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RIP TIM RUSSERT: Newsman Tim Russert passed away last Friday from an apparent heart attack. Russert was the moderator of Meet the Press.
R. KELLY ACQUITTED: It took over six years for the singer to stand trial in Chicago, but it ended in an acquittal. Kelly was charged with several counts of child pornography relating to a videotape purported showing him engaged in sexual acts with an underage girl. The defense was that the man on the tape was not Kelly. Neither Kelly nor the girl testified.
MCMAHAN CONVICTED: State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahon and his wife were convicted in federal court last week in Muskogee of conspiracy and accepting bribes.
JAMES ROWAN HONORED: The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty honored Oklahoma City attorney James Rowan with the Abolitionist of the Year award. Rowan has tried over 40 capital jury trials.
MANSON GIRL ATKINS SEEKS MERCY: Susan Atkins has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and is seeking release from prison on "compassionate" grounds. Atkins was a hardcore Manson follower who nearly forty years ago stabbed Sharon Tate to death. She has been in prison for 37 years.
TEXAS EXECUTIONS RESUME: The State of Texas resumed post-Baze executions last week when Karl Eugene Chamberlain was executed for the 1991 murder of a Dallas woman
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Untied States v Green,
No. 06-2468 (3rd Cir., September 2, 2008): 1. Hearsay; 2. Interrogations/Fifth Amendment: Green was convicted by jury of one count of Distribution of More Than 50 Grams of Cocaine Base and sentenced to 151 months. REVERSED on the basis of the admission of a prior statement of a CI that was introduced as a "present sense impression" under Rule 803(1). The panel reversed on another basis as well, the fact that the government made reference to Green's custodial responses. "In particular, at issue is the prosecutor's questions and statements pertaining to the fact that after being placed under arrest and while in DEA custody, and after being shown a videotape which supposedly depicted him selling drugs, Defendant widened his eyes, asked for the video to be replayed, and then sighed and hung his head." The panel viewed the actions of the agent of showing Green the tape as the functional equivalent of an interrogation. Notably, the DEA Agent testified that he intentionally did not read Miranda prior to showing Green the tape because he was concerned that Green might ask for a lawyer. NOTE: The Miranda issue is a plain error winner.
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