Peter Greenspun, the lead lawyer for accused sniper John Muhammed took the police to task for their leaks Wednesday. Greenspun earned high praise from Miami lawyer Roy Black, who selected Greenspun as co-counsel in the Marv Albert biting case a few years back.

"His highest-profile case, though, was representing Marv Albert on charges of forcible sodomy after a woman claimed Albert bit her on the back and forced her to perform oral sex in a hotel room. Albert pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, spent no time in jail and eventually had the conviction wiped from his record. "

"Albert's lead attorney in that case, Roy Black, said he was impressed by Greenspun's work. "We selected him because he was clearly the best criminal defense lawyer in that area of Virginia," Black said. "He's very good thinking on his feet; he's great with a jury."

Black said Greenspun's experience with that trial should prove helpful.

"I wish Greenspun good luck," Black said. "The only thing standing between Muhammad and a lynch mob is Peter Greenspun."

This is not from the National Enquirer, but the London Times:

80 Miss World contestants arrived in Nigeria today while Amina Lawal, a 31 year old illiterate woman continued to wait out her fate of death by stoning, imposed by the Nigerian Goverment after finding her guilty of adultery.

Ms. Lawal's baby, the product of the alleged adultery, is now 10 months old. Ms. Lawal is stoic about her fate, being buried up to her neck and then stoned to death, but she worries about her child's future. “I appreciate the sympathy,” she told The London Times, but her immediate concerns are finding medical care for her daughter and wondering whether she will live to see Wasila walk. Unless her second appeal succeeds she will be executed as soon as Wasila is weaned or by 2004, whichever is sooner."

"There are four other cases of women sentenced to be stoned for adultery. There are also 11 children in Sokoto state awaiting amputation for stealing. Ms Lawal’s lawyer, Hauwa Ibrahim, said: “We have heard they are waiting for the amputation machine to arrive.” (our emphasis)

"Ms Ibrahim is a human rights activist who works pro bono defending victims of Sharia. Her first case involved pleading unsuccessfully against a woman’s sentence of 180 lashes for lying and having sex outside marriage."

"The victims have one thing in common: they are poor. They have all, according to aid workers, been used as examples by the court to frighten others into submission. “The rich do exactly the same thing but they are not punished,” said one worker. “One of the judges who tried these women got his girlfriend pregnant. Other members of the Sharia court had daughters who got pregnant. Nothing ever happens to them.”

"The Miss World contest has brought the plight of these victims to the world’s attention, but as Ms Ibrahim, says: “When the contest is finished everyone will go home and we will still be here.”

Dubem Onyiam, Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, told the Miss World contestants that no one would be stoned in Nigeria. “Relax and enjoy yourselves,” he said.

Post-script: For those who have the stomach for it, The Times provides another article with a description of the stoning process and it's history. We stopped reading after learning that victim's families are made to watch.

The Atlantic Monthly plans to run an article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "proclaiming the innocence of his cousin, Michael Skakel, who was convicted in June of the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. Kennedy's article is expected to be published in the magazine's January/February edition."

Kennedy checked in frequently with Mickey Sherman, Skakel's defense lawyer, before and during the trial. He wrote a strong and unequivocal letter of support for Skakel to the Judge.

Skakel has been transferred from the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown, CT to the Cheshire Correctional Institution, another high security prison.

Every day we are more appalled by the leaks of untested information coming from "unnamed officials" about the evidence in the sniper case. Yesterday the media cooperated with the leakers by printing supposed confessions by 17 year old John Lee Malvo. Today, two high-ranking law enforcement sources say Malvo admitted shooting a 13 year old boy as part of the alleged killing spree.

All of the courts in the states in which these two defendants have been charged need to slap a gag order on the prosecution now. We haven't seen such audacious leaks since the Oklahoma bombing case. The leaking mostly stopped once Judge Matsch issued a gag order. The media appealed the gag order to the Tenth Circuit, and lost.

The disclosure and dissemination of purported confessions and details of the investigation indicate a lack of self-restraint and a lack of an ethical compass by those responsible. It's up to the prosecutors to control their agents and "senior officials." The media needs to exercise restraint as well. Trials must take place in courtrooms, not living rooms, and the media's complicity in and furtherance of the lynch-mob mentality is shameful.

While courts can restrain parties to a case, their court staff, and individuals operating under their direction and control (such as police and investigators), they have far less power over the media. But if the others don't leak to the media, the media won't have the information to disseminate.

In Judge Matsch's "gag order" in the McVeigh case, reported at 931 F. Supp. 756 (D.C. Colo. 1996), here's what he proscribed:

The New York Times reports today that statements by the teenaged sniper suspect may muddy the case.

17 year-old Malvo was sent to Fairfax County, Virginia to face murder charges for one victim. John Muhammed was sent to Prince William County, Virginia to face charges for another victim.

Police have leaked reports that Malvo admitted to being the shooter in both of those killings, as well as in the killing of a man shot at a gas station in Fredricksburg, Virginia.

This information, even if inadmissible against Malvo because the police violated his rights by questioning him in the absence of his guardian ad litem, could be admissible as exculpatory evidence on behalf of Muhammed at his trial. If it is admitted at Muhammed's trial and the Virginia jury finds Muhammed was not the shooter, all of Ashcroft's careful planning and clever scheming might be for naught. In order for the death penalty to apply in capital murder cases in Virginia, the defendant must have been the shooter.

Authorities in Virginia are downplaying the possibility Malvo's statements will help Muhammed. They say their death case against Muhammed is still viable regardless of Malvo's statements because they have also charged Muhammed under the new Virginia terrorism statute.

But that statute has never been tested. It is doubtful it was intended to apply to serial murders. And we have doubts Virginia could even pick a jury under it.

The applicable portion of the terrorism law applies to violent crimes committed with the intent to intimidate the civilian population at large. We think that makes everyone in the civilian population of Virginia a victim, and therefore ineligible to sit on the jury. If Virginia can't seat a jury, they can't try the case and they can't convict.

For reference, § 18.2-31, the Virginia death penalty statute lists thirteen death-penalty eligible offenses. Number 13 is "The willful, deliberate and premeditated killing of any person by another in the commission of or attempted commission of an act of terrorism as defined in § 18.2-46.4."

§ 18.2-46.4. defines an act of terrorism as "an act of violence ... committed with the intent to (i) intimidate the civilian population at large; or (ii) influence the conduct or activities of the government of the United States, a state or locality through intimidation."

We are liking Mr. Malvo's lawyer in Virginia, Michael S. Arif, more and more. He issued a statement Sunday saying "the police were "flooding the media and poisoning the jury pool with their own paraphrasing and subjective interpretations of statements made during an unconstitutional interrogation."

"He said the pattern of disclosures to the news media "suggests an insecurity" on the part of prosecutors "with the admissibility of these statements."

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is now trying to distance itself from the Virginia prosecution. The Times reports, "Justice Department officials who turned the case over to state prosecutors in Virginia said today that they were not tracking the day-to-day developments, like Mr. Malvo's reported statements. "It's a state case now, and we're staying out of this," said a Justice Department official."

We'll be discussing our views of the implications of Malvo's statements today on CNN's TalkBack Live around 3:10 pm Eastern Time.

Much has been written about the Virginia prosecutors assigned to the Sniper case. Here is a profile of Peter Greenspun, appointed by the Court to represent John Muhammed. Here is a profile of Michael Arif, lead counsel for 17 year-old John Lee Malvo.

Don't miss this Baltimore Sun editorial today, Virginia is for Killers?, expressing fear that Ashcroft is on some kind of "bizarre and unchecked crusade" in deciding the accused snipers should be tried in Virginia first based upon the the greater likelihood the death penalty will be imposed there.

We are pleased to see the New York Times in an editorial today, Justice, Hollywood Style, adopt our long held position on the Winona Ryder trial:

"Anywhere else, this petty crime by a first-time offender would have quickly ended with a plea bargain. The prosecutors, of course, made high-minded statements about the need to prove no one is above the law. But the truth is that in the great Hollywood tradition, this clunky script was green-lighted simply because a big star's name was attached."

We hope the Times is right in concluding:

"Ms. Ryder, who is not expected to do jail time, could benefit most of all. Although some producers may steer clear of a convicted felon, the trial could well revive a slumping career. "The town is behind her," one casting agent told USA Today after the verdict came in. "She's even more sought-after now." Which gives Ms. Ryder's tale the most essential Hollywood quality of all: a happy ending."

Update: We also found these interesting biographical details about Ms. Ryder in Sunday's Sydney Morning Herald of all places, in article aptly called Winona Steals The Show But Poor Dad Leon Does The Time by Duncan Campbell, reporting from Beverly Hills.

"Ryder has always been an unconventional soul. Born Winona Horowitz near Winona, Minnesota, she is the daughter of the archivist to Timothy Leary, the writer and LSD exponent who was also her godfather. Allen Ginsberg was a family friend. She was studying acting by 11 and did her first film at 15. She picked up Oscar nominations for both The Age of Innocence in 1993 and Little Women the following year. "

Mr. Duncan compares Ms. Ryder's likely shoplifting penalty to that received by Leonardo Andrade in California. Andrade, whose case is up for review by the Supreme Court, received 50 years for stealing $153 in videotapes for his children to watch. It's no wonder the civilized war looks at our penalty structure with utter bewilderment--on everything from petty shoplifting to the death penalty for juvenile offenders and the mentally ill, to jailing drug possessors, we have catupulted our justice system into the realms of outer space.

Gail Davis expands on our comment about Ashcroft's choice of Virginia as the venue for the first trial of the accused snipers, "This is not how the American justice system is supposed to work":

"Yes it is. This is the Bush and Ashcroft version of justice. They decide guilt and punishment. They use psychological torture. Constitutional protections are just an inconvenience to be gotten around. "

"The Supreme Court may have put Bush in office, but the 2002 election results will have convinced Bush et al that their view of the world has been unanimously confirmed. "

"This is it, ladies and gentlemen. Hope you like what you have wrought. Hope you are right in your faith that you would never be picked out by the police as a suspect for something you didn't do. Interminable interrogations. Light burning 24 hours in your little cell. Judges who delay you access to a lawyer. Enjoy!"

Here is the latest on the interrogation of 17 year-old accused sniper John Malvo from the Washington Post:

"Yesterday's hearings were brief and largely procedural but set off the legal sparring that probably will continue for months as the prosecutions begin in one of the highest-profile crimes the Washington area has seen."

"Lawyer Todd G. Petit, who was appointed Malvo's guardian ad litem, a standard process for a juvenile whose parents are not available, said he was denied access to the teenager. Ninety minutes after he was named guardian, Petit said, he learned that Malvo was being interrogated at police headquarters."

"I told the officer I wanted all questioning to stop," Petit said. A police commander came down, took Petit's card and said he would relay the request "when I see them," Petit said, and ordered him out of the building."

"Petit said he went to Horan's office but was told that Horan was in a meeting and that the office was closed." "I asked to speak to my ward, and they refused to let me do so," Petit said."

Legal experts are already predicting trouble for the prosecution in relying upon Virginia's terrorism law to avoid their having to prove the identity of the triggerman in each murder.

Our opinion, which we expect to provide on Fox News Channel today around 5:30 pm eastern time, is that this is forum shopping at its worst and Virginia may not be the "safe haven" for the death penalty the Justice Department expects it to be.

The prosecution, law enforcement and the Justice Department, aided by the media, are leaking purported factual evidence like a sieve. It will become impossible to seat a fair jury in Virginia or Maryland.

We were heartened to see that the Judge did not wait until next Weds. to appoint counsel for Muhammed, as had previously been reported. But both he and Malvo should have been able to meet with their new counsel immediately upon arriving at the jail in Virginia.

17 year old sniper suspect John Malvo has a new lawyer, Michael Arif. Mr. Arif Friday stated that Fairfax County police investigators "tried to question Mr. Malvo for seven hours on Thursday night without the presence of any lawyer for him." Obviously, Arif wasn't appointed to represent Malvo until Friday and couldn't have been at the jail Thursday evening to prevent the attempted questioning.

The judge ordered Malvo to be housed in an adult jail pending a decision on whether he will be tried as an adult or a juvenile. This isn't right. You don't throw a juvenile into the adult jail population before he's been ordered transferred to adult court. They should have put Malvo in protective custody for his own safety in the juvenile facility. (Just like they do with cops who get in trouble). Why is Virginia purposefully throwing this teen to the wolves?

The media seems to find something unusual in older suspect John Muhammed's confusion in court Friday about his lawyer or lack thereof. Who wouldn't be confused?

"Mr. Muhammad appeared confused when Judge Herman A. Whisenant Jr. asked whether he wanted the court to appoint counsel."

"I thought I already had counsel," Mr. Muhammad said, referring to a federal public defender in Maryland who had been representing him before Mr. Ashcroft's order that he be transferred to Virginia."

"Judge Whisenant explained that Mr. Muhammad would need a new lawyer to represent him against the charges brought by Virginia."

"I don't know what to say, sir," Mr. Muhammad replied."

Muhammed was sitting in a jail in Maryland, represented by counsel who had told the federal authorities he didn't want to be questioned, as is his right. Without advance notice to Muhammed, the feds abruptly transfer him to Virgina state custody. We strongly suspect his lawyer was not allowed to meet with him before he left and thus could not tell Muhammed the feds had dropped their charges which meant he couldn't continue on as Muhammed's lawyer. It's entirely likely the lawyer wasn't even told of the transfer in custody until after it occurred.

So how is Muhammed supposed to know that by the feds dropping their charges against him, and agreeing to ship him to state custody in Virginia, that he no longer had a lawyer, or that the same lawyer could not represent him in Virginia? Not one of our clients would have known that.

As for him appearing disheveled, we wouldn't be surprised if he didn't get much sleep. Like Malvo, Muhammed was probably subjected to hours of attempted interrogation, without an adequate explanation of what was happening to him. We also wouldn't be surpised if they kept the bright lights on him all night so he couldn't sleep.

"Judge Whisenant said he would appoint a lawyer at a brief hearing next Wednesday." This amazes us. He should have been given a new lawyer immediately. They should have had one waiting to meet him at the Virginia jail when he arrived. The prosecutors knew he was coming. They should have told the judge who should have appointed counsel at that moment. How could they leave a man charged with the most heinous crime of the year in jail for five days without a lawyer?

The cops will be working on Muhammed every day. Even if he says he wants a lawyer, the cops will tell him no, he doesn't get one before Wednesday. They'll leave those lights on him, sleep-deprive him and hope he agrees to talk.

This is not how the American justice system is supposed to work. You don't bring charges based upon which jurisdiction is most likely to kill the offender upon conviction. You don't let suspects sit for days without lawyers. You don't let the Government and state prosecutors leak evidence to the media that should only come out at a trial.

We are not defending the sniper attacks. We find them as abhorrent as everyone else. Whoever committed them needs to be kept away from society. But we need to do it fairly and this isn't the way.

Attorney General John Ashcroft held a news conference Thursday to tell us it's a done deal. The state of Virginia will get first shot at trying to kill accused snipers John Muhammed and John Malvo. The feds have dropped their charges.

Here's what John Ashccroft, the man who runs our "Justice" Department, does Thursday. He drops the federal charges against the accused snipers so that they no longer have a right to their federally appointed counsel who can refuse to allow them to be interrogated in their absence. He arranges for the two to be charged in separate capital cases in different Virginia counties and separately driven to a Virginia county jail. Because they are not yet represented by state defenders, the cops are allowed to interrogate them at will.

He calls a news conference but won't tell us why he charged the two suspects in separate cases with separate killings or why he is using multiple legal theories. He bypasses Maryland, the state that suffered the most, in favor of Virginia, the state most likely to extract the ultimate penalty--death. He declares that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for them, even though they haven't yet had a trial or been found guilty and even though one is only 17. His message is: Malvo may not be old enough to vote, get married, drink alcohol or own real estate, but he's old enough to be killed.

Justice occurs when we provide the accused with a fair trial, competent counsel and strict adherence to their consitutional rights. Injustice occurs when we allow passion and prejudice to override the guarantees of fairness our system provides to even the worst offender among us.

John Ashcroft is not running the Department of Justice but a Department of Injustice.