Two of the best investigative journalists anywhere, Steve Mills and Maurice Possley of the Chicago Tribune, have a special report today on the legacy of wrongful convictions. The report finds that after a wrongful conviction is exposed, police and prosecutors cling to their original theories and seldom pursue new leads and suspects.

Since the death penalty's reinstatement in the mid-1970s, more than 100 people have been sentenced to be executed, only to be set free when they were legally absolved. The Tribune reviewed 88 cases in which 97 Death Row prisoners were set free, eliminating those cases with self-defense claims or pleas to lesser charges, to focus on those where a crime was left unsolved.

Each of those Death Row releases suggested the justice system had corrected itself. Instead, the legacy of those cases is a new set of troubling legal and ethical dilemmas that is largely lost amid the burst of public attention that accompanies a condemned inmate's unexpected freedom.

As a result, rarely is anyone brought to justice for crimes once considered worthy of society's most severe punishment, a failure that takes on greater significance when there is a possibility the real killer has been allowed to commit other crimes.

Two of the best investigative journalists anywhere, Steve Mills and Maurice Possley of the Chicago Tribune, have a special report today on the legacy of wrongful convictions. The report finds that after a wrongful conviction is exposed, police and prosecutors cling to their original theories and seldom pursue new leads and suspects.

Since the death penalty's reinstatement in the mid-1970s, more than 100 people have been sentenced to be executed, only to be set free when they were legally absolved. The Tribune reviewed 88 cases in which 97 Death Row prisoners were set free, eliminating those cases with self-defense claims or pleas to lesser charges, to focus on those where a crime was left unsolved.

Each of those Death Row releases suggested the justice system had corrected itself. Instead, the legacy of those cases is a new set of troubling legal and ethical dilemmas that is largely lost amid the burst of public attention that accompanies a condemned inmate's unexpected freedom.

As a result, rarely is anyone brought to justice for crimes once considered worthy of society's most severe punishment, a failure that takes on greater significance when there is a possibility the real killer has been allowed to commit other crimes.

The new Report to the Congress: Downward Departures from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (October 2003) is available online here. This report was submitted in response to section 401(m) of the the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to endthe Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-21.

Here's background to the report and the issues behind it.

The new Report to the Congress: Downward Departures from the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (October 2003) is available online here. This report was submitted in response to section 401(m) of the the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to endthe Exploitation of Children Today Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-21.

Here's background to the report and the issues behind it.

The Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination debated again Sunday night. From the news reports, it sounds like Iraq was the predominant issue:

Wesley Clark, responding to criticism by Joe Liberman:

"Well, I wasn't in Congress; I wasn't able to vote on the $87 billion," General Clark said. "But I want to make it very clear: I would not have voted the $87 billion," he said. "I want to commend John Edwards and John Kerry and those who voted on the resolution. I didn't believe last year we should have given George Bush a blank check in Iraq. Now we're trying to give him another blank check."

...."Well, Joe, I had seared in me an experience which you don't have, and that's the experience of being one of those troops on the front lines when the policy has gone wrong," he said. "And the way you best protect the troops is to guarantee that you put the troops in the safest, strongest position as fast as possible. Our troops are today more exposed, are in greater danger, because this president didn't put together a real coalition, because this president's been unwilling to share the burden and the task."

...."Right after 9/11, this administration determined to do bait and switch on the American public," he said. "President Bush said he was going to get Osama bin Laden, dead or alive. Instead, he went after Saddam Hussein. He doesn't have either one of them today."

John Edwards, who voted for the Iraq War but against the $87 billion Bush funding request:

"My view of leadership is standing up for what you believe in, Joe," he said. "For me to vote yes on that would be to give President Bush a blank check, and I am not willing to give George Bush a blank check."

Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman and Gephardt voted for the war. Of the four, only Lieberman and Gephardt also voted for the $87 billion.

The Democratic candidates for the presidential nomination debated again Sunday night. From the news reports, it sounds like Iraq was the predominant issue:

Wesley Clark, responding to criticism by Joe Liberman:

"Well, I wasn't in Congress; I wasn't able to vote on the $87 billion," General Clark said. "But I want to make it very clear: I would not have voted the $87 billion," he said. "I want to commend John Edwards and John Kerry and those who voted on the resolution. I didn't believe last year we should have given George Bush a blank check in Iraq. Now we're trying to give him another blank check."

...."Well, Joe, I had seared in me an experience which you don't have, and that's the experience of being one of those troops on the front lines when the policy has gone wrong," he said. "And the way you best protect the troops is to guarantee that you put the troops in the safest, strongest position as fast as possible. Our troops are today more exposed, are in greater danger, because this president didn't put together a real coalition, because this president's been unwilling to share the burden and the task."

...."Right after 9/11, this administration determined to do bait and switch on the American public," he said. "President Bush said he was going to get Osama bin Laden, dead or alive. Instead, he went after Saddam Hussein. He doesn't have either one of them today."

John Edwards, who voted for the Iraq War but against the $87 billion Bush funding request:

"My view of leadership is standing up for what you believe in, Joe," he said. "For me to vote yes on that would be to give President Bush a blank check, and I am not willing to give George Bush a blank check."

Kerry, Edwards, Lieberman and Gephardt voted for the war. Of the four, only Lieberman and Gephardt also voted for the $87 billion.

F. Lee Bailey won an unexpected victory in Florida this week. A judge overturned a $9 million verdict against him. The Court also ordered the Government to pay Bailey's legal fees.

[Bailey] got into trouble with the government in 1998 while defending television infomercial pitchman William McCorkle and his wife, Chantal, on fraud charges. At the time, the McCorkles transferred $2 million to Bailey and other attorneys for their legal defense. After the government claimed the money should be forfeited to the U.S., Bailey sought to keep it by filing a claim to a superior title, according to court records.

...The judge tossed the summary judgment in favor of the government, finding that Bailey was "entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the government's claims of conversion and civil theft." She also set aside the punitive damages as "unwarranted by the evidence."

Bailey was disbarred in 2001 over his handling of money in the case of a major drug defendant.

F. Lee Bailey won an unexpected victory in Florida this week. A judge overturned a $9 million verdict against him. The Court also ordered the Government to pay Bailey's legal fees.

[Bailey] got into trouble with the government in 1998 while defending television infomercial pitchman William McCorkle and his wife, Chantal, on fraud charges. At the time, the McCorkles transferred $2 million to Bailey and other attorneys for their legal defense. After the government claimed the money should be forfeited to the U.S., Bailey sought to keep it by filing a claim to a superior title, according to court records.

...The judge tossed the summary judgment in favor of the government, finding that Bailey was "entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the government's claims of conversion and civil theft." She also set aside the punitive damages as "unwarranted by the evidence."

Bailey was disbarred in 2001 over his handling of money in the case of a major drug defendant.

St. Petersberg Times columnist Robyn Blumner writes today about new powers Ashcroft and Bush are seeking as supplements to the Patriot Act. The Adminstration says the new powers only close loopholes in the existing Patriot Act. Blumner explains why that isn't true. Here are the new powers:

Bush wants three additional powers from Congress. First, he wants to give the Justice Department the authority to confiscate records and compel testimony without review by a court or grand jury. ...Second, Bush wants to chip away at the right to bail. Current law allows a judge to deny bond for anyone shown to be dangerous or a flight risk. And, for anyone accused of international terrorism, there is a presumption against granting bond.

And third, Bush wants to expand the reach of the federal death penalty by making it applicable to "domestic terrorism."...Bush also wants the death penalty for those convicted of providing "material support for terrorism," a law that can be violated even when people think they are giving money to a charity and don't know the group is a designated terrorist organization.

St. Petersberg Times columnist Robyn Blumner writes today about new powers Ashcroft and Bush are seeking as supplements to the Patriot Act. The Adminstration says the new powers only close loopholes in the existing Patriot Act. Blumner explains why that isn't true. Here are the new powers:

Bush wants three additional powers from Congress. First, he wants to give the Justice Department the authority to confiscate records and compel testimony without review by a court or grand jury. ...Second, Bush wants to chip away at the right to bail. Current law allows a judge to deny bond for anyone shown to be dangerous or a flight risk. And, for anyone accused of international terrorism, there is a presumption against granting bond.

And third, Bush wants to expand the reach of the federal death penalty by making it applicable to "domestic terrorism."...Bush also wants the death penalty for those convicted of providing "material support for terrorism," a law that can be violated even when people think they are giving money to a charity and don't know the group is a designated terrorist organization.

The new issue of Newsweek has an excellent profile on Pamela Mackey and Hal Haddon, Kobe Bryant's defense counsel. Some quotes from lawyers who know them:

“Pam is always on the attack for her client, not on defense,” says attorney Larry Pozner. Despite the tailored suits and piercing interrogations, Mackey, 47, bucks the stereotype of the ruthless, high-paid defense attorney. She represented indigent clients in the public defender’s office: “Pam had an incredible dedication to people who had nothing, who were nobody,” says Mark Johnson, her former boss there.

.... How nasty a fight are Mackey and Haddon prepared to wage? “I think she will attack [Kobe’s accuser’s] story , as opposed to her character ,” says Jeralyn Merritt, a defense lawyer. “She’s not mean-spirited.”

The new issue of Newsweek has an excellent profile on Pamela Mackey and Hal Haddon, Kobe Bryant's defense counsel. Some quotes from lawyers who know them:

“Pam is always on the attack for her client, not on defense,” says attorney Larry Pozner. Despite the tailored suits and piercing interrogations, Mackey, 47, bucks the stereotype of the ruthless, high-paid defense attorney. She represented indigent clients in the public defender’s office: “Pam had an incredible dedication to people who had nothing, who were nobody,” says Mark Johnson, her former boss there.

.... How nasty a fight are Mackey and Haddon prepared to wage? “I think she will attack [Kobe’s accuser’s] story , as opposed to her character ,” says Jeralyn Merritt, a defense lawyer. “She’s not mean-spirited.”