

Jeffrey Steinborn
Board Member,
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)
PotBust.com

A new report by the House Committee on Government Reform finds that the F.B.I. Used Killers as Informants:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's policy "must be considered one of the greatest failures in the history of federal law enforcement" and had "disastrous consequences," the report said.

More than 20 people were killed by F.B.I. informants in Boston starting in 1965, often with the help of F.B.I. agents, it said, but no F.B.I. agent or official has ever been disciplined.

We haven't heard much about the new accuser of Michael Jackson. Here's what Fox News reporter Trace Gallagher said last night on On the Record with Greta:

Now, we can tell you Roger Friedman from foxnews.com is now reporting that the alleged victim, the 12 or 13-year-old boy, was a cancer victim and that one of his last wishes was to go and meet Michael Jackson. Jackson brought him here in Neverland ranch. He felt bad for the boy, paid medical bills, bought the family a car, maybe a house.

In subsequent time, the boy got better, went back to school, and his classmates began teasing him about the relationship with Michael Jackson. His mother, says Friedman, felt bad about the taunting. She contacted a lawyer. The lawyer told her to take the boy to a psychiatrist. And the boy apparently told the psychiatrist about the abuse, and that doctor then went to authorities. Authorities began the investigation. Jackson got wind of it, and apparently, according to Friedman, tried to send this family, all of them, to South America.

[Transcript, Lexis.com]

Update: Mark Geragos has been representing Michael Jackson in this probe since February. The kid reportedly told the therapist he was high on sleeping pills and/or alcohol at the time Michael allegedly took advantage of him.

Amnesty International protesters demonstrate Thursday in London against conditions for prisoners at the U.S. military detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

As expected, about 100,000 marched against Bush in London today. The pictures are here. [link via Counterspin, who also links to video of the toppling of the Bush Statue]

Protesters pull down an effigy of President Bush in London's Trafalgar Square on Thursday.

Does President Bush really think that re-naming an unconstitutional and unfair procedure will make it palatable to the American people? Apparently. He and Prime Minister Blair gave a press conference today which included questions and answers about the Guantanamo detainees. No longer are they "enemy combatants." Now they are "illegal non-combatants."

From the White House transcript:

Q What do you say to those people, both those who support what your two governments have done since September 11th, and those who oppose it, that, in fact, the treatment of the captives in Guantanamo Bay actually belies all your talk of freedom, justice and tolerance? And on a specific point, in view of the comments from the Secretary of State and from Charles Kennedy and Michael Howard, is there on the minority of British nationals held captive an explicit offer from the United States to repatriate them? And, if that depends on a request from you, Prime Minister, are you prepared to make it now?

Just received this from NORML:

As the 2003 Congressional legislative session comes to a close, Rep. Mark
Souder, one of the most ardent drug warriors in Congress, intends to introduce legislation to drastically increase penalties for certain marijuana offenses. The bill also enacts new draconian penalties that could sentence compassionate Americans that grow and provide medical marijuana to decades in federal prison.

The "Drug Sentencing Reform Act" would tie the hands of judges by making it harder for them to grant sentences below federal sentencing guidelines when
special circumstances call for it. This will mean longer sentences for non-violent marijuana offenses, with taxpayers like you picking up the cost!

Further, the bill calls for new draconian penalties for growing, distributing, and providing 'high-potency' marijuana to others. This means that someone caught with a bag of high grade marijuana would actually face a stiffer sentence than someone with an equal amount of shwag! The potency provision will be especially damaging to medical marijuana patients and providers who rely on higher potency marijuana to alleviate their suffering from AIDS, cancer, and other maladies.

If this wasn't bad enough, Souder's proposed bill mandates that most people
on parole, probation, or supervised release be subjected to random drug testing, even when their original offense is non-drug related. If enacted, thousands of non-violent Americans could be sent to prison for years for smoking marijuana in the privacy of their own home and then failing a drug test.

We know that Rep. Souder wants to introduce this bill within the next couple of weeks, and that he is currently seeking co sponsorship from other Representatives. Please take five minutes to send your member of Congress a letter asking them to oppose this dangerous legislation by visiting here.

Michael Jackson surrendered today on an arrest warrant citing child molestation charges. He will be booked and released on a $3 million bail. The surrender was arranged by his attorney Mark Geragos, who also represents Scott Peterson.

According to the DA, molestation means:

"arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions or sexual desires of" the offender or a child under age 14. Each charge carries a penalty of three to eight years in prison.

Jackson adamantly maintains his innocence. DA Tom Sneddon says there's nothing personal in his pursuit of Jackson. From his continual comments on Jackson from 1994 to the present, particularly the September 1995 Vanity Fair article and those referenced here, we don't buy it. He's about to reach retirement--....what a nice cap to his career a conviction against Jackson would bring.

We think Michael Jackson is a little odd, but we are very suspicious of the charges in this case.

Update: Here is the statement released by Jackson today.

Another prohibition related death....Man chokes to death trying to hide bag of pot from the cops:

FORT WORTH, Texas - A man changing a flat tire choked to death on a bag of marijuana he had stuffed down his throat in an apparent attempt to hide it
from police who stopped to help him, authorities said. Nickolas Sandoval, 24, died Wednesday.

Officers were unaware at first Sandoval had drugs when they spotted him on
the highway in Corinth, about 45 miles northeast of Fort Worth, said Corinth
police Cpl. Frank Lott. "Officers went from 'Oh, hey, here is someone with a flat tire' to 'Hey, this guy is choking,'" Lott told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Sandoval, of Ponder, was pronounced dead at a hospital. Cause of death:
"asphyxiation due to aspiration of plastic bag," according to a spokeswoman
for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office. Sandoval was convicted at least three times of marijuana possession, and pleaded guilty two years ago to a drunken-driving charge.

[comments now closed]

The breathalyser may become obsolete in testing for drunk and drugged drivers. A new device, The Impairment Detector, measures motor behavior instead of testing for particular substances and the British are finding it very successful. It may also become the test of choice to determine if someone is driving under the influence of drugs. From The New Scientist:

Whether you are drunk, drugged, tired or ill, a new device promises to measure whether you are fit to drive. If successful in trials, it could replace the breathalyser, which only measures alcohol levels. The new hand-held device takes a different tack, by assessing motor control, ability to react to the unexpected and concentration

A hand-held device designed to identify drivers impaired by drugs, alcohol or excessive tiredness, is being evaluated by the British police. The device is intended to deliver a quick yes or no verdict on whether a person is in a fit state to drive and works by assessing the driver's behaviour, rather than testing for particular substances. It is the first of its kind to be tested by police anywhere in the world.

More than 100,000 people are expected to take part in protests against George Bush in London today.

Organisers of the Stop The War coalition predict more than 100,000 people will join the march past parliament, up Whitehall and into Trafalgar Square soon after Mr Bush's Downing Street summit with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair. While police agreed the route for today's march because the coalition had staged entirely peaceful protests before the Iraq conflict, there are fears anarchist groups could seek to hijack the protest and force a confrontation in the heart of the capital.

Here's the details:

UK National Demonstration
Thursday 20th November
Assemble 2pm at Malet Street, Central London (nearest tubes: Goodge Street, Russell Square and Euston/Euston Sq). March to Trafalgar Square where a statue of George Bush will be pulled down. This event will continue until 7pm to allow for people coming from work.

Route: Malet St - Russell Square - Southampton Row - Kingsway - Aldwych - Waterloo Bridge - York Road - Westminster Bridge - Parliament Square - Whitehall - Trafalgar Square.

If you can't make it... participate in the Virtual March - organised by OurWorldOurSay.

The Government has filed new terror charges against New York lawyer Lynne Stewart.

The Court dismissed the original terror charge against her last July. That charge alleged that she helped her client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, pass messages from prison.

The new charges accuse Ms. Stewart of conspiring to provide material support with a co-defendant, Mohammed Yousry, a translator, to the same client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence in prison after being convicted of plotting to blow up New York landmarks. Ms. Stewart and Mr. Yousry are also charged with concealing their support for the sheik.

When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the original charges in 2002, he called it the first use of a rule allowing the Bureau of Prisons to monitor conversations between lawyers and inmates who are threats to commit "future acts of violence or terrorism." The judge who dismissed the charges in July found them to be constitutionally vague.

What's particularly chilling about the Lynne Stewart case is that the Government's evidence is based on attorney-client communications taped by the Government, pursuant to guidelines issued by Ashcroft.

More details on the new charges are available here.

Democratic presidential hopeful Carol Moseley Braun said Wednesday she favors gay marriages:

Comparing laws against same-sex marriages to those that once barred blacks from marrying whites, Democratic presidential candidate Carol Moseley Braun said Wednesday that she favors gay marriage. She said it was preferable to civil unions that do not "carry the same prerogatives and legal rights as marriage does."

"People should not be discriminated against in the exercise of their civil rights, and the right to marry who you want to marry is one of those rights," Braun, 56, told USA TODAY's editorial board a day after Massachusetts' highest court recognized a right for gays to marry. The issue has potential to rival abortion as a dividing line in next year's elections.

Oliver Willis weighs in with a similar view. Legal experts say the ruling seems air-tight.