Court Watch

NY Times Editorial Slams GOP and Governor Perry on the Death Penalty –

Last week the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the death sentence of an Idaho man convicted of killing a coworker in 1981 at a gas station near Boise, Idaho.  The victim was repeatedly shot and stabbed.

In arguing for the admissibility of Deputy Tony Diaz’ photo when he was alive, the people, led by Deputy DA Garrett Hamilton and DA Jeff Reisig, characterized this case as “not a close case” in their view.  The defense took exception to that.

Earlier this week, the prosecution in the Topete trial attempted to introduce DNA evidence that they had collected after the trial had begun, destroyed and failed to discover to the defense.  Judge Richardson, questioning the fairness of the prosecutor, ultimately excluded the evidence from court – evidence that seemed ambiguous at best.

Two weeks ago we ran the story on Texas Governor Rick Perry’s cover up, that he may have executed an innocent man when he refused even to grant a stay of execution for Cameron Todd Willingham.

Last week, District Attorney Jeff Reisig and Deputy DA Garrett Hamilton revealed that they have DNA evidence that purportedly ties defendant Marco Topete to the murder weapon.

It was an ordinary communication sent out on September 3, 2011, by the West Sacramento Police Department depicting a murder that had occurred the evening before.

It was a lengthy and protracted battle to nominate Goodwin Liu, a UC Berkeley Law Professor, to a seat on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  Ultimately he would lose, as Senate Republicans filibustered his nomination and he eventually withdrew.

It was like something out of a Seinfeld episode from seventh season, an episode that originally aired back in May 1996.  One of the characters, Newman, learns that bottles and cans can be refunded for ten cents in Michigan, as opposed to 5 cents in other states.

Kramer informs him that it would be impossible to gain profit from doing this, since the travel to Michigan from New York would exact heavy costs in terms of gas, toll booths and truck rental fees.  However, Newman becomes obsessed with finding a way to make a scheme work.

The prosecution continues to attempt to prove gang charges in the Topete trial.  Gang expert Ron Cordova, the gang investigator for the Woodland Police Department, testified on Thursday that Mr. Topete was a Norteño gang member the night of Deputy Tony Diaz’s murder.

On Monday morning, former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti, a lifelong supporter of the death penalty, spoke at a press conference to announce an initiative that would eliminate the death penalty and commute all current death sentences to life without parole.

Yesterday in Sacramento, a group of former law enforcement officials and other anti-death penalty activists came together to announce that they had turned in a ballot initiative for the 2012 general elections to replace California’s death penalty with life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Governor Perry of Texas has burst onto the political scene as he attempts to become the Republican nominee for President.  One issue that has so far been kept below the surface is the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham.

Back in the 1990s, the death penalty had become a third rail, of sorts, as a highly-charged issue.  The public supported the death penalty overwhelmingly, Michael Dukakis had been ground into dust on the issue, so Democrats would not touch the issue.

While it is a decision that only applies to the State of New Jersey, observers and analysts expect a decision rendered by the New Jersey Supreme Court earlier this week to have considerable impact nationally, as the U.S. Supreme Court will in November also return to the issue of eyewitness testimony, last considered in 1977.

Over the first portion of the year 2011, we have often noted the sea-change that has occurred in Yolo County with regard to the results of jury trials.  Some readers have asked for statistical analysis to bolster these claims.

This is not a case of an innocent man being wrongfully convicted.  This is the case of a man, who committed some crimes, being convicted of far more than he committed and facing far longer time in prison than he deserves.

The prosecution in the Topete trial now appears to be attempting to tear away at the notion that Mr. Topete was drunk when he led Deputy Tony Diaz on a high-speed chase that culminated in the fatal shooting.

Last week, during the opening statements, the prosecution showed the full 15-minute video of the incident that culminated in the fatal shooting of Officer Tony Diaz. During the course of airing that video, members of the family, apparently unprepared for the magnitude of emotions, responded by openingly weeping in court, and some fleeing the courtroom were even heard wailing around the entire courthouse.

There was a lot of focus, this opening week of the Topete trial, on the sideshow.  In the end, the point I am going to make is probably not crucial.  In all likelihood Mr. Topete will get convicted on all charges and sentenced to death.  After all, he shot at a police officer 17 times after leading him on a high speed chase.  He had his baby in the car and he was drunk.

Earlier this week, we ran a story about the lawsuit that Attorney Stewart Katz filed on behalf of John Hesselbein.