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Death on death’s doorstep
[You should've seen the alternate title I had lined up for this post: Death's Final Countdown.] In the early morning hours of April 11, 2012, the people of Connecticut, through their elected...
View ArticleNullifying death
Today, all nine Justices of the Supreme Court met to decide whether to continue to permit juries in capital cases that are inherently biased toward imposing a sentence of death, or to finally revisit a...
View ArticleThe joke’s on all of us
Our priorities have gone askew. Never has this been clearer to me than today, viewing from afar the circus surrounding an apparent once-in-a-decade event gathering steam: the utterance of words out...
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Racism in the death penalty? We’re North Carolina after all!
What do you call people from North Carolina? Whatever that word is, they were faced with a choice: do they appear to be racist murderers or just plain Northeastern Liberal Sissies? I know what I’d...
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This month at the Supreme Court: blockbuster session
not an actual judge I’m reviving a series I briefly dabbled in, back in 2008, called ‘This Month‘, which serves to preview the cases assigned for oral argument in the CT Supreme Court in the upcoming...
View ArticlePerhaps intelligence committee is a misnomer
The Constitution of The United States of America is a self-executing document. It does not need permission to grant you your rights, nor does it require a magical incantation to appear and shield you...
View ArticleThe madness of death
It is never enough to want to kill someone; the desire to murder is always accompanied by the desire to do so quickly and without question. One could liken it to a madness that makes one talk quickly,...
View ArticleSped up death warrants producing bizarre farce in FL
There’s something really strange going on in Florida right now. Apart from Gov. Rick Scott’s puzzling failure to sign the ‘Timely Justice Act’ which I’ve excoriated here and here, there’s an absolutely...
View ArticleVan Poyck: FL’s bizarre death penalty farce continues
Van Poyck, the poster child for the batshit insane death penalty doings in Florida is one step closer to a June 12 execution, armed with attorneys that don’t know or have time for his case. Last time...
View Article33 years in jail is a technicality
People always complain that “criminals” “get off” because of “technicalities”. It’s a great jab and like the best of them, it’s short, it’s catchy and it’s completely ass-backwards. So in order to...
View ArticleBreaking news: things cost money
In a sure to be groundbreaking series of articles, the Hartford Courant’s Jon Lender has discovered that the business of government – the every day practice of running a State – costs money. This...
View ArticleMartin, Zimmerman and the colors of injustice
This is not a Trayvon Martin post; this is not a George Zimmerman post. For that, go read these fine pieces with which I wholeheartedly agree. This isn’t even a post about race, although race certainly...
View ArticleHow to kill a man: I’d tell you but then I’d have to kill you
Warren Lee Hill, mentally retarded and thus unqualified for execution, is scheduled to be executed on Saturday. That’s because in Georgia, they just don’t want to believe someone is mentally retarded...
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“Lie-detector Indian”
Apropos my last post – and in its own right – read this compelling tale of the first case Bill Howe handled. A taste: Newsweek, which ran the story after the trial, used the exotic title “Lie-Detector...
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An acquittal unlike any other
Just when you think you’ve heard it all with regards to George Zimmerman 1, you’re accosted by this…article…claiming to have uncovered stunning jury tampering in the trial. But you already know,...
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CT legislature wants to “look” at self-defense laws
Well, it’s officially happened. The knee has been jerked and the members of the State legislature want to “look” at self-defense laws, so as “to make sure that a situation like the deadly shooting of...
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In these times
It is good to recall, from time to time: More than one student of society has expressed the view that not the least significant test of the quality of civilization is its treatment of those charged...
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Alaska bans plea bargaining
Well, it’s happened. Glenn Reynolds and Michelle Alexander are going to get their wish. Alaska – for the second time in the last 35 years – has banned plea bargaining. Straight up. No deals. No...
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Free after 17 years
Late yesterday afternoon, 4 men walked out of the New Haven, CT criminal courthouse, free men for the first time in 17 years. Earlier in the day, they got to stand in court and hear the judge say that...
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In war, everyone loses something
[P]recisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society. James Baldwin, “A Talk to Teachers“, 1963. War is many things, none of them good. This...
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