The Third Circuit vacated a death sentence today and remanded the case back to the trial court for a review of the defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim. (via How Appealing.)

The case is a famous one, portrayed in the book Blind Faith by Joe McGinnis.

Beginning tomorrow we hope your thoughts turn to Congress and the many bills that need passage. To us, first and foremost is the Innocence Protection Act.

Faxes are better than emails. Thanks to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo for taking us to The Phone Company where you can write your fax and they will send it for you--for free--using your webrowser or email box.

Court TV Anchor Rikki Klieman has assembled a great show today (on now) about civil liberties and Sept. 11--guests are NY Police Commissioner Ray Kelley, former Commissioner Bernie Kerik, Bill Bratton (former NY Police Commissioner and one of 13 finalists for that job in LA and Rikki's husband) and Homeland Security deputy chief Jerry Howar. There's more, it just started, so if you are by a tv, tune in.

Most of the news articles we've seen regarding the probe into Noelle Bush's alleged "cocaine possession" at a drug treatment facility fail to mention that the substance allegedly found in her shoe was crack cocaine, not powder.

This is significant because under federal law, the penalties for crack cocaine remain 100 times higher than the penalties for powder cocaine.

The Washington Post article says "a two gram rock of crack cocaine" was found in Ms. Bush's shoe. Five grams of crack under federal law gets you a five year mandatory minimum penalty. Five grams of powder, if for personal use, is a misdemeanor, with probation likely.

The point of publicizing this is not to trash Noelle Bush, or even her father, whom we would like to see replaced as governor of Florida. It is to highlight the injustice of the crack laws, and to put people on notice to watch for any preferential treatment since the offense is legally considered to be so much more serious than one involving cocaine powder.

And to wonder why the press, with the exception of the Washington Post, has been avoiding the use of the nasty word "crack" thus far.

Blah 3 does it again. If you go one place today, go here.

War is not the answer.

The Bush Administration is proposing moving the Bureau of Alchohol Tobacco and Firearms, now part of the Treasury Department to the Justice Department.

"The proposal to shift ATF to Justice follows President Bush's decision to send two other large Treasury agencies -- the U.S. Customs Service and the Secret Service -- to the proposed Department of Homeland Security."

This would put the ATF, which has jurisdiction over bombing, arson, alcohol, firearms and tobacco offenses, in the same department as other law enforcement agencies like the FBI and DEA.

We just found this terrific article by David Cole in the new issue of The Nation. Cole argues, persuasively in our opinion,

"...one year later, it appears that the greatest threat to our freedoms is posed not by the terrorists themselves but by our own government's response. With the exception of the right to bear arms, one would be hard pressed to name a single constitutional liberty that the Bush Administration has not overridden in the name of protecting our freedom."

Over on Alternet, John K. Wilson reviews the new book It's a Free Country. Law Professor and civil liberties expert David Cole is a significant author of the work.

The full title is "It's a Free Country: Personal Freedom in America after September 11." Published by RDV Books, edited by Danny Goldberg, Victor Goldberg and Robert Greenwald, the book "challenges the idea widely publicized in the media that domestic liberties were mostly unaffected by terrorism."

An Amazon review describes the book as a "groundbreaking collection of new pieces examining the effects of President George W. Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft’s legislative assault on civil liberties following the terrorist bombing of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon."

Contributers of original material besides Professor Cole include Michael Moore, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Steve Earle, Tom Hayden, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Robert Scheer (LA Times columnist), Ira Glasser (former head of the ACLU), cartoonist Matt Groening, historian Howard Zinn, Lillian Nakano, Congressman Bob Barr, Michael Isikoff, Anthony Romero, Norman Siegel, Kenneth Roth, Nadine Strossen, Michael Tomasky, Helen Zia, and Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

There are interviews with Nat Hentoff and Congressman Barney Frank and firsthand stories from Middle Eastern and American victims of civil-liberty infringement, such as the chief of police in Portland, Oregon who resisted federal pressure, and Fathi Mustafa, a Palestinian caught in the wave of racial profiling.

In the Alternet review, John Wilson says,

"One of the most shocking things about "It's a Free Country" is the inclusion of statements by members of Congress. The media presented America post-Sept. 11 as a glorified oneness of thought in support of the war on terror. These sharp criticisms by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Bob Barr (R-Ga.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) were almost invisible in the press. "

"The media failed to report the fact, as Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) observed, that the USA Patriot Act was "strengthened" to restrict civil liberties by after-committee "backdoor maneuvers" without the knowledge of members of Congress who voted mere hours after the legislation was finalized to approve it, unaware of the changes made by the Bush Administration."

Buy the Book Today!

As we reported last week, prison rape is no joke.

The current issue of The Nation carries Silja J.A. Talvi's moving article Prison's Shameful Secret, that begins with the experience of Roderick Johnson, a 33-year-old African-American Navy veteran from a small town in rural Texas.

Johnson "didn't ask for it. Prison did it to him, and his life will never be the same. While serving time for a nonviolent offense, Johnson endured the equivalent of sexual slavery at the hands of prison gangs...."

" For men, rape and sexual abuse in prison is now so commonplace that according to a recent study, one in four male prisoners in state and federal facilities experience pressured or forced sexual contact. "

"A bright spot in this otherwise dismal situation is the recent introduction of the Prison Rape Reduction Act of 2002, co-sponsored by Senators Ted Kennedy and Jeff Sessions, and Reps. Bobby Scott and Frank Wolf."

Here is our July, 2002 description of the this important and necessary legislation.

From Oakland criminal defense lawyer Dennis Roberts, himself a veteran of the civil rights movement, comes news of a new website Civil Rights Movement Veterans.

From the "about us" page:

"We intend to use this web site to begin renewing the ties that once bound us together in a beloved community. It will be a place for finding lost friends. It will be an online testimony for documenting what we did in the Freedom Movement, what it meant to us, and what we have done since. It will be a tool for helping fellow veterans in need. And it will be a living memorial for our fallen comrades."

Here are the events planned so far through the end of 2002:

Sept. 20 North Carolina Triangle civil rights studies group North Carolina

October 4-5 Tribute to Rosemarie & Vincent Harding Washington DC

November 8 C.B. King US Courthouse Dedication Albany GA

The site is also asking, "If you were active with CORE, NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, or another organization active in the Southern Freedom Movement during the 1960s, we ask you to contribute yourself. Please consider adding your name, history, and testimony to the Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement web site. And if the spirit moves, add a tribute for one who has moved on. "

Last month we reported on a New Jersey case in which the parents of a young man who died of a heroin overdose were indicted for manslaughter--the "runaway grand jury" as we called it acted on its own. The prosecutors had not sought to charge the parents. Here's an update on the case.

NPR's new audio and visual perspective on 9/11 and its aftermath entitled The Sonic Memorial Project is now up. From the site description:

"Shortly after September 11, NPR's Lost & Found Sound brought together independent radio producers, new media producers, artists, historians, and listeners from across the country to collect and preserve 'sound memories' of the World Trade Center, its neighborhood, and the events of 9/11."

"We set up the Sonic Memorial Phone Line at 877-894-8500 for you to leave your stories, recordings, and audio artifacts, both personal and historic. Hundreds of you called with testimonies and remembrances, music, and small fragments of sound. "

"Your stories have been woven into radio broadcasts on NPR. And now, they are a part of a living archive and a new kind of listening experience called 'The Sonic Browser.' "

"SonicMemorial.org is produced by Picture Projects, best known for its award-winning online documentary, 360 degrees.org, and the new media company, dotsperinch, in collaboration with Lost & Found Sound."

We're a long-time fan of 360degrees.org for its perspectives on the criminal justice system.

Updates on this from the site:

"The Sonic Memorial Project is a part of The Smithsonian Institution's exhibition, September 11: Bearing Witness to History. Five phone booths allow visitors to listen to stories from the archive and leave their own testimonies and remembrances. Open until January 11, 2003."

"ABC News is broadcasting two Sonic Memorial specials on September 11. Reporter Robert Krulwich brings viewers into the towers before 9/11 to experience radio row, weddings at Windows on the World, the immigrant workers who cleaned the towers at night, and other untold stories."

"This fall, The Museum of Television and Radio in New York City will feature the entire Sonic Memorial in their listening room."