Posts by Matt Kelley
Death and Texas
Published November 20, 2009 @ 08:06AM PT
Another week, another refusal by Texas to reconsider a death row case. Actually, make that two refusals.
Robert Lee Thompson, 34, was executed last night in Huntsville, just an hour after Gov. Rick Perry had declined to commute his sentence to life. Perry was presented a rare commutation recommendation from the state's Board of Pardons and Parole, which had voted 5-2 in favor of a life sentence for Thompson, who was convicted under the "law of parties" -- meaning he participated in the crime but didn't pull the trigger. Perry decided to ignore the board and authorize the execution.
In another case, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals yesterday rejected an appeal from Max Soffar (left), who has been on the state's death row for 28 years for a crime he says he didn't commit. Soffar, who is mentally ill, was convicted of killing four people in 1980 after giving what he and advocates say was a false confession.
Crowdfunded Court Reporting
Published November 20, 2009 @ 06:15AM PT
This week, a reporter from San Francisco public radio station KALW is spending her days in Oakland courtrooms, taking in all of the action (and inaction). She's reporting for a story funded by individuals through the website Spot.us, on the daily activity in a criminal court -- and she's blogging about what she sees, letting us in on both the process of reporting a story like this and the day-to-day workings of a court that the media usually misses in its 800-word story about a murder conviction.
So far, reporter Rina Palta has seen some high-level cases, more than one might expect from the daily grind of a criminal court. She wrote on Tuesday about watching arguments from both sides of a death penalty sentencing hearing. The proceedings piqued her curiosity about jury selection and she spent the next day watching lawyers interview potential jurors in a case where the state was seeking to label a man a sexually violent predator, making him eligible for lifetime civil commitment.
Together, Spot.us and KALW are exploring a new method of covering our criminal justice system, and there's great potential here. Criminal justice reform can't happen until the system's failures and successes become human stories to which we can connect. Crowd-funded reporting offers a chance to shine a spotlight on the invisible people within the system.
Massachusetts Steps Away from Mandatory Minimums
Published November 19, 2009 @ 08:57AM PT
The Massachusetts Senate yesterday passed a bill that would open the possibility of parole for prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug crimes. Many were sentenced under mandatory minimum laws and aren't currently eligible for parole. Finally, amidst budget difficulties, another state is seeing the light.
On its website, Families Against Mandatory Minimums profiles Robert Anger, a Massachusetts prisoner who could potentially be eligible for parole if the bill becomes law. Anger, from Vermont, became addicted to OxyContin as a teenager and soon transitioned to heroin. He began selling cocaine to support his habit and was arrested in Massachusetts in 2004 buying cocaine worth $15,000. He was 22 when a judge sentenced him under mandatory statute to 15 years in prison, saying "I wish I had discretion" as he did it. His full story is here.
A Somali Judge’s Assassination and the Struggles of a Tattered System
Published November 19, 2009 @ 05:39AM PT
An excellent post yesterday from Daniel J Gerstle on the War and Peace blog offers important -- and highly personal -- background on the tragic story of a Somali judge’s recent assassination.
Judge Sheikh Mohamad Abdi Aware was shot and killed outside his mosque last week, allegedly by separatist leaders or pirates angry with him for handing down harsh sentences to pirates and criminal kingpins.
Daniel writes about the time he spent in Somalia conducting the first review of juvenile justice in the country got the UN. He writes that he struggled to come to grips with a weak, fledgling court system that was torn between traditional, Islamic and state law. His post makes clear the incredible courage of people like Judge Aware to stand up to violent factions when in an attempt to establish the rule of law in a war-torn land. Daniel writes:
Judge Aware's surviving colleagues have near their reach the reigns of law for northeastern Somalia. With success there, chances are better to bring greater rule of law to the south. But their number, those who can equally satisfy not only the state but also the Islamic and traditional leadership, which requires gravitas, are dwindling.
A Jail Journal
Published November 17, 2009 @ 05:19AM PT
A Michigan man who spent five months in the Washtenaw County Jail in 2008 has been posting about his experiences in installments on the Ann Arbor Chronicle site. It's a moving and detailed account of life on the inside, and well worth a look.
The journal started as a twitter feed, doling out jail experience 140 characters at a time. It grew into well-written chapters, covering day-to-day life in a local jail -- the challenges, the characters, the slang, the work-arounds, the danger.
Here's an excerpt:
The holding cell is so crowded now, there is no room for anybody to lay down. Some inmates tuck their arms into their uniforms and curl up.
I’ve been in a holding cell for about three hours, added to 56 hours in “suicide watch.” Now, I’m waiting for a vacancy in the overcrowded jail.
At last my name is called. After spending 60 hours in three holding cells a few feet away from the entrance, I am now going to see the jail. As I pass by Bam Bam, Frank smiles and gives me a thumbs-up. It’s an ending, of sorts. Phase I of jail ends.
But it’s all really beginning.
Read his first three chapters at the Ann Arbor Chronicle.
The Job Search and the Stigma of a Felony
Published November 16, 2009 @ 08:17PM PT
The latest episode of a great of web radio show, Family Life Behind Bars, focuses on the job search after incarceration, and includes two guests who offer important perspectives on the topic.
David Koch -- a pilot, business owner and author -- served two years in prison before beginning his career in 1980 at the bottom rung, mowing lawns and cleaning floors at a flight school. He offers some clear and actionable advice to newly released prisoners, but he doesn't mince words -- he's such a believer in self-determination that he almost denies the challenges are there. He says that the stigma of a felony conviction exists in the felon’s mind more than it does in society. He recommends that newly released prisoners take "jobs that nobody wants" or volunteer their time to help others and get their foot in the door. I'm not sure if he's offering sound advice or living in a fantasy land.
From the other end of the spectrum, guest Aric Coleman was freed last month in Michigan after serving seven years in prison. He’s struggling to find a job, and he says he sees the stigma against hiring felons as real in society, but then agrees with Koch that it must first be conquered within oneself.
Denied a Promotion Because She’s a Woman
Published November 16, 2009 @ 06:50AM PT
Andrea Young was a 13-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police when she sat for the state’s promotion exam. She scored sixth out of 2,000 test-takers. But she was skipped for the promotion, and she argues in a new lawsuit that the snub was just one facet of the consistent harassment she suffered as a female officer on the force.
Just 4% of state cops in Pennsylvania are women, and Young said she endured jokes about her sex life and even received a photo of one officer’s penis. Other officers admitted to her they were cheating on the test, but then accused her of cheating. She says she wasn’t only targeted because she’s a woman, but because she was a speaking up about the conditions under which she worked.
