The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics has put online a new compilation on homicide trends in the United States . You can view them here.

You will find a series of charts that describe homicide patterns and trends in the United States since 1976. All charts, tables and other information have been updated with the 2000 Supplementary Homicide Reports and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted data.

(Thanks to Dan Dodson, Media Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for notifying us of the link)

The New York Times today calls on Illinois Governor George Ryan to grant blanket commutations to all prisoners on death row:

"Governor Ryan, a conservative Republican who voted for the death penalty as a legislator, has said repeatedly that he is considering a blanket commutation, which would reduce death sentences to life in prison. But last month's hearings, which received wide attention across the state, appear to have slowed the momentum. The testimony, much of it from families of murder victims, was often heart-wrenching. But as effective as they were as a reminder of the pain that crime causes, the hearings did not refute the fact that Illinois's use of the death penalty is tragically flawed. Governor Ryan, who has made fairness in administering the death penalty a hallmark of his governorship, will end his tenure on a high note if he takes one last stand for justice and issues a blanket commutation."

From USA Today: "Moussaoui's link to 9/11 is in doubt : Defendant met with planner but could have been involved in separate terror plots, officials say"

This is what we've been saying all along, as recently as yesterday and much earlier, here and here:

A quote from our earlier post:

"He has admitted to being a member of Al Qaeda, and to having knowledge about who committed the attacks. In our opinion, that is not enough to make him a co-conspirator in the Sept. 11 attacks.

One more thing: If the Government's evidence is that Moussaoui was a member of a different conspiracy than the one charged in the Indictment, the jury will be instructed to acquit on the charged conspiracy. They can't win by proving a different conspiracy than the one charged in the Indictment.

So if Moussaoui was being used by Al Qaeda to commit some other terrorist act, e.g. one involving crop dusters on another day in another city or if he hadn't yet been activated, or if they decided his crummy flight training record didn't warrant him being involved in Sept. 11, this case is no slam dunk for the Government. In our opinion, of course."

(USA article via How Appealing)

A federal judge in New York has ordered police to stop arresting drug users who participate in needle-exchange programs.

The judge "granted a declaratory judgment in favor of plaintiffs who alleged police were wrongly charging users with drug possession based on the residue of drugs found in used needles, and with illegal possession of needles and syringes."

"A massive database that the government will use to monitor every purchase made by every American citizen is a necessary tool in the war on terror, the Pentagon said Wednesday."

The database, which is viewed by the Pentagon as another "tool" in the war on terror, will look for "telltale signs of suspicious consumer behavior."

Examples cited were: "sudden and large cash withdrawals, one-way air or rail travel, rental car transactions and purchases of firearms, chemicals or agents that could be used to produce biological or chemical weapons."

The program will also "combine consumer information with visa records, passports, arrest records or reports of suspicious activity given to law enforcement or intelligence services."

Lisa English over at RuminateThis was impressed with Al Gore's political comments on NPR yesterday. We saw and heard him on Larry King Live last night and had the same reaction as Lisa:

"...what captured my attention most were the comments both Gores had about the Election of 2004 and politics in general. Gore came across as a very human, engaging, brilliant and funny guy. If the race were to be run today, and the candidates leaving the starting blocks were those who've already indicated a desire or semi-interest in running, I've gotta tell you...Gore's looking damn good. He's not sounding like every other lefty politician, and maybe...just maybe...he does have it what it takes. This after all, is the guy who won more votes than any Democratic presidential candidate in US history, not to mention the fact that he beat George Bush by more than half a million popular ballots cast. Like I said...he's looking damn good."

We thought Gorewas surpisingly animated and unrehearsed --he had great comments opposing Bush's foreign policy and economic plans, and most important to us, he sharply rebuked the Bush administration for its civil liberties violations since Sept. 11--down to stating that if the TIA (Total Information Awareness) program were not removed from the Homeland Security Bill, he would have voted down "the whole dern thing."

We gained a whole new respect for Al last night. Now, if he'd only come out for a moratorium on the death penalty, or at least for the Innocence Protection Act, we might be actively supporting him rather than just praising him.

We also liked that he's still friends with Bill and went out of his way to describe their closeness since the 2000 elections. If Al will continue to say what he really thinks instead of what he thinks he is supposed to say, we'd say he's very much still in the ballgame.

"Some people thought "The Vagina Monologues" -- women sitting on stools talking about vaginas -- was controversial. What people will think of "The Marijuana-logues" -- men sitting on stools talking about pot -- is anyone's guess."

The show is tonight in Kansas City at Stanford & Sons Comedy Club, 504 Westport Road.

"The show's comical monologues on the "killer weed" are written and performed by comedians Arj Barker, Doug Benson and Tony Camin. Their individual credits include appearances on "The Tonight Show," "The Late Show With David Letterman," "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," "The Late, Late Show With Craig Kilborn" and "Friends."

"The trio points out in a statement: "This verbal journey will not glorify drug use but will show that the ritual of pot smoking can be a thing of sustenance, humor and creativity. Either that or you will think, `What a bunch of dumb potheads.' "

Marc Shiner, who prosecuted 13 year old Nathanial Brazill for killing his teacher, has switched sides. He is now defending juveniles and decrying the Florida juvenile justice system.

"Shiner says he switched sides to fight what he calls Florida's flawed criminal justice system -- one that goes strictly by the book in sentencing juveniles, without regard for what drove them to crime or how they might be rehabilitated."

"How can we play God with children's lives? And why should we be in that business to put away kids forever?" he asked. "We don't know. We're just gambling. And that's a gamble I don't want to be betting on."

Good for him, we need more prosecutors like him who will speak out on obvious injustices in our system.

We just came across this very descriptive Associated Press article on how the FBI has been conducting secret FISA searches up until now.

Ashcroft has promised, and we believe him, that far more of these clandestine searches will be coming in the future, now the Government doesn't need to show probable cause that we've committed a crime or even allege that we are involved in terrorist activity to bypass the federal courts and get a FISA court order to spy on us.

Some things the FBI has done in the past:

"Broken into homes, offices, hotel rooms and automobiles. Copied private computer files. Installed hidden cameras. Listened with microphones in one couple's bedroom for more than a year. Rummaged through luggage. Eavesdropped on telephone conversations.... pried into safe deposit boxes, watched from afar with video cameras and binoculars and intercepted e-mails. They have planted microphones, computer bugs and other high-tech tracking devices."

We can only wonder what new techniques the clever feds will come up with now that they know they have practically unbridled power to snoop on all of us.

Remember James Ujaama, the man arrested in Denver and charged in Seattle with materially supporting a terrorist organization for allegedly scouting for a terrorist training camp in Oregon?

"The Seattle Post Intelligencer today offers clips from a video detailing Ujaama's vision for Islamic state :

"Seattle terrorism suspect James Ujaama envisioned a perfect Islamic state, where believers could live separately from Christians and Jews, attend military training camps, and where homosexuality and pornography would be outlawed."

"The place: Afghanistan."

"There are many Muslims who have forgotten that the Jews and Christians are our enemies," Ujaama says in a 2-½-hour video obtained by The Seattle Times, small portions of which were recently revealed on the Internet."

"The video, shot sometime before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, gives the first public glimpse into Ujaama's beliefs as told in his own words, and tells of at least one of his trips to Afghanistan. It also provides a look at his association with Abu Hamza, whom federal prosecutors in the United States have targeted for indictment on terrorism charges."

"At least one thing Ujaama says, however, casts doubt on an assertion made by prosecutors: that Ujaama traveled to Afghanistan to attend an al-Qaida training camp. In the video, Ujaama doesn't say why he went, but he states he did not attend jihad training. "I wish I had," he says. "

Ujaama's lawyer, Peter Offenbecher, says the video is consistent with Ujaama's claim that he went to Afganistan for charitable purposes: to deliver laptops to a girls school. "Ujaama asserts in the video that it was a myth that women were oppressed under Taliban rule and received no education. "

Offenbecher said the government has produced no evidence so far that Ujaama went to Afganistan to receive jihad training.

[we found the article on Instapundit-- he's on a roll today.]

On November 15, 2002 the Second Circuit held that a court's denial of a motion to withdraw a plea of guilty was an abuse of discretion because defendant's attorney's affirmative misrepresentation about the deportation consequences of her guilty plea fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, amounting to ineffective assistance of counsel.

The case is US v. COUTO, No. 01-1636 (2d Cir. November 15, 2002)
To read the full text of this opinion, go here.

In its opinion, the Court referenced the Supreme Court's citing of the amicus brief filed by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in the St. Cyr case last year. The Couto Court stated:

"We have held that an attorney's failure to inform a client of the deportation consequences of a guilty plea, without more, does not fall below an objective standard of reasonableness. See, e.g., United States v. Santelises (Santelises II), 509 F.2d 703, 704 (2d Cir. 1975) (per curiam) (noting that attorney's failure to inform a defendant that a guilty plea could result in deportation "is of no legal significance"). At the same time, we have implied that an attorney's affirmative misrepresentations on the subject might well constitute ineffective assistance. See, e.g., id. ("Since [the attorney] does not aver that he made an affirmative misrepresentation, [the defendant] fails to state a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel."); United States v. Santelises (Santelises I), 476 F.2d 787, 789-90 (2d Cir. 1973) (no ineffective assistance claim where the defendant "does not allege that he was affirmatively misled by his counsel"). And on some occasions, we have suggested that an attorney does have a duty to provide that information. See Michel v. United States, 507 F.2d 461, 465 (2d Cir. 1974) ("Where his client is an alien, counsel and not the court has the obligation of advising him of his particular position as a consequence of his plea." (emphasis added)). Moreover, recent Supreme Court authority supports this broader view of attorney responsibility as well. See, e.g., INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289, 323 n.50 (2001) ("Even if the defendant were not initially aware of [possible waiver of deportation under the Immigration and Nationality Act's prior] § 212©, competent defense counsel, following the advice of numerous practice guides, would have advised him concerning the provision's importance." (emphasis added) (citing Amicus Br. For Nat'l Assoc. Criminal Defense Lawyers et al. at 6-8)); id. at 322 n.48 (noting that "the American Bar Association's Standards for Criminal Justice provide that, if a defendant will face deportation as a result of a conviction, defense counsel `should fully advise the defendant of these consequences' " (citing ABA Standards for Criminal Justice, 14-3.2 Comment, 75 (2d ed. 1982))). (Emphasis supplied).

Earlier this month we complained about the raid on a fundraising benefit in Racine, Wisconsin where scores of people were arrested and fined outrageous amounts because techno music was played at the event. More details of the Racine case are at Haunted House Party.

Today, via Instapundit , we learn a grand jury is contemplating false arrest charges against police for their conduct in what has become known as the "K-Mart Sweep" in Houston.

The mass arrests in the K-Mart sweep resulted in lawsuits filed against the city of Houston and the suspension of 13 police supervisors . More than 270 people were arrested in the parking lot on trespass and curfew charges that have since been dismissed. The Houston Police Chief was indicted for aggravated perjury and has resigned pending the outcome of his case.

Here's an interesting twist:

"The police union expressed concern that the grand jury reviewing the case was impaneled only two weeks ago. "We wanted a very seasoned grand jury to hear this," [Union president] Marticiuc said."

Maybe we should start filing motions to dismiss on behalf of our clients on the grounds that an "unseasoned grand jury" returned the Indictment, and that had an experienced grand jury deliberated on the case, our clients wouldn't have been charged.

Right.

In the meantime, we hope the grand jury takes a hard look at whoever authorized the mass arrests and takes appropriate action--and that the authorities in Racine do the same there.