The Associated Press is reporting that the D.A. in the Laci Peterson case is likely to seek the death penalty against Scott Peterson.

We doubt the decision will be made today. Hopefully, the prosecutors will meet with defense counsel and allow them an opportunity to argue against the death penalty prior to deciding.

We also wonder how Scott Peterson is going to afford a death penalty defense. Will he end up with appointed counsel? Whoever represents him must assemble a team of experts....from DNA to death penalty mitigation specialists, to jury consultants and lots more.

The taxpayers of California and Stanislaus County, as well as whatever county the trial is moved to, should a change of venue be granted, will pay dearly-- according to one California sherriff, it takes $500,000 just for law enforcement expenses. By the time appeals are over, it's more likely to approach $2 million.

A 1993 study from California found that each death penalty case cost at least $1.25 million more than a regular murder case and a sentence of life without. (South Bend Tribune, June 2, 2002)

We think it would be far preferable for the money to be used for schools, hospitals, public safety and jobs--or to help the families of murder victims, through counseling or financial help. We urge California residents to contact the District Attorney's office and ask them to seek life without as the maximum penalty for Scott Peterson.

Stanislaus County District Attorney 800 11th Street, Room 200
Modesto, California 95354
Telephone: (209) 525-5550
Fax: (209)525-5545
email: adultcrimes@stanislaus-da.org

Atrios writes on The Spinning of Leung in today's New York Press.

The truth is that Leung is a well-known Republican party activist and fundraiser. If any Gore-related investigations were compromised by her involvement with former FBI agent Smith, it is likely that any disinformation she provided was designed to hurt, and not to help, him. Years later, the media's desire to justify their overblown coverage of Gore fundraising irregularities leads them to spin any story against him. It stands in sharp contrast to their quiet coverage of numerous campaign finance illegalities, including donations from Chinese sources, of the '96 Dole presidential run, and the fact that the Federal Election Commission auditors had determined that the Dole campaign took in over twice as much in illegal contributions than did Clinton and Gore.

One of TalkLeft's highly regarded readers is concerned about the connection between Leung and the Republican party and believes the press is conveniently overlooking the import.

Leung was also active in Republican party politics and the connection between the two troubles me. I'm hesitant about reading more into stuff than may be there, but this seems very strange. When the story came out, I googled her name and came up the fact that she was:

1. An "old Friend" of William Simon, "Republican candidate for Governor
of California,"

2. A donater to Richard Riordan's campaign for Governor in her role as
"Secretary" of National Association of Chinese Americans, (apparently,
she also travelled with him to China)

3. A contributer as an individual at the "Benefactor" level (the highest level, I think) to The National Committee on United States-China Relations which includes Gerald Ford, Robert S. Macnamara, David Gergen, and Tom Kean amongst its many luminaries. These are, of course, major players in both parties but primarily Republican.

The Supreme Court granted cert today on three issues in 02-8286, Banks v. Cockrell --the case of Texas death row inmate Delma Banks. From a press release received from National Coaltion Against the Death Penalty:

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday announced it will hear a case involving Delma Banks Jr., who sits on Texas' death row despite questions about prosecutorial misconduct, biased jury selection and ineffective legal counsel.
Banks was convicted and sentenced to death in connection with the murder of Richard Whitehead of Texarkana after prosecutors struck all black prospective jurors from the jury pool and withheld critical exculpatory evidence from the defense. NCADP Executive Director Steven W. Hawkins said Banks has never received an opportunity to present in court evidence that prosecutors failed to inform defense counsel that one of its key witnesses was a paid informant and that another key witness received a reduced sentence after testifying against Banks.

The Christian Science Monitor today reports on the laws of war and what the that Bush Administration has failed to do:

Exiled Iraqi lawyers say the US government failed to adopt - or even translate from Arabic - suggestions they provided in advance on how to prevent the kind of civil disorder, including looting and revenge killings, that has marred postwar Iraq. Weeks before the unrest erupted, the exiles proposed imposing martial law for 24 hours. The Pentagon also shelved a recommendation to recruit and vet Iraqi traffic police and security officers, who American soldiers did eventually turn to - but without checking their backgrounds.

The article reports there has been infighting between the State Department and the Department of Defense. The Guardian has more.

Matt Yglesias reminds us not to forget there are Americans locked up without charges, and points us to this article in Sunday's New York Times about the more than two dozen American citizens arrested as material witnesses in terrorism cases since September 11, and in particular, Oregonian Mike Hawash.

Some Muslims say that since his arrest on March 20 they have remained silent rather than speak up at community meetings, fearful of government retaliation. Other Muslims who want to support Mr. Hawash have refrained from contributing to his legal defense fund, saying they are fearful that the donations might draw unwelcome attention.

"People are saying, if this could happen to him, this could happen to any of us," said Zaha Hassan, a Palestinian-American lawyer who knows Mr. Hawash. She and other Muslims argue that if the government believes Mr. Hawash has committed a crime, it should indict him so he can have an open and public hearing.

"Then we could defend him, or accept that he had done something," Ms. Hassan said. "All we can do now is support him and say the process is wrong and stand up against this kind of secret detention."

Go read the whole article. Here's more on how the Government is using and abusing the material witness statute, from Yale Law Professor Jack Balkin.

Our prior coverage of Hawash is here. For the most information on the case, check out FreeMikeHawash.Org.

The Independent, UK has an editorial today, So Where are They Mr. Blair?, pointing out

Not one illegal warhead. Not one drum of chemicals. Not one incriminating document. Not one shred of evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction.

The Independent asks,

But, Mr Blair, where are they? A month has passed since American and British troops entered Iraq, more than a week since the fall of Baghdad. But thus far not even a sniff. Not a drum of VX or mustard gas, not a phial of botulin or anthrax, not a shred of evidence that Iraq was assembling a nuclear weapons programme.

If evidence of the weapons don't turn up, The Independent wants a Parliamentary investigation.

If only for the credibility and reputation of our country, this newspaper hopes that enough weapons of mass destruction will be discovered to justify a war that has grievously weakened the UN, strained the Atlantic alliance and split the European Union. But they'd better be found pretty soon....This pointless war cannot be un-made. But we urgently need to know that the invasion was not illegal as well. With Britain and the US in full control of Iraq, a month should suffice. If no "smoking gun" has turned up by then, a full parliamentary inquiry is essential – into the competence and accountability of the intelligence services, and into how our Government used them to sell a mistaken and reckless policy.

We'd like to ask our Government the same question.

Remember Colin Powell at the Security Council two months ago (though today it seems another age on another planet): the charts, the grainy intelligence satellite pictures, the crackly tapes of the intercepted phone conversations among Iraqi officials? How plausible it all sounded, especially when propounded by the most plausible figure in the Bush administration.

Was it just the overly fertile imagination of our intelligence agents? Or the determination of the Administration to attack Iraq no matter what, using whatever justification they thought the American public would buy?

Natasha at The Watch says Mac Diva will no longer be posting there. No comment yet over at Mac Diva's blog, Mac-a-ron-ies.

Calpundit has had a bloglift and is now at its own home, so change your bookmarks. The site has also added a comments feature. Nice, Kevin.

Chris Allbritton of Back to Iraq is headed home. His farewell post is here.

Instapundit has details about new opposition to the Patriot Act. At a rally in Utah, protesters called for Sen. Orrin Hatch to "resign from office for turning his back on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

Soapbox Canyon, an Arizona blog, tells us about the suspect arrest of Laro Nicol, a Phoenix peace and justice activist and crusader against police brutality, on an explosives charge. Gail Davis has emailed us the links to several articles on the arrest, including this from IndyMedia. Many are charging that he's a political prisoner.

Newsweek's Michael Isakoff reports reports that Katrina Leung was instrumental in the Justice Department's 1996 investigation into campaign contributions to then President Clinton and Vice President Gore. She was supposed to be an agent for the U.S, trying to lure a large Chinese contributor back to the U.S. Now, there are doubts--was she compromising the campaign financing investigation and actually working to protect the Chinese contributor?

Another dimension to the case involves FBI Agent Smith, Leung's handler and lover. It turns out Smith was also the agent in charge of debriefing and maintaining contact with Johnny Chung, a key figure in the 1996 campaign fund-raising scandal who cooperated in the Justice Department's probe after pleading guilty to tax evasion and violations of campaign finance laws.

W. James Antle III, columnist for the Washington Dispatch writes about blogging coverage of the Iraq war, including war supporters and opponents.

Examples include University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, whose Instapundit site has emerged as the 800-pound gorilla of the blogosphere, journalist Andrew Sullivan, UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh, Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs and Megan McArdle under the cyber-pseudonym Jane Galt. The common thread between most of these bloggers is a strong belief in the capacity of American military power to effect social change, concern for the dangers posed by radical Islam and a desire to see tyrannies swept aside by democracy in the Middle East. This is not to say that that the web is exclusively the domain of hawks. In addition to liberal blogs like TalkLeft and Tom Tomorrow, thoughtful libertarians including Gene Healy, Jim Henley and Julian Sanchez have also spoken out against the war. Antiwar bloggers across the political spectrum have converged at the provocative Stand Down blog, where they debate the war and, almost as frequently, each other.

Mr. Antle concludes that we bloggers are providing some valuable input:

In our increasingly information-based society, it is best to let a thousand flowers bloom. The web's contributions to the discussion of the Iraq war demonstrate its potential as a vibrant source of news and debate, as well as a community for the exchange of ideas. Informed citizens today aren't just picking up newspapers or tuning in - they are logging on.

Time Magazine has an exclusive interview with Scott Peterson's parents in which they not only stand behind their son, but insist he is innocent.

We're just very critical of the way the Modesto police has handled this investigation. They worked strictly on a theory that was dreamt up by this lead detective within the first eight hours, and they've pursued it backward from there and they have neglected so many good leads. Chief (Roy) Wasden made a comment during his news conference that on the evening before Christmas Eve, Laci's mother had spoken to Laci at 8:15 and that's the last time anyone saw Laci. Not true. There are several people who saw Laci.

The Washington Post has a detailed profile of FBI Agent James J. Smith, now charged with Katrina Leung in a sordid espionage case. If you haven't been following the case, here are the essential details:

In court documents, federal prosecutors allege that Smith and Leung, who were both arrested here this month, had been having an extramarital affair for almost as long as she had been providing the FBI intelligence on the Chinese government. Prosecutors are accusing Leung of being a double agent, supplying Smith with information at the same time she was giving the Chinese copies of classified FBI documents that he blithely left unguarded in her presence. Smith, 59, has been charged with gross negligence on the job and is free on $250,000 bond. Leung, 49, has been charged with illegally obtaining classified documents for the purpose of aiding a foreign power and is jailed; a federal magistrate last week refused to release her on bail. Prosecutors say Leung may have provided Chinese officials with confidential details on FBI personnel, a range of secret intelligence cases and spying tactics that agents and their informants use. Leung's attorneys have denied the charges, and say she has made "heroic contributions" to the United States.

Smith retired three years ago after a long career as a respected and dedicated agent. Ten years ago, court documents show that another FBI Agent, since identified as William Cleveland Jr., also was having an affair with Leung and told Smith he suspected Leung was a double agent. Smith did nothing about it and continued to give Leung information. Cleveland has since been stripped of his security clearance and resigned his counterintelligence post at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The New York Times Sunday has a lengthy article on FBI problems with informants, and reports the biggest problems may occur when the agent and informant get too close, sexually or financially.

Leung's family issued a statement today.

Ms. Leung's family, in its first public comments, said in a statement released today that she had spent two decades "doing what the F.B.I. wanted," putting herself in great personal danger. The family said she was now being targeted in part because she is a Chinese-American woman. "When Katrina can present the full story, you will know she has been abused and smeared by the F.B.I., she is a loyal and patriotic American and she is innocent of any crimes against America," the statement said.

Daily Kos writes about Blogshares and says we are the top priced lefty blogger.

Now for something completely apolitical, but cool nevertheless, check out BlogShares, the Fantasy Blog Share Market. It's a virtual stock market trading in weblogs. Signing up (it's free) gives you access to $500 pretend dollars with which to trade. Weblog market capitalization is measured by the number of incoming links.... At current market valuations, your $500 could buy 100 shares of Daily Kos stock, or nine shares of Instapundit. If you want TalkLeft, your 500 shares will snag you just 23 shares (giving her the highest market cap of any lefty blogger).

Kos also analyzes the un-decideds in the Democratic presidential nomination race:

Gary Hart: The early word was that he didn't have the money, but recent steps seem to suggest that a) he does have money, or b) it doesn't matter. It looks like a run is imminent. Volunteers at several college campuses have started recruiting volunteer interns to help ramp up their organization (a good way to do it on the cheap). While the first of these emails, leaked earlier this week, drew a careful denial from the Hart camp, the fact that so many of these are surfacing points to a coordinated recruitment effort.

Wesley Clark: As everyone here already knows, he's my favorite in this race. He's solid on national security, well-spoken, presidential, pro-choice, pro-gun, pro-affirmative action, anti-PATRIOT Act, and believes strongly that the government should provide for the less fortunate amongst us.

But is he running? Everything I've heard is that he's 50/50 on a run, and that a decision would be forthcoming after the war. However, the war ended quickly and still no decision.

We think Hart and Clark are the two to watch. If you're partial to Clark, check out the DraftClark website that Kos and Jerome of MyDD put together.

A big thanks to Media Horse for touting our civil liberties coverage.

Lisa English of Ruminate This has some good thoughts on what the Dems must do to win in 2004: coalesce and fight. Digby of Hullaballoo weighs in as well.

Eric Alterman's new Nation column is up, Bush Gone Awol.

Atrios takes off on liberal bloggers criticizing other liberal bloggers and has some thoughts about Castro:

...in the Pantheon of evil dictators of the last 40 years , including ones we actively supported like our good buddy Saddam, he doesn't exactly deserve the top billing. In addition, despite the fact that U.S. policy towards Cuba - driven at least in part by the Cuban exile community - is supposed to encourage "regime change," it seems to have been instrumental in preserving the viability of the Castro regime.

Jim Capozzola of Rittenhouse Review, future Pennsylvania candidate for the U.S. Senate, highlights the looting and destruction of Iraqi artifacts. Skippy is focusing on Iraq and fascism. Liquid List has an excellent post on the threats to our civil liberties.

We hope you will take some time this weekend to read these excellent bloggers as well as the sites listed on the right. All are contributing to the quality of discourse in the blogosphere, including the ones "on the other side."