28 December 2004



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HEADLINES


DeathLaw

1) Virginia to Banish Juvenile Death?

2) Prince Charles and the Islamic Death Penalty.

3) $230,000 not to kill a man.

4) Don't commit bigamy in China.

5) Is the snitch only believable when he testifies for the FBI? Or can he still be believed when he testifies against it?

6) Incompetent to be interviewed?

7) Killers against the death penalty.

DrugLaw

1) 8 tons of drugs defended by rocket launchers.

2) Is having a bank safe door in your house probable cause?

3) Smuggling drugs in chocolate cars.

Miscellaneous

1) Nolte sued for a rape when he wasn't even there.

2) Prosecutors: You cannot comment on "taking the 5th".

3) New York to have negative crime numbers.

4) Use a getaway car that runs.

5) Cool, the Intoxilyzer 8000 - sure to have just as many problems and errors as the 5000. Not that it will make much difference since most defendants won't have the money to hire experts to fight it.

Appellate Courts

1) Skakel to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

2) Ginsberg removed by the Minnesota Supreme Court.

3) In Kentucky the defendant must have all the ingredients before he can be convicted of cooking meth.

1 comment:

Mister DA said...

Ref Miscellaneous 2:

Geez Louise! What do they teach in prosecutor school in Indiana, anyway? Depending on the proofs, a comment like "the evidence is uncontroverted" can get a prosecutor in Fifth Amendment trouble. I'd say 'this is unbelievable' but there it is - What the Hell was the trial prosecutor thinking? I mean, it's a pretty serious felony if you can get 30 years for it, so I don't think it's the kind of trial you hand over to an inexperienced assistant.

Hold the phone - according to the Indiana County page at the NACO website, this was THE prosecuting attorney, not an assistant. Wow. That probably explains it. Elected prosecutors in smaller counties may not be career prosecutors. But you'd think something like commenting on a defendant's silence would be something you'd sort of rememer from law school, wouldn't you?