Tsarnaev Defense: ‘He Did It’

“He did it.”

Judy Clarke is the lawyer representing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – the survivor, and younger of two brothers accused of perpetrating the bomb attacks on the Boston Marathon in 2013.  She is not an ordinary defense attorney, claims The Guardian.

It was not a standard opening statement for a defense attorney to give regarding her client.  However, this is not a run-of-the-mill criminal trial, either; it is a huge federal trial, carrying a possible death sentence – the most high-profile trial of a terrorist on US soil since the Oklahoma City bomber, states The Guardian.

Clarke has specialized in saving the lives of clients like Tsarnaev for her whole career.  And she is, friends and colleagues told the Guardian, phenomenally good at it.

She has become an expert in the delicate tactics needed to take someone who is seen in the eyes of the world as a monster, and humanize them – just enough to convince a jury to save their life.

The list of clients she has helped escape the death penalty in this way is a who’s who of American killers. There’s Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber; Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Park bomber.  There was also Buford Furrow, the Aryan Nations member who opened fire on the Los Angeles Jewish Community Center in 1999, and, more recently, Jared Loughner, the shooter who killed six people and injured 15 more, including representative Gabrielle Giffords, in Tucson in 2011.

Nora Demleitner is the dean of the Washington and Lee University school of law, where Clarke also teaches. She told the Guardian that Clarke’s feelings about the death penalty are what drive and animate her.

There are two main parts to the trial:  the phase of proving guilt or innocence, and the sentencing phase.

Demleitner said that Clarke’s actions could cut down the time spent fighting in the guilt phase, and speed the arrival of the sentencing phase.  Because the rules for evidence are different from the guilt phase, Clarke will be much freer to present evidence showing Tsarnaev as under the control of his elder brother Tamerlan, states The Guardian.

More here

Updated post

Former Federal Judge Regrets Sending Man To Prison For 55-Years Over Marijuana

Do judges ever have a conscience that catches up with them?  Do they ever regret harsh punishments? Are their hands ever tied over sentencing?

Weldon Angelos was just 24 years old when he was sentenced to 55 years in federal prison for three marijuana sales, according to Yahoo! News.  He is one of the hundreds of thousands of federal prisoners serving decades-long sentences for non-violent crimes, thanks to mandatory minimum sentencing laws created in the 1980s during America’s war on drugs.

Angelos may not live long enough to experience freedom again.

His case has haunted the federal judge that put him there.

“I do think about Angelos,” said Paul Cassell, a now-retired federal judge in the Utah circuit. “I sometimes drive near the prison where he’s held, and I think, ‘Gosh he shouldn’t be there. Certainly not as long as I had to send him there. … That wasn’t the right thing to do. The system forced me to do it.”

Back in 2002, Angelos was an aspiring music producer and a father of two young boys living in Salt Lake City. Determined to make it big, he founded his own record company, eventually collaborating with big names like Snoop Dogg.

But Angelos told ABC News he also started dealing pot on the side.

Federal authorities caught wind of Angelos’s dealings and set up three stings, using a criminal informant to buy about $1,000 worth of marijuana from him. There was one critical detail in the case – during the deals, the criminal informant claimed Angelos had a gun.

The case went to federal court and Angelos was convicted in federal court of selling narcotics while in possession of a firearm.

These offenses fall under mandatory minimum sentencing laws, and prosecutors treated each of the three marijuana deals as its own individual offense. This is called “stacking” the charges.  It means Angelos was facing three prison terms, stacked on top of each other. All in– 55 years in prison, with no possibility of parole.

When Cassell delivered his ruling in the Angelos case, he was quick to point out how severe the sentence seemed compared to violent crimes.

“If he had been an aircraft hijacker, he would have gotten 24 years in prison. If he’s been a terrorist, he would have gotten 20 years in prison. If he was a child rapist, he would have gotten 11 years in prison. And now I’m supposed to give him a 55-year sentence? I mean, that’s just not right,”

More:

https://gma.yahoo.com/former-federal-judge-regrets-55-marijuana-sentence-012200265–abc-news-topstories.html

Fox News Fearmongering: First Amendment Will Be Changed To Allow Sharia Law

It can be difficult to listen to people like right-wing ‘Judge’ Jeanine Pirro, who seem to reside in an alternate reality.

Fox News’ Pirro is like Rupert Murdoch’s Id, speaking from some place in the core of his brain where the hate lives.

Here, Pirro rants about how “we need to kill them” – meaning terrorists – and contradicts herself several times.

She also doesn’t understand the fight between Sunnis and Shiites in the Middle East. Dangerous fearmongering is part of her show.

Secular Talk

Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano has a rational response to the Senate torture report.

In an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Judge Andrew Napolitano argues that “the American people have a right to know what’s been done in their name, especially when they’re misled about it.”

He also said the report won’t endanger lives, but the torture itself.

Kelly responded, “I’m sure that’s gonna comfort the families of the dead analysts…”

TYT video.

Maine Judge Rejected State’s Attempt To Forcibly Quarantine Nurse Kaci Hickox

According to Time Magazine, a judge in Maine rejected the state’s attempt to forcibly quarantine a nurse who has been clashing with officials over her defiance of a voluntary Ebola quarantine on Friday.

He reversed a court order that briefly mandated she avoid public places and transportation.  Kaci Hickox – the nurse – must still continue daily temperature monitoring and approve travel with state officials, the judge ordered.

The order came Friday following a temporary order Thursday. The state has been pushing the nurse, Kaci Hickox, to follow quarantine guidelines laid out by federal officials for people at “some risk” of Ebola.

“I’m humbled today by the judge’s decision and even more humbled by the support that we have received from the town, the state of Maine, across the U.S. and even across the globe,” Hickox told reporters. “I know that Ebola is a scary disease. I have seen it face to face.

“I know that we are nowhere near winning this battle. We’ll only win this battle as we continue this discussion, as we gain a better collective understanding about Ebola and public health, as we overcome the fear and most importantly as we end the outbreak that is still ongoing in West Africa today,”  she said.

Judge Jeanine Pirro Cracks; Says That ISIS Worse Than World War I And World War II

What channel does Judge Jeanine Pirro work for?

It looks like Fox News.

Is she talking about the threat of ISIS because she cares about you, the viewer? Or does she just want to use the situation to gain advantage and harp on the President?

She states: “If our government were listening, our borders would be closed. If our government were listening, we’d be bombing ISIS nonstop. And if they were listening, our president would be following the advice of the military experts united on the issue of boots on the ground. But instead, our president thinks he knows more than the military experts, a disagreement highlighted this week and virtually unseen in American history. And if our government were listening, we would never have gotten out of Iraq the way we did.”

She is clearly trying to pressure the president and those in government to commit combat troops to Iraq.

Is she fear-mongering? Does she give proof that ISIS is within our borders? Where are the names, dates, mugshots, specifics? She mentions some “lone wolf” terrorists. Are they really with ISIS, or are they just like 100 other lone wolf terrorists throughout the U.S.?

What about the crazed white lone wolf cop-killer in Pennsylvania? Is he also with ISIS?