-
Michael Ramirez on the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case
Head of DNA lab says he and Nifong agreed not to report results
The head of a private DNA laboratory said under oath today that he and District Attorney Mike Nifong agreed not to report DNA results favorable to Duke lacrosse players charged with rape.
Brian Meehan, director of DNA Security of Burlington, said his lab found DNA from unidentified men in the underwear, pubic hair and rectum of the woman who said she was gang-raped at a lacrosse party in March. Nurses at Duke Hospital collected the samples a few hours after the alleged assault. Meehan said the DNA did not come from Reade Seligmann, David Evans, or Collin Finnerty, who have been charged with rape and sexual assault in the case.
Meehan struggled to say why he didn’t include the favorable evidence in a report dated May 12, almost a month after Seligmann and Finnerty had been indicted. He cited concerns about the privacy of the lacrosse players, his discussions at several meetings with Nifong, and the fact that he didn’t know whose DNA it was.
Under questioning by Jim Cooney, a defense attorney for Seligmann, Meehan admitted that his report violated his laboratory’s standards by not reporting results of all tests.
Did Nifong and his investigators know the results of all the DNA tests? Cooney asked.
“I believe so,†Meehan said.
“Did they know the test results excluded Reade Seligmann?†Cooney asked.
“I believe so,†Meehan said.
Was the failure to report these results the intentional decision of you and the district attorney? Cooney asked.
“Yes,†Meehan replied.
This case has been in trouble since the beginning.
Looks like the District Attorney, Mike Nifong, may be cuddling with bubba soon.
Technorati Tags: MichaelRamirez, MikeNifong
-
Michael Morales Watch: Judge Jeremy Fogel Rules – California Method of Lethal Injection Violates a Constitutional Ban on Cruel and Unusual Punishment
AP: Federal judge declares Calif. executions unconstitutional
A federal judge who imposed a moratorium on state executions ruled Friday that the current method of lethal injection violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
California’s “implementation of lethal injection is broken, but it can be fixed,” U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel said.
Fogel said the case presented the narrow question of whether a three-drug cocktail administered by San Quentin State Prison officials is so painful that it “offends” the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Fogel said he was compelled “to answer that question in the affirmative.”
The decision is the latest in a nationwide challenge to lethal injection as cruel and unusual punishment and came just after Florida Gov. Jeb Bush suspended all executions in that state after a botched execution this week.
Lethal injection is the preferred execution method in 37 states.
Last month, a federal judge declared Missouri’s injection method, which is similar to California’s, unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld executions — by hanging, firing squad, electric chair and gas chamber — despite the pain they might cause, but has left unsettled the issue of whether the pain is unconstitutionally excessive.
Remember his victim, Terri Lynn Winchell?
Remember the MURDER? LOVE TRIANGLE GONE VICIOUS
Remember the NO JUSTICE INDEFINITE POSTPONEMENT OF EXECUTION?
California has been under a capital punishment moratorium since February, when Fogel called off the execution of rapist and murderer Michael Morales amid concerns inmates might suffer excruciating deaths.
Fogel found substantial evidence that the last six men executed at San Quentin might have been conscious because they were still breathing when lethal drugs were administered.
He ordered anesthesiologists to be on hand, or demanded that a licensed medical professional inject a large, fatal dose of a sedative instead of the additional paralyzing agent and heart-stopping drugs used. No medical professional, however, was willing to participate.
Attorneys for Morales alleged in a lawsuit that Morales might appear unconscious after being injected with a sedative, but internally he would succumb to excruciating pain, “burning veins and heart failure,” once the paralyzing and the death drug were administered.
Judge Jeremy Fogel’s ruling is here.
Flap supposes that a lethal injection in San Quentin is too good for Morales:
Maybe we can revert to this:
No justice for Terri Lynn Winchell today.
But, stay tuned as this is appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the United States Supreme Court.
Previous:
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Postponed INDEFINITELY
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Tonight?
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Execution Delayed by Doctor Walk Out
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: United States Supreme Court Refuses to Halt Morales Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency Petition
Michael Angelo Moreno Watch: State Agrees to Place Anesthesia Expert in Death Chamber
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Federal Judge May Delay Execution
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Ventura County Judge Asks California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Michael Angelo Morales Watch: Kenneth Starr to Assist Death Row Clemency Bid
Technorati Tags: MichaelAngeloMorales,, ArnoldSchwarzenegger,, California,, KennethStarr,, TerriLynnWinchell,, LethalInjection
-
Iran Nuclear Watch: A Military Option Redux
Flap sees this excellent piece by Arthur Herman FINALLY been noticed by the blogosphere by Hugh Hewitt and Hot Air.
So, Flap will reprise his November 4, 2006 piece on this very subject.
Commentary: Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option
Arthur Herman in Commentary: Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option is also found here.
READ IT ALL
United Nations and European negotiations with Iranhave failed and any further illusion of success in stopping the Mullahs and Ahmadinejad is foolish and reckless.
I have maintained for months that when a “POINT OF NO RETURN†is reached the United States and Israel WILL take military action against Iran. Arthur Herman’s piece is a very plausible scenario.
Is it a LEAK?
Is it a message to Iran?
Possibly.
But, make no mistake about it the United States and Israel will NOT allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
And the reader asks what about Iran’s response to a military assault of their oil fields and nuclear facilities? Will the Iranian Revolutionary Guard fire chemical and biological weapons against American troops in Iraq and Israel?Possible
But, Israel and the United States have nuclear arsenals. An overt attack against civilian populations in Israel would mean devastating destruction of Iran.
Iran MUST stand down their nuclear program and immediately stop the enrichment of uranium.
The clock towards the “POINT OF NO RETURN†is counting down……..
Stay tuned……..
Previous:
Iran Nuclear Watch: Six Arab States Want to Go Nuclear
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Test Fires Three New Missiles in the Gulf
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia and China Say NO to United Nations Iran Sanction Resolution
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia Says NYET to Iran United Nations Draft Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Adds Second Cascade of Centrifuges to Enrich Uranium
Iran Nuclear Watch: United Nations Draft Sanctions Proposal Wants Iran Technology Sales Banned
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad Threatens Europe
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Expanding Uranium Enrichment
Iran Nuclear Watch: Olmert – IDF preparing for Iranian Threat
Iran Nuclear Watch: Ahmadinejad – Iran Will NOT Back Down “An Inchâ€
Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Warns Against United Nations Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: Anonymous Assured Destruction
The Natanz uranium enrichment complex in Natanz is pictured in this January 2, 2006 satellite image.
Technorati Tags: Iran, Ahmadinejad
-
Michael Ramirez on Jimmy Carter’s New Book
Carter Nixes Debate With Outspoken Prof
Former President Carter turned down a request to debate Alan Dershowitz about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the outspoken Harvard law professor “knows nothing about the situation.”
Carter, author of a new book advocating “peace not apartheid” in the region, said he will not visit Brandeis University to discuss the book because the university requested he debate Dershowitz.
“I don’t want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz,” Carter said in Friday’s Boston Globe. “There is no need … to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine.”
The school’s debate request, Carter said, is proof that many in the United States are unwilling to hear an alternative view on the nation’s most taboo foreign policy issue, Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.
The WORST President in modern times.
Who buys this CRAP from the OLD HAS BEEN?
Allah over at Hot Air has more.
Linked to Stop the ACLUÂ
Technorati Tags: MichaelRamirez, JimmyCarter
-
Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson in Stable Condition After Brain Surgery
Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) is seen in an undated file photo. Johnson was critically ill but stable on Thursday after brain surgery for a potentially deadly bleeding that could deprive his fellow Democrats of their razor-thin hold on the new Senate.
Washington Post: Democratic Sen. Johnson in Stable Condition After Brain Surgery
Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) was in stable condition yesterday after emergency brain surgery, prompting optimism among family and friends and at least temporarily stanching speculation that the Democrats’ narrow control of the next Senate might be in jeopardy.
But Capitol aides predicted tough negotiations between the two parties early next month over the rules for organizing the new Senate, particularly those that would address the possibility that a Democratic seat could be vacated because of illness or death.
Senator Johnson will not be well enough to vote at the organization meeting, January 4, 2007. There is little doubt about this fact. He may never return to the United States Senate.
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) (R) walks into the George Washington University hospital in Washington December 15, 2006 to visit Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) who is recovering from brain surgery. If Senator Johnson is unable to return to work in the U.S. Senate, Republicans could effectively regain control, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting tie breaking votes.
On the other hand, after many months of rehabilitation he may again be a productive United States Senator. But, will he desire this? Also, he would have to begin soon to run for re-election in a red state.
The best case for the Democrats is to agree to the 2001 deal (brokered by Daschle and Lott). If they do not, then how will they justify a majority leadership when in fact they are in the minority (48 plus two independents vs. 49 GOP Senators)?
Even if Johnson recuperates fully, aides and advisers said, Democrats will be painfully aware that they remain one fatal illness — or one party switch — away from a Republican claim on their majority, which has stood at 51 to 49 since the Nov. 7 elections. The two parties may clash in particular over an agreement made in 2001 that enabled Democrats to seize the majority after one Republican senator switched parties. Republicans are likely to try to revive the precedent, according to the congressional aides, and Democrats are likely to fight it.
Let the Democrats fight the agreement.
An already gridlocked Senate will grind to a complete halt as rule change after rule change is filibustered while Senator Johnson languishes in limbo.
And what about Lieberman?
Stay tuned……..
Previous:
Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Senate Back to 50-50 Split?
Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson in Critical Condition After Late Night Brain Surgery
Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Senator Undergoes Surgery
Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Democrat Spokesman Says Johnson Did Not Suffer Stroke
Senator Tim Johnson Watch: Johnson Hospitalized with Apparent Stroke
Technorati Tags: TimJohnson, SouthDakota
-
Day By Day by Chris Muir December 15, 2006