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From the Los Angeles Times

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Report details prosecutorial misconduct, pushes for transparency

The Northern California Innocence Project finds 102 California cases, and 31 from Los Angeles County, in which prosecutors engaged in misconduct. The group, based at the Santa Clara University School of Law, is advocating more transparency in how misconduct is addressed.

by Jack Leonard, Times Staff Writer

April 4, 2011

California courts last year found that Los Angeles County prosecutors withheld evidence, intentionally misled jurors or committed other types of misconduct in 31 criminal cases, according to an Innocence Project report released last week.

The decisions involved convictions dating back as far as 1984 and were among 102 California cases in which the group found that courts identified prosecutorial misconduct.

In 26 of the cases — nine in Los Angeles County — the courts cited the misconduct in decisions to order a new trial, set aside a sentence or bar evidence, according to the Northern California Innocence Project, which is based at the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Los Angeles County accounts for about a quarter of the state's felony criminal filings and one-third of felony trials.

The study is part of an effort by the Innocence Project to highlight the scope and effects of prosecutorial misconduct, which the group says has led to wrongful convictions and costly retrials. In a study released in October, the Innocence Project listed more than 700 California cases in which state and federal courts identified prosecutorial misconduct in rulings from 1997 to 2009.

The Innocence Project has called for greater transparency in how local and state agencies respond to such cases and has urged the State Bar of California, which investigates claims of attorney wrongdoing, to examine all prosecutorial misconduct findings. Courts are not required to report cases to the state bar if they decide the misconduct was harmless.

"What we want is scrutiny," said Maurice Possley, one of the authors of both reports and a visiting fellow at the Innocence Project. "If they're not getting the cases or looking at the cases, that sends a message that this sort of behavior is tolerated or acceptable."

Some prosecutors have accused the Innocence Project of exaggerating the problem. Legal experts — and courts — often disagree on what rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct. And courts often do not distinguish between intentional and unintentional misconduct.

Appellate courts reject most claims of prosecutorial wrongdoing. The Innocence Project's October study showed that courts that identified prosecutorial misconduct usually determined that the actions did not undermine a defendant's right to a fair trial.

Nevertheless, the state bar has taken note.

After reviewing last year's study, agency officials discovered that some of the cases cited by the Innocence Project had never been reported to the bar. Attorneys and courts are legally required to notify the state bar if a conviction is reversed or modified as a result of misconduct.

"We need to improve the reporting of misconduct … by both lawyers and courts," said Jim Towery, the state bar's chief trial counsel. "It is beneficial that the Northern California Innocence Project is focusing public attention on a very significant issue."

Towery said his agency plans to investigate or reinvestigate "a modest number" of cases cited in the study to determine whether prosecutors should face discipline. He declined to give an exact number or to name the cases, saying that the bar's investigations are confidential.

The state bar, he said, is also extending efforts to educate prosecutors on how to avoid misconduct and what their responsibilities are when it does occur. He said some district attorney's offices, including Los Angeles County's, have invited bar officials to provide prosecutors with additional training.

One of the cases cited in last week's report was that of Eric Hester, who was convicted of rape and sodomy in 2009. A state court of appeals reversed his conviction in September, concluding that L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Hight made numerous improper arguments during the trial.

The court faulted Hight for arguing that Hester had a key to enter the victim's apartment when no such evidence was presented. In discussing the key issue, the appellate court found that "there is every reason to believe that Hight made these arguments with the intention of misleading the jury."

Hight did not respond to calls seeking comment.

Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley said in a recent letter to county supervisors that he reviewed the case and found "no indication that the deputy district attorney acted in bad faith or with actual malice."

The letter said the state bar has launched an inquiry into the allegation, and Cooley asked the board to approve legal representation for the prosecutor. The board has yet to vote on it.

District attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said her office reviews all findings of prosecutorial misconduct and "offers extensive and ongoing ethics training" for prosecutors. She declined to comment on the Hester case or the other court findings, saying that they involve personnel matters. She said Hester is being retried.

In its report, the Innocence Project said it had identified 107 prosecutors with more than one finding of misconduct. Among those named in the study was retired L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling Norris.

Last year, a panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned one of Norris' cases, the 1984 murder conviction of Bobby Joe Maxwell, who was called the "skid row stabber."

The panel concluded that an infamous jailhouse informant falsely testified against Maxwell and that the prosecution failed to turn over multiple pieces of critical evidence that could have been used to undermine the witness' credibility.

The Innocence Project noted another murder case in which a federal judge concluded in 2006 that Norris failed to disclose important evidence to the defense during a 1992 trial.

Norris denied failing to turn over evidence in either case and said it was unfair for the federal appeals panel to accuse him of misconduct 26 years later, after the state Supreme Court had rejected previous attempts to overturn Maxwell's conviction.

"That opinion is a joke," Norris said.

Maxwell's attorney has filed a complaint with the state bar about Norris' role in the case.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prosecutor-misconduct-20110404,0,1267288,print.story

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LAPD officer shot, ctitically wounded; dragnet launched for gunman

A Los Angeles police officer was shot and critically wounded early Monday responding to a domestic violence call in the San Fernando Valley, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with the incident.

The officer, who was not immediately identified, was taken to Providence Holy Cross Hospital in Mission Hills after being shot at least twice by the suspect. THe shooting occurred around 4 a.m. inside a residence in the 13600 block of Dronefield Avenue.

Sources said one of the gunshot wounds was to the officer's upper torso and that he was listed in critical condition. The suspect was reported to still be inside the residence as LAPD officers swarmed the neighborhood after the shooting.

The circumstances of the shooting were sketchy but sources said it appeared that the officer responded to the home after a help call went out from the fire department. Authorities had responded to the residence earlier and it was believed that the suspect had already left the location.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Putting a check on deaths of foster kids

A new L.A. County report outlines the distressing statistics: About 200 children die each year, victims of accidents, natural causes or, too often, suicide or murder.

April 4, 2011

A new L.A. County report on the deaths of children who come into contact with its foster care system is, in one sense, depressingly unsurprising. It highlights with startling precision the short, brutal lives that so many of this county's young people endure. Year after year, tens of thousands of children fall under the scrutiny of the Department of Children and Family Services — some glancingly or peripherally, others in more sustained ways — and 200 or so of those children die annually, victims of accidents, natural causes or, too often, suicide or murder.

The children who die follow certain patterns. They are more likely to be Latino or black than white. They are often infants — of the 175 who died in 2010, 47 did not live to their second birthday — or in their teenage years, when gangs exert their fatal force. They tend to live — and die — in the county's poor neighborhoods, and they often are children of adults who themselves endured abuse as young people. Of the 32 children who died with open cases in the department last year, 20 had been returned to their homes, and 12 were in foster or group homes or specialized facilities such as psychiatric centers.

Those are sobering findings, but not particularly useful ones. They remind any reader that poor, abused children are at the mercy of forces beyond their control, and that many simply do not make it through. What those numbers do not say, however, is how the county could do a better job of protecting those under its care.

According to the new report, 43 children with some connection to DCFS were the victims of homicide last year, eight more committed suicide, and 22 died in accidents. (An additional 18 died of natural causes, and 84 deaths were either undetermined, pending or ruled not a case for the coroner.) How many of those were preventable? Was there anything the county could have done differently that might have given those young people a chance at adulthood?

The report does not answer those critical questions, but advocates and county supervisors are pressing on various fronts. The Board of Supervisors recently replaced the head of DCFS, giving the agency a chance to start fresh. And Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) is gamely pushing a bill that would open dependency courts, where decisions about foster care are made, to public scrutiny, offering that critical piece of the system a chance to prove itself under genuine accountability. Those are promising developments; with time, perhaps the sad numbers revealed in this report will give way to more optimistic statistics.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-dcfs-20110404,0,4960189,print.story

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A hidden threat to drivers

U.S. traffic safety officials should get a better handle on the problem of missing air bags in used vehicles.

April 4, 2011

In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a study examining fatal accidents in which a car's air bag should have deployed but didn't. The most common reason wasn't poor manufacturing by automakers. It was that the air bag was simply missing, never replaced after a previous crash.

The numbers weren't large, averaging 51 accidents a year nationwide over the five years studied. But that doesn't mean there's no cause for concern. Who knows how many more cars are on the road without air bags? Presumably a whole lot more than the 51 that happen to get into accidents each year. Many used cars being offered for sale have been in accidents, then salvaged and resold, possibly without air bags. And the buyers may never know.

Air bags cost $1,000 to $3,000, expensive enough — and difficult enough to check on — that some auto repair shops charge for replacing them but don't do the work. In 2009, a jury awarded $15 million to a couple whose son was killed in a truck whose air bags they paid to have replaced after they bought it as a salvage vehicle. The steering column had instead been stuffed with paper. A 2008 investigation by National Public Radio uncovered other cases in which repair shops had stuffed paper or other materials into the air bag compartment, or simply left it empty.

Most consumers aren't aware that when they buy a used car, they should have a trustworthy, independent mechanic check the air bags. And because the NHTSA never looked further into the issue of all those missing air bags, there are no estimates of how many drivers are unknowingly driving without this protection.

A bill introduced this year by state Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) would make air bag repair fraud a crime punishable by a $5,000 fine, up to a year in prison, or both. It's a good start. Dishonest repair shops would face charges whether or not there had been an accident. According to the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, tougher penalties have been effective deterrents to other types of car repair fraud.

But the unknowns here demand a bigger and more comprehensive response. The numbers in the NHTSA study should have set off alarms and prompted a federal investigation into how commonly this fraud occurs. The agency should inspect a sampling of cars sold as used, especially salvage vehicles that were in previous serious accidents. Meanwhile, used-car buyers should be cautioned that kicking the tires doesn't go nearly far enough.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-airbag-20110404,0,1793785,print.story

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From the New York Times

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EDITORIAL

Fixing the Mistake With Young Offenders

There is new evidence that state governments are finally understanding what a tragic mistake they made during the 1990s when they began trying ever larger numbers of children as adults instead of sending them to the juvenile justice system.

Prosecutors argued that harsh sentencing would protect the public from violent, youthful predators. But it has since turned out that most young people who spend time in jails and prisons are charged with nonviolent offenses. As many as half are never convicted of anything at all. In addition, research has shown that these young people are vulnerable to battery and rape at the hands of adult inmates and more likely to become violent, lifelong criminals than those who are held in juvenile custody.

A new study by the Campaign for Youth Justice, a Washington advocacy group, shows that state legislatures across the country are getting the message. In the last five years, the authors say, 15 states have passed nearly 30 pieces of legislation aimed at reversing policies that funnel a quarter of a million children into the adult justice system each year.

Ten states, including Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana and Nevada, have cut the number of offenses that get youthful offenders automatically transferred to adult courts. Three states have expanded the jurisdiction of the juvenile courts, so that children under 18 are no long automatically prosecuted as adults. And several states have limited the circumstances under which young people can be housed in adult lock-ups before or after conviction.

Momentum is building for similar reforms all across the country. For example, Nebraska is considering a bill that would give people sentenced as juveniles to life without parole an opportunity to petition for reductions.

Far too many children are still being sentenced by adult courts and confined to adult prisons. But this study shows that the tide has begun to turn.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/opinion/04mon3.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From Google News

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Pastor Terry Jones Receives Death Threats After Koran Burning

Florida Pastor Willing to Die for His Beliefs Even at the Expense of American Soldiers

April 4, 2011—

Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who supervised the burning of the Koran last month, said he's not backing down after receiving death threats.

Jones said he feels no responsibility for the violence sparked by his church's action, including the violent protest at a United Nations complex in Afghanistan Saturday that left at least 11 people dead - and 20 killed in weekend violence.

Jones said his beliefs are more important - even at expense of American soldiers.

"Perhaps in the long run, we may save hundreds or thousands," Jones said.

When asked what would he say to the mother of American soldier about his statement, he said, "We don't take it lightly...we can't let it eat us up."

Read the Full Transcript of "Nightline's" Interview with Terry Jones

Top U.S. officials including General David Petreaus and Mark Sedwill, NATO civilian representative in Afghanistan condemned the burning saying they "hope the Afghan people understand that the actions of a small number of individuals, who have been extremely disrespectful to the holy Koran, are not representative of any of the countries of the international community who are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people."

Of Saturday's violence, Jones said it proved his point.

"We wanted to raise awareness of this dangerous religion and dangerous element," Jones said. "I think [today's attack] proves that there is a radical element of Islam."

While Jones received an onslaught of attention when he initially threated to burn the Koran in Sept. 2010 -- the actual burning of the Koran last month went relatively unnoticed in western media.

Jones said he decided to put the Koran on trial.

"I was the judge but I did not determine the verdict. I was just a type of referee so that people got their time to defend or condemn the Koran," Jones said.

Police told ABC News the protest Saturday in Afghanistan started peacefully but turned violent after a radical leader told those gathered that multiple Korans had been burned.

People angrily marched on the nearby U.N. compound, despite police who fired AK-47s into the air in hopes of subduing them.

Police turned their weapons on the protestors, killing at least four, police said, before they were overtaken and had their guns stolen.

The protestors killed four U.N. guards from Nepal and then three foreign workers in the U.N. building using police weapons.

Death Threats Roll In

While Jones does not plan on any future Koran burnings, the death threats are streaming in.

"Right now we have a little over 300 threats, today 10 threats have come in," Jones said.

Some threats are so specific that they name date time and place.

The FBI said Hezbollah has a $2.4 million bounty on his head.

But Jones and his assistant Wayne Sapp, the man who actually soaked the Koran in kerosene and burned it, said they're not afraid and are willing to die for their beliefs.

"We see growth around the world – we feel very strongly for U.S. - United States, U.N. to stand up and do something…Muslim countries must open doors to freedom in," Jones said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/pastor-terry-jones-receives-deaths-koran-burning/story?id=13289242

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Duke lacrosse accuser arrested in boyfriend's stabbing

(CNN) -- The woman who accused three Duke University lacrosse players of rape five years ago was arrested Sunday, suspected of stabbing her boyfriend, police said.

Officers responding to a call early Sunday about a stabbing at an apartment in Durham, North Carolina, found a 46-year-old man who had been stabbed in the torso, police said. He was taken to Duke University Hospital for treatment of serious injuries.

Officers later arrested the man's girlfriend, Crystal Mangum, 32, at a nearby apartment. She was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury, police said.

Mangum was placed in the Durham County Jail without bond.

Officers said the stabbing occurred during an argument at the couple's shared apartment.

In March 2006, Mangum claimed to have been sexually assaulted by three players on the Duke lacrosse team while performing as a stripper for a team party.

North Carolina's attorney general later found no credible evidence that the attacks ever occurred and the charges were dropped.

The scandal, however, forced the cancellation of the men's lacrosse season that year and the resignation of team coach Mike Pressler. It also led to widespread criticism of Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who was later disbarred for his handling of the case.

Mangum was arrested in February 2010 on attempted murder charges after a fight with her then-boyfriend. She was also accused of arson, identity theft and resisting arrest, among other charges.

CNN affiliate WTVD-TV reported the arrest happened after she set fire to a pile of the boyfriend's clothes while her children were at home.

In a June 2010 interview with the station, Mangum said her boyfriend had attacked her, and that her involvement in the Duke lacrosse case had influenced police handling of the case.

"I do feel that I am being unjustly treated because of preconceived notions about my character in the media," Mangum said at the time.

In December, a jury found Mangum guilty of child abuse in the case but could not agree on a first-degree felony arson charge, which could have resulted in a seven-year sentence, WTVD reported.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/04/03/north.carolina.lacrosse.accuser/

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9/11 victims' families voice displeasure over plans to place unidentified remains 70ft below ground

by Joaquim Andrade

DAILY NEWS WRITER

April 4th 2011

Protesters said they want officials to contact the families of all 2,749 victims of the terror attack for their opinions before building a below-ground repository inside the museum.

"We are not against the remains at the museum, but the fact they want it on a public setting and 70 feet below ground level," said Norman Siegel, the group's lawyer.

Sally Regenhard , whose firefighter son Christian died on 9/11, said family members should make the final decision about the remains.

"The city is making human remains an attraction of the museum," Regenhard said. "We demand a separate [location] above ground, fully accessible to the public area - not in the basement of a museum."

Rosemary Cain, whose firefighter son George also died at Ground Zero, said the families have the "right to consultation."

"[Mayor] Bloomberg does not own the remains," Cain said.

Museum spokesman Michael Frazier said victims' families were told about the location of the repository years ago.

"In 2006 the museum had a huge gathering where they talked about with the families and said exactly what was going to happen with the remains," Frazier said.

Frazier said the repository will be under the control of the city medical examiner's office and will not be open to the public.

Nearly 10 years after the attack, remains of only 59% of the people who died at Ground Zero on 9/11 have been identified.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/04/04/2011-04-04_911_victims_families_voice_displeasure_over_plans_to_place_unidentified_remains_.html

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NY mass shooting survivor wants magazine limits

Shirley DeLucia, who played dead under her desk at the American Civic Association in Binghamton, said the only point of those magazines is to inflict "as much carnage as possible," like in the January shooting in Tucson that killed six people and wounded 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Wong, with 30-bullet magazines and two handguns, shot most of his victims multiple times. He killed himself as police arrived.

"How many mass shootings will it take for Congress to protect us?" said DeLucia, who was shot in the abdomen. "The horror of that day haunts me through flashbacks, nightmares, and lasting physical effects. I live with it every day and I'll have to live with it for the rest of my life, but if there's one thing I can do to prevent future violence, it's to express my fervent support for this."

Pending legislation would ban magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

Binghamton's Mayor Matthew Ryan, Police Chief Joseph Zikuski and Broome County District Attorney Gerald Mollen plan to gather Monday to mark the second anniversary of the April 3, 2009, shootings in the city of 42,000 about 10 miles north of the Pennsylvania state line. They all support that legislation.

Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, said growing support from law enforcement nationally should make the message clear.

According to doctors and police, mockery of Wong's poorly spoken English, anger over losing a factory job and a severe, undiagnosed mental illness led the embittered Vietnamese immigrant to strap on a bulletproof vest and target people who, like him, had traveled from afar in hopes of bettering their lives.

The murdered at the immigrant services center included 11 students, a teacher and a part-time caseworker.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17767838?nclick_check=1

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Mexican Rights Body Says Over 5,000 Missing Since ‘06

Fairfax County Virginia Police Get New Technology

Officers now have a new crime-fighting scanner

The Fairfax County police department is just beginning to determine the effectiveness of its newest crime fighter: A camera mounted on their cars that can read license plates in a flash.

"The readers scan for stolen vehicles, stolen license plates, and AMBER alerts," said Officer Tawny Wright with the FCPD public information office. "On an average patrol shift (11.5 hours), the devices might scan around 7000 license plates, far more than any officer could view and run manually, which increases the likelihood of detecting a vehicle or person potentially involved in criminal activity," she said in an e-mail.

County police now have 26 of the cameras, three at each of the county's eight district stations and one in the Criminal Investigations Bureau. Each device costs $23,000. All but three were purchased through a federal grant, Officer Wright said.

The police started installing the cameras in December 2010 and is still in the process of putting them in the designated cars, she said. "But to give you an idea of how well they work, the license plate readers can accurately scan as many plates as we can pass by even at interstate speeds, regardless of weather or light conditions and we've had minimal, if any, issues with the devices."

Since mid-January, the devices have registered four returns or "hits," and at least one arrest," she said.

Fairfax County has become the latest police department to get the new crime fighting equipment. The camera is linked to a computer that is linked to the Virginia Crime Information Network and to the National Crime Information Center.The cameras scan license plates looking for stolen cars, stolen plates, plates wanted in connection to an outstanding warrant or in connection to a police lookout.

The camera is linked to a computer that is linked to the Virginia Crime Information Network and to the National Crime Information Center, McAllister said. The cameras scan license plates looking for stolen cars, stolen plates, plates wanted in connection to an outstanding warrant or in connection to a police lookout.

"It's a neat tool for our officers," said Lt. Mike McAllister, the former deputy commander of the McLean Police District. Lt. McAllister has a new assignment in the central command center.

http://annandale.patch.com/articles/fairfax-county-police-get-new-technology-2

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