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…

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…
Vanguard Analysis Part III: Commentary: Dev Appellate Brief Puts Forth Strong Evidence of Unfair Trial

Vanguard Analysis Part III: Commentary: Dev Appellate Brief Puts Forth Strong Evidence of Unfair Trial

Thursday, March 28 Davis, CA. The Davis Vanguard's Commentary on Ajay Dev's appeal:

"I was not always sold on the innocence of Ajay Dev.  It was the summer of 2009 when I received an email from Mr. Dev's sister-in-law about the case.  Mr. Dev had just been convicted, and he had not yet been sentenced to the stunning 378-year sentence.

Little did I realize that this would be a pivotal moment in my life, as I headed out to the Roseville home of the Devs and heard their story.  I didn't know what to think, I had not seen the case, had not heard the evidence, and I was in a position of having to take their word for it.

My eyes opened for the first time when Mr. Dev was sentenced to a 378-year term.  There are a lot of murderers who won't serve even a fraction of that time.

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…
Vanguard Analysis Part II: Ajay Dev’s Appeal, Legal Arguments

Vanguard Analysis Part II: Ajay Dev’s Appeal, Legal Arguments

Tuesday, March 26 Davis, CA. The Davis Vanguard a news agency covering local issues in Yolo County & Davis has released the second in a series of three articles on Ajay Dev's Case and his appeal.

"[Ajay's] appeal attacks both the facts of the case as well as the legal rulings used by Yolo County Judge Timothy Fall that the defense claims denied Ajay Dev of his right to a fair trial.  This includes, most notably, the inclusion of the alleged victim's interpretation of a 50-minute pretext call that meandered between English and Nepali, the judge's failure to properly instruct the jury on the law, and the judge's refusal to allow potentially exculpatory evidence.

This is the second of a three-part series.  The first part, Sunday's article, covers the defense's account of the facts of the case, including critical areas that the defense says the court got wrong in the original 2009 trial.  This second part will cover the defense's legal arguments.  And the third part will analyze the case in full.

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…

Appellate Court Reverses in Artz Case

This story first appeared in the the Davis Vanguard

Yolo-Count-Court-Room-600It was one of the more controversial cases that the Vanguard has covered, where a Yolo County Jury found Michael Artz, a graduate of Davis High School, not guilty of forced oral copulation in a case involving another Davis High Student who was 16 at the time.

However, they did find him guilty of two felonies, oral copulation with a person under 18 and contact and communication with a minor with the intent to have sexual relations. Ultimately, Mr. Artz was ordered to undergo counseling and spent six months in the Yolo County Jail.