Gerard Gravano, son of Sammy Gravano (mob turncoat turned ecstasy dealer,) got a downward departure from the sentencing judge of almost two years. The reason: he was going to have to spend the time in solitary confinement which meant harder time. We like the departure and hope other judges can be so convinced.

How is the younger Gravano spending his time in prison? Writing a cookbook with his grandmother.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed a man's execution yesterday (with four hours to spare) so that a determination could be made whether the man was mentally retarded. Jose Garcia Briseno would have been the 19th person executed in Texas this year. Texas has the highest number of executions in the country--274 since its death penalty was restored in 1982.

For more on Texas death penalty statistics, check out the Death Row Information website of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which lists everything from who's on death row to final meal requests.

The new pilot program announced by the New York City Police sounds like an ominous "big brother" tactic to us. The cynical would say that since it is being applied to prisoners, who cares? Others, like us, would point out that many bad policies are applied to the lowest among us for starters, and once having gained acceptance, then are applied to the rest of us.

Upon being arrested, prisoners will be given a bracelet about an inch wide, containing a picture of the suspect, a case number, a basic description of the charges and a bar code. In the future, the police say, the bracelet may include a global positioning chip to track fugitives like a stolen car. (From the AP, Available on Lexis)

Surpisingly, the ACLU doesn't have a problem with the bracelet, so long as the information contained within it is destroyed after the case is dismissed or sealed. Its way too Orwellian for our taste.

Yesterday a video surfaced of two white Oklahoma City police officers beating a black suspect with batons. From what we saw, the suspect was lying face down on the ground and the cops kept beating him long after he was subdued. The cops are facing disciplinary action. His offense: trying to have sex with a prostitute in a van.

How's this for the department's justification: ``While he was not actively aggressive with the officers he was actively noncomplying.''

Received from Wilson Myers, Attorney and candidate for Florida Attorney General: "This will happen more and more. Fairness be damned, full speed ahead!"

He's talking about the lame INS attempt to oust Thar Abdeljabera, a 30 year old Palestinian father of five, for failing to report an address change.

The INS rarely deports anyone for this violation. In fact, their own regulations say failure to report an address change should not normally not be the basis for deportation. So what's behind this?

In March, Abdeljaber was tracked going 4 miles over the speed limit in Raleigh. He was stopped and found to have several thousand dollars in cash and maps with some cities in North Carolina circled in red. Abdeljaber told police he drew circles around places with flea markets and swap meets and Mexican stores--relatives say he travels to these places to sell electronic equipment he buys through the mail.

He has never been charged with any other crime. He's a legal permanent resident who came here to join his wife, also a legal resident, in 1998. Two of their five kids are U.S. citizens. In 1999, they moved to Richmond to be near his sister. He was charged with failing to report this address change within ten days. He pleaded guilty, served 25 days, and now INS is trying to deport him. He's been in jail for four months for this.

Jeanne Butterfield, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says "They're using the immigration laws to go after people that they don't have any basis to go after under the criminal laws. I think it's appalling."

So do we, and so does Attorney General candidate Myers. We wish him the best and will track the race.

President Bush has named Deputy Attorney General (and former white collar criminal defense attorney) Larry Thompson to head his new Corporate Fraud Task Force, also known (by presidential description no less) as a financial fraud swat team.

We're not crazy about prosecution task forces, and swat teams even less so, but if we have to have one, we laud Larry Thompson's appointment. Larry is seasoned, fair, level-headed, smart and a very nice guy.

We liked his position on the McDade Law (the McDade law states that all lawyers, including Department of Justice lawyers, are subject to existing state ethics laws and rules governing attorney conduct). He said it's good for the profession and that the Justice Department "stubbornly and unwisely continues to urge its repeal." (Federal Lawyer, Jan. 2001.)

We like his support for grand jury reform.

Of course, we don't like his support of the Administration's anti-terrorism proposals, particularly the monitoring of attorney client conversations.

But as Meatloaf says, two out of three ain't bad.

Following the Lindh Court's inquiry and request for a report, the Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether possible leaks resulted in Newsweek's publication of several internal emails by Justice Department officials related to the Lindh case. The e-mails were significant because they suggested that Lindh might have a valid argument in his attempt to suppress statements he allegedly made right after his capture.

We posted several legislative notices today on crime-related issues to keep readers informed of recent developments and to encourage you to get involved in the legislative process. It's more serious reading than our regular posts, but we feel it's important stuff.

If you have comments on any of them, or anything else, please e-mail us. If you don't want your comments posted here, just say so in your e-mail.

Oh, and we added an internal search engine today to make it easier for you to find what you are looking for on TalkLeft. It's on the right, just below our recommended links and archives.

Just in from Marijuana Policy Project:

"PROPOSED LAW COULD SUBJECT YOU TO 20 YEARS IN PRISON
Stop the Senate From Banning Marijuana Rallies and Other Events

Take Action

The Senate is poised to pass legislation that would give federal prosecutors new powers to shut down hemp festivals, marijuana rallies and other events and punish business owners and activists for hosting or promoting them. The proposed law would also potentially subject people to enormous federal sentences if some of their guests smoked marijuana at their party or barbecue.

It would also effectively make it a federal crime to rent property to medical marijuana patients and their caregivers.

The bill, known as the Reducing American's Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act (RAVE Act), was just introduced in the Senate on June 18th and has already passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. It is moving VERY rapidly and could be passed by the Senate as early as this week. While it purports to be aimed at ecstasy and other club drugs, it gives the federal government enormous power to fine and imprison supporters of marijuana legalization, even if they've never smoked marijuana.

ACTIONS TO TAKE

** Fax your Senators today.

** Forward this alert to your friends, family, and co-workers.

** After you fax your Senators, please follow it up with phone calls. Tell them you just faxed them a letter in opposition to S. 2633, the Reducing American's Vulnerability to Ecstasy Act. Tell them that innocent business owners shouldn't be punished for the crimes of their customers. Tell them this bill has dangerous anti-civil liberties provisions that they need to be aware of, and this bill deserves serious debate.

You can contact your Senators through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Here's where you can find out who your Senators are "

Donde Esta la Justicia?
A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S Justice System

Received from Building Blocks for Youth:

On behalf of the Youth Law Center and the Building Blocks for Youth initiative, we are writing to make you aware of a new report,"Donde Est· la Justicia? A Call to Action on Behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S Justice System" that we will be releasing next week on July 18th.

This report reveals that Latino and Latina youth are over-represented in the U.S. justice system, and receive harsher treatment than White youth for the same types of offenses, while there is a lack of adequate data nationwide which masks the severity of the problem. The report was commissioned by the Building Blocks for Youth initiative and prepared by Francisco Villarruel and Nancy Walker of Michigan State University's Institute for Children, Youth, and Families.

The key findings show that:

• Latino and Latina youth are significantly over-represented in the U.S. justice system and receive harsher treatment than White youth, even when charged with the same types of offenses;

• Current means for collecting and accessing data are inadequate, resulting in under-counting and inaccuracies in reporting disproportionate representation and disparate treatment of Latino and Latina youth in the U.S. justice system;

• The system does not provide uniform definitions for the terms Latino and Hispanic;

• The system fails to separate ethnicity from race;

• The system fails to provide adequate bilingual services to Latino and Latina youth;

• The system fails to ensure cultural competency of staff working with Latino and Latina youth;

• Consideration of the immigration status of Latino and Latina youth results in incarceration, deportation, and permanent separation from families;

• Anti-gang laws result in harsh and unfair consequences for Latino and Latina youth.

The executive summary, full report, recommendations for action, press release, and fact sheets will be available on the Building Blocks for Youth initiative website on July 18th .

Received from Kyle O'Dowd, Legislative Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL):

The Innocence Protection Act (IPA) now has a total of 26 Senate cosponsors and 238 House cosponsors. The bill, S.486, provides safeguards against wrongful convictions by expanding access to DNA testing and improving the quality of indigent defense in capital cases.

In recent weeks, Senator Leahy has worked closely with other members of the Judiciary Committee to forge a consensus approach to these issues. Those discussions have produced a substitute amendment that the Judiciary Committee will consider at its next executive session tomorrow, July 11th, at 10:00 am (E).

The substitute amendment to the Innocence Protection Act includes four major changes:

1. A new provision that would affirm a Fourteenth Amendment right to DNA testing under certain circumstances.

2. The proposed National Commission on Capital Representation has been eliminated in favor of an approach that would establish a grant program for states to improve the systems by which they appoint and compensate lawyers in death cases. States that accept grant money must meet basic grant compliance standards, which may be enforced through civil suits in federal district court.

3. A new provision that would ensure death row inmates are not executed while their cases are being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court.

4. A new provision that would provide student loan forgiveness for prosecutors and public defenders. (Note that this is an authorization only; getting federal funding for the program may be tough.

We'll post a link to the Substitute Amendment as soon as we get it. Right now we only have it as a downloaded pdf. document. If you find it first, please email it to us, thanks.

Lots of marijuana news today.

First, Nevada voters will be voting on legalizing marijuana use for everyone (not just medicinal use) in November. Until last year, Nevada had the strictest use law in the country--even smoking a joint was a felony (now it's a misdemeanor if less than an ounce.)

75,000 signatures got the measure on the ballot. If the measure passes, "marijuana would be sold in state-licensed shops and taxed like cigarettes and other tobacco products. A distribution system would also be set up to provide low-cost pot for medical uses."

Elsewhere, Britain is set to decriminalize marijuana use. It is downgrading the drug to the same category as steroids and growth hormones and changing smoking it in private and possession of small amounts to a non-arrestable, non-jailable offense.

Finally, D.C. dwellers take note: We received news today from the Marijuana Policy Project that the required 39,000 signatures were delivered to the D.C. Government office, "virtually ensuring the placement of our medical marijuana initiative on the November 5 ballot in our nation's capital." For more on this and how you can help the measure succeed, or contribute.

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