The New York Times has an article today about Jeffrey Deskovic, wrongly imprisoned for 16 years in New York for a rape and murder he didn't commit.

His habeas petition was filed four days late due to a mistake by his lawyer and Judge Sonia Sotomayor was one of the Second Circuit judges who ruled against him.

Ms. Sotomayor, along with the other judge on the panel, ruled that the lawyer’s mistake did not “rise to the level of an extraordinary
circumstance” that would compel them to forgive the delay. There was no need to look at the evidence that Mr. Deskovic insisted would
affirm his innocence, they said.

While Sotomayor, in my view, should have taken a more empathetic and real-world view and not insisted on putting procedure over innocence, given that the lawyer did have an explanation (the court clerk had given him the wrong due date), and while penalizing a defendant for a mistake by counsel sucks in general, the major culprit here as we've written many times is AEDPA and the 1 year filing deadline on habeas claims: [More...]

Good news out of Guantanamo Bay today: Four of the Chinese Uighurs being held there have been moved to Bermuda where they will live and be free.

Bermuda's prime minister, Ewart Brown, said the men would be allowed to live in the self-governing British territory, first as refugees. Brown said they would be allowed to pursue citizenship and would have the right to work, travel and "potentially settle elsewhere".

Brown said negotiations with Washington over taking in the Uighurs began last month and he had no security concerns because the men had been cleared by US courts.

What a great place to resettle. It's beautiful, clean and, civilized. Major props to the island's Government for accepting them. [More...]

BTD is out of town for a few days. The TL Kid and I are about to grill some steaks. I'll be back here later tonight.

In the meantime, check out Nanci Griffith's new album. Howie Klein at Huffington Post has the details and notes her performance at the Grammy Museum in LA this week, which is part of a new program called "The Drop." She got a five minute standing ovation.

Her album is a must-have, as he explains here.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

One of the guards shot at the Holocaust museum has died.

Our prior thread is almost full, here's a new one to continue the discussion.

A gunman today entered the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and shot two people. Developing...will update.

Related to my long post on Shoe Bomber Richard Reid's hunger strike at Supermax in Florence, Colorado, I see that the Canadian press is reporting that convicted terrorist Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, serving life at Supermax, is also on a hunger strike:

Mohammed Mansour Jabarah has refused to eat since mid-April and prison officials are allegedly pumping food into his stomach using a tube inserted in his nose. The convicted al-Qaeda terrorist is protesting restrictions on his mail, his lawyer said, but his father said Jabarah and other Muslim inmates also want to pray together.

The ACLU condemns force-feeding here.

Shoe Bomber Richard Reid, serving a life sentence at Supermax in Florence, Colorado for intending to blow up an American Airlines commercial flight in December, 2001 by lighting a match to put to an explosive in his shoe, has been on a hunger strike for months and is being force-fed. He is too ill to attend depositions in his civil lawsuit against BOP officials and the Attorney General. His lawsuit alleges that his First Amendment rights are being violated by conditions at the prison and, in particular, SAMS, which limit his contact with the outside world, ability to attend group prayer and take religious correspondence classes.

The Court recently denied the Government's motion to partially dismiss his complaint. The report of the Magistrate Judge is here (pdf.) The District Court Judge's order accepting the Magistrate's report is here (pdf). The Government's pleading describing the hunger strike is here. (pdf) From the Magistrate Judge's order finding Reid's complaint was sufficient to survive dismissal on First Amendment grounds: [More...]

After 8 years at Guantanamo, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, will now face trial in federal criminal court. At his court appearance today, he pleaded not guilty.

What comes next? A fight over who gets to represent him. The Government will be picking up the tab for whoever it is. My suggestion is the court-appointed counsel who represented the WTC1 and other terror trials.

In 1998, the Clinton Administration demonstrated an atypically aggressive response toward terrorism after the assault on two U.S. embassies in Africa. On Aug. 7, 1998, the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, were bombed by terrorists, leaving 258 people dead and more than 5,000 injured.

The result: [More...]

A more significant story is getting lost in the shuffle, however: Elizabeth Warren says that more stress tests are needed because unemployment could well exceed the worst case scenario used in the recent stress tests.

"We have not actually broken through the worst-case scenario, but let's face it, the numbers are bad and they're heading in the wrong direction," Warren says.

[More...]

I'm at the airport on my way out of town. I think J and TChris will be around.

This is an Open Thread.

While the unwise policy of trying and punishing juvenile offenders as if they were adults grew in popularity during the nation's "tough on crime" years, laws permitting waiver to adult court still require judges in most cases to make an individualized determination whether waiver is appropriate for a particular child charged with a particular crime. Texas law follows that pattern.

Before certifying a child, juvenile judges are supposed to hold a hearing and review evidence about the seriousness and nature of the offense, a child’s maturity and background, the likelihood of rehabilitation and the need for protection for the community, according to state law.

Those hearings are often time consuming and complex, as dueling experts (including social workers, psychologists, teachers and probation agents) provide the judge with the detailed information needed to make an informed waiver decision. Except in Harris County where, according to a Houston Chronicle investigation, judges routinely rubber-stamp waiver requests after holding 15 minute hearings. [more ...]

Two days after the City of New Haven, Connecticut agreed to issue identification cards to all city residents regardless of their citizenship or documentation, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted early morning raids of New Haven homes that resulted in the arrests of 32 undocumented residents. ICE denies accusations made by city officials that it intended the raids to send a retaliatory message about its disapproval of the city's issuance of identity cards to undocumented workers. Whatever motivated the raids, it was clear to an immigration judge who presided over the deportation hearings of four arrestees that ICE agents "flagrantly violated" their Fourth Amendment rights by entering the homes without a warrant, without probable cause, and without consent.

[more ...]