1 in 32

The number of US adults in prison or on probation.

The Clerk is ALWAYS Right . . .

. . . even when she's demonstrably wrong.

Even in California.

Why the pro hac vince concern?

I've got to agree with Steve on this one. I'm on the Virginia-Kentucky border for 4+ months now and haven't seen a single Kentucky lawyer so far.

7 Years

7 years of confinement, without a jury of your peers, without a conviction, without even a trial, is okay in the second circuit.

HUH?

Justice Breyer, could you please repeat the question in English?

Trash Court

In my backyard.

Feel Good Anti-Crime Zone

Does the infrastructure we are building to deal with certain crimes and certain offenders work or is it just a bunch of laws passed which are abused and force people to break the law?

Mentally ill superman who never should have represented himself

If you don’t trust psychiatric exams, then it’s an interesting judgment call as to when someone is actually ill or someone is acting ill.

UPDATE: Judge Rules Whether Sex With A Dead Deer Is Legal

A Wisconsin man who was arrested after having sex with the carcus of a dead dear argued that he could not be prosecuted for having sex with the deer because the animal was dead at the time.

The judge (ruling on a pre-trial motion) said that the primary focus of the criminal statute dealing with crimes against sexual morality is on "human behavior and on protecting sexual morality in the community, and not necessarily on animal protection".

Read the bizarre story and the entire opinion HERE.

Hmmmm . . . This May Explain a Lot of Things

Driving back from Thanksgiving I stopped in Lexington, Kentucky for lunch and saw a this store. I didn't go in. I think maybe we need a female to go investigate this. Blonde Justice?

Police Raid and the Dead 92 Year Old Woman

A 92 year old woman shot three narcotics officers after they forced her door and the officers returned fire killing her.

This looks like a major FUBAR. Mind you, once the police were taken under fire they had the right to shoot back but it looks an awful lot like they screwed up before the raid (whomever they were there to get sure wasn't there). The closing of ranks afterward has not resulted in any persuasive argument for the raid; the police haven't told us the dealer actually lived there with his grandmother or that the house was in his name or that a huge meth lab was in the basement or anything else persuasive.

A more indepth discussion has been going on between Radley Balko and Orin Kerr:

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 VC1 VC2 A9 VC3

Happy Thanksgiving to All

My question is how Pat Bagley got ahold of my best ever drawing of a turkey (not going to tell you which one).

Anyway, may God have blessed you and yours so much so that you have trouble remembering all of it when you give thanks.

Off Point: Lithwick Lectures at My Law School About the Personalities of the Justices

It's fun, funny, and informative (except of course for the Murch moment at the beginning; sorry about that):

Thanks to Kentucky Law

I'll Take a Jury, Your Honor

All he needed was one guy and there's no way he gets convicted.

Somebody in the Secret Service is in Deep *%#@*

A Bush daughter's handbag is lifted while the Secret Service is protecting her.

Sad Sicko Santa

Powhatan County is rounding up all the bad guys. First, they move to punish in the officer death case and now they arrest Sicko Santa.

Crack Sentencing Hearings

Covered by SL&P.

US flags only!

What happens to white collar convicts?

Court says websites not liable for libel in third-party postings

Websites that publish inflammatory information written by other parties cannot be sued for libel, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.

TASERmania!

A man who refused to remove his Los Angeles Dodgers hat at a city council meeting was TASERed following a scuffle with police.

"It means more than just a hat," the man said. "It's like my crown. It's like asking a king to remove his crown."

When Should a Tazer Be Used?

A while back I posted a video from YouTube about a kid getting tazed in a university library. Comments here and elsewhere made me think that maybe I should post laying out what I think the different levels of force should be generally.

Hand to Hand - This ranges from grabbing someone by the arm and yanking them out of their car thru the all too typical struggles when people resist being handcuffed all the way to out and out brawls. Typically, most confrontations do not go above this level.

Capstun - The second most often used tool in a physical confrontation, this is more commonly known as "macing" someone. This is what usually happens when an officer perceives that someone is proceeding to physical combat against him or is being very resistant. It is painful and takes away sight and breath but has a low risk of actual harm. One problem is that it does not always work. Anyone who has spent any time with officers has heard them tell stories of people whom the spray did not effect. Another problem is that some officers do not like the spray. I've heard more than one officer complain about how using it can mean he gets it in his eyes and lungs as well; of course, this is both painful and dangerous for the officer.

Nightstick - I can't remember the last time that I heard of an officer using a nightstick (when not wearing a pink bunny suit). I think that, in general, it has been supplanted by capstun on the less lethal side and tazers on the more lethal side. There are circumstances wherein neither of those two options is valid and the nightstick is called for (like the capstun spray or tazer malfunctioning) but the nightstick isn't likely to be used as much as it used to be.

Tazer - This is a step down from the use of lethal force. Tazers should be used in those situations wherein the officer is faced with serious harm or death but can avoid it by using the tazer instead of using a firearm. An example of this would be an officer facing down someone with a knife. There are obvious reasons why an officer should not close with this person. Prior to tazers the options would have been to put his life in significant danger by closing with the knife wielder or use of a firearm. Now the officer can stand off and incapacitate the knife wielder without putting himself in danger.

There are obvious dangers with applying an incapacitating electrical shock to a person. There are persistent anecdotal claims of death caused by use of tazers and I strongly suspect that at least some of them are well founded (although it would seem to be a very small percentage). Unfortunately, some appear to be in denial over this and when sold tazers seem to be marketed as a replacement for capstunning. They're not. The potential lethality - if only for those with medical conditions or of a certain age - means they should not be used as readily as less lethal means. HOWEVER, this does not mean that tazers should not be available for officer use. The probability of killing someone thru the use of a firearm is much higher that it will ever be thru the use of a tazer. Faced with a valid choice between tazing or shooting an officer should taze every time.

Rubber Bullets - Although I've heard of prisons using these (and rubber grenades), I've never heard of police forces (I may be showing some ignorance here). Rubber bullets are a less lethal option. I say less lethal because if rubber bullets hit a vulnerable spot (eye, temple, etc.) they can be deadly. However, in most applications they are not. This option is something which could be used if the knife wielder mentioned above was down the street, beyond the range of the tazer's wires. It is also a method for use against groups of people; if charged by a group of people rubber bullets are an effective means of breaking the charge.

Lethal Force - Not going to insult everyone by telling them that this means the officer is required to use a firearm.

---------- ---------- ----------

Drawing bright lines as to when escalation should occur is almost impossible. Factors which will cause different reactions will be the person confronting the officer (an 80 year old grandmother is going to get treated differently than a 350 lb. steroid freak), how many officers are present, how many non-officers are present, and probably an infinite number of other factors. Each situation must be addressed according to the situation at hand.

One thing we must remember is that the officer is nor require to "fight fair." He is allowed to react in a manner which is meant to insure his safety and bring the situation under control. This means that he can escalate beyond what is offered to him. Of course, the reaction must still be proportionate and that will vary from case to case. If the 80 year old grandmother calls him a "whipersnapper" and swings her purse at him he isn't going to be justified going for his tazer. On the other hand, if the 350 lb. steroid freak comes out of his car mumbling something about God's vengeance and starts chasing the 140 lb. officer the officer could very well be justified going straight for the tazer (maybe even the pistol).

So, I am left with the question: how would I advise officers in a similar removing a resistant person from the library situation to act. I'd advise them to "lay hands" on the guy (do police everywhere use that phrase?), put him in handcuffs, and then hook him under the arms and drag him out like they finally did. If he does anything stupid - resist getting handcuffed, flop around on the floor to keep you from lifting him, hook feet in doorframes, yell for others to jump you - capstun him. Get control and get him out; don't give the mob time to form.

Steve, you did this sort of thing for a living once upon a time. Comments? (or from anyone else)

Is Shaming DUI's Working in Tennessee?

That seems to be a matter of opinion.

The Big Game

Okay, so we all watched the Ohio State - Michigan game. My three comments: (1) Great game. (2) Either one of those teams would destroy a badly over-ranked USC (USC is always over-ranked). (3) Neither of those teams would have been undefeated if they had been in the SEC. They each shredded the other's vaunted defense and that would have happened much sooner if they'd been playing the likes of LSU, Florida, Arkansas, Auburn, etc.

Who gets the championship game? We've seen who wins between OSU and Michigan so another team should get its shot. It should probably either be Florida or Arkansas (depending on who wins the championship). However, I predict it will be USC. This is a mistake. I'm not sure an SEC team in a single game can beat OSU, but I'm certain that OSU will manhandle USC.

Oh well, the basketball has started so we UK fans are starting to wander away from that game which fills time until the real season starts anyway.

Jail in Richmond in Trouble

The Richmond jail is old and incredibly inadequate. The new sheriff points it out, but of course everyone's been pointing this out for years. Nothing is going to happen until either that jail falls in on itself or somebody wins a massive law suit.

And probably not even then. This is, after all, the city which was sued by its own judges because their courts were inadequate and in a condemned building.

A brass knuckle purse.

Someone sent the Supreme Court poison cookies.

A Deputy's Worst Nightmare

A defendant comes to the courtroom and the family of the victim rush him. A melee ensues (link is to the video).

From USA Today

Tazered at College

Clearly, this kid is resisting. Yes folks, passive resistance is still resistance and can require police to use force. The video starts with the guy yelling at the police don't touch me and the kid absolutely refuses to stand after several commands. That is going to cause some sort of physical intervention. Personally, I think they probably should have grabbed the guy, cuffed him, and dragged him out. Anyway, I'd really like to know what happened before the video started to make the campus police come after this guy. I doubt they are there just to harass some kid.

You mean, guns are actually LEGAL?!?

Man goes into a museum wearing a firearm. He is told to leave the gun in his car. He refuses.

"We have since learned, upon doing some research, that Virginia is one of the few states in the United States that allow guns to be worn in public," a museum spokesperson said.

I'm not sure this is real

This is either the world's worst burglar or fake. What makes me suspicious (other than the fact the guy seems invulnerable) is that it's during the day and at least once the camera seems to zoom in. And why can't he break the glass on that door? Still, the video quality is very typical of store videos I've spent hours squinting at and I can't see someone going into a package store and doing that much damage just for a prank video.

Florida is refusing to send mentally ill inmates to mental hospitals.

Ouch! Bad Co-Counsel

Blonde Justice is having a bad week.

Burn Kittens

You should get more than 1.5 years.

Sell $39 Million in Broken Computers . . .

. . . get 7+ years in jail.

“Sick, not sexy”

Every used car salesman business man has a dream of joining the mile high club. But doing it in the seats? Geeze. The attorney says it was all a misunderstanding about an ‘unidentified’ disease. Yea right.

You've Got to be Kidding Me: O.J.

O.J. Simpson is doing a book and an interview, both titled: "If I Did It."

"If I had known that sort of thing was frowned upon..."

A Bland County high school teacher accused of sneaking into a burial vault with two cheerleaders and handling the bones of a corpse is simply a cemetery tourist who did nothing wrong, her attorney asserted yesterday.

How to know the Judge is mad at you

"The facts are remarkable. Plaintiff, Susan Frunz, and her two guests were in Frunz’s home in Tacoma, Washington, when police surrounded the house, broke down the back door and entered. The police had no warrant and had not announced their presence. Frunz first became aware of them when an officer accosted her in the kitchen and pointed his gun, bringing the barrel within two inches of her forehead. The police ordered or slammed the occupants to the floor and cuffed their hands behind their backs—Frunz for about an hour, until she proved to their satisfaction that she owned the house, at which time they said 'never mind' and left."
...
"In short, we must ask: Why is this case here? There may have been some justification for going to trial because there were disputed questions of fact about how the officers behaved during the course of the intrusion into Frunz’s house. But a jury made up of seven members of the community heard the evidence and unanimously ruled in Frunz’s favor. By not only finding defendants liable, but also imposing punitive damages, the jury determined that the officers acted in reckless or malicious disregard of plaintiff’s constitutional rights. Only the most misguided optimism would cause defendants, and those who are paying for their defense, to appeal the verdict under these circumstances. Surely, the citizens of Tacoma would not want to be treated in their own homes the way the jury found officers Stril, Morris and Alred treated Frunz and her guests. A prompt payment of the verdict, accompanied by a letter of apology from the city fathers and mothers, might have been a more appropriate response to the jury’s collective wisdom."<sup>10

10</sup> "Defendants and their counsel shall show cause within 14 days why they should not be assessed double costs and attorney’s fees for filing a frivolous appeal. Fed. R. App. P. 38."

---------- ---------- ----------

Those are the opening and closing paragraphs of Frunz v. Tacoma.

Via Eugene Volokh (with a discussion) and How Appealing.

Felony Second Degree Murder

In September I noted here that Deputy Green of the Powhatan Sheriff's Department died when he belatedly tried to join a chase of a suspect who had fled from a traffic safety checkpoint.



Bob Beasley, the Commonwealth Attorney for Powhatan, has filed murder charges against Khalil Jerry Walker, the person who drove away from the check point and led police on a chase that got up to 100 mph. Commonwealth Attorney Beasley has actually charged Walker with four charges: misdemeanor DUI, felony driving on a suspended license, felony eluding, and 2d degree murder.

It's an interesting case to try to unravel. Admittedly, when I first read that it was a felony murder charge I thought that it was a stretch. Somewhere from the dark recesses of my mind I remembered a list of felonies which could be used in felony murder. However, after doing a little bit of research, I found out that this is only if the felony murder is in the 1st degree. There is a specific statute for 2d degree:

§ 18.2-33. Felony homicide defined; punishment.

The killing of one accidentally, contrary to the intention of the parties, while in the prosecution of some felonious act other than those specified in §§ 18.2-31 and 18.2-32, is murder of the second degree and is punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than five years nor more than forty years.

Still, I'd never heard of a felony murder charge based upon an eluding charge. I poked around a little with FastCase last night and found one case wherein it was the underlying charge, Bazemore v. Commonwealth. However, in Bazemore the defense didn't contest it, except to argue that an instruction was wrong (thrown out as not preserved by objection). In other cases the Virginia appellate courts seem to ignore the eluding and concentrate on whatever felony led to the eluding. Specifically, the Virginia Supreme Court, in Montague v. Commonwealth, was faced with a situation wherein a person in a stolen car fled a checkpoint, was pursued by an officer, and struck and killed a child. While the flight was an important part of the case the court's analysis was based upon the theft of the car. However, this case doesn't exactly fit because the Commonwealth seems not to have presseludinging as the underlying charge. So, basing a felony murder on eluding appears to be novel.

Anyway, the issue of whether eluding is a solid basis should be a moot point. Assuming the felony driving suspended stands up there is a case which almost mirrors this one. In Davis v. Commonwealth the court held that a defendant who fled the police because he was driving with his license revoked (a class 6 felony) was guilty of 2d degree murder when he hit a police car and killed his passenger. The question then becomes whether the death of Deputy Green was part of the res gestae of the felony driving without a license. In other words, was his death a part of the crime as determined by its close connection in time, distance and continuity of action, as part of the same criminal enterprise. See Motague. Here the case of Haskill v. Commonwealth, might be somewhat instructive. In Haskill a group of men attempted to commit a robbery. When their robbery attempt failed they fled and the victim pursued. One of the would be robbers shot and killed him to facilitate escape. The court ruled that in this case a fact finder could find the escape intertwined with the crime and set a rule:

We do not say, however, that in every case a homicide committed during escape from a felony must be construed, as a matter of law, to come within the felony-murder statute. Usually, as in the present cases, the question will present an issue of fact to be determined from the evidence.

So, the decision as to whether the death of Deputy Green was part of the res gestae of the felony driving will be up to the jury.

The connection in time is easy to make. Deputy Green was starting to pursue while the ongoing crime of felony driving suspended was ongoing. Continuity of action and being part of the same criminal enterprise are also fairly simple to show. Walker was attempting to escape from police and while he was trying to escape was continuing his felonious driving. Distance is the one element which might be somewhat harder to prove. In most of the cases I looked thru the homicide is something within an immediately proximate zone. For instance the ones involving vehicles seem to all be about the driver wrecking into someone and causing a death. Nevertheless, this is not the type of felony which is a close up felony. If someone is fleeing down country roads in a rural county at 100 mph the range of effect is going to be much larger than a mugging. An objective person would understand that felonious driving and fleeing will cause officers to converge from other roads and do so at a high rate of speed in order to intercept or pursue - clearly endangering their lives. Thus the distance which would be considered "close" in this felony driving charge is going to be much larger than in most felonies. Clearly, the Deputy was within the range of those reacting to the crime and flight.

The res gestae satisfied about the only thing left to show is mens rea. Under the statute this is satisfied if the defendant acted in a manner which demonstrates "extreme recklessness demonstrating total indifference to human life." Cotton v. Commonwealth. Driving in a rural county, at night, at 100 mph with deputies in pursuit fulfills that nicely.

This is an interesting case. I look forward to reading how it turns out.

LA Jailees Will Have to Serve More Than 10%

Now they'll have to serve 25% of their time.

Cop Combat

Y'know, I gotta give the officer some credit here. If I had a firearm at my side and someone that big was coming after me I'd have used it.

Unconstitutional Magistrate?

Can a magistrate mandate that all people who commit a certain crime get the same bond?

Dead Bald Eagle?

Can't prosecute for it.

An understaffed supermax is a dangerous place.

A prosecutor has a good day.

A year for a false rape.

An 18 month old with cocaine in his sytem.

Blonde Justice Discusses

Police scams to catch guys who target kids.

Need a Birthday Present?

You could always rob a bank.

"Batman and Robin" Catch Drug Suspects

From the "Are you kidding me?" Department:
Police officers in England put on superhero outfits in a bid to unsettle the badguys. They pretended to be drunks looking for a costume party and knocked on the door of a suspect's home.
Read more HERE.

The greatest shock on Election Day

The biggest shift in politics this past Tuesday involved Mayberry’s own Andy Griffith. A Wisconsin man legally changed his name to ‘Andy Griffith’ in an attempt to ride the famous actors coat tales to become Grant County Sheriff. The shock for me is that Andy Griffith is going judicial on the guy. A lawsuit doesn’t fit his Mayberry, Matlock or his “I Love to tell the story" image.

The Most Important Film of 2007

RENO911 - MIAMI

And the officers react:

What is a Vet?

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

War makes strange giant creatures out of the little routine men who inhabit the Earth. -WWII correspondent Ernie Pyle.

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's alloy forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.
What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.
He is the Nebraska farmer who worries every year that this time the bank really will foreclose.
He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 39th Parallel.
She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back at all.
He is the Quantico drill instructor who never has seen combat - but who has saved countless lives by turning slouchy no-'counts into soldiers, and teaching them to watch each others' backs.
He is the parade-riding legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.
He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.
He is the anonymous hero in the Tomb of the Unknowns, whose presence at Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the other anonymous heroes whose valor died unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.
He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp, and who wishes all day long his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.
He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

-This editorial first was published in 1995 and has appeared annually since 1999.

The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month...

Happy Veteran's Day
to Ken and all who served.

Commonwealth Conservative is Down

Yeesh, another one of my Daily Reads goes down. Pretty soon I won't have anything left to read.

Chad, I'd say I'm going to miss your insight, but thankfully I can get it without the blog (I just have to cross the hall).

The question now becomes: who will fill the vacuum in Virginia political blogging?

Rutgers Rocks!!!

Talk About Mistaken Identity!

In case you haven't seen this yet, a 17-year-old girl who was wrongly locked in jail for seven days might still be in jail, facing criminal charges that included aiding and abetting a robbery, were it not for an anonymous tip to a Crimestopper hotline.

The girl cried in court October 24 as the judge read the charges to her.

"I wasn't even there," the girl said. "I know these guys but don't understand why they're using my name."
"That may be all true but at this point; I just don't know," the judge said.
"Talk to your attorney."

(The girl pictured 1st is the actual suspect)

Malvo Gets Life

Again.

Fumigation

It works for ridding your house of those pesky police too.

Mass Cat Killer . . .

. . . gets 15 years probation.

The Struggle to Heal

Victims of violent crime and their struggles to heal.

Duke Prosecutor's Office Gets Complaint

The Durham County Prosecutor’s office just can’t get out of the headlines. They will need help; maybe I should send them my resume.

Creepy courtroom picture

The story is about the ordering of a DNA test – but the notable part is the eyes of the guy.

Tired of Going Out to Dark Street Corners to Buy Your Illegal Drugs?

You could always get them delivered to your house.

Feds and Checks

$300,000 = 11 years.

Drivers Steal Money From Toll Baskets

Its kind of an ingenious plan...

"As they approach, they take the newspaper or the paper towel into the feeder, they shove it in there with a stick, and then they would come back later on … with a vacuum apparatus (like) a shop vac and suck the coins out."

Read more and watch the video HERE.

Police

1) SuperOfficer tackles a thug on a stolen motorcycle.

2) SanFran is recruiting gay cops.

3) Ouch! Two police cars on an emergency response to a bank robbery crash into each other.

Don't Get Raped in Saudi . . .

. . . because you'll get 90 lashes.

BANISHMENT

Is it a federally valid criminal punishment?

Hospital Escape

A New Zealand Prisoner escapes while faking a heart attack.

UK Acheives True Color Blindness

A black guy is convicted for what a white guy did.

DA Kills Self . . .

. . . rather than face charges of soliciting a minor.

Is it blackmail . . .

. . . if you sell a product with a timed failure put in it that only go off if you are not paid the agreed price?

Duct Tape Abuse

It takes Florida 7 months to decide that duct taping kids to the bed and leaving them is abuse.

City Cop cars equipped with GPS

I hope other states will follow suite. I know in West Virginia, the state troopers do at least 100 mph on the interstates – now, the rest of us do 85-90, but still, isn’t it the job of the police to slow us down? “Wild and Wonderful” I guess.

Drinking game leads to murder confession

Of all the stories I have heard about drinking games, this is perhaps the only good result in the history of drinking games.

Man Ordered to Wear "Sex Offender" T-Shirt

A judge has ordered a man who twice exposed himself to a 10-year-old girl at his workplace to wear a T-shirt with the words: "I am a registered sex offender" in bold letters.

Defendant's Final Statement

A while back I saw part of this guy's statement on TV when I was back in the Lexington, Kentucky area for homecoming (Centre). I asked if anybody had a copy and lo and behold, Michael Pratt came through.

Meece, convicted of killing a family of three (Husband, Wife & Son) had previously confessed to the murders. However, he recanted for these reasons given: "so he could delay his capital murder trial. Meece also claims he was disappointed by the lack of preparation by his attorney." As well, "he'd had a conflict with one of his court-appointed attorneys and thought pleading guilty and then taking back the plea was the only way to get new lawyers and a fair trial." The confessions were admitted at trial and they were damning.

Statement Before Sentencing
---------------------------

My name is William Henry Mece, and I am the defendant. I am here to be final sentenced on this illegal and unconstitutional conviction. I intend to appeal and I have instructed the Court's appointed attorneys to do so. If we are in fact a nation of laws, where the rule of law applies to all, then this conviction will not stand.

All I ever asked for, pleaded for, demanded and expected was and is a fair trial under the laws and Constitution of this Commonwealth and these United States of America. It is that Constitution of the United States of America that every soldier, sailor, airman and marine, past present and future, is sworn to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Such a lawful, constitutional fair trial was and is apparently beyond the capacity of the Commonwealth, its Attorney, its department of Public Advocacy, and this Court.

I stand convicted based on the coerced and involuntary statements made as part and parcel of what this Court recognized as an involuntary and coerced plea; lies of my own telling, proven tobe lies. There exists no credible testimony, no credible physical evidence, and not a single eyewitness {the can or did} say I did this, had anything to do with this, or was within 100 miles of these murders. Therefore this conviction can only be based upon my own lies, wrongfully admitted by this Court in order to get a conviction, not under the laws of this State and Nation, but by any means necessary. In doing so, this Court follows in the best traditions of the "legal" systems of Nazi Germany, Communist China, and Soviet Russia, where I would have gotten to see and hear all the evidence against me, which I have not in this case.

The Court relied on the case of U.S. vs. Marks, 209 F3d 577 to allow those statements to be heard by a jury. In that case the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals allowed post plea statements to the police because those statements were not to the attorney for the prosecution and therefore were not forbidden by law. This is not the case here where the statements used were made to Commonwealth Brian Wright on 15 Nov 04 and 15 Dec 04 as part of and required by the written plea agreement. That plea had not been finalized, as this Court made clear on15Nov04 when it reserved the right to reject the plea under R.Cr. 8.10. Mr. Wright recognized it on 15 Nov 04 as well on the record in asking to keep the record sealed.

The true case precedent should be and is Roberts vs. Commonwealth, Ky, 896 SW2d 4 (1995), as I brought to the attention of the Court's appointed attorneys before trial. In that case, the Kentucky Supreme Court, this states "highest" court, held that although the defendant did not keep his part of a "plea bargain" - just as I did - the statments he made as part of that plea agreement are not admissable at a subsequent trial. He, too, lied to the Commonwealth and the police, as they lie to us. KRE 410 and Roberts are the law as I stand here today.

All I ever wanted and expected and worked for was a fair trial under the law, applied equally to the State and the defendant. I expected too much, where the Commonwealth Attorney has not been held to the rule of law, including KRE 410, the rules of discovery, and this Court allowed him to present what he knew were material and false evidence and flagrantly lie to this Court, the defense, and the jury and this Court refused to correct it.

I bemoan the loss of the American ideal of a fair trial under the law if this conviction stands, if it ever existed. It will have ceased to exist for my children and their children, the Constitution rendered moot, outdated, and antiquated, except as propaganda. We have come much further down the road to a police state than even I feared or anyone not on trial and caught up by the system would ever expect or believe. Long Live the King, His Gentry, and His Courts. I can only hope the higher courts prove me wrong.

No less than 108 people have been from Death Row, not on technicality but on the physical evidence, having been convicted and sentenced by Courts in proceedings just like this one. I am not the first wrongfully convicted and I will not be the last. Unfortunately the evidence in this case does not and can not prove my innocence, it can only not prove me guilty.

Throughout this trial, the prosecutor was permitted to put my religious faith on trial and claim I was some sort of occultist pagan witch. Not even my ex-wife and all her lies supported such prejudicial nonsense. By making it an issue, the State put into evidence my Jewish faith. I am proud to be a Jew, as my ex-wife and my children were and may still be. To understand what that means, one only has to look to the Old Testament of the Christian Bible and these words credited to Jesus Christ founded there, written in red, I would point out that Numbers 35:30 in a modern translation of the original Hebrew says:

"Whenever someone kills a person the evidence of witnesses is required for the execution of the murderer. The evidence of a single witness is not sufficient for putting a person to death."

So says the law older than Western Civilization itself.

The stands no second witness in this case, only the desperate coerced lies of a defendant forced to say what the State wanted to hear to fight in vain for a fair trial under the law. There is no one who said or can say they saw me kill the Wellnitz family or that I was there. I didn't and I wasn't. Not my lying vengeful ex-wife who wanted and got me out of her life, not my co-defendant who risked her life to come forward to finally tell the truth.

I stand before the Court for sentencing. This Court has the power to condemn me to die in the State's prisons, be it a death sentence in the 9 to 15 years the appeals take if not overturned, or under a Life Sentence. Parole is not, and has never been, a realistic possibility. The Court rejected the Commonwealth's first offer of 50 years on the false possibility of of parole after 12 years, and yet stands today possibly prepared to sentence me to those same 12 years before I die.

May the One True G-d, called Our Father in Heaven by the Jewish Carpenter Jesus, have mercy and find forgiveness for the police, Mr. Wright, those witnesses who testified falsely with the best intentions against me, and this Court. May no man suffer ill on my account.

Shima Yisrael: Adonai Eloheimu Adonai Achod. Roruch Shem K'uod valchutoh l'olam va-ed. Amen.

Hear O Israel: The Lord is Our God, the Lord is One. Blessed is His Glorious Kingdom forever and ever. Amen

That is all I have to say.
----------------------------

The section between the {} I couldn't make out.

Duke Lacrosse Case

Discussion as to why the prosecutor hasn't talked to the victim and whether or not Nifong is a good prosecutor.

Yes, You Must Produce All 240 Witnesses

A judge requires the defense (civil) to produce all 240 people they have had sign sworn statements. When they question him about it twice he gets a little peeved.

Governor Required to Allow Parole

In Cali, the governor refused to give a prisoner parole and is overruled by a court.

Sadam Sentenced to Death

For killing 148 people in one incident in one town, he is sentenced to hang.

Pawn Shop sued for wrongful death

Wherever a firearm is bought, a background check is necessary. But its especially imperative if a white supremacist is buying a gun at a Pawn Shop. “Loaner Too” should have know to check this guy out. Then again, maybe they didn’t want to know.

Need Proof tha Hip-Hop / Rap is Dead?

Feds arrest Sheriff and lots of law enforcement in Henry County, Virginia

As reported by the Danville Register Bee, the Henry County Sheriff and a bunch of deputies were arrested by the feds.

Indictment here.

Kansas AG reviewing records of abortion clinic for evidence of possible crimes

The motivation seems to be that if you dig deep enough into abortion records, there’s going to be something illegal going on. Hopefully this is not the case and the AG has some hard evidence of these ‘possible crimes,’ otherwise this is an obvious ploy to target abortion clinics and hype up the base in a close election.

A 5 Second Rape?

A Maryland Court of Appeals overturned a rape conviction because a woman gave consent and then withdrew it. The State's appealing the decision.

What drew my attention in the article was the scenario. A 15 year old asks an 18 year old to have sex. She agrees "as long as he stops when I tell him to." During the sex she feels pain and tells him to stop. He stops in "five or so seconds."

Ummm . . . That's mighty thin.

Anybody got any info about this case? I suspect that the government might have actually argued that the entire situation was coercive and she had no real choice, no matter what she said. The paper implies that this was the situation but doesn't say anything about the government arguing it.

The going rate of a teenage life? $200

Hit-men are not expected to be moral people, but $200?

Need North Carolina Law

A friend of mine asked me if I could help him get the 1994 versions of North Carolina's statutes "14-27.5, 14-27.3, 14-27.4, 14-27.2, ex alt."

I can find the modern statutes, but for some reason I don't have my copy of the last 200 years of North Carolina statutes anymore. Maybe they were lost when I moved. ;-)

Anyway, if anyone can help please email me. Thanx.

Around the Web

1) A judge cannot order a jury to find someone guilty - not even in Canada.

2) Was it a fishing boat or not? We'll never know - not that it matters.

3) Hmmmm . . . Sex at a football game wasn't one of the perks I was told to expect when I took the job as a prosecutor. I think I need to talk with Chad. I might be getting short changed here.

On second thought, the whole getting arrested thing just doesn't work for me. I think I'll pass.

4) Ever wonder why the feds are concentrating on the street corner crack dealer instead of big, interstate or international white collar crimes?

5) We all knowthat all legal shows are bad; ie Law and Order is terrible (I keep waiting for Law & Order: Grand Theft Auto). Blonde Justice fills us in on how bad this year's legal fare is: Shark and Justice

If you want to extradite a criminal from New Zealand . . .

. . . make sure you buy the officers and him a ticket on a flight with no lay-overs:

In an embarrassing episode for the police, Rafal Luczynski, 32, slipped away from two detectives while being deported to Poland.

The drug lord, who is believed to have connections to the Polish mafia, was reported missing in Heathrow's Terminal One early on the morning of October 12. He had served 3½ years in a New Zealand prison for importing amphetamine.

Police spokesman Michael Player said Luczynski was out of the jurisdiction of New Zealand authorities.

New Zealand police were responsible for deporting the escape artist, who previously slipped his shackles in 2001 when he fled New Zealand while on home detention, but not for ensuring he arrived in Poland.

"He's no longer wanted by New Zealand police at all," Mr Player said.

"It's just unfortunate that he exited ahead of his destination, but really he's now a UK responsibility."

Oops.

YeHa!

Cattle rustlin's back.