Fri03292024

Last updateFri, 10 Dec 2021 9pm

Back You are here: Home News

News

Jail Time For Chalk Writing

A  trial in San Diego, California has Jeff Olsen facing 13 counts of vandalism that together can potentially mean a 13-year jail sentence and fines of up to $13,000.

Olsen is accused of scrawling anti-big bank messages in water-soluable chalk in front of Bank of America branches. The judge decided to prohibit Olson's attorney from "mentioning the First Amendment, free speech, free expression, public forum, expressive conduct, or political speech during the trial."

Click here to read more.

DNA Testing Reveals Innocence in Florida Death Row Case

Clemente AguirreToday the Innocence Project Announced - New DNA testing revealed the innocence of a man on Florida’s death row and pointed to a family member of the victims as the likely perpetrator. At a two-week hearing in Sanford, the Innocence Project and lead counsel for Clemente Javier Aguirre-Jarquin fromCapital Collateral Regional Counsel – Middle Region presented compelling new evidence for overturning his conviction.

Aguirre was sentenced to death in 2006 for the murders of his neighbors, Cheryl Williams and Carol Bareis, a mother and daughter who were found stabbed to death in their trailer. An undocumented Honduran, Aguirre initially told the police that he didn’t know anything about the murders. Later the same day, however, he admitted that he had discovered their bodies but panicked and didn’t report the crime because he feared deportation.

At trial, the prosecution presented DNA evidence to show that the victim’s blood was on Aguirre’s clothes, shoes and the bloody knife. However, no testing was conducted on the more than 150 bloodstains that were photographed and swabbed from the crime scene. Post-conviction testing of this previously untested evidence uncovered eight bloodstains that matched to William’s daughter (and Bareis’ granddaughter) Samantha Williams who has a history of violence and mental illness.

Read more.

Execution Stayed for Mississippi Man

Willie ManningFrom the Innocence Project - The Mississippi Supreme Court granted death row inmate Willie Manning a stay of execution four hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection. Mississippi’s highest court voted to halt the execution on a vote of 8-1. The Innocence Project had called for the stay so that Manning could have an opportunity to do DNA testing that might prove his innocence in the deaths of Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller.

In the days leading up to his execution, the FBI sent several letters to the state noting that there were flaws in both the hair and ballistics evidence that was used to convict Manning. The FBI also agreed to do the DNA testing. The Innocence Project’s action alert generated more than 26,000 messages to Governor Phil Bryant asking that he stay the execution and order testing in Manning’s case.

Read a copy of the stay of execution order (PDF).

 

America's Prisons vs. Iran's Prisons

Shane Bauer was one of three hikers apprehended near the border of Iraq and Iran. He spent 26 months in an Iranian prison, 4 of those months were in solitary confinement.  He wrote an investigative article on solitary confinement comparing his experience in Iran with how prisoners here in the U.S. are treated. Shaun won the 2013 Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism for his article.

Click here to read Shane Bauer's article.

Yelp Used To Rate Prisons

Prisoners are turning to the online review site Yelp to rate prisons and speak out about the treatment they are receiving in them. The reviews cover complaints ranging from food quality to abuse. Yelp reviews give prisoners, family members and lawyers a way to speak out anonymously without fear of retaliation.

Click here to read the story in AlterNet.

The Absurdity of Sequestration Cuts

Sequestration is supposed to save the country money by making across the board cuts in every department. We have to wonder about the logic of it all when sequestration cuts for public defender will actually cost the taxpayer more money. The Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright that poor people facing criminal charges have the right to a lawyer if they can't afford one on their own. So when public defenders are let go due to budget cuts, taxpayers will have to foot the bill for a private lawyer.

Click here to read the story or listen to the audio.

What Happens When Prosecutors Cheat?

When ProPublica analyzed more than a decade's worth of New York state and federal court rulings, they found more than two dozen cases where city prosecutors had committed misconduct harmful enough to throw out convictions. Unfortunately prosecutors are not routinely referred for investigation due to their misconduct even though their actions cause devastating results.

Click here to read part 1 of the ProPublica story.

Click here to read part 2 of ProPublica story.

Stanford 3 Strikes Project

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine has a wonderful post on his blog about Stanford's 3 Strikes Project and some of the people behind it. 

Click here to read Matt Taibbi's article.

Click here to find out more about Stanford's The 3 Strikes Project.

18 States Now Outlaw Death Penalty

Maryland will become the 18th state to outlaw the death penalty. After the  House voted 82-56, Governor O’Malley told reporters that the ban validates a “core belief that we share in the dignity of every human being.” He also stated through Twitter that “Overwhelming evidence tells us that the death penalty does not work. Especially in tough times, if a public policy is expensive and does not work, then we should stop doing it.”

Click here to read the article.