Category Archives: Justice

UPDATES (9/26): Christine Blasey Ford’s Contempt For Kavanaugh’s 6th Amendment Confrontation Rights

Constitution, Criminal Injustice, Feminism, Gender, Justice, Law, Morality, Sex

A family member of Christine Blasey Ford told a friendly network that Ford was a serious person, a scientist, no less.

For one thing, Ford is a psychologist. As such, she can only be a social scientist, not a scientist.

For another, if Ford’s “science” is anything like her callous attitude toward the rights of the accused in our adversarial understanding of the law—then she is not  a”scientist,” and most definitely no “serious person.” She might even be legitimately considered a bit of a menace.

One item on Blasey Ford’s long list of demands to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, before she relents and goes away, is that “Brett Kavanaugh should be questioned first, before he has the opportunity to hear Ford’s testimony.”

Kavanaugh goes first and is denied the opportunity to hear the accusations against him, confront his accuser, and fashion a response to her accusations.

Make no mistake, Blasey Ford is submitting Kavanaugh to a public lynching, a trial by any other name, except that this trail is without protections such as the presumption of innocence.

And certainly without the 6th amendment constitutional protections:

The 6th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution sets out many rights for defendants during a criminal prosecution, including the right of the accused to confront their accusers. The relevant text of the Confrontation Clause of the 6th Amendment reads as follows: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against him.

Impotent Republicans are incapable of standing up for anything. GOP Chairman Chuck Grassley JUST caved again to Blasey Ford, giving her Highness still more time to decide on yet MORE conditions for her appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

UPDATES (9/26):

Why not Harmeet K. Dhillon?

A sex-crimes prosecutor? What on earth for?

Comments Off on UPDATES (9/26): Christine Blasey Ford’s Contempt For Kavanaugh’s 6th Amendment Confrontation Rights

Written by on

American Justice: See If You Can Plea-Bargain Yourself Out Of Jail

Criminal Injustice, Justice, Law, The State

From Paul Craig Roberts comes the most important sentences you’ll read today. It encapsulates the fate of Paul Manafort and so many others:

Justice no longer exists in America as 97% of felony convictions result from self-incrimination—plea bargains in which the defendant, innocent or guilty, advised by his attorney that a fair trial is impossible, admits to some offense in exchange for a watered-down sentence.

AND:

Decades ago when there was still some semblance of justice in the American justice system, police had to provide sound evidence for their case in order for the prosecutor to take up the case. The reason was that prosecutorial budgets were limited, and the career interests of prosecutors was to get as many convictions out of their budget as possible. Today, however, when even the innocent prefer to admit a crime rather than run the risk of a trial, prosecutors have endless strings of “convictions” without having to spend days or weeks in trial.

Today prosecutors no longer have to prove a case before a jury. They only negotiate with the defendant’s attorney a crime, whether committed or not, that settles the case. …

MORE: “Evidence Is No Longer A Western Value.”

Rudy Giuliani Is Doing Political PR; He’s NOT Protecting The President Legally

Donald Trump, Justice, Law, Politics, Republicans, Russia

“The White House is trying to downplay signs of trouble after the New York Times reported that White House counsel Don McGahn has cooperated extensively with the Russia investigation.”

CNN has learned that McGahn’s attorney did not give President Trump’s lawyers a full debrief after McGahn sat down for almost 30 hours of interviews with Robert Mueller’s team. CNN’s sources are saying that the president’s attorneys, well, did not ask for a debrief. (SEE Transcript)

More worrying is that, in Rudy Giuliani, the president has hired a political noise-maker.

Giuliani’s legal acumen is manifestly poor. When commentators wonder whether he even reads up briefs on the Mueller witch-hunt—one cannot disagree. It always sounds like Giuliani is flying by the seat of his pants.

America’s favorite former mayor is doing political PR; he’s not protecting the president legally.

So, where are all the president’s good men? And yes, Don McGahn is a big, dangerous deal.

 

UPDATED (8/22): Paul Manafort’s Lawyers Decide To … Gamble. What’s There To Lose Except The Rest Of Client’s Life

Justice, Law, Taxation

His life is on the line—the rest of it—yet Paul Manafort’s lawyers have opted for a risky defense strategy. Risky when so much is at stake.

Instead of mounting a defense against the oddly timed prosecution out of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office, Manafort’s lead attorney Kevin Downing decides to wing it. His defense relied on cross examination of the prosecution’s witnesses.

Apparently the belief is that juries are sophisticated enough to discern that “the government has not met its burden of proof.”

“This is very common after prosecution rests to file a motion saying they didn’t meet the burden beyond a reasonable doubt,” said John Cohen, a former homeland security official and ABC New contributor. “Typically, this doesn’t work.”

Manafort’s lawyers clearly felt that gambling was the way to go, here. After all, what’s there to lose? The rest of their client’s life?

UPDATE (8/22):

Dumb lawyer gambled with his client’s life and the client lost.

Comments Off on UPDATED (8/22): Paul Manafort’s Lawyers Decide To … Gamble. What’s There To Lose Except The Rest Of Client’s Life

Written by on