The Kobe Bryant Colorado State Judicial Branch page is up here.

This information is being provided as a service to members of the media to relieve pressure on the courts. The added demands by the media placed upon the court and its personnel due to the intense interest created by the People v. Bryant case have necessitated the development of this reference website location. The court must continue to conduct its daily duties to serve the people of Colorado. Your cooperation in helping preserve the integrity of our daily routines is with minimal interruptions greatly appreciated.

Here is information on Judge Hart, and Judge Ruckriegle one of whom will preside over the trial. Here is information about Judge Gannett who will preside over the preliminary hearing.

Here is the order allowing cameras in the courtroom.

All case documents are here.

We have made our own Kobe case news page which contains links to news articles, media commentary, transcripts, case documents and such. You can access all of TalkLeft's Kobe coverage here. We will only be commenting on Kobe on TalkLeft when something is happening with the case. Otherwise, developments will be kept to the Kobe case news page.

We'd also like to refer Kobe watchers to two other blogs covering Kobe. The Southern California Law Blog and Kobe Watch.

Bump and Update: The POW's lost. Bush won. Here's the opinion.

The Secretary's position that the POWs are unable to recover any portion of their judgment as requested, despite their sacrifice in the service of their country, seems extreme. Yet, he is correct that the Congress and the President have withdrawn TRIA as an available mechanism for the plaintiffs to use to
satisfy their judgment. Prior to the date the plaintiffs in this case obtained their judgment against Iraq and their corresponding ability to attach assets under TRIA, Congress and the President made TRIA inapplicable to Iraq. As a result, defendant is entitled to summary judgment on plaintiffs' TRIA claim.

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(from our earlier post, 7/29/03)

The POW's from Gulf War I were awarded $1 billion dollars for their ordeal by a federal judge. Congress passed laws specifically allowing payment of such claims to be made from funds or assets the U.S. has seized from the responsible nation. The U.S. seized $1.9 billion from Iraq. Now the Bush Administration is in court fighting to not have to pay the money to the POWs. It wants to use the money to pay for the rebuilding of Iraq.

Congress' purpose in passing the series of laws that allows such recovery was not just to recompense the POW victims. It was also to send a deterrent message to other nations that they better not violate the Geneva Convention and laws against torture or they will pay dearly for it.

The Adminstration's argument is that Iraq is no longer a terrorist nation since May when it was liberated. They say Saddam and those in power when the injuries to the POWs were caused are no longer in power and the funds don't belong to them now. They also say that an Executive Order passed by Bush in March seized the frozen funds, and that the Patriot Act gives the Government the right to the funds over the POWs.

POW lawyer Stephen Fennell disagrees, and says:

....changing conditions in Iraq should be of no consequence. Under the Geneva Convention, he said, "these types of liabilities run with the states, not the governments."

We hope there is considerable political fallout to Bush from this. We think the POW's should get the money as Congress intended and the Judge decreed.

“It really is unthinkable that in the end that the reconstruction of Iraq should be done on the backs of the POWs who were brutally tortured (there),” said Stephen Fennell, attorney for the 17 former prisoners of war and their families who are trying to recover the nearly $1 billion in damages they were awarded earlier this month. “We need to deter the continued torture of American POWs,” he said.

The judge has issued a restraining order against the Government from using the funds for other purposes while he decides the issue. A ruling was not issued at today's hearing.

New York Times coverage is here, and here's more from MSNBC.

It's semi-official and an official statement will be released later today. Arnold Schwarzenegger will not run for Governor of California if Gray Davis is recalled.

NACDL's annual meeting begins tonight in Denver. One of the issues we will be taking up is whether lawyers should represent detainees at Guantanamo in military tribunals. Here's a summary of the issue and why the Government's announced restrictions on civilian lawyers who represent the detainees pose an ethical dilemma for lawyers.

Front page article in the Denver Post on the fraud potential of electronic voting machines.

"What we know is that the machines can't be trusted. It's an unlocked bank vault ..., a disaster waiting to happen," said David Dill, a Stanford University computer science professor who has prompted more than 110 fellow scientists to sign a petition calling for more accountability in voting technology.

The District Attorneys of three of Denver's largest metropolitan areas will pool resources to assist the smaller Eagle County DA's office in its prosecution of Kobe Bryant. The DA's of Denver, Jefferson and Boulder County will be contributing.

Ingrid Bakke, a Boulder County deputy district attorney and head of Boulder's sexual-assault and domestic-violence unit, will join Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert and his deputy, Gregory Crittenden, in prosecuting the NBA star.

Hurlbert has also enlisted help from district attorneys in Jefferson County, Denver and the state attorney general's office, said Denver DA Bill Ritter.

We have agreed - our office, the Jeffco office and the attorney general - to spread out the pre-trial work among our offices," Ritter said Tuesday. "We'll assist Eagle County DA's office in researching legal issues that surface during the course of this case and help write legal briefs in response to defense motions or in support of prosecution motions."

As we reported yesterday, Eagle County commissioners have awarded another $105,000. to the proseuctor's budget to help with prosecution costs.

How can they say Kobe Bryant isn't be treated differently than anyone else?

Steve Perry of BushWars brings you the Bush Administration's Top 40 Lies about war and Terrorism.

Civil Liberties watchdog Elaine Cassel continues her relentless pursuit of John Ashcroft.

If you're not familiar with Twin Cities Babelogue which hosts both of the the above blogs, you're really missing something.

Another one of the costs of ignoring systemic abuse and abusers:

Aldermen OK $1.5 million Roscetti settlement

The Chicago City Council agreed Tuesday to pay $1.5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit brought by the one of four men cleared by DNA evidence in the 1986 murder-rape of a medical student.

This a a very famous wrongful conviction case called the "Roscetti case" after the victim who was raped, kicked and beaten to death.

The convictions were overturned based on coerced confessions, and ultimately, DNA evidence that cleared the four. In October, 2002, they were pardoned by then Governor Ryan. Subsequently, based on a telepone tip, police were led to two other men. DNA showed they were responsible for the crime. Faced with the DNA tests, the two pleaded guilty.

The lawsuits aren't over:

"In addition to suing the city, the four exonerated men have lawsuits pending against police, prosecutors, a crime lab worker and others involved in convicting them. "

For more on the four men, go here.

Joanne Mariner explains the new Prison Rape law, providing some excellent commentary along the way. As to the law,

Notwithstanding its ambitious title - an improvement over its previous, dismayingly modest title of Prison Rape Reduction Act - the new law will not put an end to rape in prison. The main focus of the legislation is on studying prison rape, collecting statistics relating to the problem, and developing national standards for the prevention and punishment of prison rape. Its enforcement mechanisms are relatively weak. (Indeed, the fact that the bill passed Congress unanimously should be proof enough that it lacks vigorous enforcement mechanisms, a failing that the text of the bill confirms.)

Looking on the bright side,

The new law does, however, signal a unprecedented official willingness to acknowledge the tragic consequences of prison rape. By creating a Justice Department review panel to address the problem, as well as a national commission to establish standards, the law will force corrections authorities to begin to take rape seriously as a problem. That alone will be a huge step forward.

We've heard of prosecutors overreaching to get defense lawyers, but this is just ridiculous. If it wasn't in a major newspaper, we wouldn't believe it.

A prosecutor is threatening to have a defense attorney arrested for possessing file copies of the alleged pornographic photos he received in discovery from the state. These are copies of the photos of a young girl the state is charging were illegally possessed by the defendant.

A local attorney who is assisting a child pornography suspect in his legal defense says a prosecutor threatened him with arrest for possessing photos entered into evidence in the case.

Attorney Jonathan MacArthur said the threat was made by Clark County prosecutor Becky Goettsch, even though District Judge Lee Gates previously authorized MacArthur to possess alleged child pornography photos in order to assist his client's defense.

MacArthur said when Goettsch didn't like Gates' ruling, she then took it up with another district judge. That judge, Michelle Leavitt, threatened to hold MacArthur in contempt.

...Fellow defense attorneys labeled Goettsch's threat of arrest as outrageous. "It's infantile, it's wrong and it's petty," said Lawrence Goldman, president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "There should be some common sense here," Goldman said. "It's either prosecutorial mania, an obsession with child pornography, or it's an opportunity for a prosecutor to be a jerk."

Las Vegas defense attorney JoNell Thomas, speaking on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, called Goettsch's threat "insane." "The tactic of threatening to have criminal defense attorneys arrested for doing their job is outrageous," she said.

Via Ebay, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) is offering a week's lodging at a villa in Southern France.

Help support NORML's efforts to reform marijuana laws by spending time relaxing in the south of France with your closest friends. This exciting auction offers you the opportunity to get away from it all for a week in the rustic wine growing village of Armissan, just seven kilometers from Narbonne and the beautiful beaches of the Mediterranean Sea.

The jury in the trial of the white Inglewood, CA police officer who slammed a black teen's head onto the hood of a car hood and punched him with his fist has ended in a hung jury. His partner was acquitted of filing a false police report over the incident.

The videotape looked pretty clear to us.

The video is of four to five cops surrounding a teenager on the ground who does not appear to be resisting. One officer picks him up and slams really slams his head into the hood of the car. Another cop punches him in the head. The video was taken by tourists.

The kid was limp when the cop pulled him up and slammed him against the car and then punched him. He also had already been handcuffed.

Here's what started the incident according to an article at the time in the LA Times (available now on Lexis :

"The encounter occurred last Saturday evening when Jackson and his father, Coby Chavis, were at an Inglewood gas station and two sheriff's deputies stopped to investigate Chavis' expired vehicle registration tags. Jackson was leaving the station's market, holding a bag of potato chips, when he saw the deputies talking to his father. Jackson tried to get into his father's car, ignoring deputies' commands to wait while they questioned Chavis, according to the officers and deputies."

All this over a teen eating a bag of potato chips who doesn't want to sit in a cop car because he hasn't done anything wrong. The cops, by the way, are suing the police department for racial discrimination saying they were treated more harshly than a black officer who had used excess force.

Update: The DA has decided to retry the officer.