Madison Hobley is one of the four inmates pardoned by former Illinois Governor George Ryan before he left office. Hobley spent 16 years in prison for arson and murder, 13 of them on death row.

Hobley has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Chicago police, alleging that they tortured and framed him.

...detectives were accused of beating Hobley and placing a plastic bag over his head to cut off his air supply in an unsuccessful effort to get him to confess.

Hobley alleges detectives manufactured a confession, though he said he never confessed, planted a gas can at the scene and lied at Hobley's trial.

The prosecutors said Hobley wanted to kill his wife and son so he could be with a girlfriend. But the case had been marked by problems. The Chicago police detective who said Hobley confessed to him later testified he threw away his notes when he spilled coffee on them and they got wet and torn.

An arson investigator's initial report indicated the fire started on the ground level of the building. The alleged confession had Hobley saying he started the fire outside his third-floor apartment. Then, at the trial, the detective said the fire could have started anywhere. In addition, one key witness has recanted, and the Tribune found police reports suggesting another key witness was given help by police.

The Commander of the South Side police precinct, Jon Burge, has since been fired--for the torture of another inmate.

Burge was fired by the Chicago Police Board in 1993 for his role in the torture of Andrew Wilson, who was being questioned in the murders of two police officers. Wilson was convicted and sentenced to death, but his conviction was overturned.

Jacob Sullem writes about the passage of Joe Biden's re-named Rave Act in When Holding a Party Is a Crime:

The act prohibits "knowingly opening, maintaining, managing, controlling, renting, leasing, making available for use, or profiting from any place for the purpose of manufacturing, distributing or using any controlled substance." Given this broad language, anyone who organizes or rents space for an event where drug use takes place could face criminal charges. Not only is the law unlikely to keep people from using Ecstasy, it could magnify the drug's dangers by pushing raves further underground and discouraging voluntary efforts to protect users from serious harm.

The most significant short-term risk associated with MDMA is its impairment of the body's ability to regulate temperature. Overheating is a special concern at raves, where people may dance vigorously in crowded, poorly ventilated spaces for hours at a time.

For years volunteer groups like DanceSafe have been passing out fliers at raves and night clubs with advice on how to avoid dangerous overheating-- drink water, take frequent breaks, abstain from alcohol (which compounds dehydration). Event sponsors have helped by providing bottles of water and ventilated "chill out" rooms, measures intended not to encourage drug use but to reduce drug-related harm.

Under the new law such sensible precautions could be seen as evidence that the host or owner knew guests would be using drugs, exposing him to $250,000 or more in civil penalties, a criminal fine of up to $500,000, and a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

[link via Balloon-Juice]

"A national coalition of more than 100,000 celebrities, civil rights leaders, activists and members of Congress will converge on City Hall in New York City next week on Wednesday, June 4, to argue for the repeal of the state's Rockefeller Drug Laws, which are regarded as the most punitive drug laws in the nation."

Under the laws, defendants face mandatory minimum sentences of up to 15 years in prison for the possession and sale of even minor amounts of drugs.

"Our leaders in Albany have talked about reform for years while thousands of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders remain in jail without good reason," [Andrew] Cuomo said. "At a time when we need to focus our limited resources on educating our children, caring for those who are sick, and punishing those who present true threats to our safety, we must reject these inhumane and wasteful laws."

We couldn't agree more. For our coverage of the Rockefeller drug laws, go here.

Received from NORML today:

Pot Compound Effective In Alzheimer's Treatment, Study Says

Baltimore, MD: A synthetic version of the marijuana compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) appears to reduce agitation and stimulate weight gain in patients with Alzheimer's disease, according to clinical trial data presented earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.

Nine patients suffering from Alzheimer's-related dementia participated in the trial. Treatment with up to 10 mg of synthetic THC for one month resulted in significantly reduced agitation in six patients, and all patients gained weight. Prior to the treatment, all patients had experienced weight loss due to anorexia. Weight loss, a common symptom associated with Alzheimer's disease, is a predictive factor of mortality.

No adverse side effects to the THC treatment were reported.

A previous trial of 12 Alzheimer patients in 1997 also found that THC significantly decreased negative feelings and induced weight gain. A 1999 report by the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) estimated that between 5 and 10 percent of patients prescribed Marinol (synthetic THC) use it to treat symptoms of Alzheimer's.

For more information, please contact Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at (202) 483-5500.

If you have been planning a trip to Amsterdam thinking you can relax in one of the Netherlands' 800 cannibis cafes, you better go soon.

A ban on smoking in coffeehouses, purportedly aimed at protecting workers from second-hand smoke, is is likely to become law very soon.

Coffee shop owners were aghast. "The whole point of going to a coffee shop is to smoke," said Arjan Roskam, chairman of the Union for Cannabis Retailers.

....The Netherlands boasts around 800 cannabis cafes. Smoking a joint in an Amsterdam coffee shop vies with canal boat tours and trips to the flower market for a place on tourists' itineraries.

There is a one year exception from the new law for bars and restaurants, but not for coffee shops.

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Rachel Neumann in Alternet presents a good wrap-up of the threats to our civil liberties resulting from the Patriot Act (I and II) and other legislation since Sept. 11--along with the good advice, "Use Them or Lose Them."

Still, it is not enough to wait for politicians to act. We must disabuse ourselves of the notion that it is only "other people's" liberties that are at stake. Our own government threatens our collective liberty far more than do outside sources. The response, as the Bill of Rights Defense Committees have shown, is to use our rights or lose them. Our right to think and speak for ourselves, without fear of spying neighbors, surveillance cameras or retaliation, is gravely threatened and only our collective and coordinated resistance will stop that threat.

It's not too early to start now. Go over to Stop George in 2004 and get your high tech anti-Bush re-election materials. Good stuff. [link via Cursor]

We wrote in passing last week about the annoyance of the new "click it or ticket" campaign in Colorado aimed at getting drivers to wear seatbelts. Apparently, it's a nationwide program.

The ACLU today denounced the program as unfairly targeting hispanics.

Federal officials defend the checkpoints, saying Hispanics are less likely to buckle up because wearing seat belts is often not the law or custom in their countries of origin.

"Click It or Ticket" campaigns aimed at the general population began nationwide last week and run through Sunday. A separate program grants money for seat belt campaigns in Hispanic neighborhoods. Both are funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"In the absence of any data, I would ask why are they targeting Latinos?" said King Downing, the national coordinator for the American Civil Liberties Union's Campaign Against Racial Profiling. "Deciding to target certain areas based upon race goes right to the foundation of racial profiling.

NHTSA says the checkpoints are random in that they target one out of every ten drivers, not hispanics. We side with the ACLU director, who responds: "It's not exactly a random driver if the area that is targeted is a Latino area."

But the best line comes from Lorraine Novak, a senior regional program manager for the NHTSA.

"It's not profiling, it's targeting a specific population," Novak said.

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Hosting Matters seems to be back on track after the fire today: Instapundit and Matt Yglesias are back up.

It may or may not make a difference, but we certainly appreciate the gesture of Bill Lockyer, California Attorney General and 8 of the 12 jurors in the Ed Rosenthal marijuana cultivation case, who are urging a federal judge to impose a lenient sentence on the "Guru of Ganj."

Sentencing is June 4. Rosenthal's lawyers are seeking community service and probation instead of the mandatory minimum five year sentence.

At the heart of the motion is a portrayal of Rosenthal as an atypical marijuana cultivator who grew the substance out of humanitarian concern for suffering patients, did not financially profit from the activity, and believed his actions were legal, based on state law and advice from public officials.

Attorney General Lockyer wrote:

For criminal defense lawyers and wannabes....Make your plans now, this one will be great:

With advances in science and technology occurring daily, it has never been more critical for defense lawyers to learn how science can help or hinder their cases. This innovative seminar will present the most cutting-edge techniques available to defend every kind of criminal case.

Among the areas highlighted are evidence collection, lab protocols, selecting and cross-examining experts, the use of Daubert to challenge "junk" and "novel" sciences, and attacking commonly accepted "sciences" that have recently begun to fall out of favor. You will receive an insider's view of how the expert prepares for and against these challenges and learn the fundamentals of a broad array of sciences confronted by the defense lawyer in the trenches -- including DNA, ballistics, arson investigations, time of death, and forensic pathology. NACDL has brought together the most nationally renowned scientific experts in their fields, coupled with the best lawyers in America for this ground-breaking seminar. Don't miss it!

The Faculty:

Larry Pozner-Voir Dire: Science & Technologies; Jeralyn Merritt-Attacking Eyewitness Evidence: Effective Use of the Psychological Expert; Dr. Henry C. Lee -Physical Evidence Found on the Human Body;Barry Scheck -Proving Innocence Through Forensics: With and Without DNA; David S. Rudolph -Zen and the Art of Cross-Examining Experts (or How I Became an Idiot Savant); David Wymore-Derailing the Physical Evidence Railroad; Norm Mueller- Ethics and Experts: Avoiding Traps for the Unwary;Rick Williamson -Smoke and Mirrors: Dealing with Expert Testimony in Arson Cases; Jim P. Cooney, III -Time of Death, Entomology, and the Body Farm in Tennessee; Dr. Suzanne Pinto-Bernhard-Sex Offenders: What You Need to Know About What Your Client is Getting Into; Drew Findling-You’re My Homicide Detective and I Love You, Man!; and David Lewis -Forensics Failure: The Chief Justice Gives Us a Defense. (Speakers & topics are subject to change)

Special Events:

Luncheon Address—Former U.S. Senator Gary Hart will be the keynote speaker for our luncheon, Friday, August 1, 2003 at the Adam’s Mark Hotel.

Shooting Range—Join us for a rare opportunity to visit a shooting range and learn first-hand about firearms, ballistic evidence, and how to utilize your experience to build on a winning defense for your client. (Additional fees may apply depending on the amount of your activity)

Amnesty International has released its annual report on global human rights abuses in 2002. The report finds:

Washington's ``war on terror'' has made the world more dangerous by curbing human rights, undermining international law and shielding governments from scrutiny.

The news article about the report goes on to say:

....In one of its most critical sideswipes yet at Washington, Amnesty said the bid to stamp out terror in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001, had largely backfired.

``It has deepened divisions among people of different faiths and origins, sowing the seeds for more conflict,'' it said in a statement. ``The overwhelming impact of all this is genuine fear across all sectors of society.''

More information about the report is available from Amnesty here.