Recently in Legal Issues Category

...because this is so wrong. The death penalty rarely works in our system of justice, but some people really should be put down like mad dogs:

A 33-year-old North Carolina man has been sentenced to 110 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that he terrorized more than 100 underage girls by hacking into MySpace accounts and extorting nude pictures from them.

Ivory Dickerson, a civil engineer, received the maximum sentence on three counts of manufacturing child pornography, two counts of unlawful computer intrusion and one count for possession of child pornography. Members of the FBI's Innocent Images Task Force uncovered a cache of child porn dating back to 1998, including videos of Dickerson with young girls in which he boasted of drinking and having sexual encounters with them, according to court documents.

Ugh. The article mentions that the FBI believe that Dickerson didn't act alone, and I agree. If he's got the social engineering skills to get kids to send him naked pics, my guess is that he's got an accomplice with the computer skills to hack computers. It's rare that a person has both skill sets.

And they should put down the accomplice(s) as well when they catch up to them.

Sometimes news items from El Reg are poignant, sometimes they're goofy, and sometimes they have something to say that's spot-on and scary on more than one level. Here's one of those, from India:

Police in India wrongfully arrested and detained a Bangalore man for 50 days after internet service provider Airtel mis-identified him as the person who posted images on Orkut that insulted a revered historical figure.

Lakshmana Kailash K., a 26-year-old techie, was arrested at his home on August 31 and transported to Pune, more than 10 hours away, according to news reports. He was held for 50 days and was released three weeks after police claimed to have apprehended the real people responsible for the posting.

OK, shit happens, right? Stories of mistaken identity can come from all corners of the earth these days. But here's the part of the article that struck home for me:

Google has said repeatedly it has no option but to cooperate with official law enforcement inquiries - such as this case. Indian police are saying it's not their fault for wrongly detaining a man for 50 days. And an Airtel representative was quoted saying the company is "distressed by the severe inconvenience" caused to their customer.

Translation: if you live in a country where freedom of speech is not protected, you can be imprisoned for weeks at a time for no other reason than you use the net. Sure, Google and your ISP may feel bad about your plight, but they certainly won't be standing behind you.

In these days of rendition, the various incarnations of the PATRIOT Act, and Vice President Cheney, the foul-mouthed Dick, we're not talking run-of-the-mill banana republic here. The above two paragraphs apply not only to India, but the United States of America as well.

(This is my Daily Kos diary entry for today)

Ohmy, all the navel-gazing and hand-wringing in the Blogosphere over the Jena 6! Like others here, I'm concerned that a front-page dKos post strolls down memory lane while there's a lot of work to be done on this issue. I'm also amused by the notion that the "black blogosphere" is annoyed with the "white-o-sphere" because the liberal white folks are coming very late to the party and still aren't doing enough to help the Jena 6.

On the subject of helping the Jena 6, let me also pimp blueintheface's diary from earlier today. I'd like to go a bit further and suggest a few more things.

Give to the Jena 6 defense fund. blueintheface already mentioned this, but let me re-empasize this. Even pro-bono legal work comes with expenses, not to mention the fact that these families have been turned upside down by all this. Hell, someone should probably start a fund to re-locate these folks to someplace where the kluxers of the local klaven won't come after them once the bright light isn't shining on Jena. And if you think that's not going to happen, consider the fact that they found a shotgun in the truck with the nooses today.

Contact the Louisiana Attorney General, Charles C. Foti and encourage him to start an investigation into the LaSalle Parish District Attorney's office. The Grand High Foti has had himself a helluva time sticking his nose into cases in Orleans Parish lately, so he's no stranger to flexing the muscle of his office. Be sure to remind Mr. Foti that, once upon a time, New Orleans Archbishop Rummel excommunicated a politician for refusing to integrate schools, so stopping racism is as important to the church as stopping euthanasia.

Encourage Democratic Presidential Candidates to visit Jena. If you really want to mess with the law enforcement agencies of Jena and LaSalle Parish, get Edwards, Clinton, and Obama to pay courtesy calls on the families of these young men. Those families need all the nelp and encouragement they can get. Of course, any visit from one of the big three Dems will mean that their USSS protective details are going to go with them. Those agents don't have a lot of patience for the KKK or local government officials who enable them.

Encourage the FBI to stay on the case. Yeah, the DoJ blew off the investigation, but that doesn't mean fed involvement has to be over. Write Director Mueller and remind him that most of the kluxers are really just criminals who need to be slapped down, racial implications notwithstanding. The political hacks at Justice may not care because of the Kanye West theory, but common criminals offend the institutional sensibilities of the FBI.

Speak up on racism in your community. Make sure your community doesn't become Jena. Consider starting a chapter of ERACE, an organization here in New Orleans whose mission is to open up dialog on racism with the hope that talking will promote understanding. ERACE has information on how you can facilitate dialog in your local community on their website.

Now, onto the subject of the colors of the liberal blogosphere. While I join with ProgressiveSouth in wondering why some of the major lefty sites in Teh Blogosphere haven't emphasized the story of the Jena 6 as strongly as perhaps they should, I'm wondering about this whole notion of the "black blogosphere" and the "white blogosphere." Maybe it's just me, but a lot of the black folks I know down here are pretty much still working on trying to make The Road Home program work for them so they can re-build their still-gutted houses in Gentilly.

Still, if there is indeed a "black blogosphere" that is upset with the "white blogosphere" about the Jena 6, I would strongly suggest that there might be a few things happening that are just a tad bit more important than the plight of six young men in Central Louisiana. I'd further suggest that the "black blogosphere" get off its Collective Black Blogging Ass, come down to New Orleans, pick up a hammer and help Habitat for Humanity re-build the Ninth Ward. Maybe I'm a bit selfish on this issue, but the 100,000+ black New Orleanians who were put on buses and shipped out of state might be just as important as six kids who like to fight.

This is just going to happen more and more as boomers get older:

A 69-year-old woman who accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake on Tuesday evening hit and killed an elderly man in a parking lot, Jefferson Parish officials said.

According to witnesses, the victim was sitting on the base of a light pole along the 4800 block of the Westbank Expressway when the woman's 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue pinned him.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver wasn't charged, but the Jefferson Parish District Attorney's Office is being consulted.

This is vehicular homicide, plain and simple. Had the perp been a 24-year old male, he would have been arrested.

Old people who don't know the difference between the gas and the brake are a danger to us all. They'll never voluntarily give up their licenses. A stronger incentive is necessary. Perhaps the threat of dying in prison might convince some of them.

Foti continues to press for the release of records in the Memorial Hospital investigation. The big question is, why? Is it that he's convinced of Dr. Pou's guilt, or is this an attack on Eddie Jordan:

Though Foti has criticized New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan's handling of the case -- saying local prosecutors failed to present key evidence of guilt to the jury -- a Foti spokeswoman said the usual effort to unseal the records merely seeks to comply with the public records law. At the same time, spokeswoman Kris Wartelle questioned the motives of attorneys for Pou, the nurses and Tenet.

Ms. Wartelle better duck while throwing stones from that glass house. Yes, Dr. Pou and the nurses have ulterior motives, as does Tenet. They're all going to get the crap sued out of them in civil court. Releasing more documents will just embolden plaintiff attorneys.

Foti and the LA AG's office lost. They should do what pros do, go take a shower and prepare for the next game.

via Fark this time. There's a judge in Ohio that likes to give crazy punishments. I have issues with this, but at least this one is funny:

PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) - A judge known for giving unusual sentences has ordered three men who pleaded guilty to soliciting sex to take turns dressing in a bright yellow chicken costume.

Painesville Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti agreed to suspend a 30-day jail sentence if they wear the costume between 4 and 7 p.m. Friday outside the court while carrying a sign that reads "No Chicken Ranch in Painesville."

OK, Judge Cicconetti has a skewed view of what comprises justice. While part of me is OK with going after johns rather than hookers, the whole thing is really just a waste of time in the first place. I mean, the guys who patronize whores are as guilty as the women, but to set up a sting to lure the men in is just too much of a sex-police attitude for me.

But then again, we're talking about Ohio, which is dominionist capitol of the world.

two interesting cases where how a kid gets sentenced can make all the difference. First one is close to home:

A 21-year-old man found guilty of committing a hit-and-run almost three years ago on a New Orleans bridge will be required to sleep at Orleans Parish Prison for 18 months, while continuing to work during the day and going to school, Judge Arthur Hunter ruled Wednesday.

Assuming the system is working here, and pre-sentence investigations truly indicate that this young man is not just a sociopath, this is an appropriate sentence. Yes, he killed someone with his car. Yes, he freaked and tried to dump part of the body (the impact dismembered the victim). But it's hard for me to say I would be acting rational if I had just run someone down in a car.

The last place a 21-year old who is not already a career criminal needs to be is in prison in Louisiana. Let him continue his job, let him go to school, and hopefully being locked up at night for a year and a half will impress upon him the seriousness of his offense. If you put him into parish prison for 18 months, all you're going to end up with is another criminal who can't get a job and will likely return to prison in no time flat. We've got a prison system in this state that is so bad that young men would rather take their chances running away from cops at high speeds in cars, and then shooting it out in the hopes they can get away. They know that getting caught means Angola, and they're willing to risk death to avoid that.

Then there's the ridiculous:

Two middle-school students in Oregon are facing possible time in a juvenile jail and could have to register as sex offenders for smacking girls on the rear end at school.

Read the article, it's an interesting case. There's a lot of sex going on at age 13, but then, I look at my own 13-year old and his friends, and I can see where this may truly be a case of exuberance. Given the way my son's friends act, I'll go with exuberance. Smacking someone on the butt is not necessarily a sexual act. The parents don't want the kid to cop to a plea that criminalizes playful behavior, but then they're risking the possibility of their sons becoming "registered sex offenders" for life. That's a particularly horrible fate for a 13-year old, since it means they may never have a myspace page.

What this prosecutor should do is get this down to some sort of simple assault discussion, and leave sex out of it.

While history will surely focus on the Blue Dress, Clinton's presidency was not without its substantive errors. Take the OKC Bombing case and the prosecution of Tim McVeigh. One of the tools placed into the arsenal of federal prosecutors was the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. While it enabled the feds to quickly stick a needle in McVeigh's arm, it's also created problems for death row inmates who seek new trials based on evidence that surfaces years after their convictions.

TalkLeft mentions the case of Troy Davis, who is scheduled to be executed Tuesday by the State of Georgia. There appears to be solid evidence indicating that Davis might be innocent of the murder he will be killed for, but AEDPA makes it all but impossible for his lawyers to file a habeas writ to hold off the headsman. Go to TalkLeft for the details of Davis' case; you'll see it's compelling.

The bigger picture point here (and it's so tough for me to say that when a potentially innocent man's life hangs in the balance) is that Clinton didn't need to sign AEDPA. He was pro-death penalty, and backed that up by signing death warrants as governor of Arkansas. He could have easily said this was bad legislation and it would not have been a significant issue in the 1996 campaign. It's hard to remember a time when terrorism wasn't front-and-center, but back then, it was still the economy, stupid, and he was winning that argument hands-down.

This is one of the huge consequences of divided government, though, that bad legislation gets through because of compromise. The Republican party has so poisoned our political discourse that things like AEDPA become one of there "not-so-bad" bills that a Dem president has to give in to so he can be open to shut down the even more disgusting things these pieces of crap will pull out of their ass.

Clinton was a good president, but AEDPA will go down as one of his darker moments.