Good news in Arizona today. The state Supreme Court threw out a mandatory sentence saying it was too severe:

Taking a slap at legislatively imposed mandatory sentences, the Arizona Supreme Court struck down a 52-year prison term a judge was forced to impose on a 20-year-old man for having sex with two teen girls. The justices pointed out that if the man had committed second-degree murder instead of consensual sex with underage girls, he would have gotten the same prison term.

They also said Arizona's penalties for the man's sex offenses were the harshest in the nation. Thursday's ruling does not mean the man is set free, but that he is entitled to be resentenced - this time without regard to the mandatory minimum.

The ruling also spells out that judges must have the discretion to depart from mandatory minimums as circumstances warrant.

Today is day three of the preliminary hearing in the Scott Peterson case. The first two days were taken up with expert testimony on mitochondrial DNA testing. Today, Laci Peterson's sister and mother, Scott's father and Laci and Scott's housekeeper testified. We don't think any of them added much to the prosecution's case.

First the DNA challenge to the strand of hair that the state claims broke into two pieces while in the evidence envelope:

Today is day three of the preliminary hearing in the Scott Peterson case. The first two days were taken up with expert testimony on mitochondrial DNA testing. Today, Laci Peterson's sister and mother, Scott's father and Laci and Scott's housekeeper testified. We don't think any of them added much to the prosecution's case.

First the DNA challenge to the strand of hair that the state claims broke into two pieces while in the evidence envelope:

We don't know if we buy the terrorism connection here or not. What is true is that the Taliban banned opium production and the farmers adhered to the ban. And that since the Taliban has been out of power, the farmers have resumed growing poppy with a vengeance, resulting in Afganistan once again becoming the world's largest opium producer:

Opium cultivation is spreading like a "cancer" in Afghanistan, a United Nations survey has found. Afghanistan produces three quarters of the world's illicit opium - the raw material for heroin - and two thirds of all opiate users take drugs of Afghan origin, according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

The UN said yesterday that unless the problem was tackled the country could be over-run by violence, corruption and terrorism. High prices for opium had recruited more farmers, spreading poppy cultivation to 28 of Afghanistan's 32 provinces, from 18 four years ago.

....He added: "Out of this drug chest, some provincial administrators and military commanders take a considerable share. The more they get used to this, the less likely it becomes that they will respect the law, be loyal to Kabul and support the legal economy. Terrorists take a cut as well: the longer this happens, the greater the threat to security."

Sounds like the terrorists are at the bottom of the feeding pool--after the politicians and military leaders.

[link via Buzzflash]

The reason we say tread with caution here is the Bush Administration's plans for the Victory Act --linking drug crimes to terrorism, redesignating them as crimes of "narco-terrorism" and upping the already draconian penalties.

We don't doubt that some of the money earned from Afghan poppy farming finds its way into the hands of terrorists. But let's not paint with too broad a brush without something more. And let's be vigilant about keeping terror laws and drug laws separate, except in such instances where the two clearly are linked. We already have laws that penalize terrorism and laws that penalize illicit drug activity. We see no need to combine them.

We realize the U.N. rather than the Bush Administration is the genesis of this new report, but we don't put it past Ashcroft and Hatch to start quoting it as support for the Victory Act.

We don't know if we buy the terrorism connection here or not. What is true is that the Taliban banned opium production and the farmers adhered to the ban. And that since the Taliban has been out of power, the farmers have resumed growing poppy with a vengeance, resulting in Afganistan once again becoming the world's largest opium producer:

Opium cultivation is spreading like a "cancer" in Afghanistan, a United Nations survey has found. Afghanistan produces three quarters of the world's illicit opium - the raw material for heroin - and two thirds of all opiate users take drugs of Afghan origin, according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

The UN said yesterday that unless the problem was tackled the country could be over-run by violence, corruption and terrorism. High prices for opium had recruited more farmers, spreading poppy cultivation to 28 of Afghanistan's 32 provinces, from 18 four years ago.

....He added: "Out of this drug chest, some provincial administrators and military commanders take a considerable share. The more they get used to this, the less likely it becomes that they will respect the law, be loyal to Kabul and support the legal economy. Terrorists take a cut as well: the longer this happens, the greater the threat to security."

Sounds like the terrorists are at the bottom of the feeding pool--after the politicians and military leaders.

[link via Buzzflash]

The reason we say tread with caution here is the Bush Administration's plans for the Victory Act --linking drug crimes to terrorism, redesignating them as crimes of "narco-terrorism" and upping the already draconian penalties.

We don't doubt that some of the money earned from Afghan poppy farming finds its way into the hands of terrorists. But let's not paint with too broad a brush without something more. And let's be vigilant about keeping terror laws and drug laws separate, except in such instances where the two clearly are linked. We already have laws that penalize terrorism and laws that penalize illicit drug activity. We see no need to combine them.

We realize the U.N. rather than the Bush Administration is the genesis of this new report, but we don't put it past Ashcroft and Hatch to start quoting it as support for the Victory Act.

Just after midnight, the House passed Bush's $87 billion Iraq aid bill.

The package, approved 298-121 shortly after midnight, includes nearly $65 billion for military personnel and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an additional $18.6 billion for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The Senate is expected to follow suit quickly, sending President Bush a package that closely mirrors his original request.

Just after midnight, the House passed Bush's $87 billion Iraq aid bill.

The package, approved 298-121 shortly after midnight, includes nearly $65 billion for military personnel and operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an additional $18.6 billion for reconstruction efforts in Iraq. The Senate is expected to follow suit quickly, sending President Bush a package that closely mirrors his original request.

Ask for help, go to jail. A 32 year old U.S. soldier has been charged with "cowardly conduct as a result of fear" for not performing his combat duties.

The soldier, Georg-Andreas Pogony, tells it this way:

He said he had flown to Iraq on Sept. 26 and was with a team of Green Berets three days later near Samarra, north of Baghdad, when he saw the mangled body of an Iraqi. He said he began shaking and vomiting and was terrified he would be killed.

Pogany said he told his team sergeant he was headed for a "nervous breakdown" and needed help. After that, Pogany said, he did not request to go on missions and was not asked to go.

"I don't know how asking for help qualifies as misbehavior," Pogany said. "Something happens, you ask for help and they throw the book at you."

Pogony faces a dishonorable discharge and possible jail time if convicted at his court-martial trial.

A cowardice charge is extremely rare. Army officials could not say when it was last used, and refused to discuss Pogany's case. It was not clear how much prison time he could face.

[Ed. link fixed]

Ask for help, go to jail. A 32 year old U.S. soldier has been charged with "cowardly conduct as a result of fear" for not performing his combat duties.

The soldier, Georg-Andreas Pogony, tells it this way:

He said he had flown to Iraq on Sept. 26 and was with a team of Green Berets three days later near Samarra, north of Baghdad, when he saw the mangled body of an Iraqi. He said he began shaking and vomiting and was terrified he would be killed.

Pogany said he told his team sergeant he was headed for a "nervous breakdown" and needed help. After that, Pogany said, he did not request to go on missions and was not asked to go.

"I don't know how asking for help qualifies as misbehavior," Pogany said. "Something happens, you ask for help and they throw the book at you."

Pogony faces a dishonorable discharge and possible jail time if convicted at his court-martial trial.

A cowardice charge is extremely rare. Army officials could not say when it was last used, and refused to discuss Pogany's case. It was not clear how much prison time he could face.

[Ed. link fixed]

David Delainey, the former CEO of Enron North America and Enron Energy Services pleaded guilty today. He is the highest ranking officer to plead to date. His maximum exposure is 10 years, but he is cooperating and providing information about others, and therefore expected to get far less. Another purchased plea.

David Delainey, the former CEO of Enron North America and Enron Energy Services pleaded guilty today. He is the highest ranking officer to plead to date. His maximum exposure is 10 years, but he is cooperating and providing information about others, and therefore expected to get far less. Another purchased plea.

If you're not out trick or treating tomorrow evening, please tune in and watch thi show. (If you are, we hope you will set your Tivo and watch it when you get back.)

NOW with Bill Moyers
PBS Broadcast: October 31, 2003 at 9pm ET
(check local listings at http://www.pbs.org/now/sched.html)

There's a bitter battle being waged over President Bush's judicial nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Janice Rogers Brown's nomination has been called one of the "most divisive judicial nominees in modern times" by The New York Times and "an extraordinary nominee with a compelling personal story" by The Lawyers Weekly. NOW takes viewers inside the chambers of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation to see American democracy at work and examines what's at stake with this important and controversial nomination.

You'll find out why her record is causing politicans and diverse groups like People for the American Way, NAACP, and the National Bar Association, to name a few, oppose her nomination.