Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

In 1994 Oregon passed a voter-approved ballot initiative setting mandatory minimum sentences. It is called Measure 11. In 2005 Veronica Rodriquez, 23, was convicted by a jury of first-degree sexual assault. Under Measure 11 the minimum sentence for this crime is 6 years and 3 months in prison. But what exactly did Veronica do??

Veronica Rodriquez was found guilty of running her hands through a 13-year-old boy’s hair and pulling the back of his head against her covered chest in the middle of a crowded game room at the Boys and Girls Club in Hillsboro.

Circuit Judge Nancy Campbell gave her 16 months instead, saying the Measure 11 sentence would violate the state constitution as cruel and unusual punishment. One ex-cop calls the case the worst travesty of justice he’s seen in 20 years as an investigator.

“I feel like a fountain overflowing on this. I feel as strongly about Veronica’s innocence as anything I have ever investigated in my life, and I am a very seasoned investigator,” says Michael Hintz, a former Tigard police detective who worked for Rodriguez’s defense team.

Rodriguez served one year at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility in Wilsonville, earning time off for good behavior.

Kevin Mannix, the original Measure 11 backer, calls Judge Campbell’s move to override the minimum sentence “absolutely unacceptable,” saying the correct path would be to ask the governor for clemency.

In the meantime, prosecutors appealed her sentence, and in December a three-judge panel at the state Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Rodriguez should serve out the remaining five years of her Measure 11 sentence. Read the entire ruling from the Court of Appeals in: The State of Oregon v Veronica Rodriquez.

Rodriguez’s appeal of that ruling landed at the Supreme Court on Feb. 13.

If the Supreme Court either refuses to hear the case or rules against Veronica, then she will have to go back to prison to serve the remaining 5 years of her sentence. The conviction destroyed her career as a social worker. She is now a registered sex offender, living in Spokane with her parents and working as a barista. She says returning to prison would scuttle her plans to go back to school and marry her boyfriend, Kevin Hagen, who stood by her throughout her arrest and trial.

“Trying to rebuild my life, and then going back and having it taken away from me again—it’s a hard thought to deal with,” says Rodriguez, who has no other criminal record. “All I can do is keep fighting my case and have faith that down the road, it will all get straightened out somehow.”

Peter Gartlan, Veronica Rodriguez’s public defender, wants the Supreme Court to reconsider, saying Rodriguez’s case doesn’t fit with other sexual assaults that merit a stiff sentence. As Gartlan wrote in his request to the Supreme Court, citing a hypothetical case:

“Causing the back of a boy’s head to be placed against the clothed chest of a 23-year-old counselor is qualitatively different from causing a 12-year-old boy to place his tongue or his penis in the family dog’s anus.... The conduct in this case must be one of the mildest, most technical forms of ‘sexual abuse’ that one could contemplate.”

For a full, detailed description of the Veronica Rodriquez case and her relationship with the 13-year-old boy that got her into so much trouble click here:

Gang Member Stabs Police Officer

Edson Godinez, 17, of Ann St. in Newburgh, New York was arrested and faces 3 felony charges: Two counts of second-degree assault and a single count of attempted aggravated assault on a police officer. He also faces misdemeanor charges of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon and resisting arrest. He is being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

It all began about 1:45 a.m. on Mill Street when police officer Richard Hammer saw a gang of at least twelve Hispanic males chasing another unidentified 23-year-old Hispanic male. They caught up with the fleeing man and began a vicious assault. That was when officer Hammer attempted to intervene. While trying to arrest the two ringleaders who led the attack, he was also assaulted by 5 or 6 others in the gang. During the altercation Hammer was stabbed by one of the two men he was trying to arrest. The other one and the rest of the gang escaped.

The unidentified 23-year-old being chased, sustained multiple stab wounds during the attack and was flown to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla. Officer Richard Hammer was treated at St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh and released. He is recovering at home.

The fight was believed to have stemmed from a dispute between two street gangs in Newburgh, the Barrio Benkard Kings (BBKs) and La Eme. The investigation is continuing, and police expect to make additional arrests.

Ralph Nader for President

Ralph Nader, 73, announced that he will run for President......just as he did in 2000 and 2004. He blamed both the Democrats and the Republicans for a prolonged Iraq war and a shaky economy. He blamed the Bush administration for tax policies that left lower- and middle-class people in debt.

"You take that framework of people feeling locked out, shut out, marginalized and disrespected," he said. "You go from Iraq, to Palestine to Israel, from Enron to Wall Street, from Katrina to the bumbling of the Bush administration, to the complicity of the Democrats in not stopping him on the war, stopping him on the tax cuts."

"In that context, I have decided to run for president," Nader told NBC's "Meet the Press."

Railing against corporate lobbyists and special interests, Nader vowed to accept only individual donations. "We have to shift the power from the few to the many." Nader said. Reactions among the current candidates to Nader's announcement were varied.

Barack Obama:

"In many ways he is a heroic figure and I don't mean to diminish him. But I do think there is a sense now that if somebody is not hewing to the Ralph Nader agenda, then you must be lacking in some way," Obama said.

Hillary Clinton:

"Obviously, it's not helpful to whomever our Democratic nominee is. But it's a free country," she told reporters as she flew to Rhode Island for campaign events.

Mike Huckabee noting that Nader generally pulls votes away from the Democrats said:

"So naturally, Republicans would welcome his entry into the race," the former Arkansas governor said on CNN.

In the 2000 election, Ralf Nader was blamed for Al Gore's defeat at the hands of George Bush.
He denied the charge saying that it was the Democrat's fault and not his for losing the race. He added however that this time he thought that there was no way he could affect the race because the electorate would not vote for a pro-war John McCain.

"If the Democrats can't landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form," Nader said.

As personal note, I just wonder what Ralph Nader hopes to accomplish by joining the Presidential Race. The Republican Mike Huckabee has a better chance at becoming President than Ralph Nader. So why waste people's time and money on a bid that is doomed to failure?

Larry Davis Killed in Prison

Depending on who you talk to, Larry Davis, 41, was either a folk hero or an out-of-control murderer whose victims included both the police and drug dealers. He was stabbed to death in a prison-yard fight on Wednesday, Feb. 20 2008, by a fellow inmate, Luis Rosado, 42, at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster County, about 80 miles north of New York City.

Larry Davis and 21 other inmates were in the prison yard for recreation when he was fatally stabbed by a flat metal shank wielded by Rosado. According to Mr. Kriss, a corrections department spokesman, two prison guards spotted Rosado repeatedly stabbing Mr. Davis. They rushed to the scene and called an ambulance. A few minutes after ambulance arrived Davis was pronounced dead. Officials are at a loss to explain the attack. They said Davis and Rosado did not have a history of fighting each other. However both men had a history of violence:

Mr. Rosado, 42, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for multiple counts of murder, assault and attempted assault. He had a long and extensive history of being disciplined for violent behavior during his incarceration — including assaults on staff and other inmates — corrections officials said, and had just recently been denied parole in 2007.

Mr. Davis also had a long history of being disciplined while incarcerated. His prison records indicate approximately 75 incidents that merited disciplinary action, including assaulting staff and inmates, making threats, harassment, and fighting. Mr. Davis was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison, for the murder of a drug dealer and was also convicted of weapons charges. Mr. Davis would have been eligible for parole in 2016.

Mr. Rosado was arraigned at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Shawangunk Town Court and then returned to the correctional facility.

On Nov. 19, 1986, six police officers were shot, four of them seriously, while trying to apprehend Mr. Davis, then 20, at an apartment in the Morrisania section of the Bronx. Police had been searching for him in connection with the killings of several drug dealers. Davis said he opened fire in self defense and claimed police were after him because he knew about NYPD corruption. Davis was eventually acquitted on attempted murder and aggravated assault charges, but convicted on weapons charges stemming from the gun battle. His attorney said the acquittal and Davis' subsequent hero status was a reflection of people's frustration with white-on-black police brutality.

"The community rallied around Larry Davis, not because they thought he was some sort of wonderful human being, but because he was their symbol of resistance, of fighting back, a community that had oppressed by police violence and police brutality for decades," said attorney Ron Kuby.

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, who remembers being at the scene of the shooting and ducking from gunfire, says he was shocked by the acquittal, and troubled by the respect Davis gained in some circles for gunning down the officers.

"Those people are fools and they are giving heroic status to a criminal, regrettably there are people who will do that," said Koch.

Koch said he didn't shed any tears when he learned that Davis had been killed.

"He was a killer, and he shot six cops," Koch said. "You shouldn't take pride in the execution of anybody illegally, but I believe that there is a special oil pot in hell for him."

A video documentary by Troy Reed about the life of Larry Davis, examines the conditions that existed at the time. It details police corruption and complicity in the drug trade and gives some credence to Larry Davis' claim that the police were out to get him.

The Larry Davis Story Pt. I

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr-lF-you1U]

The Larry Davis Story Pt. II

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPDxWLVqLo4]

The rest of this series can be found in the Video section.

Immigrant Victimized by Lousy Lawyers

The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan took aim at the government, scolding its lawyers for quibbling over irrelevant language in one case in a quest to win a court victory.

Victimized by the failures of lawyers on both sides are the immigrants, "a vulnerable population who come to this country searching for a better life and often arrive unfamiliar with our language and culture, in economic deprivation and in fear," the court wrote.

"In immigration matters, so much is at stake -- the right to remain in this country, to reunite a family or to work," the court said.

The court was considering the case of a Jamaican immigrant, Garfield Livern St. Valentine Aris, who the government was trying to deport. The court ordered that his case be re-opened after criticizing both the defense lawyers and the government. They noted that Aris, who has not been deported, was an immigrant with limited familiarity with U.S. immigration law.

Aris, who arrived in the U.S. in 1983 at the age of 12, was a legal immigrant. He got married and supported both his wife and step-daughter. He had no close family members in Jamaica according to the court. In 1991, he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, was given 3 year's probation and fined $1,000. After his conviction federal authorities ordered deportation proceedings to begin.

The appeals court said Aris's lawyers "failed spectacularly" once he was victimized by a simple error: A paralegal told him it appeared his hearing was not scheduled on the day that it was. When he didn't show up, he was ordered deported on May 3, 1995.

The law firm never told Aris the hearing had occurred and that he had been ordered deported. It wasn't until June that Aris found out that there was a deportation order against him. When he hired new lawyers, they filed erroneous and legally flawed documents on his behalf.

As a result of all of this, he was detained for nine months, and, without his income, his wife and stepdaughter could not afford to pay rent and were forced to move to a homeless shelter.

The court of appeals made it clear that they thought Aris was not properly served by his original lawyers:

"When lawyers representing immigrants fail to live up to their professional obligations, it is all too often the immigrants they represent who suffer the consequences," the appeals court wrote. "We appreciate that, unfortunately, calendar mishaps will from time to time occur. But the failure to communicate such mistakes, once discovered, to the client and to take all necessary steps to correct them is more than regrettable -- it is unacceptable. It is nondisclosure that turns the ineffective assistance of a mere scheduling error into more serious malpractice."

The court also faulted the government:

"Governmental authorities, whatever their roles, must be attentive to such lapses that so grievously undermine the administration of justice," the appeals panel said.

The appeals panel said in a footnote that it seemed Aris had a compelling argument to remain in the United States due to "social and humane considerations," including that his drug offense was relatively minor and that his family is in the country.