National District Attorneys Association Newsclips May 9, 2011

Transcription

1 National District Attorneys Association Newsclips May 9, 2011 Today s Clip Headlines Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Backs Off On Prosecutor Work Plan Prosecutors Would Limit Access To N.C. Innocence Panel State To Double Crime Searches Using Family DNA Florida Targeting Pill Mills War Of The Robes Erupts Over Future Of State Court System Gov. Brian Schweitzer Is Signing The Legislature s Top Measure Aimed At Cracking Down On Drunken Driving N.J. Assembly This Week To Consider Harsher Legislation Against Those Who Harm Police Dogs NY Prisons Have As Many As 8,000 Excess Beds Philadelphia DA Says House Bill On Abortion Clincs Goes Too Far Inmate Executed With New Drug Combination New Federal Crackdown Confounds States That Allow Medical Marijuana Clip Synopses and Links The Post-Crescent (Appleton) Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Backs Off On Prosecutor Work Plan Governor: Public safety is top concern Gov. Scott Walker backed off a plan Friday to reduce assistant district attorneys hours, saying he doesn t want to endanger public safety. District attorneys across Wisconsin had balked at the plan. They warned the move would create widespread delays across state s courts as they postponed hearings and other proceedings to accommodate the lack of manpower. The governor issued a statement late Friday afternoon promising he would fully fund the assistants through the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

2 Raleigh News & Observer Prosecutors Would Limit Access To N.C. Innocence Panel Prosecutors across the state have mounted an effort to block defendants such as Wilcoxson and Kagonyera from appealing to the commission, a state agency established in 2006 to examine claims of innocence. A bill pending would prevent those who pleaded guilty from applying to the commission for help; since 2007, nearly 30 percent of applicants involved guilty pleas. Wilcoxson and Kagonyera are two of more than 100 prisoners asking to have their guilty pleas revisited by the courts, saying an imperfect system and intense pressure led them to use one of the judicial system s most common mechanisms for clearing a case. Los Angeles Times State To Double Crime Searches Using Family DNA California s success in using familial searching spurs Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris to increase funding for the controversial genetic sleuthing technique in rape, murder and cold cases. Police dogs, fliers containing a composite sketch of the suspect and a search of the DNA offender database failed to net a suspect until the state earlier this year traced the suspect through the DNA of his father, a felon whose genetic profile was stored in the database. Although such genetic sleuthing, known as familial searching, remains controversial California is one of only three states that permit the technique Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris has increased the budget to double the number of such searches and reduce a DNA backlog. California is on the cutting edge of this in many ways, Harris, who replaced Jerry Brown as the state s top law enforcement officer in January, said in an interview last week. I think we are going to be a model for the country. I really do. California s early success with familial searching it led to the arrest of the suspect in the Grim Sleeper serial killings last summer has spurred calls for using the science to trace criminals nationwide. Virginia recently joined California and Colorado in permitting such searches. 2

3 Some advocates of familial searching even point to the military s identification of Osama bin Laden as evidence of the effectiveness of using DNA from relatives to determine identify. The Wall Street Journal Florida Targeting Pill Mills Florida s legislature passed a bill that aims to crack down on the notorious pill mills that have made the state the epicenter of illegal prescription-drug sales in the country. The bill, which passed both the House and Senate unanimously on Friday, stiffens penalties for doctors who overprescribe medication and for individuals who improperly set up pain-management clinics. It also tightens reporting requirements to a soon-to-becreated drug-monitoring database. Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who had been lambasted by critics in and outside of the state for his opposition to the database, plans to sign the measure into law, said spokesman Brian Burgess. The Mercury News War Of The Robes Erupts Over Future Of State Court System Call it the War of the Robes. Sweeping budget cuts in trial courts across California, coupled with mounting frustration with the state s much-maligned court bureaucracy, have exposed an unprecedented public rift in the normally tranquil fraternity of more than 2,000 judges. The division has handed new Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye a rebellion to quell in her first months in office, as well as legislative proposals now gaining momen tum that are pitting trial courts against each other up and down California. As the judicial tension escalates, one casualty may be a statewide technology upgrade for the courts that has ballooned in cost to nearly $2 billion, prompting an outcry from many judges who consider it an ill-conceived boondoggle that should be scrapped to help pay for basic court needs. The fallout also has fueled a move to reduce the powers of the state s judicial leadership to control the purse strings of local county courts. 3

4 Billings Gazette Gov. Brian Schweitzer Is Signing The Legislature s Top Measure Aimed At Cracking Down On Drunken Driving The so-called 24/7 program was overwhelming endorsed by lawmakers and was backed by Attorney General Steve Bullock. The program requires repeat DUI offenders to take a breath test twice a day, every day, at their own expense from the time of arrest until their sentence is completed. Supporters say it has proved successful in keeping repeat offenders sober during a pilot project, and costs taxpayers nothing since the offenders pay for the tests. The Star-Ledger (Newark) N.J. Assembly This Week To Consider Harsher Legislation Against Those Who Harm Police Dogs People who intentionally kill police dogs or dogs involved in search and rescue operations may soon face stiffer penalties in New Jersey. The Assembly is set to consider legislation this week that would mandate minimum fiveyear prison terms with no chance of parole for such offenders, who would also face fines of up to $15,000. The current maximum sentence they now face is just three to five years in prison. The measure named for a police dog killed in the line of duty last November was passed by the state senate earlier this year, so it would head to Gov. Chris Christie s desk if the Assembly gives its approval on Monday. Times Union NY Prisons Have As Many As 8,000 Excess Beds A review of state records has found that New York s prisons are running at about 88 percent capacity. 4

5 Gannett s Albany bureau is reporting that state prisons have as many as 8,000 excess beds at the system s 67 facilities. Gov. Andrew Cuomo plans to lower the excess bed count by 3,700 to save the state roughly $72 million. Up to six prisons may be closed. Pittsburgh Post Gazette Philadelphia DA Says House Bill On Abortion Clincs Goes Too Far Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says a bill that would require abortion clinics in Pennsylvania to meet the same safety standards as outpatient surgery centers goes beyond what a grand jury recommended. The bill follows allegations that a Philadelphia doctor performed illegal abortions that killed a patient and viable infants. The grand jury questioned why such clinics are not regulated like other ambulatory surgical centers. But Mr. Williams says the grand jury did not recommend including all abortion clinics nor singling out for licensure all clinics just because they offer abortions. The State (Columbia) Inmate Executed With New Drug Combination South Carolina on Friday executed a man who strangled his cellmate, using a new combination of lethal injection drugs for the first time. He was given the sedative pentobarbital instead of sodium thiopental as part of the lethal three drug combination because federal agents seized the state s supply as part of a nationwide investigation into whether prisons obtained the drugs illegally from England. 5

6 The New York Times New Federal Crackdown Confounds States That Allow Medical Marijuana Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but that has not stopped a fuzzy industry of marijuana farms and dispensaries from rising to serve the 15 states that allow the drug to be used for medical purposes. Under President Obama, the federal government had seemed to make a point of paying little attention until now. As some states seek to increase regulation but also further protect and institutionalize medical marijuana, federal prosecutors are suddenly asserting themselves, authorizing raids and sending strongly worded letters that have cast new uncertainty on an issue that has long brimmed with tension between federal and state law. How can a drug that federal drug law says is criminal be considered medicine under state law? Upcoming Courses To see a full list of our upcoming courses, their dates, summaries and registration forms, please visit Member Benefits New NDAA membership benefits available: Need Case Assistance? NDAA can help. Send a message to NDAA s prosecutor assistance address and we will get your request to one of our program specialists or out to prosecutors around the country. jhemphill@ndaa.org 6