National District Attorneys Association Newsclips July 22, 2013 Today s Clip Headlines Feds target 'stand your ground' laws, but what can they do? Lawyer: Arizona legislative districts lines must be redrawn Candidates: Fix procedure, keep death penalty (Arkansas) Colorado wrestles with gun control one year after theater shooting Michigan AG challenges judge's ruling that Detroit bankruptcy is unconstitutional N.Y. sex criminals sue Pataki over psych transfers PSP hoping to improve Megan's Law notification (Pennsylvania) Educating Utah prison inmates pays off, study says Today s Clip Headlines The Christian Science Monitor Feds target 'stand your ground' laws, but what can they do? Picking up on rumbles of frustration, even outrage, about the George Zimmerman verdict, top US officials are insisting that America, and perhaps its federal government, need to take action to honor the memory of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed teenager whom Mr. Zimmerman killed.
Attorney General Eric Holder has been more specific in a critique, focusing on a new breed of self-defense laws used to arrive at the verdict. It s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods, he said Tuesday at the NAACP s annual convention in Orlando, Fla. A US civil rights watchdog, meanwhile, is redoubling its efforts to determine whether these socalled stand your ground laws disproportionately victimize black people. http://www.csmonitor.com/usa/justice/2013/0718/feds-target-stand-your-ground-laws-butwhat-can-they-do East Valley Tribune Lawyer: Arizona legislative districts lines must be redrawn Last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling voiding a key section of the Voting Rights Act requires the lines for the state's 30 legislative districts to be redrawn before the 2014 election, an attorney for Republican interest is contending. In legal papers filed in federal court late Friday, attorney David Cantelme said the Independent Redistricting Commission's own data shows that it overpopulated some of the districts and under-populated others. The result, Cantelme said, was to politically disadvantage Republican candidates to the benefit of Democrats. Cantelme also pointed out to the three-judge panel hearing his legal challenge that the commission's key legal argument for why it made those decisions was that it needed comply with the federal Voting Rights Act. More to the point, commissioners wanted to ensure that the map it drew was "pre-cleared'' by the U.S. Department of Justice as not diluting the voting strength of minorities. http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/arizona/article_ae4db7d0-f24f-11e2-8c83-0019bb2963f4.html Arkansas News Candidates: Fix procedure, keep death penalty Extended litigation over lethal injection and dwindling options for carrying out the procedure have forestalled executions in Arkansas for nearly a decade. Now the state s top legal officer wants a statewide discussion on the future of capital punishment here. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said recently that the state should either fix its execution procedure or abolish the death penalty.
He s not alone. Laurent A. Sacharoff, a University of Arkansas law professor and an expert on capital punishment, agrees that lawmakers and the general public should evaluate entire process. The law professor said studies have found that it costs a state on average about $1 million more to sentence someone to death, go through all the appeals and perform the execution than to keep an inmate locked up for life. http://arkansasnews.com/sections/news/arkansas/candidates-fix-procedure-keep-deathpenalty.html Reuters Colorado wrestles with gun control one year after theater shooting Stephen Barton was settling into his seat at a Colorado movie theater a year ago to enjoy with friends the midnight screening of the latest Batman film, "The Dark Knight Rises," when he heard a popping sound inside the cinema. "I thought it was fireworks until I felt this immense pressure on my chest," the 23-year-old recalled. Barton was struck in the face, arm and neck by buckshot unleashed by a heavily armed gunman, and still bears the scars from entry wounds and surgical incisions. Soon the rapid bursts of gunfire were followed by the wail of police and ambulance sirens, the screams of victims and the grief of a state that has endured two of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/20/us-usa-denver-shooting-idusbre96j03f20130720 Detroit Free Press Michigan AG challenges judge's ruling that Detroit bankruptcy is unconstitutional An Ingham County judge says Thursday's historic Detroit bankruptcy filing violates the Michigan Constitution and state law and must be withdrawn. But Attorney General Bill Schuette said he will appeal Circuit Judge Rosemarie Aquilina s Friday rulings and seek emergency consideration by the Michigan Court of Appeals. He wants her orders stayed pending the appeals, he said in a news release.
In a spate of orders today arising from three separate lawsuits, Aquilina said Gov. Rick Snyder and Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr must take no further actions that threaten to diminish the pension benefits of City of Detroit retirees. http://www.freep.com/article/20130719/news06/307190075/detroit-bankruptcy-inghamcounty-rosemarie-aquilina-pension Times Union N.Y. sex criminals sue Pataki over psych transfers The convicted rapist formerly known as Louis Massei wore pink clam diggers and shoulderlength hair parted on the side for a star turn on the witness stand last week in a Manhattan courtroom. The transgender witness, who now goes by the name Lisa, was there to describe what it was like to be involuntarily placed in a psychiatric facility for mentally ill offenders. Massei, 52, is among six ex-cons who have sued former Gov. George Pataki and other state officials for tens of millions of dollars. The lawsuit accuses the state of abusing its authority eight years ago by transferring the plaintiffs to psychiatric facilities at the end of their prison terms in effect, summarily extending their sentences without recourse. None of the plaintiffs are still in mental health institutions. http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/n-y-sex-criminals-sue-pataki-over-psych-transfers- 4678371.php Go Erie PSP hoping to improve Megan's Law notification Pennsylvania State Police are looking at how to improve notification of local police when a Megan's Law offender fails to check in as required. That's what authorities say happened with Harold Leroy Herr, who was charged Wednesday with kidnapping a 5-year-old girl July 11 from Lancaster Township and sexually assaulting her. Herr, 73, of Conestoga Township, was required to check in with authorities in person four times annually for his 1990 conviction for kidnapping and child rape. He served 20 years -- his maximum sentence -- and was released in May 2010. He apparently checked in as required until this spring. He failed to check in during a 10-day period ending May 7, according to Southern Regional Police, who charged him July 12 with the Megan's Law violation.
By then, authorities were looking at Herr for the abduction. http://www.goerie.com/article/20130722/news06/307229959/psp-hoping-to-improve- Megan's-Law-notification Deseret News Educating Utah prison inmates pays off, study says Utah sees a more than 13-to-1 return on investment when inmates complete vocational secondary education in prison and gain employment afterward, according to a University of Utah study released this week by the state s Department of Corrections. The study looked at spending on corrections education, the benefit to the state, and the effect of an education and post-prison employment on recidivism rates. It shows that we re actually doing something out here, rather than just warehousing individuals, said Lt. Vic Smith. The report, dated October 2012, takes into account data from the Department of Corrections and the Utah State Office of Education and applies it to the 2012 Utah Benefit Cost Model. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865583439/educating-utah-prison-inmates-pays-off-studysays.html
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