FW: Crime & Justice News: CA Medical Pot Backers Sue U.S. To Contest Crackdown
Dianne Tramutola-Lawson
From: Ted Gest [mailto:rob...@mn-8.ccsend.com] On Behalf Of Ted Gest
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 9:12 AM
Subject: Crime & Justice News: CA Medical Pot Backers Sue U.S. To Contest Crackdown
October 28, 2011 Today's Stories -- CA Medical Pot Backers Sue U.S. To Contest Crackdown -- ACLU Sues Over L.A. Sheriffs' Detaining Photographers In Public -- California Prison Downsizing Will Hurt Corrections Officers Union -- 16 New York Police Officers In Custody In Ticket-Fixing Scandal -- Lessons Of New York City's "Brooklyn Groper" Case -- St. Louis Police Pursuing "Subhuman Behavior" Called "Knockout Game" -- U.S. Targets 1,256 GA Inmates to Deport; Could Save $23 Million -- Man Freed In Prosecutor Misconduct To Join Innocence Project Tour -- News Media Exhaust Kansas City Family In Child-Abduction Case -- PA Hopes to Bar Public Access to Its Juvenile Sex Offender Registry -- Insanity Defense Fails In Ohio Teacher's Trial On Sex Charges -- Supreme Court Case to Test Rights of Private Prison Inmates On every business day, Criminal Justice Journalists (CJJ) provides a summary of the nation's top crime and justice news stories with Internet links, if any. Crime & Justice News is being provided by CJJ with the support of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, its Center on Media, Crime and Justice, the Ford Foundation, and the National Criminal Justice Association. The news digest is edited by Ted Gest and David Krajicek. You may go to TheCrimeReport.org to search all archived CJN stories. Please e-mail Ted Gest at CJJ with concerns about the editorial content of our news items, to suggest news stories, or with general comments. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California medical marijuana patients, storefront dispensaries, and their landlords are marshaling forces to stave off a massive federal crackdown against them, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. Yesterday, the cause's largest advocacy organization sued the U.S. attorney general and the top federal prosecutor in Northern California. There's a growing move by California Attorney General Kamala Harris and others to develop defensible statewide regulations for collectives, which are trapped between state and federal law. This week, several supporters of 2010's unsuccessful Proposition 19 to legalize marijuana for recreational use said they were drafting a 2012 ballot initiative that would impose controls on California's loose-knit medical cannabis industry. The moves come after California's four U.S. attorneys on Oct. 7 announced a campaign to shutter commercial marijuana dispensaries, accusing producers and distributors of using the state's 1996 medical marijuana law as a cover for reaping huge profits. In the federal lawsuit filed in San Francisco, Americans for Safe Access claims the Obama administration is attempting to subvert state and local medical marijuana laws. The advocacy group, which has 20,000 members in California, argues that the administration has "instituted a policy to dismantle the medical marijuana laws of the state of California and to coerce its municipalities to pass bans on medical marijuana dispensaries." | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The ACLU of Southern California sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and several deputies alleging they harassed, detained, and improperly searched photographers taking pictures legally in public places, the Los Angeles Times reports. The federal lawsuit says the Sheriff's Department and deputies "have repeatedly" subjected photographers "to detention, search and interrogation simply because they took pictures" from public streets of places such as Metro turnstiles, oil refineries, or near a courthouse. "Photography is not a crime. It's protected 1st Amendment expression," said ACLU attorney Peter Bibring. "It violates the Constitution's core protections for sheriff's deputies to detain and search people who are doing nothing wrong. To single them out for such treatment while they're pursuing a constitutionally protected activity is doubly wrong." Los Angeles County sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker said it is a deputy's duty to ask questions. "Should we really ignore suspicious activity?" Parker asked. "We have an obligation to the public to answer questions and we are going to ask people why are you taking that picture. It is our duty to protect the public." | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A California prison system that has grown to be the nation's largest and has been criticized and sued for severe inmate crowding is heading for an historic downsizing, says the Associated Press. About 26,000 guards, janitors, cooks, records clerks, and correctional counselors are being warned they could be laid off, though far fewer will lose their jobs. The move results from the new law that shifts lower-level offenders to county jails to save money and reduce prison crowding. "It's quite remarkable that, for the first time since the 1980s, there's actually a stabilization and eventual shrinking of the prisoner population," said Joshua Page, a University of Minnesota sociologist who wrote a book on the growth of California's penal system. The downsizing could strike a significant blow against the politically powerful guards' union, which will be a big losers as inmates, parolees, and the money to house and supervise them flow to the local level, said Franklin Zimring, a University of California, Berkeley law professor. "The largest measure of their political impact was their financial clout," Zimring said. "Every dime that goes to the local level should be seen as a threat to the guards' union. Eventually, it will weaken it." | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As many as 100 raucous cops turned up at midnight at the Bronx Distric Attorney's office, screaming their support for 15 fellow officers who were scheduled to surrender in the city's ticket-fixing scandal, the New York Post reports. A 16th cop was arrested earlier last night. Thirteen cops, one lieutenant, and two sergeants face possible charges including obstruction, official misconduct, perjury and bribery. Prosecutors were expected to unseal indictments, totaling about 1,000 pages with nearly 1,500 criminal counts, against the officers and five civilians today at an arraignment today. Of the rank-and-file cops, three are union trustees and six are union delegates. On wiretaps played for a grand jury, at least some of the officers reportedly are heard discussing fixing tickets for family, friends and even a Yankee executive - and also making DWI and reported domestic dispute incidents disappear. The highest ranking cop under investigation, Lt. Jennara Everleth Cobb of Internal Affairs, is accused of leaking information about the probe to Bronx cops. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Reports of 20 potential sex crimes in the Park Slope neighborhood of New York City's Brooklyn borough made it seem that there might be a serial rapist on the loose. The unraveling of that narrative illustrates our persistent misunderstandings about the nature, and prevalence, of sexual assault, says The Crime Report. The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates 188,400 people were raped or sexually assaulted in 2010. Yet thousands of these crimes go unreported to police. The survey shows only half of rapes and sexual assaults were reported to police. Even fewer made the news. The stories that do appear in the press shape our understanding of sex crimes. At best, they empower victims to report, and the public to hold law enforcement to account. At worst, they serve to monger fear and convict the innocent. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ St. Louis police are focusing on three loosely knit groups they believe responsible for unprovoked "knockout game" attacks, says the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Participants range in age from 12 to 18, and their sole motive is the thrill of beating someone to the ground, officials said. In April, a 72-year-old man died after he was assaulted by teens playing the game in an alley near his home. Last week, Mayor Francis Slay and his police bodyguard drove up on a random attack on a major street where a 51-year-old man was being beaten. Assailants call it the "knockout game" or "knockout king." In some cases, the attacker admits the purpose. In the others, it's assumed, based on the random nature of the assault and lack of any other motive. Police say the attacks are not gang-related and do not appear to be racially motivated. "It is simply the thrill of trying to punch someone hard enough so that they are knocked off their feet," said police Capt. Gerald Leyshock. "It is cowardly, but the youth participating think they are showing their prowess of toughness by slugging unsuspecting people, usually older males walking alone." He said the 'subhuman behavior" was tough to prevent because there was no real pattern to when or where the attacks took place. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Federal immigration authorities are targeting 1,256 Georgia prisoners convicted of murder, rape, and other offenses for possible deportation, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The strain illegal immigrants are placing on Georgia's prisons and other taxpayer-funded resources is at the center of the debate over the state's tough new immigration law. Georgia doesn't track the immigration status of inmates, so the number of illegal immigrants that are in Georgia prisons is not known. State officials, however, do track those who could face deportation once they are released from prison. That number, which includes both legal and illegal immigrants, was 1,256 this month. They include a wide range of criminals, including robbers, child molesters, and drug dealers. On average, it costs $50.17 to hold each inmate per day in a Georgia prison, including state and federal taxpayer dollars, prisoner fees and other funding sources, public records show. Using that figure, it costs $22.9 million to imprison 1,256 people annually in Georgia. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John Thompson, a New Orleans man who narrowly escaped a death sentence for a murder he didn't commit, will join a nationwide tour aimed at halting the prosecutorial misconduct that almost took his life, says USA Today. Thompson was freed 18 years after his conviction because defense lawyers discovered that the prosecutors in his case deliberately hid blood evidence that could have cleared him. Thompson initially won a $14 million judgment, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the decision and ruled that prosecutors have absolute legal immunity for their official actions. Thompson says he is joining the tour organized by the New York-based Innocence Project, the Northern California Innocence Project's Veritas Initiative, and other groups because the U.S. system of justice "cannot correct itself" without outside prompting | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The attorney for the parents of missing 11-month-old Lisa Irwin in Kansas City canceled a scheduled media tour of the couple's home as well as a press conference slated for this afternoon, reports the Kansas City Star. Lisa has been missing since Oct. 4, the day her parents said she had been abducted from the family home, in a case that has had national media attention. "The last few weeks have been exhausting to everyone working on behalf of the Irwin family, it has exhausted Lisa's parents and her friends and family," said attorney Cynthia Short. "We all need a rest." Pool photographers were scheduled to tour the family home, and the images were to be distributed to Kansas City and national media outlets. Short's law firm has pledged to issue daily media updates to reporters. It also issued a flier promoting a $100,000 reward for information in the case. | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Pennsylvania teens found delinquent of serious sex crimes might soon be part of a national sex-offender registry, says the Harrisburg Patriot-News. That would put the state in compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. State legislators are working out the details, but the idea is that the registry won't be accessible to the public, only to law enforcement. District attorneys are noticing that juvenile court judges are holding back from certain rulings with the registry in mind, and defense attorneys are less amenable to plea deals for crimes that would require registration. The Pennsylvania bill is moving forward with support from Gov. Tom Corbett, the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and the Pennsylvania Juvenile Court Judges Commission. That's partly due to the plan for limiting access to the registry to law enforcement. "We agree that [a] public notification website would have a lot of unintended consequences," said James Anderson of the juvenile court judges group | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A former Ohio teacher got a four-year prison term yesterday after failing to convince a judge a bipolar disorder being treated with Zoloft, plus alcohol, justified an insanity defense for having sex with five students. Stacy Schuler, 33, an ex-physical education teacher in Warren County, was found guilty in a nonjury trial, reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. Schuler will be eligible for judicial release, also known as "shock probation," in six months. She must register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. Prosecutor Teresa Hiett argued that voluntary alcohol consumption is to blame for Schuler's conduct and that it doesn't meet the state's legal definition of insanity. Judge Robert Peeler acknowledged that Schuler might have suffered from mental issues and that the combination of Zoloft and alcohol would have some affect on a person's brain activity. However, he said that voluntary intoxication cannot be taken into consideration in determining an insanity plea and that Schuler's defense "lacked credibility." | |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next Tuesday, the Supreme Court will examine Richard Lee Pollard's treatment at a privately run California facility, McClatchy Newspapers report. The outcome could either shield or render more vulnerable the fast-growing private prison industry, not to mention what it might do for Pollard's own post-prison life. His pro bono attorney, University of Richmond law professor John Preis, is arguing that inmates in privately run prisons enjoy the same constitutional right to sue employees over cruel and unusual punishment as do inmates in facilities run directly by the government. Along with the Obama administration, the private prison industry wants inmates in privately run facilities to confine their complaints to damage claims in state courts. Federal lawsuits claiming constitutional violations go too far, the officials say, because the prison employees aren't federal workers. "To imply an additional federal remedy, as (Pollard) urges, would [ ] subject employees of private prison contractors to a double dose of liability under state and federal law," says U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. Pollard, 54, sued prison employees, contending poor medical care following an injury that left him permanently damaged. | |
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