The Chicago Tribune has learned that the FBI used a cooperating individual to secretly tape a phone call to Illinois Governor George Ryan:

"Federal investigators secretly tape-recorded a telephone call of Gov. George Ryan's from a close confidant last April as part of the Operation Safe Road probe, the Tribune has learned."

"According to a source close to the investigation, Donald Udstuen, once part of Ryan's "kitchen cabinet" of prominent advisers, agreed to make the monitored call to the governor on the same day Udstuen began to work undercover for federal authorities."

Nothing incriminating was said during the call. Still, to use an undercover ploy to tape a Governor, any Governor, is not a routine matter.

The Judge in the San Diego murder case of Danielle van Dam, just sentenced David Westerfield to death as the jury had recommended. We wrote about this last night. He will go to San Quentin within 10 days. He gets an automatic appeal to the California Supreme Court.

The parents of slain San Diego 7-year old Danielle van Dam have sued David Westerfield , her convicted killer, for an unspecified amount of damages. Westerfield gets sentenced tomorrow, most likely to death. That's what the jury recommended, although the judge can override its decision.

"In their lawsuit, the van Dams ask that the self-employed Westerfield be restrained from transferring any of his assets, which include a design engineering firm."

We certainly don't begrudge the van Dams damages from the person who killed their daughter.

But we would like to point out the cost to the taxpayers of prosecuting and defending a death penalty case as opposed to a murder case where the punishment sought and obtained is life in prison without the possibility of. Here are the reasons why and the breakdown of the cost differentials.

Most defendants facing a capital trial are indigent and must have court appointed counsel. A study done by the Sacramento Bee argued that California would save $90 million per year if it were to abolish the death penalty. The average cost of a capital trial in Texas is $2.3 million--three times the cost to incarcerate an individual for 40 years. The average cost of a capital trial in Florida is $3.2 million. (same source as above)

"Various state governments estimate that a single death penalty case from arrest to execution ranges from $1 million up to $7 million. Cases resulting in life imprisonment average around $500,000 each, including incarceration cost." (In accord, here.)

More from Death Penalty Focus:

"A 1993 California study argues that each death penalty case costs at least $1.25 million more than a regular murder case and a sentence of life without possibility of. Families of murder victims undergo severe trauma and loss which no one should minimize. However, executions do not help these people heal their wounds nor do they end their pain; the extended process prior to executions prolongs the agony of the family. Families of murder victims would benefit far more if the funds now being used for the costly process of executions were diverted to the provision of counseling and other assistance."

"There is a better alternative. California judges have the option of sentencing convicted capital murderers to life in prison without the possibility of. There are currently over 1,700 people in California who have received this alternative sentence which includes no appeals process. According to the Governor's Office, only one person sentenced to life without has been released since the state provided for this option in 1977, and this occurred because he was able to prove his innocence."

We don't know how much Mr. Westerfield's design firm is worth, but he was declared indigent before his trial and his attorneys' and expert witness fees and defense costs from that point forward have been borne by the state. By the time the appeals are through, appeals not brought for delay but which are automatic pursuant to statute, well over a million dollars will have been spent. We would much prefer Mr. Westerfield, if he loses his appeals, to spend the rest of his life in prison, with the money saved on the death penalty prosecution and defense going to the Van Dams and family members of other murdered victims.

Here are some of our prior posts on the Westerfield case.

Law Professor Roger D. Groot, a staunch opponent of capital punishment has joined the defense team of accused juvenile sniper John Lee Malvo.

"Roger D. Groot, a law professor at Washington and Lee University, has been a thorn in the side of prosecutors and prison officials in Virginia for decades....Early in his career as a law professor at Washington and Lee University, he advocated for the rights of inmates and immigrant detainees."

He will be assisted by two students at the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, a student-led legal-aid clinic at the law school.

Groot denounced the death penalty as "something that allows Americans to "destroy our own humanity." He said "I oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and I think it is counterproductive both morally and practically."

"Professor Groot said he became troubled early in his career by how the death penalty was carried out. "I came to understand," he said, "that the death penalty is almost random in terms of who is selected to be tried, depending on race, the views of the local prosecutor or an election campaign."

The Judge in the case of the accused sniper, juvenile John Malvo, ordered the prosecution to turn over to the defense any statements Malvo made to law enforcement. We're wondering why Malvo had to go to Court to get them in the first place. The Virginia rules of criminal procedure, like those in almost every state, provide that an accused is entitled to have any statements he made to authorities disclosed to him. How else could he make a meaningful motion to suppress the statements, or prepare for a hearing on their admission or exclusion? We can't see any justification for the states' withholding of the statements.

Former NYC cop Charles Schwarz has begun serving his five year prison term for his role in the brutal assault by his partner, Justin Volpe, on Abner Louima.

He will be serving his time at the Federal Prison Camp in Deluth, MN.

Andrew McCrae, who allegedly ambushed, shot and killed a Red Bluff, California police officer as he was gassing his police car, is fighting extradition from New Hampshire where he was arrested. What makes this case especially unusual is that Mr. McCrae allegedly confessed on the Internet at SF Indy.Org. "McCrae was captured in New Hampshire a day after announcing on a left wing web site that he shot the officer to send a message to global corporate interests. McCrae is facing the death penalty in California."

In a post called Proud and Insolent Youth Incorporated at SF Indymedia, Andrew writes:

"Hello Everyone, my name's Andy. I killed a Police Officer in Red Bluff, California in a motion to bring attention to, and halt, the police-state tactics that have come to be used throughout our country. Now I'm coming forward, to explain that this killing was also an action against corporate irresponsibility."

He goes on and on, as do the comments to his post. Thanks to the police blog The Guardroom for alerting us to this case.

Tonight or tomorrow morning marks the sixth anniversary of the death of JonBenet Ramsey in Boulder. Her murderer has never been found. Whoever it is, he/she/they are walking the streets somewhere, free to strike again.

The District Attorney in Boulder made the decision to take over the investigaton this week and put it back on active status. This is a political matter, as the DA is essentially cutting the Boulder Police Department out of the loop. This is not to say that there won't be in some communciation between the two, and relations between the two offices are reportedly much better now that DA Alex Hunter is out of office. But the Boulder Police have acknowledged they are no longer running the show.

The Ramseys are thrilled that DA Keenan is in charge of the new investigation and will be using experienced homicide investigators like Lou Smit, who resigned from the earlier investigation because he said the police were ignoring leads that led elsewhere than to the parents.

While the Ramseys have not been excluded as suspects in the new investigation, they also will not be the focus. And that is what is good about Mary Keenan's office taking over: those involved will start on a clean slate, rehash all the evidence and follow up on leads the police neglected. They will let the evidence lead them to suspects rather than the other way around.

Is it too late? We don't think so. There was DNA found in JonBenets underwear that doesn't match the parents. While the police tried to spin this into a "so what" kind of thing by sending the underpants for testing to Southeast Asia where they were manufactured to prove there could be an innocent explanation for the DNA--such as someone who packaged the underpants at the factory--it didn't work. First off, the DNA in the underwear was right next to a spot of blood. Did a factory worker leave that too? Why didn't they send the foreign DNA to the FBI's Databank? We hope that gets done now.

Also, while the DNA under JonBenet's fingernails has long been claimed by the police to be compromised and not valuable, there are reports that genetic markers from that DNA are similar to those in the underpants. Again, the parents have been excluded as being the source of this DNA.

This was the Boulder Police's first serious homicide investigation in years. The Police Chief, Tom Koby, had never worked on a homicide investigation. Commander Eller who was initially in charge of the investigation had no homicide investigation experience. Detective Steve Thomas, who consistently expressed his belief the Ramseys were guilty on television and in a book (and who later settled a libel suit brought by the Ramseys for an undisclosed sum to be paid the Ramseys by his publisher), had been a narcotics cop until the day before Jonbenet's funeral. In other words, the Boulder police department in December of 1996 simply did not have the necessary experience to conduct an intensive homicide investigation. Yet, instead of calling for help or accepting help from nearby Denver or from the FBI, the Boulder Police decided to go it alone.

The Boulder police botched the crime scene, and within days made up their minds that it had to be the parents. Then the law enforcement leaks began--most of them untrue--resulting in a mass barrage of media myths. We cannot recall a similar case in which parents of a murdered child have been so excoriated by the press based on rumor, speculation and innuendo.

We began the Jonbenet Ramsey Media Un-Lynch Mob Page on our sister site CrimeLynx i n 1999. We have more or less kept it updated since then, moving items into archives at the end of each year. We have chronicled the 2002 events in the case on another site of our's, Crimes'R Us - the Legal Side of Crimes in the News, in which we highlight a select group of cases that seem to catch the public's attention.

We have been highly critical of the Boulder police in the past--and generally had praise for the Boulder DA's office. We still feel the same way, and will continue to report on developments as they arise. We share the Ramseys' hope that this will be an open-minded and impartial investigation.

[edited to reflect that it was the Boulder Police Department's first serious homicide investigation in years, not the first homicide, as we initially said and as noted by Walter in the Comments section. Thanks, Walter. Our point is the same: The Boulder police should have allowed more experienced homicide investigators, such as those from Denver or the FBI to work with them from the very beginning.)

Los Angeles Celebrity Sleuth Anthony Pellicano appeared in court today, and denied weapons charges and charges related to his knowing Steven Seagall.

"Celebrity sleuth Anthony Pellicano on Monday proclaimed his innocence to federal weapons charges stemming from a police probe into the alleged harassment of a Los Angeles Times reporter."

Fortunately for Mr. Pellicano, he has an outstanding defense lawyer, Donald Re, also of Los Angeles. "Re, called the felony and misdemeanor charges "outrageous" and "inappropriate," and said Pellicano, 58, had "a legitimate reason" for having the weapons."

Pellicano faces up to 11 years in federal prison if convicted on both counts. His trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 11.

Investigators in the sniper case report that all evidence points to juvenile John Lee Malvo as the triggerman in the shootings. They cannot link a single shot to John Muhammed.

This makes the case for a death sentence against Muhammed more problematic. The charge against Muhammed is in Prince William County and is a standard first degree murder count which requires the prosecution to prove Muhammed was the triggerman. And according to police, he wasn't.

Here's the evidence against 17 year old John Lee Malvo, according to investigators. (If this doesn't show the need for a gag order on the police in the case, we don't know what does:)

¶His own admissions to both Virginia shootings in which the men are being tried and to one in Maryland, made in conversations with Fairfax police detectives.

¶Hair linked by DNA to Mr. Malvo found in the trunk of the Caprice. A hole was carved in the trunk to create a sniper's nest.

¶A videotape recovered from a security camera near the Home Depot parking garage in Falls Church, Va., where Linda Franklin , an F.B.I. analyst, was killed on Oct 14. The videotape shows someone who appears to be Mr. Muhammad inside the driver's seat of the car.

¶Mr. Malvo's fingerprints found on a piece of paper near where investigators believe the shot was fired that wounded Iran Brown, 13, outside Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Bowie, Md., on Oct. 7.

¶Saliva found on a grape stem on the hill where investigators contend someone fired the shot that killed Conrad E. Johnson, a bus driver, in Aspen Hill, Md., on Oct 22.

There's much more to the article, so read the whole thing--not for the leaks by the police, but for the legal problems the prosecution may encounter as a result of Ashcroft's decision to file the case in the jurisdiction where he believed the pair were most likely to face execution.

We were just listening to the 10:00 news when they announced that the Boulder, Colorado District Attorneys' Office is re-opening the murder investigation into who killed JonBenet Ramsey. Mary Keenan, Boulder's elected DA will personally handle the investigation, along with one other deputy.

JonBenet was killed on December 26, 1996. If you've forgotten some of the details, you can get up to speed on either of our two sites chronicling the past investigation: The JonBenet Media UnLynch Mob Page and Crimes'R Us.com: The Legal Side of Crimes in the News.

Internet poster Jameson has an evidence primer in the case and an up-to-date forum for public discussion.

We'll update when we have an inclination of why, now, after six years the case is being reopened.

The Judge in the Sniper case has granted a defense request to gag the police in Fairfax, Virginia.

"Muhammad's lawyers sought the injunction against Fairfax County police and the FBI following a report last month in The Washington Post. The newspaper, citing anonymous sources, reported that Malvo, 17, had confessed to being the triggerman in some of the sniper shootings that terrorized metropolitan Washington during a three-week spree in October."

"The order prohibits police from disclosing the existence or contents of any confessions, any discussion about the reputation or criminal history of the suspects or of any prospective witnesses, and any opinions regarding evidence in the case. The order does not mention the FBI."

We suggested a gag order was necessary and explained why, here.