Alaskablawg

Blogging Housekeeping for the New Year

I've done a bit of housekeeping for the new year, updating the blog roll, changing the template, and trying to update my author profile, but typepad is not letting me do that right now. There are some other changes that may be coming, but I'm going to wait to see how those develop before posting further.

As far as the blogroll is concerned, I've added some PD blogs I've been meaning to add, such as Audacity, Gideon's Guardians and PD Investigator. I've also added an interesting new blog under the Libertarian Sites, Ideas. The link comes from Randy Barnett over at Volokh (who should be on the Supreme Court). Ideas is written by David Friedman, a libertarian economist who teaches at Santa Clara University Law School. As a fan of his book The Machinery of Freedom, I've found his arguments thought provoking, even if I do not always agree with them.

For example, he considers a different argument against the death penalty. It's interesting to read the discussion provoked in the comments. Friedman is against the death penalty, but more on economic grounds (no, not money, but economics. For the difference, I would recommend reading The Undercover Economist). He finds unconvincing the potential execution of innocent people. I disagree with him based on that, but he raises an interesting point. I would highly recommend checking out his blog or his website for an intelligent discussion of issues related to law and policy, even if from a perspective with which you do not agree. Consider his post on gay marriage, for example, as a perspective that is generally not really considered from today's winner-take-all political process.

Lastly, and on a completely different subject, I have not been blogging much because of the holidays and my last trial. I have to say that the last trial was just wrong in so many ways that it is hard to fathom. It has caused me a great deal of soul-searching about whether I want to even keep doing this type of work. There have been a couple of other bad verdicts I know of recently and I keep wondering if it's worth it. Frankly, I look and wonder why I bang my head against the wall. Maybe I should just join some civil firm where I could make some money and not feel like Sisyphus always trying to roll that stone up the hill. In the past few weeks I've mulled this over in the back of my head. I've also been spending a lot of time with my kids, teaching them chess, ice skating, or just otherwise goofing off, and there may come a point in my life when my practice changes or varies, but it's going to be because that's where I need to go. It's not going to be because I quit. So, I put on the armor and get back in the saddle. And even if the rock rolls down the hill, I can hold up my head and I can look at my kids, knowing I have been true to my beliefs.

I Want A Real Lawyer (Who Doesn't Know What He's Doing)"

One of Skelly's client's hired a private attorney that needed legal advice. About the case. From Skelly. I don't know Skelly's response, but I would have been tempted to tell the private lawyer to sell the Mercedes to buy some law books.

Alaska Airlines

Alaska Airlines has not been doing too well lately, generally running late and seeing consumer satisfaction ratings drop. Incidents like this one don't help. Sounds like the captain and crew did a good job in a difficult situation.

Unfortunately, it does not sound like other Alaska Airlines employees have handled the situation with as much grace.

Field Drug Tests

Today's Miami Herald has a sobering article about a freshman at Bryn Mawr who was headed home for Christmas break. She had powder-filled condoms in her luggage, leftover jokes from the previous finals session. Field test showed that the powder was cocaine. She's thrown in jail and bail is set at $500,000. Her attorney demands a test of the powder and its determined to be flour, not cocaine.

This sounds rather similar to the Dallas Police Department scandal in which Dallas cops were planting fake drugs on people, usually indigent Mexicans, and rail-roading them through the system.

Mississippi Injustice

Radley Balko over at The Agitator has been writing a number of posts that would be of interest to readers of this blawg. For one, he has several posts about the Militarization of Mayberry (I do not have links to many of the stories, so if you are interested, check the archives). Since September 11, 2001, the federal government has been providing local law enforcement with more money to fight terrorism. Many small police agencies suddenly now have enough money for SWAT teams, automatic rifles, etc. It's hard to see why some town of 15,000 people in the middle of, say, Montana would need such equipment, but they get it. It's not hard to imagine that things would get out of hand.

Radley, in conjunction with this, has been writing about abusive police procedures, such as police over-eager to use their Tasers or problems with no-knock raids. In writing about this, he came across the case of Cory Maye. He has several posts about Mr. Maye (which can be found here, here, and here, among other places. Scroll down to see updates about his investigation). Mr. Maye was renting a duplex in Mississippi. His 1-year old daughter lived with him. Police got a tip from an anonymous informant that Mr. Jamie Smith, who lived in the other half of the duplex, was selling drugs. So, they executed a no-knock warrant in the middle of the night. For those who are not versed in the law, this is significant because police generally have to prove that there is sufficient probability of violence or destruction of evidence to be able to conduct a no-knock warrant. Otherwise, they have to announce who they are and what they are doing there. Further, some jurisdictions, including Alaska, specifically limit the time that warrants can be served to reasonable hours, usually between 8:00 am and about 9:00 pm. To serve a warrant at another time requires some justification.

Anyway, in the middle of the night, the police break into the wrong house, the one where Cory Maye lives, not where Jamie Smith lives. Cory Maye, hearing the commotion, picks up a gun and shoots at one of the officers. He hits the officer below his bullet-proof vest. The officer, the son of the local police chief, was white. He dies from his wounds. Maye is black. He went to trial and was convicted and sentenced to death. It is a really sad story. Radley has apparently done some more digging and is generating a fair amount of interest (TalkLeft and Instapundit have reported about this case). For example, at trial, the cops claimed that there were two names on the search warrant: Maye's and Jamie Smith, the guy who lived in the other part of the duplex. Radley, though, talks to the court clerk and sees that the cops never had a warrant to search Maye's house. The prosecutor on the case emailed Radey about the case. Radley sent the DA some queestions about the case and the DA answers. Very interesting and required reading for readers of this blawg. It's also a good exhibit against the death penalty, no-knock raids, and the War on Drugs.

Death Penalty in Iowa

From Steve at CrimLaw (Ken's apparently cavorting through Kentucky, sampling many fine single-barrel bourbons. He says that he's visiting family, but I think we all know the truth) comes news that Iowa is debating whether to re-instate the death penalty. The death penalty would only apply in cases of persons charged with kidnapping, torturing and killing children. Apparently articles like this one don't really matter to those GOP legislators in Iowa. Who cares that we have executed 1000 people since 1976, but have exonerated 122 people. Now, maybe it's just me, but it seems that a 10:1 ratio of executed to exonerated suggests that there may be some more problems with our judicial system than we wish to admit. Yesterday's verdict in my case, of course, has nothing to do with this statement (sarcasm off).

For several years in the late '90s, Alaska legislators would propose bringing up the death penalty. Inevitably it was proposed for sick bastards that torture and kill the kids. Fits right in with the idea that if something is "for the kids", then we all give up our freedom and common sense. Anyway, a whole slew of people would come down and testify, all praising this idea to 'restore justice', to 'promote healing among victims' families', or to show our commitment to 'the children'. One of the last people to speak would be the public defender, either the head or the deputy, generally because they are invited to speak whenever a substantive criminal bill is proposed. And they would inevitably tell the legislature the bill that would be paid if Alaska wished to re-instate the death penalty. (Consider New Jersey. It's spent $250 million to prosecute death penalty cases and so far has executed - get read for it - nobody! Read the article.) The proposals inevitably died and Alaska still does not have the death penalty. I wish I could say that it was a commitment to justice, a realization that our justice system still convicts innocent people or that our justice system punishes the poor and minorities more than whites. But no, it's because of the cost. Well, good luck, Iowa. You're going to need it.

Good Advice

As a general rule, free legal advice is worth what you pay for it. However, Not Guilty has a good run down on common misconceptions regarding police interviews. Edward Bennett Williams, one of the greatest trial lawyers in this country, had a large brook trout mounted behind his desk. The plaque underneath read "I wouldn't be here either if I kept my mouth shut." Truer words were never spoken.

Verdict

For those who do not know, the verdict came in late yesterday afternoon. Guilty. More info here. I got home this afternoon because I could not get out on yesterday's evening flight. My co-counsel and trial assistant were able to get out last night, though. So, I came back and finished packing.

In a quite amazing coincidence, To Kill A Mockingbird was on AMC last night. I am not going to go any further than to say that it was an appropriate choice. Every time I watch that movie, I get a lump in my throat when, after the verdict, the black people start standing up and the minister says, " Jean Louise. Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing."

Right now, I am going to take some time with my family. It's been almost two months and while I was able to come home on a couple of occasions, I was distant and distracted. During that time, my son (~21 months old) branched out in his speaking ability, saying "eye", "nose" and "mouth", among other words. He has visibly changed in my absence. My younger daughter (6 at the time the trial started, 7 now) has joined an advanced gymnastics group and cannot go through the house w/o rolling in some manner. My older daughter (8 y/o) continues to read voraciously between ballet lessons. She's almost 9, growing taller, with long blond hair and blue eyes. The daily humdrum has suddenly and jarringly replaced the adrenaline-pumping, gut-wrenching grind of trial. And that's good. I need that for a bit to gather my wits.

But I can't dilly dally. In true public defender fashion, I better start getting ready for my next trial. And the next one, while not looking to take as long or be as complicated, looks to generate even more publicity. I've been avoiding NBC Dateline during this last trial as they've been repeatedly calling to set up some sort of interview. Court TV's already gotten the entire court file and is making arrangements to cover it. ABC News and 48 Hours have also been hounding me, not to mention local medica. I'll have about a month. It starts on January 17.