Of the more than 2,000 bills before the Maryland General Assembly this year, few have as much momentum as those aimed at restricting convicted sex offenders.
Fueled in part by election year polls showing that concerns about predators is high, top politicians, including Gov. Robert L.
Ehrlich Jr. (R) and Baltimore's Democratic mayor, Martin O'Malley, have proposed a number of restrictions, among them banning rapists and child abusers from school grounds and monitoring them with Global Positioning System devices.
A measure that combines elements of several bills passed the House yesterday and could clear the Senate next week.
Standing almost alone in opposition has been lobbyist Brian C. Denton. The public defender for Prince George's County, Denton, 50, believes he has been handed one of the most unpleasant, and yet important, lobbying jobs in Annapolis: defending the sex offenders.
"The problem I'm facing is that this is such an emotional issue," Denton said. "I mean, no one's for sex offenders. And I understand the politicians here are trying to protect the public.
We just want it done in a sensible way."
From the Durham, N.C.
:
Nominations for the job of Durham public defender have closed with only three candidates in the running, a major surprise to officials who had expected many more. The deadline for submitting nominations passed on Tuesday night. Now it will be up to Durham's senior judge, Orlando F.
Hudson, to select one of three hopefuls: Acting Durham Public Defender Lawrence Campbell, Orange County Assistant Public Defender Susan Seahorn or Steve Freedman of the Durham-based Capital Defenders Office.
Whoever gets the job will replace former Public Defender Bob Brown, who recently resigned after a female assistant accused him of sexual harassment.
In an effort to obtain as many applications as possible, officials cast a statewide net in search of qualified lawyers.
From the :
With the Missouri public defenders suffering from overwork and low pay, the president of the Missouri Bar said Tuesday that it changes in the system could be seen as early as next fiscal year. In October 2005, an outside research and consulting firm determined that the Missouri State Public Defender System was on the "verge of collapse." In the last five years, the statewide caseload has increased by 12,000 to 88,000, with each of the 360 public defenders handling an average of 298 cases a year.
During the same period, the system has not seen any additional funding and the cumulative turnover rate was 100 percent.
"No system can survive with that kind of attrition rate," said Doug Copeland, president of the Missouri Bar.
For fiscal year 2007, the Public Defender's Office was hoping the state budget would pass with an additional $1.
95 million for the office. Of the money, $950,000 would be part of an across-the-board 4 percent pay increase. Another $1 million was added by the governor after he heard about the problem facing the office, Copeland said during a lunch held between members of the local media, public defenders office and the Bar.
If the funds go through and the $1 million was also applied to raises, Copeland said, the additional money could help retain young lawyers, many of whom leave in under two years.
"We need to stop the hemorrhaging in the system. We need to hang onto those people," he said.
Michelle McCottry and Amy Hammon were both alleged victims of domestic violence. McCottry called 911 to report a beating that her boyfriend had just administered; Hammon gave an account of a fresh attack by her husband to police who came to her home.
McCottry and Hammon did not testify at the men's trials; the state won convictions anyway, based in part on the women's previous statements.
But did those convictions violate the Constitution, which guarantees a defendant the right to confront his accuser in court?
That was the question before the Supreme Court yesterday, as the justices heard oral arguments in two of the most significant criminal cases of this term.
At stake are the rules of evidence that will govern not only many domestic violence prosecutions but also any criminal case in which prosecutors seek to introduce past accusations by people who, whether out of fear or any other reason, cannot or will not repeat their charges in open court.
On one side are McCottry's boyfriend, Adrian Davis of Washington state, and Hammon's husband, Hershel Hammon of Indiana, who say that the Sixth Amendment requires the state to bring its witnesses to court, put them under oath and allow them to be cross-examined. They are supported by briefs from the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the D.C.
Public Defender Service.
On the other side are the states of Indiana and Washington, supported by the Bush administration, 27 other states including Maryland, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the National District Attorneys Association. Though their arguments vary in emphasis, these parties agree that statements made in the moments surrounding a criminal attack are not testimony and therefore are not covered by the Sixth Amendment.
From the (more at ):
A man who spent 18 years behind bars for allegedly breaking into a woman's house and attacking her was released after modern DNA testing excluded him as a suspect. Gregory Wallis was a 29-year-old Dallas County warehouse worker when he was convicted in 1988 of burglary with intent to commit sexual assault and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Wallis maintained his innocence, but the case remained closed until his 2004 request for post-conviction DNA analysis led to tests that separated him from the crime scene.
"I don't know how to apologize. I don't know where to start, but I'll start with me and 'I'm sorry,'" District Judge John Creuzot said Monday as he released Wallis, now 47, on a personal recognizance bond.
Creuzot was not involved in the 1988 trial.
Wallis' attorneys said they will not pursue a legal process to have him officially declared innocent and pardoned.
The victim of the attack picked Wallis' photo out of a lineup after police received an anonymous tip that he was involved. The attacker had spent several hours in the house, and the victim described the rapist as having a tattoo similar to one Wallis had.
"I don't know how she picked me," said Wallis, who had previous robbery convictions at the time. "I was sitting at home, and they came and arrested me. The next thing I know, I'm standing trial.
"
From :
After watching thousands of his clients' lives ripped apart by methamphetamine abuse, Solano County Public Defender Jeffrey E. Thoma last year decided to take personal action to help cut down on his future caseload of meth victims. In November, Thoma launched an ambitious project whereby he would visit classrooms in each of the county's 14 middle schools to talk to teens about the dangers of methamphetamine use and share his own insights into the damage the illicit stimulant has caused.
"Most of the people who have gotten hung up on methamphetamine have destroyed their lives," said Thoma, who became the county's Public Defender in 2004 after holding a similar post in Mendocino County for more than seven years. "I've had a lot of clients that had a methamphetamine problem. It's just evil.
"
Hoping to make a difference one classroom at a time, Thoma selected middle schools (usually seventh- to ninth-grade) for his personal
intervention program. He hopes to have visited classrooms from Dixon to Vallejo by the end of the school year.
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