tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59458432064273515592024-02-19T19:23:41.090-05:00Gamso - For the DefenseCommentary by an Ohio criminal defense lawyerJeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.comBlogger1317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-18394300619286286632023-11-11T04:10:00.001-05:002023-11-11T04:10:08.754-05:0011/11: 11 a.m.<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Eleventh of November. Eleven in the morning. 1918. That's when the armistice ending the fighting </span><span style="font-family: georgia;">in the </span><i style="font-family: georgia;">War to End All Wars</i><span style="font-family: georgia;"> went into effect. Not the end of the war. That wouldn't come until the Treaty of Versailles, more than seven months later, on June 28, 1919. So not the end of the war, but the end of the killing. No small thing that.</span></p><p>Eleventh of November. Eleven in the morning. 1919. Five and a half months after the treaty, but one year to the minute after the armistice took effect. One year to the minute after the end of the killing. That's when <span style="font-family: georgia;">King George V declared Armistice Day and called for two minutes of silence. </span>We celebrated that day on this side of the pond, too.</p><p>A day to remember the dead certainly. But as the name Armistice Day connotes, it's a day to celebrate peace.</p><p>Or, it was.</p><p>Because, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/veterans-day-armistice-day.html" target="_blank">Karen Zraick explained in yesterday's Times</a>, "In 1953, Alvin J. King of Emporia, Kan., proposed changing the name of the holiday to Veterans Day, to recognize veterans from all wars and conflicts."</p><p>And so it would be. We no longer celebrate Arfmistice Day on November 11. We give November 11 to honor the vets: Veterans Day.</p><p>As Zraick points out, Memorial Day is to recognize those who died. Veterans Day is for them too, but equally for the all the rest.</p><p>But what of the Armistice? What of the peace - not the peace of desolation, of the desert,* of John McCrae's graves amid the poppies,** but the peace of quiet of calm. The peace we'd vainly hoped would come after the War to End All Wars. Or the next one. Or the one after that. The peace where we say, collectively, universally,</p><p style="text-align: center;">NO MORE</p><p>I really am all for Veterans Day. They deserve it. But damn, we sure as hell need to get Armistice Day back.</p><p><iframe frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://youtube.com/embed/nQ1gHm8v3ek?si=hKUjAAQnFPnZTH6f" width="480"></iframe></p><p>----------------</p><p>*From Tacitus we take the sometime truism, "They make a desolation [sometimes translated as "desert"] and call it peace." Though it's perhaps worth noting that Tacitus himself was quoting Calgus who was referring to the Romans. </p><p><br /></p><p>**</p><br />In Flanders Fields<br />by John McCrae<br /><br />In Flanders' fields the poppies blow<br />Between the crosses, row on row,<br />That mark our place: and in the sky<br />The larks, still bravely singing, fly<br />Scarce heard amid the guns below.<br /><br />We are the dead. Short days ago<br />We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,<br />Loved and were loved, and now we lie<br />In Flanders' fields.<br /><br />Take up our quarrel with the foe;<br />To you from failing hands we throw<br />The torch; be yours to hold it high,<br />If ye break faith with us who die<br />We shall not sleep, though poppies grow<br />In Flanders' Fields.Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-87131142713126153602023-09-17T15:56:00.002-04:002023-09-17T15:56:13.522-04:00Executioners<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: left;"><b>No person shall purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the death of another or the unlawful termination of another's pregnancy</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;">That's Section <a href="https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2903.01">2903.01(A)</a> of the Ohio Revised Code setting forth the elements of one form of the crime of aggravated murder. Anyone who is found guilty of doing that faces a minimum of 20 years in prison. </p><p style="text-align: left;">If the person is also found guilty of what we call a "death specification" (the death specs are set forth in R.C. <a href="https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2929.04">2929.04(A)</a>) the person can receive the death penalty. If that happens, and if the sentence is carried out, the prison guards who perform the execution will, of course, have </p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif; font-size: 18px;"><b>purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause[d] the death of another.</b></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">Which, of course, would seem to allow them to be sentenced to prison for a minimum of 20 years and maybe to be sentenced to be killed.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">I've made that point before, just as I've pointed out that there's no exception in the law - at least none in either the Ohio Revised Code or in Ohio's case law - for doing the killing at the direction of a judge or a panel of judges. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">As I've also said, ain't nobody gonna get charged with aggravated murder (with or without death specs) for carrying out a court authorized execution.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">I've lso pointed out, from time to time, that<a href="https://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/search/label/Botched%20executions"> a substantial number of executions - both in Ohio and elsewhere - are botched, screwed up</a>. They take too long. Things go wrong. Flames shoot out of the head of the guy in the electric chair. Prison guards have trouble sticking a needle in a vein to inject the lethal drugs. The drugs don't actually provide the theoretically authorized painless killing. The hanging goes wrong and instead of a quick neck snap the victim dangles choking or gets decapitated. Sometimes the execution fails completely and the person doesn't die.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">And either the powers that be swear, despite the evidence, that nothing went wrong or they promise to double check their protocols and practice better and make sure it won't happen again.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">Ho hum</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">And then I was reading <i>The Faithful Executioner: Life, Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century</i>, by Joel F. Harrington, history prof at Vanderbilt University. It's the story of Meister Frantz Schmidt who for some 45 years, from 1573 to 1618, most as the official executioner (and also torturer, by the way) of Nurenberg. Meister Schmidt was an interesting guy, a second generation executioner who wanted nothing more than to be relieved of the social and legal ostracism that came with the job. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">Of course, executions were public spectacles in those days. And w</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">hile Schmidt was apparently really good at what he did, other executioners were not so competent. You know, they sometimes botched the job, didn't kill smoothly and easily, screwed up somehow. Harrington quote a report on the 1641 effort by Valentin Deuser to cut off the head of Margaretha Voglin, "an extremely beautiful person of nineteen years" and, oh, a child murderer. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">She was in sorry shape, "ill and weak." She had to be carried to the chair for her beheading. Before getting the job done, Deuser apparently stalked around her, waving his sword. He accidentally hit a bit of wood, sliced a chunk of skin off her head, and knocked her out of the chair. And</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;"></span></p><blockquote>since he hadn't hurt her body and she fell so bravely, [the crowd] asked that she be released.</blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;">Nope. Deuser grabbed her, put her back on the chair, took another swipe at her neck, nicked her that time, again knocking her off the chair. And while she pleaded, "shouting, "Aiee, God, have mercy!" he</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "PT Serif", serif;"></span></p><blockquote>hacked and cut at her head on the ground, for which cruel butchery and shameful execution [he] was surrounded by people who would have stoned him to death had nto archers present come to his aid and protected him from the people.</blockquote><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: PT Serif, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Deuser was arrested and then fired from his job. But apparently he was not the only screw up. As Harrington explains,</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: PT Serif, serif;"></span></p><blockquote style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: PT Serif, serif;">Mishaps leading to mob violence and lynch justice jeopardized the core message of religious redemption and state authority. In some German towns and executioner was permitted three strikes (really) before being being grabbed by the crowd and forced to die in place of the poor sinner.</span></blockquote><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: PT Serif, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">In his concurring opinion in </span><i style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3510234117314043073&q=furman+v+georgia&hl=en&as_sdt=6,36">Furman v. Georgia</a></i><span style="background-color: white;">, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall floated an idea that's become known as the "Marshall Hypothesis." He thought that </span></span></p><p></p><blockquote> people who were fully informed as to the purposes of the penalty and its liabilities would find the penalty shocking, unjust, and unacceptable.</blockquote><p>It's been suggested that one way to effect the hypothesis - and then end executions - would be to make them public again. Looking at the responses to botched executions in renaissance Germany, suggests Marshall may have been on to something.</p><p></p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: PT Serif, serif;"></span><p></p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-72923269960646635752023-09-15T01:37:00.000-04:002023-09-15T01:37:30.891-04:00A Moment of Remembrance<p>September 15, 1963. </p><p>Sixty years ago today.</p><p>Birmingham, Alabama, USA</p><p>These girls</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwN9gzcKmEdwx36CEuDez7t_JToBJ_fjmkgGwpunwIBARLR-R00nUwxo4ha-cL8kw11OxIgpOhXSJ7Ij8cYmuowcPorwU8A-RuugAbumXE122V1wsrOdpvUYFtY7Ker_rldjWaZN6MRD0lnJRBXmR1XTqP297A4Sdy3MAW2VjEPXRmIx9ZhiujMu0y25cM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="305" data-original-width="293" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwN9gzcKmEdwx36CEuDez7t_JToBJ_fjmkgGwpunwIBARLR-R00nUwxo4ha-cL8kw11OxIgpOhXSJ7Ij8cYmuowcPorwU8A-RuugAbumXE122V1wsrOdpvUYFtY7Ker_rldjWaZN6MRD0lnJRBXmR1XTqP297A4Sdy3MAW2VjEPXRmIx9ZhiujMu0y25cM=w415-h376" width="415" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This church</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPnrc2EGt7Q0snTuSkPGK7s58Yh7Ysfm0yKrOVNEm_mzFws7EoYKPv_HiFUe-sf3YSnRGfObMlN1XAugPMjj0YCCaMKlxG7R6ZZzgLBt12du4HmvvcFcK4b8gZpk4xJJZBDe_HiRDV1lj37TeQzFRkDw599WwhMdV8jN1mN9KozsedOw1JzC7FdweGkCfV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="188" data-original-width="268" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPnrc2EGt7Q0snTuSkPGK7s58Yh7Ysfm0yKrOVNEm_mzFws7EoYKPv_HiFUe-sf3YSnRGfObMlN1XAugPMjj0YCCaMKlxG7R6ZZzgLBt12du4HmvvcFcK4b8gZpk4xJJZBDe_HiRDV1lj37TeQzFRkDw599WwhMdV8jN1mN9KozsedOw1JzC7FdweGkCfV" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">You know, this one</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv_5SdJKAF89DhfBBZhphNSiFpSs5hr0xudwRHAfqJiBPEVtsY_wL-VP58Pef9ddg7ui-YiSzrO_0OeJm1Z_bh4a2lT7gvrP1RLJkCFkiV7ljFIN3sIzfKsWlks-GzK966EOK2GS72Pk28cz8g6L_0ArcPlTbtwJqC9duSJnmsV3qXiogCITrSDARQXjU6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="450" height="208" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgv_5SdJKAF89DhfBBZhphNSiFpSs5hr0xudwRHAfqJiBPEVtsY_wL-VP58Pef9ddg7ui-YiSzrO_0OeJm1Z_bh4a2lT7gvrP1RLJkCFkiV7ljFIN3sIzfKsWlks-GzK966EOK2GS72Pk28cz8g6L_0ArcPlTbtwJqC9duSJnmsV3qXiogCITrSDARQXjU6" width="320" /></a></div><br />Here they are again</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_5cytxmv3OZSmCCLm9m4qJ_ua2quzGqWKCNkcDzUyEvMahY3EqFbrKymf6atijLO7e58zbhJrxNDCwxdlkK0TLYsIKV9clgWZBYCOJRzsiyG7XCAJjKhjqxnUxJRk0Sqmqw1Hx4jTOWKPM6P59zi0DGJTnw6Ras5AkbyAtlomYKPa3AcEALVlk-zfdCLv" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi_5cytxmv3OZSmCCLm9m4qJ_ua2quzGqWKCNkcDzUyEvMahY3EqFbrKymf6atijLO7e58zbhJrxNDCwxdlkK0TLYsIKV9clgWZBYCOJRzsiyG7XCAJjKhjqxnUxJRk0Sqmqw1Hx4jTOWKPM6P59zi0DGJTnw6Ras5AkbyAtlomYKPa3AcEALVlk-zfdCLv=w384-h297" width="384" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Sixty years ago today.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://youtube.com/embed/WQ0y-vO9QLE?si=AOB0ofJDP7ZlQbpA" width="480"></iframe></div></div><p></p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-76527559002509097762023-08-15T15:59:00.000-04:002023-08-15T15:59:37.824-04:00Tree of . . . Life (?)<p>Article after article, op-ed after op-ed tells us that the Jewish community is torn, that the Torah and the Jewish tradition and the rabbis can't all agree. Which is a problem if you're looking for a authority. Me, I'm just a capital defense lawyer with a blawg who hasn't written much in recent years.</p><p style="text-align: center;">* * * * *</p><p>Folks who know me, as well as those who don't but have read this blawg even occasionally, know I am an abolitionist. An opponent of the death penalty.</p><p>Also I am Jewish by birth and was raised Jewish. I'm an atheist, but still. </p><p>I lived in Pittsburgh for five years. I went to college there. I lived in Squirrel Hill where the Tree of Life synagogue is located. I have family and good friends there. I visit fairly often. I was there recently, drove past Tree of Life. One night I had dinner at a friend's home. He's Jewish, lives around the corner from Tree of Life, walks past it every day, has friends who worship there, feels the trauma. </p><p>Those things may be relevant. </p><p>So Robert Bowers. Killer. Anti-semite. Apparently unrepentent.</p><p>An article, I think in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, quoted a Pittsburgher, possibly a survivor of the shootings at Tree of Life, but possibly just someone from the community (I didn't save the article, and it was a few weeks ago), said "I oppose the death penalty absolutely in all circumstances" except for Robert Bowers." Which I pretty much understand. Because as Stalin is reputed to have said, </p><p></p><blockquote>The death of one person is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.</blockquote><p></p><p>And when it's personal. . . . You know, it's what Michael Dukakis got wrong.</p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/DF9gSyku-fc"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DF9gSyku-fc" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></a></p><p>when he should have said </p><p></p><blockquote>I'd want to tear that person limb from limb, but . . . .</blockquote><p></p><p>The other day, family was in town and my brother-in-law, asked what I thought about the the death sentence Bowers got, said that he read someone who said something like, </p><p>You can't forgive someone who doesn't ask for forgiveness and show remorse.</p><p>And so I quoted the Stalin line and referenced Dukakis and added that forgiveness was really beside the point.</p><p>I said that there were all sorts of good policy reasons to oppose the death penalty. I talked of slippery slopes and how why not Stalin and Hitler and Pol Pot - and then maybe Robert Bowers and then maybe the next guy, because just how awful and evil is awful or evil enough. But I told the truth, which is that there are probably folks who deserve killing, and we can argue about who they are, but that's the quibble not the answer. *</p><p>So what I said, finally, is what I've said before in this blawg, which is that in some circles I'm recognized as an atheist who believes deeply in mercy and grace. And that they aren't about whether they're deserved. They're about us, who give it (or don't). </p><p>That it's not whether Robert Bowers deserves killing but about whether we deserve to kill him.</p><p>Nobody mentioned that line about him who is without sin. But the atheist was reminded that he sounded very Christian.</p><p>Amen.</p><p>----------------</p><p>*<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">The story, attributed to most every wag of the 20th Century; I like to think it was George Bernard Shaw:</span></p><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 1em 20px;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Madame," Shaw said to the elegant matron, "would you sleep with me for a million pounds?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I suppose so," she replied.</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Then, would you sleep with me for 10 pounds?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Certainly not. What sort of woman do you think I am?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"We've established that," Shaw answered. "Now we're haggling over the price."</span></blockquote>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-84570950993027519202022-11-27T14:43:00.004-05:002022-11-27T14:43:35.429-05:00Gratuitous Indeed.<p> So, it seems I have a certain cachet. Despite being mostly retired from the active practice of law (mostly though not quite entirely; "retiredish" is the term I've taken to since another lawyer used it to describe my current status"), and despite this blawg having assumed much the same posture for a few years now), <a href="https://ethicsalarms.com/2022/11/26/in-this-law-vs-ethics-clash-choosing-law-over-ethics-is-the-ethical-course-2/">Jack Marshall just referred to me</a> as a "distinguished defense attorney blogger." Then, of course, he does his best to show that my opinions are claptrap. But hey, I'm a DDAB!*</p><p>Yee! Haw! as they sometimes say in west Texas. </p><p>Anyhow, Marshall's takedown led some anonymous guy to see <a href="https://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2022/11/gratuitously-cruel-and-unusual.html">what I'd actually written</a> (thanks, Jack) and to ask how I'd respond.** Ever obliging . . . .</p><p>Start with the instant recap:</p><p>Kevin Johnson's on death row in Missouri for the murder of Kirkwood, Mo. police officer William McEntee 17 years ago. He has a very serious execution date of November 29. Johnson was 19 when he murdered McEntee whom he blamed (justly or otherwise) for the death of his 12-year-old brother some two hours earlier. Johnson's daugher Khorry Ramey was 2 at the time. She's now 19, and both she and her dad want her to be a witness to his execution. But Missouri has a statute saying that execution witnesses must be at least 21. She sued to delay the execution long enough to allow her to litigate the statute's application to her. The judge just turned her down. </p><p>Unless things change (always possible), Johnson will be executed Tuesday and Khorry won't be there to witness it.<br /></p><p>OK, that's the legal background.</p><p>Now, my position, expressed as it often is, with snark and outrage and at least one use of the word "fuck" is that Khorry ought to be allowed to watch her father die. Missouri didn't have to fight her lawsuit, and the judge didn't have to shut it down. And they didn't need to. But doing so, effectively shutting her out of the execution, were gratuitous acts of cruelty by the state and the judge.</p><p>Missouri could have done it by simply agreeing to delay the execution until she litigates her right to attend. Regardless of whether they had a legal obligation to do that, they could have simply decided that in the interests of justice and human decency she should have the chance to make her case. Hell, they could have pushed things on a fast track to get it all done quickly so they could get on with the killing.</p><p>And the court could have held that the the irreparable harm she would suffer missing the execution was sufficiently grave, and the 21-year cut off sufficiently arbitrary (at least as applied to her - Johnson's adult daughter), that her as-applied challenge to the law was worthy of a stay to litigate the damn thing.</p><p>I didn't parse the legal issues in my post, and I'm not really interested in parsing them here. Nor, frankly, does Jack. Here's his entire legal analysis:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "EB Garamond", serif;"></span></p><blockquote>With an opinion that is both reasonable and, frankly, obvious, the judge refused to order the emergency TRO, concluding as I did the second I learned about the case that she didn’t have a legal leg to stand on. The claim of “irreparable harm” from not being allowed to watch the father you barely knew be executed is particularly weak.</blockquote><p></p><p>And, he adds, that</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "EB Garamond", serif;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "EB Garamond", serif;">Judges holding to the letter of the law is neither cruel nor gratuitous.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "EB Garamond", serif;"> </span></blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "EB Garamond", serif;"></span><p></p><p>Which as an abstract observation is both unremarkable and uninteresting. Of course judges should do that. But judges asked to consider whether a law is unconstitutional don't get to resolve the question by saying, "but the law says that so it's OK." To quote Dickens:</p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></p><blockquote>"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass - a idiot."</blockquote><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The point isn't that the judge had to grant the stay Khorry Ramey sought. But he could have without clearly ignoring the law. And the people of Missouri could have been good with that. And all could done so have without just saying, "hey, whatever feels good to Gamso" or something. When there are choices, when there are lives involved, compassion's not an evil.***</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jack believes in the death penalty. I don't. He sees Johnson as solely responsible for the trauma his daughter will suffer. After all (and Jack doesn't say this, but it's sort of implicit in the argument), he could have decided, before pulling the trigger and killing Officer McEntee that he could be sentenced to die for it and his daughter might want to view the execution and be denied by the Missouri statutes. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But putting that analytical silliness aside (anyone who spends much time in the criminal trenches knows that people who commit crimes, especially violent ones, simply don't engage first in long-term cost-benefit analysis or, really, even briefly consider the legal consequences. It's why you don't deter crime by making sentencing laws harsher), it's not Johnson who's responsible for denying his daughter the viewing. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, of course, Khorry could have chosen to litigate the legality of the statute's age limitation years ago on the assumption that her dad's execution would be pretty certain to occur at a time when she'd be an adult but not yet of age.</span></p><p><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Sure. Could have happened.</span></span></p><p>One more bit. Jack takes me to task for suggesting that Johnson's race may have had something to do with how he ended up on death row. Here's what we know. A mixed race jury hung. He was tried again by an all white jury and sentenced to die. Do I know that the jury's racial composition was the reason for the difference? No, not for sure. Does it seem like that might be relevant given studies of mixed-race versus single-race juries (or even without those studies)? Yeah.</p><p>Jack can disagree all he likes. </p><p><br /></p><p>----------------</p><p>*Marshall bestows the same honorific on Scott Greenfield, implicitly referencing <a href="https://blog.simplejustice.us/2022/11/26/last-chance-to-say-good-bye/">his post</a> on the same subject that mine riled him up about.</p><p>**This sort of thing was common back in the days of the active blawgosphere when bunches of lawyers would routinely discuss and debate (and sometimes eviscerate) issues and attitudes, and other blawg posts). I kind of miss those days.</p><p>***As I explained elsewhere, the late Antonin <a href="https://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2012/01/unfair-unconscionable-capital.html">Scalia disagreed</a>. </p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-35122972695010468572022-11-25T22:37:00.003-05:002022-11-25T22:37:45.714-05:00Gratuitously Cruel and Unusual<p> July 5, 2005. Kirkwood, Missouri. Police executing a search warrant. Joseph Long, 12 years old, suffers a seizure and collapses to the floor.. Police stepped over him - repeatedly. Failed to offer him help. Refused to let his mother in the house to help him. Joseph Long died. Kevin Johnson, Long's older brother, stood by helplessly.</p><p>Two hours later, two hours after Joseph Long died, police, including officer William McEntee, returned to the neighborhood after reports of fireworks. It was McEntee's second visit that night as he'd been part of the search time. Johnson, still and understandably distraught, saw him. "You killed my brother."</p><p>Then Johnson shot him. Multiple times.</p><p>As you might imagine, Johnson being black and facing an all white jury for killing a cop, Johnson ended up on death row. The good people of the State of Missouri plan to kill him next Tuesday. Ho hum. Shit happens. Especially (but really not exclusively) to black guys caught up in the Missouri Criminal Justice System. </p><p>OK, nothing new here. The usual voices (mine is one, but you knew that if knew me or you'd been here before) oppose the execution for all the usual reasons - both the general ones about the death penalty in general and the specific ones about the facts and background of this case. To date, they've had no effect. The courts so far have all signed off on the killing, the governor is unmoved. Unless something breaks, always a possibility with several days to go, they'll strap him down and kill him next week.</p><p>But see, there's something else. Really, some<i>one</i> else: Kevin Johnson's daughter, <span style="color: #212529;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Khorry Ramey</span></span><span style="color: #212529; font-family: "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; font-size: 16px;">.</span> She's 19 years old now. Nineteen. That's the same age her dad was 17 years ago when he watched his kid brother died and then killed Officer McEntee. Johnson wants her to be there. More importantly, she wants to be there. Needs to be there. To watch ti happen. To say good-bye in the most intimate and personal way she can. </p><p>To help her, somehow, this victim of the state's killing machine, deal with the trauma those good people of the State of Missouri are inflicting on her by killing her dad for the trauma he . . . . OK, you, know the drill.</p><p>Anyhow, here's the thing. Missouri has a statute, Revised Code Section 546.740 saying who can watch when it kills someone:</p><p><span class="bold" style="background-color: #fffff7; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></span></p><blockquote><span class="bold" style="background-color: #fffff7; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">546.740.<span style="box-sizing: inherit; font-family: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif; font-weight: 400;"> </span>Execution, witnesses. — </span><span style="background-color: #fffff7; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New Roman", Times, serif;">The chief administrative officer of the correctional center, or his duly appointed representative shall be present at the execution and the director of the department of corrections shall invite the presence of the attorney general of the state, and at least eight reputable citizens, to be selected by him; and he shall at the request of the defendant, permit such clergy or religious leaders, not exceeding two, as the defendant may name, and any person, other than another incarcerated offender, relatives or friends, not to exceed five, to be present at the execution, together with such peace officers as he may think expedient, to witness the execution; but no person under twenty-one years of age shall be allowed to witness the execution.</span></blockquote><span style="background-color: #fffff7; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New Roman", Times, serif;"></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: #fffff7; font-family: "Palatino Linotype", "Times New Roman", Times, serif;">It's that last clause,"no person under twenty-one years of age," which Khorry Ramey being 19 and all, just doesn't qualify. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffff7;">And so Missouri said no. And so Khorry Ramey sued. And so, Missouri could have said to the court,"OK, in the interests of common decency and since we're already committed to a course that will certainly damage the kid maybe we can just let it slide and agree that, as applied to Johnson's kid this is unconstitutional." And the court would have said, "Dandy. Khorry wins. Case dismissed. Let's eat some leftover turkey."</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffff7;">It could have done that. It would have been the decent thing to do. It would have been fair and just and morally right.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"><span style="background-color: #fffff7;">Of course, that's not what happened. Today, the Honorable Brian C. Wimes of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Central Division (let's make this as wordy as possible) issued <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/610313468/Ramey-v-Parosn">his opinion</a>. Missouri wins. Oh, sure, </span></span></p><p></p><blockquote>Plaintiff alleges she will suffer harm that is “real,
palpable, and devastating,” and no remedy is available at law to compensate her for the emotional
harm she will incur if she is barred from attending her father’s execution. (Doc. #8). The Court
does not discount these allegations of emotional harm and does not dispute they are irreparable,
both in a personal sense and a legal sense.</blockquote><p>But tough noogies. And fuck you.</p><p>Strictly speaking, it's not cruel and unusual punishment because it's not punishment at all. But this is a blawg, not a court. And what the prison system and the good people of the State of Missouri and the Honorable Wimes are doing is sure cruel, and damn well ought to be unusual. And, oh yeah, gratuitous.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWASwM6mS3v-iRXCZ5tGcEJjUBVrkotR28qb0UrYh8f9h7cgJq5xXqYPO8_m_QQPRJYx6xw3N7dthNeJpOD28F7oOS462N3rZdAZWNj6dkONoI7dMPW2kA3FzIYevdDCexPaxTNv7MzczDF-G08Y2_tpe7sXY-g0UDzLmc0tImyXi-DEWCbyxVGKBcLw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="652" data-original-width="1024" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgWASwM6mS3v-iRXCZ5tGcEJjUBVrkotR28qb0UrYh8f9h7cgJq5xXqYPO8_m_QQPRJYx6xw3N7dthNeJpOD28F7oOS462N3rZdAZWNj6dkONoI7dMPW2kA3FzIYevdDCexPaxTNv7MzczDF-G08Y2_tpe7sXY-g0UDzLmc0tImyXi-DEWCbyxVGKBcLw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p></p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-38332597058381248252022-11-24T23:47:00.001-05:002022-11-24T23:47:14.426-05:00Thanksgiving<p> It is Thanksgiving night. Thanksgiving has long been my favorite holiday. </p><p>I am, as I have been since around 11 yesterday morning when I tested positive, self-isolating in the basement. My younger son and his husband, are self-isolating in the second and third bedrooms. My wife, who appears uninfected and tests negative, remains free to wander but is, nevertheless, effectively isolated from the rest of us. </p><p>My older son and his wife flew in Tuesday for the holiday. They left for a hotel last night and flew back home today. My cousin, whom none of us have seen for three years, flew in yesterday morning and flew out again in the evening. She never made it to the house. (The first positive test came while she and I were standing by the carousel waiting for her luggage.) My sister-in-law and her husband are not, after all, driving in to spend tomorrow with us.</p><p>The turkey remains, as it has been, in the refrigerator, waiting to be cooked. Perhaps on Saturday I'll have the energy.</p><p>This is not, as you probably gathered, the holiday we'd been looking forward to. We'd imagined hours of good food and wine and talk. We got zip.</p><p>And did I mention that two weeks ago we had the Kevorkian the veterinarian come to our home to send our beloved pooch to her eternal rest. We have her ashes and a pawprint and a lock of her hair. It's not the same thing.</p><div>And yet.</div><p>I expect to recover fully. I began the Paxlovid regimen this morning; we've all been fully vaccinated and the younger isolatees are both otherwise strong and healthy. And while the world may be going to hell (wars, earthquakes, mass shootings, climate change, the former guy), our little corners, our daily lives the lives of our friends and loved ones, remain largely unaffected. It is, perhaps, selfish to be thankful at a time like this. Yet I am. We are.</p><p>Despite the death penalty and something of an upturn in killings over the last few weeks, Ohio has not executed anyone since July 2018, and while we've got folks with dates through 2026, it seems unlikely that we'll be back in the business anytime soon - if at all. It appears that in this now pretty-clearly-red state there is bipartisan support for abolition.</p><p>In so many ways, it could be so much worse.</p><p>So yes, I'm thankful. I got to spend a day with all the kids and an hour or so with my cousin. I have friends and community and better health than I deserve even with Covid.</p><p>Happy Thanksgiving!!! </p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-16546644955172828612022-10-24T18:09:00.001-04:002022-10-24T18:09:59.149-04:00It Really Wasn't About Blow Jobs<p> Apparently I require a trigger warning.</p><p>Word came down from Blogger Central early yesterday afternoon.</p><blockquote>This post was put behind a warning for readers because it contains sensitive content.</blockquote><p>You can still read it. Anyone can still read it. But first</p><blockquote>Your blog readers must acknowledge the warning before being able to read <br />the post/blog.</blockquote><p>Here's what that looks like:</p><h1 style="background-color: white; color: #ff6600; font-family: "open sans", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.29; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px;"></h1><blockquote><h1 style="background-color: white; color: #ff6600; font-family: "open sans", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 300; line-height: 1.29; margin: 20px 0px; padding: 0px;">Sensitive Content Warning</h1><p style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "open sans", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px;">This post may contain sensitive content. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger <a href="https://www.blogger.com/go/contentpolicy" style="color: #245dc1; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Community Guildelines</a>.</p><p><a class="maia-button maia-button-primary" href="http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2009/11/too-many-blow-jobs-spoil-case.html?interstitial=ABqL8_grpDhiOYHFDaD2UuDMOI1p2RSzFwVuqnvmujSRCkUkHApgy01Z_HS1Gm9W" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(rgb(245, 123, 84)), to(rgb(255, 112, 67))); background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-radius: 2px; border: 0px rgb(248, 73, 18); color: rgb(255, 255, 255) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.54; padding: 7px 12px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.08) 0px -1px 0px;" target="_parent">I UNDERSTAND AND I WISH TO CONTINUE</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: "open sans", arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><a class="maia-button maia-button-secondary" href="https://www.blogger.com/" style="background: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0% 0%, 0% 100%, from(rgb(249, 249, 249)), to(rgb(245, 245, 245))) rgb(245, 245, 245); border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid rgb(229, 229, 229); color: rgb(68, 68, 68) !important; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.54; padding: 6px 11px; text-align: center; text-decoration-line: none; text-shadow: rgb(255, 255, 255) 0px 1px 0px;" target="_parent">I do not wish to continue</a> </p></blockquote><p>I started this Blawg in 2009. And though it's always been hosted on Blogger, in all these years I'd never so much as glanced at Blogger's "Community Guidelines." But since I'd apparently violated them, I figured they were worth checking out. So I looked and found the complete list of stuff that's verboten - or at least requires a warning: </p><p><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Adult Content, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Dangerous and Illegal Activities, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Harassment, Bullying, and Threats, Hate Speech, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Impersonation and Misrepresentation </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">of Identity, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Malware and Similar Malicious Content, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Misleading Content, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Non-Consensual Explicit Imagery (NCEI), Personal and Confidential</span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Information, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Phishing, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Regulated Goods and Services, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Spam, Violent Organizations and</span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Movements, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Unauthorized Images of Minors, </span><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;">Violence and Gore, Copyrigh</span></blockquote><p>Hmmm. . . . Moi? I went back and looked at the post. (Of course, I had first to affirm that I knew it was risky but that I was willing to take a chance.). I'd put it up in November, 2009. So for almost 13 years it had been blissfully ignored. But now, </p><blockquote>Your post . . . was flagged to us for review.</blockquote><p>Wowsers!</p><p>Enough, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. The post was captioned (still is, I should add), "<a href="http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2009/11/too-many-blow-jobs-spoil-case.html?zx=38115bdc6861789c">Too Many Blow Jobs Spoil the Case</a>." It was about a Pennsylvania court that tossed out a case against a brothel owner and prostitute because the cops kept paying an informant (a disgruntled customer of that brothel who went to the cops to complain) to have sex there after they already had enough evidence to raid the place. (Yep, they paid the prostitute for providing the disgruntled guy with sexual services <b>and</b> paid the (previously) disgruntled buy for accepting the services of the prostitute.). Oh, and they had the whole thing taped and cops and disgruntled guy sat around the police station listening to the tapes and <strike>jerking off</strike> giggling.</p><p>Which of those guidelines did I violate? I included no photos or diagrams. No detailed descriptions of sexual acts Mr. Disgruntled <strike>enjoyed</strike> endured. There were illegal activities, of course, but I'm pretty sure my references to what happened aren't what Blogger had in mind.</p><p>Blogger tells me I can revise the post and submit it for further review to see if it's no longer a threat to the republic. What Blogger doesn't tell me is how someone stumbled across the post and was sufficiently horrified to demand that Blogger do something. Or who I'd so offended.</p><p>Still, I can't help but wonder how long it will be, since a post with "Blow Jobs" in the title caught the censorious eye, until they catch the one called, "<a href="http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2011/07/in-which-i-get-to-write-word-cunt-even.html">In Which I Get to Write the Word "Cunt" Even Though the Court Doesn't and for Which I Probably Won't Get Censured in Colorado But You Never Know</a>."</p><p>Did I say all this was unnecessary? Back in 2014, in <a href="http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2014/05/get-fuck-over-it.html">another post</a>, I provided my own trigger warning. I repeat it here to suggest that Blogger might want to add it to their demands before letting people read my stuff:</p><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;"><span style="color: red;"><b></b></span></div><blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;"><span style="color: red;"><b>Before you start reading this blog, know that it says all sorts of offensive shit. I curse. I talk about rape and murder and mayhem. I talk about pornography. There are pictures of people, real people, who live (sometimes lived) in the real world and did fucking rotten things like killing babies and raping relatives and strangers. I wallow in the gutter. </b></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;"><b style="color: red;">I don't much care about your sensibilities. I wrote a whole post once about a lawyer who got punished for calling a judge a cunt. The court didn't use the word. i did. Repeatedly. Don't like it? Go away, motherfuckers.</b></div></blockquote><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;"><b style="color: red;"></b></div><blockquote> </blockquote><blockquote> </blockquote><span style="color: #3c4043; font-family: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-family,var(--mdc-typography-font-family,Roboto,sans-serif)); font-size: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-size,1rem); font-weight: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-font-weight,400); letter-spacing: 0.00625em; text-transform: var(--mdc-typography-subtitle1-text-transform,inherit); white-space: nowrap;"></span><p></p><ul aria-label="Community Guidelines Dropdown" class="VfPpkd-rymPhb r6B9Fd bwNLcf P2Hi5d VfPpkd-OJnkse" data-disable-idom="true" data-evolution="true" jsaction="mouseleave:JywGue; touchcancel:JMtRjd; focus:AHmuwe; blur:O22p3e; keydown:I481le;" jscontroller="PHUIyb" jsname="rymPhb" role="listbox" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.1px; line-height: 1.5rem; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 8px 0px; position: relative;"><li aria-selected="false" class="MCs1Pd HiC7Nc VfPpkd-OkbHre VfPpkd-aJasdd-RWgCYc-wQNmvb VfPpkd-rymPhb-ibnC6b VfPpkd-rymPhb-ibnC6b-OWXEXe-SfQLQb-Woal0c-RWgCYc VfPpkd-ksKsZd-mWPk3d" data-value="AdultContent" jsaction="click:o6ZaF;keydown:RDtNu; keyup:JdS61c; focusin:MeMJlc; focusout:bkTmIf;mousedown:teoBgf; mouseup:NZPHBc; mouseenter:SKyDAe; mouseleave:xq3APb; touchstart:jJiBRc; touchmove:kZeBdd; touchend:VfAz8; change:uOgbud;" role="option" style="--mdc-ripple-fg-opacity: var(--mdc-ripple-press-opacity,0.12); --mdc-ripple-fg-scale: 1.72564; --mdc-ripple-fg-size: 227px; --mdc-ripple-fg-translate-end: 75.8457px, -89.5059px; --mdc-ripple-fg-translate-start: -96.1133px, -93.5547px; --mdc-ripple-left: 0; --mdc-ripple-top: 0; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); align-items: stretch; cursor: pointer; display: flex; height: 48px; justify-content: flex-start; outline: none; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px 16px; position: relative; will-change: transform, opacity;" tabindex="-1"><span class="VfPpkd-rymPhb-Gtdoyb" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; align-self: center; flex: 1 1 0%; overflow: hidden; pointer-events: none; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><br /></span></li></ul><p></p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-59806565825104839902022-09-13T09:56:00.001-04:002022-09-13T09:56:39.247-04:00Because Our Eyes Are Imperfect<p> Two things, seemingly unrelated except in time. </p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>I am reading the transcript from the trial where my client was sentenced to be killed.</li><li>The great French film director Jean-Luc Godard died.</li></ol><p></p><p>But the mind works as it does. And while the transcript contains no reference to Godard or any of his films or the French New Wave or much of anything else on its face relevant . . . . As I said, the mind works as it does.</p><p>Throughout the trial, the prosecutors play body cam video and surveillance camera video and the like. And I'm reminded that as the jury watches those things on the Mondopad, which is essentially a giant video monitor, the video the jury sees, like the you see on any screen, is not actually what it appears. There is on the monitor what's known as the refresh rate. It's the speed (typically 60 Hz or 120 Hz) at which one picture on the screen is replaced by the next. Because those speeds are way faster than the eye/brain can separate the images, what we see is continuous, is motion. </p><p>But it's not. It's a series of still images. (I'm oversimplifying the technology, but not in way that changes the point here.) So with film. Not the kind of photographs that came from the sill cameras with the rolls of film that we took to the drugstore to have developed or that we stood in line in our uncomfortable dress clothes to have taken by the guy with the tripod and lights for the high school yearbook or the ones on old Wanted posters.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGQaPWmGeUUh3zbt657Y0xpx3F9TDrHHqa9wvllYaGhyR2aV7BioNFC00T5GQ-5XXerKExaCrKnryhK8UIm-PHIYUlSb8Ayh_BjSMX6oG0w_O6nSgXbHjjcrTx38GJq-ejBz0RUzsZ8OpO44x1v_inm1IxuXuAaWXVvBVCty_nLcYdbfp31SATbs5Aw/s383/dillinger.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="383" data-original-width="298" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGQaPWmGeUUh3zbt657Y0xpx3F9TDrHHqa9wvllYaGhyR2aV7BioNFC00T5GQ-5XXerKExaCrKnryhK8UIm-PHIYUlSb8Ayh_BjSMX6oG0w_O6nSgXbHjjcrTx38GJq-ejBz0RUzsZ8OpO44x1v_inm1IxuXuAaWXVvBVCty_nLcYdbfp31SATbs5Aw/s320/dillinger.jpeg" width="249" /></a></div><p>Those still pictures, capture a moment, a scene, something specific. Perhaps blurred, subject to being doctored in the developing proceess or otherwise, but the camera sees something and makes an image of it. What it saw is what you see.</p><p>Film is different. What the film shows (and if you've ever looked at a movie real you know this) is a series of those pictures, played too fast for the eye to differentiate them as individual photographs. What we see is not motion. What we see is a series of still pictures. But the blur of them replaced so quickly that we can't differentiate. It's the illusion of motion. </p><p>Which brings me to Godard who famously said, that while "photography is truth," film is something a little different. it's truth "at 24 times a second." And what he didn't say, but what follows, is that there are gaps. The camera, the film, misses what happens between those shots. It's a series of truths, if you will, but not truth itself.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2Y2tb9E9LJk" width="320" youtube-src-id="2Y2tb9E9LJk"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-75037107325347238062022-09-01T16:46:00.001-04:002022-09-04T16:50:40.022-04:00Addiction, Inhumanity, and New Teeth<p></p><blockquote> I have problems: I'm out of clean clothes, I cannot find my glasses, my English paper is late, and my pockets are not big enough for all the heroin I have.*</blockquote><p></p><p><br />That's the first sentence of Keri Blakinger's gobsmackingly terrific memoir, <i><a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250272850/correctionsinink" target="_blank">Corrections in Ink</a>. </i>And if you can read that sentence and not find yourself compelled to read on . . . well, you're a different person than I am. Still, if you need more convincing, here's the last paragraph on that first page:</p><p></p><blockquote>In a minute, there will be police, with questions and handcuffs. By tomorrow, my scabby-faced mugshot will be all over the news as the Cornell student arrested with $150,000 of smack**. I will sober up to a sea of regrets. My dirty clothes and late English paper -- one of the last assignments I need to graduate -- will be the least of my problems.</blockquote><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiex57WcDaXIEtlq55FkUAxtrw2YAiCKgvCOh44bfyinfHZ8PGZq_m5hHD_RCROiBkyBwyIzI7KBsqtZAck7woMVZu-s7Jzy0cf_atZVVf2PfQPN4-7blrDUdtFmOhTiK1FmlNRIKYnOmVuwy5MqEEr-3onlV6MpbNzv8O6ciJIMGmKf1P9SarjFwzZfg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1375" data-original-width="900" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiex57WcDaXIEtlq55FkUAxtrw2YAiCKgvCOh44bfyinfHZ8PGZq_m5hHD_RCROiBkyBwyIzI7KBsqtZAck7woMVZu-s7Jzy0cf_atZVVf2PfQPN4-7blrDUdtFmOhTiK1FmlNRIKYnOmVuwy5MqEEr-3onlV6MpbNzv8O6ciJIMGmKf1P9SarjFwzZfg" width="157" /></a></div>As that might suggest, Keri Blakinger is not the typical drug-dealer client we've all had. Oh, sure, she was a serious drug addict, living on the streets, dealing and hooking for the cash to keep the drugs flowing, her arms so hopelessly covered in tracks that she was regularly a bloody mess shooting up between classes. But she was white, a straight A student at an ivy league college, from a comfortably middle-class family, a competitive figure skater who twice made it to the national finals.<p></p><p>That privilege makes a difference, of course, but there are limits even to that. Blakinger spent a year or so in county jails, then another year in prison. And as she writes about her time on the streets, so she writes about her time in custody. There's some real, and maybe surprising, camaraderie among some of the inmates. But mostly there are the random searches, the pretend discovery of contraband, the strip searches after a visit where the women are forced to pull out their tampons as part of the inspection. And there's the woman who got raped and was, as punishment, sent to solitary. Mostly three's the dehumanization. </p><p>There's more to the story, though. While in the county jail, she and one of the guards become friends. After she's shipped to prison, he visits her. While she's on parole, they live together. No surprise that doesn't work out. But other things do. She talks Cornell into letting her back in (though not onto the campus - she has to finish her degree through off-campus classes), then graduates. She gets a job with an Ithaca paper, then the New York Daily News. She moves to Texas for a job with the Houston Chronicle where she breaks the story that the <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Toothless-Texas-inmates-denied-dentures-in-state-13245169.php?t=35d312da22&utm_campaign=twitter-desktop&utm_source=CMS%20Sharing%20Button&utm_medium=social" target="_blank">Texas prison system won't provide dentures for inmates with no teeth</a>. That story got national play. And <a href="https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-prisons-to-start-3D-printing-dentures-for-13454914.php#:~:text=Starting%20in%20the%20spring%2C%20the,3D%2Dprint%20them%20on%20site." target="_blank">TEXAS STARTED PROVIDING TEETH</a>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_Ik_RY51x9osfGIemYeK2orWiOZn09mhvgSotNmHdyCbA_R9CcQM9XK9yl5_7n4aQl-jUav065SZ_immSFM0PYK65s_hfiC-A8cHfqOQR_Bwhf4EEYcls8qHr3dcGDUpQvEdReBZs4fwIsrr2rgwOy-v0bXHfvCe5cpsYnqKBDGjp11dRpHCytAhag/s1200/No%20Teeth.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS_Ik_RY51x9osfGIemYeK2orWiOZn09mhvgSotNmHdyCbA_R9CcQM9XK9yl5_7n4aQl-jUav065SZ_immSFM0PYK65s_hfiC-A8cHfqOQR_Bwhf4EEYcls8qHr3dcGDUpQvEdReBZs4fwIsrr2rgwOy-v0bXHfvCe5cpsYnqKBDGjp11dRpHCytAhag/s320/No%20Teeth.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQAx6FvHSd5KWeVn36dpccyllTkXaSsWt_GE0MSJe0oT8rihqAEYLE9F1gaW9jKCkcvjHbxDLJfoGPg2lHWtLvEq7cFWVBZNBuckHMIhhWHWq38b3P7DxeUIV0sTTVhCE5xUBXd9prOKhVeBfWUwQfVBwdvzTdKGj9lkbXqYPm8Jrl2H0AptwXGTzQw/s1200/Showing%20teeth.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLQAx6FvHSd5KWeVn36dpccyllTkXaSsWt_GE0MSJe0oT8rihqAEYLE9F1gaW9jKCkcvjHbxDLJfoGPg2lHWtLvEq7cFWVBZNBuckHMIhhWHWq38b3P7DxeUIV0sTTVhCE5xUBXd9prOKhVeBfWUwQfVBwdvzTdKGj9lkbXqYPm8Jrl2H0AptwXGTzQw/s320/Showing%20teeth.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBY-0uDoBRNn_HUFOh1Tbu2DlVIVlXUzV7Y663zQNTHeIfKJxww2cESfpm-t6ZQbhZZbGshuREfmmYYedgqyA38dvVum0CWPvKd4Y1SbHOBlv24UuzvQwdjlsyCHkDFLq_xYHKMXlSIGdSVkiypus8W8AvoEpwC2K8A34Vcd7bf8ldzsx4QYzqAsdsg/s1200/Smiling.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBY-0uDoBRNn_HUFOh1Tbu2DlVIVlXUzV7Y663zQNTHeIfKJxww2cESfpm-t6ZQbhZZbGshuREfmmYYedgqyA38dvVum0CWPvKd4Y1SbHOBlv24UuzvQwdjlsyCHkDFLq_xYHKMXlSIGdSVkiypus8W8AvoEpwC2K8A34Vcd7bf8ldzsx4QYzqAsdsg/s320/Smiling.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Blakinger writes for the Marshall Project now. She's a success, but she recognizes that some of it is luck, that a lot of it is due to her white, middle-class privilege. Still, she made it. Others she writes about, aren't so lucky. And she's written this absolutely terrific book about it all. It's about her, of course. But it's also about a system infected with racism and violence and needless suffering. And inhumanity. Especially she says, inhumanity, which makes the rest possible.</p><p></p><blockquote>And the futility, the small cruelties, the refusal to see us as fully human - it was not a flaw in the system. It <i>was</i> the system.</blockquote><p></p><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">----------------------<br />*In fact, the heroin was in a Tupperware container.</span></span></h1><div><h1><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">**Fake news! It was really more like $50,000 worth</span></span></h1></div>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-38236754192232838562021-06-30T23:56:00.000-04:002021-06-30T23:56:06.147-04:00Donald Rumsfeld, 88, R.I.P. <span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"></span></span><blockquote><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">As we know,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">There are known knowns.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">There are things we know we know.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">We also know</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">There are known unknowns.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">That is to say</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">We know there are some things</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">We do not know.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">But there are also unknown unknowns,</span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">The ones we don't know.</span> </span></div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">(From <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/04/the-poetry-of-donald-rumsfeld.html" target="_blank">The Poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld</a>, versification by Hart Seely)</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Perhaps now he knows the unknown unknowns. Or perhaps not.</span></div>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-58863562532509772732021-02-09T16:33:00.000-05:002021-02-09T16:33:39.403-05:00Justice?<p> I make it a rule not to write about my cases or my clients. Partly it's that attorney-client privilege keeps me from revealing some things. Partly it's that I'm not interested in the self-aggrandizing (or self-abasement). Partly it's just that some things are better left unsaid. Partly it's . . . well, who knows. I just don't do it. As I said, I make it a rule.</p><p>I suspect I've broken the rule a time or two over the years, but hey, my blog, my rules, my right to violate sometime.</p><p>Anyway, I'm here today, after way too long, fully intending to write about a client of mine. I've actually written about his case a number of times, but that was before he became my client - at a time when I did not imagine he would ever become my client. As soon as he did, I stopped writing about him and his case. But like I said.</p><p>His name is Anthony Sowell.* Over the course of some two and a half years he raped and murdered a number of women in Cleveland. When he was finally arrested, police found 10 bodies that he'd buried in and around his house. There was also a single head. He was found guilty of something like 83 counts (many of them duplicative, but still, 83 counts) of rape and aggravated murder and related offenses. He was sentenced to be executed 11 times. That was just under 10 years ago. </p><p>I represented him for most of those 10 years. He was my client on appeal, in state post-conviction litigation, and in the civil case regarding Ohio's lethal injection procedures. Nothing. I was set to pass the case on. Partly it was because I'd just retired from the Public Defender's office and mostly from the active practice of law.** Mostly it was because it was time for new eyes. </p><p>Last night sometime, Anthony Sowell died. Natural causes, the prison folks say. Some disease, the prison folks say. Not Covid, but something, the prison folks say. </p><p>It wasn't really a surprise. He'd been in hospice care on death row for a few days. Still, it would have been nice if the prison folk had thought to tell his lawyers or his family before they issued a press release. Sigh.</p><p>Sowell's lead trial attorney released this statement:</p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is sad news that Anthony has died. I spent many, many hours with Anthony talking about his life. He was a proud and good Marine. He had a brutal childhood. But he worked and wanted to be a good member of the community. He loved the Cleveland sports teams. He struggled with his mental health and nearly died from a massive heart attack. Then his mental health declined rapidly as a result. He was not a monster and not evil. He was damaged by childhood abuse and serious mental health problems. May he rest in peace. </span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amen.</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In <i>The Merchant of Venice</i>, Portia, disguised as the lawyer Balthazar, urges Shylock to be merciful. Sure, Antonio swore out a bond to repay him or pay with a pound of flesh, and couldn't pay, but it's not too late. The cash is now available.</span></span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The quality of mercy is not strain’d,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">‘Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The throned monarch better than his crown;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The attribute to awe and majesty,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">But mercy is above this sceptred sway;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">It is an attribute to God himself;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">And earthly power doth then show likest God’s</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Though justice be thy plea, consider this,</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">That, in the course of justice, none of us</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">And that same prayer doth teach us all to render</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">The deeds of mercy. </span></p></blockquote><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "open sans", HelveticaNeue, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica-Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"></span></p></blockquote><div id="copyPaste" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: lft_eticaregular, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 1px; left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: hidden; top: 0px; width: 1px; word-break: break-word;">The quality of mercy is not strained</div><div id="copyPaste" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: lft_eticaregular, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 1px; left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: hidden; top: 0px; width: 1px; word-break: break-word;"><span id="line-4.1.192" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.192">Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.193" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.193">It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.194" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.194">’Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.195" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.195">The thronèd monarch better than his crown.</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.196" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.196">His scepter shows the force of temporal power,</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.197" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.197">The attribute to awe and majesty</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.198" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.198">Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.199" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.199">But mercy is above this sceptered sway.</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.200" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.200">It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings;</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.201" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.201">It is an attribute to God Himself;</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.202" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.202">And earthly power doth then show likest God’s</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.203" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.203">When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.204" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.204">Though justice be thy plea, consider this:</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.205" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.205">That in the course of justice none of us</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.206" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.206">Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy,</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.207" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.207">And that same prayer doth teach us all to render</span><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; word-break: break-word;" /><span id="line-4.1.208" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; word-break: break-word;" title="4.1.208">The deeds of mercy.</span></div><div id="copyPaste" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: lft_eticaregular, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 1px; left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; overflow: hidden; top: 0px; width: 1px; word-break: break-word;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">But see, there's this, too.</span></div><p>The State of Ohio spent well over a million dollars in the futile effort to kill Anthony Sowell. The goal wasn't to keep him off the streets. It wasn't to keep anyone safe from him. Prison would do that. And as I've detailed before, there was no question that he would die in prison. But that wasn't enough. They didn't want his death. A life sentence would do that. They wanted to kill him. Damn. </p><p>Zack Reed, a former city councilman from the district where Sowell and his victim's lived, told <a href="http://Cleveland.com">Cleveland.com</a></p><blockquote>Those women never got justice. Those families never got justice. The community never got justice. Ray’s Sausage never got justice. There’s nothing good that came out of that situation.</blockquote><p>Hmm.</p><p>Shylock refuses. No cash. He wants his justice, that pound of flesh. Fair enough, says Portia/Balthazar. One pound, not a speck more or less. And no blood.</p><p>Anthony Sowell is dead. They kept him in a cage, but they didn't get their pound of flesh. In this depraved business we call that a win.</p><p>-----------</p><p>*You can find earlier posts about his case through<a href="https://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/search/label/Anthony%20Sowell"> this link</a>.</p><p>** I was keeping a few cases, including two death penalty appeals in the Ohio Supreme Court, but it made no sense for me to keep Sowell's.</p><p><br /></p>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-20939147889318215202020-07-14T12:33:00.000-04:002020-07-14T12:33:14.687-04:00On the Murder of Daniel Lee<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Daniel Lewis Lee was killed early this morning at the federal prison in Terra Haute, Indiana, by agents of the federal government. It was the first federal execution in 17 years. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/20a8_970e.pdf">Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote </a>declaring that Lee had almost no chance of showing that the method of execution would violate the Eighth Amendment, cheered it on. It was, the court majority said, its "responsibility" to ensure that Lee got killed. And so he did.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>The following is a statement from Ruth Friedman, attorney for Daniel Lee who was executed this </i></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>morning:</i></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It is important for everyone to understand exactly what happened last night to our client, Daniel </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Lewis Lee. At 2 AM on July 14, while the country was sleeping, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">decision vacating the injunction that had been in place against the first federal execution in 17 </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">years. Within minutes, the Department of Justice moved to re-set Danny Lee's execution--for 4 </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">AM, summoning media and witnesses back to the prison in the very middle of the night. When </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">it was brought to the government's attention that a court stay still remained in place, the DOJ first </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">maintained that that stay presented no legal impediment to executing Danny Lee, but then filed </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">an "emergency" motion to lift the stay. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Over the four hours it took for this reckless and relentless government to pursue these ends, </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Daniel Lewis Lee remained strapped to a gurney: a mere 31 minutes after a court of appeals </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">lifted the last impediment to his execution at the federal government's urging, while multiple </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">motions remained pending, and without notice to counsel, he was executed. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">It is shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution during a pandemic. It is </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">shameful that the government saw fit to carry out this execution when counsel for Danny Lee </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">could not be present with him, and when the judges in his case and even the family of his victims </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">urged against it. And it is beyond shameful that the government, in the end, carried out this </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">execution in haste, in the middle of the night, while the country was sleeping. We hope that </span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">upon awakening, the country will be as outraged as we are.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">-- Ruth Friedman, attorney for Daniel Lee and Director, Federal Capital Habeas Project</i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>--July 14, 2020</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Amen.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-64734345797987862722020-02-20T23:56:00.002-05:002020-02-20T23:58:50.089-05:00Luck<!--[if !mso]>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Bullet 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Number 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Closing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="List Continue 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Message Header"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Salutation"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Date"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text First Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Note Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Body Text Indent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Block Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="FollowedHyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Document Map"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Plain Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="E-mail Signature"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Top of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> It is a bit after 10 at night. I am sitting at the desk in my room in a
cancer ward. I am incredibly lucky. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A bit over two months ago, I was
taken to the emergency room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had
nearly collapsed in the kitchen of a church where I was chopping ham, helping
folks from a church in a richer parish prepare a free meal for the area’s
residents. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The consensus was that I
should go to the emergency room.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Triage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tests. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Your hemoglobin is dangerously low.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Admitted to the hospital.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Five units of blood over the next 24 hours or
so.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More time, more tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taken from this suburban branch of the
hospital to the main campus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More time,
more tests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nearly discharged – but now,
“Off to the cancer center.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have
acute myeloid leukemia.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I am confined, in total, for a month:
mid-December to mid-January.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
chemotherapy worked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was in complete
remission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trick now is to keep it
that way, to prevent a recurrence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which
is why, on this Thursday night, I am once again in the cancer center, where I’ve
been now since Monday night – getting more chemo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I expect to be discharged Saturday
afternoon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Home again, home again, jiggity
jig.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, a few weeks later, back
once more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And once more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And once more. Sigh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But as I said, I am incredibly lucky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* * * * *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve resisted writing this, not
because any of it is a secret.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The tale
is widely known among friends, colleagues, family, some not-quite-strangers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And whoever those folks might have told.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My wife and I have lists of people to whom we
send e-mail updates every few weeks if there’s something new to report.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But a blast out to the Googleverse?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To the Blawgoshpere?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been resistant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s too personal. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Too much about me for me to want to share it
with the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So why now? Why tonight from this
desk in this cancer ward?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For reasons I
don’t exactly understand – and perhaps I should have waited until I do, but
well, I didn’t – it has to do with <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/20/us/nick-sutton-execution/index.html">the murder tonight of 58-year-old NicholasSutton by the good people of the State of Tennessee.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d7HGEBoucVc/Xk9c33q8_PI/AAAAAAAADL4/XnHwzk4ca7oKELuoPK-xlSBlsGX4L4S_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Nicholas%2BSutton.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="639" height="177" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d7HGEBoucVc/Xk9c33q8_PI/AAAAAAAADL4/XnHwzk4ca7oKELuoPK-xlSBlsGX4L4S_ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Nicholas%2BSutton.png" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sutton’d been on death row for just
under 34 years.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Sent there for the
killing of Carl Estep while serving a life sentences for three other
killings.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In 1979, when he was 19,
Sutton murdered his grandmother.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Two
years later he entered guilty pleas to two second degree murders.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">That history isn’t pretty, but most of them
aren’t.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Despite the </span><a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/innocence-database" style="font-size: 12pt;">167
exonerations</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> of those who’d been sentenced to die, and despite the virtual
certainty that some of the 1516 men and women we’ve </span><a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/execution-database" style="font-size: 12pt;">killed since
1977</a><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> have been factually innocent, the truth is that most did kill, some
more than once, some in horrific ways.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Look, if you’ve read much of this blog before, you know that the folks who end up on death row are, with the rarest of exceptions, severely damaged. They have backgrounds that would curl your toenails. They have serious mental illness. They're intellectually disabled. And you know that, like Nicholas Sutton, the folks we kill have been on death row for years, often decades. The men and women we kill are no longer the ones we sentenced to die. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> And so it is that Nicholas Sutton, killer of four, saved the lives of three corrections officers while he was on death row. And so it is that an unusual collection of folks urged the governor and the courts to commute his death sentence. <span style="font-size: 12pt;">And so it is that the governor and the courts said no. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> And Nicholas Sutton was murdered tonight, killed in the name of the good people of Tennessee, not by lethal injection which he figured would be too painful, but by the electric chair, which we know is likely to be horrifically painful. But his choice.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">* * * * * </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"> As I said, I'm incredibly lucky. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"> Not so much Nicholas Sutton. He got to decide whether to die on the gurney or in the chair. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"> I got to decide whether to die at all. </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">(A doctor told me, after reading me all the potential risks that I did not have to sign the informed consent that would allow them to give me chemotherapy, "but if you don't sign, you'll die." I signed.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: center;">
* * * * *</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; text-align: left;">
Nicholas Sutton. May he rest in peace.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><br /></span></div>
<!--EndFragment--><br />Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-3411526970592603732019-08-14T14:54:00.001-04:002019-08-14T14:54:21.684-04:00"huddled masses . . . wretched refuse . . . homeless, tempest tost"<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Send these," it says. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You might think it's a bad idea, but for the record:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 1.75rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: 1.75rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New Colossus</span></span><br />
<div class="c-feature-sub c-feature-sub_vast" style="border: 0px; font-size: 22px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 33px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span class="c-txt c-txt_attribution" style="border: 0px; color: #494949; display: inline-block; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.875rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 1.4px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">BY EMMA LAZARUS</span></div>
</div>
<div class="c-feature-bd" style="border: 0px; font-family: adobe-garamond-pro; font-size: 1.25rem; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div class="o-poem isActive" data-view="PoemView" style="border: 0px; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With conquering limbs astride from land to land;</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,</span></div>
<div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; text-indent: -1em; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-44316192897166809802018-08-10T00:48:00.001-04:002018-08-10T00:48:25.684-04:00we have stopped being a civilized nation<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Shortly before 8 Thursday night, Bily Ray Irick died. He was killed by prison guards in revenge for the rape and murder of 7-year-old Paula Dyer 32 years ago.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier on Thursday, and without addressing the merits of his requests, the Supreme Court denied the last effort to stop or delay the killing. <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/18a142t_5h26.pdf">Sonia Sotomayor dissented</a>. </span><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In refusing to grant Irick a stay, the Court today turns a
blind eye to a proven likelihood that the State of Tennessee
is on the verge of inflicting several minutes of torturous
pain on an inmate in its custody, while shrouding
his suffering behind a veneer of paralysis. I cannot in
good conscience join in this “rush to execute” without first
seeking every assurance that our precedent permits such a
result. No. M1987–00131–SC–DPE–DD (Lee, J., dissenting),
at 1. If the law permits this execution to go forward
in spite of the horrific final minutes that Irick may well
experience, then we have stopped being a civilized nation
and accepted barbarism. I dissent. </span></blockquote>
Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-71724149991661977762018-06-16T00:56:00.001-04:002018-06-16T00:56:45.639-04:00<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 6, 1986. Warren, Ohio. Raymond and Doris Montgomery. He 77, she 80. Both dead. Stabbed to death in their home.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Later that day, Charles Lorraine confessed to killing and robbing the couple. Then he went to a bar and, with some of the money he took, bought drinks for some friends. It was his last day of freedom. He was 19 years old then. He'll be 52 in October.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">December 9, 1986, seven months and three days after the killings, Lorraine was sentenced to be killed. He's been on death row ever since: 32 years, 1 month, and 10 days as I type this just after midnight the morning of June 16.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know Charles Lorraine. I never represented him. I don't know much about him. I do know this. It's been 32 years, 1 month, and 10 days. He was 19 then. He'll be 52 in October.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, and I know this. Yesterday morning, the Ohio Supreme Court, without dissent, granted the motion of the Trumbull County Prosecutor and set a date for Lorraine to be killed: March 15, 2023. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nearly 5 years from now. More than 36 years from the day he was sentenced to die. Nearly 37 years from the date of the killings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's do that again.</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 15, 2023. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nearly 5 years from now. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More than 36 years from the day he was sentenced to die. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nearly 37 years from the date of the killings.</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I do know that I'm pretty much a broken record here, but I gotta say it: Even if you believe in the death penalty, even if you believe that it can be morally justified or (and?) that it discourages murder. Even if you think it's a damn good idea as a matter of principle. Even if all that.</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">36 fucking years?</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My god. What's the point? And who, exactly, are we killing? I mean, whatever else, the Charles Lorraine of today is not the Charles Lorraine who murdered Doris and Raymond Montgomery on May 6, 1986, not the Charles Lorraine who was sentenced to die on December 9 of that year. 36, nearly 37 years, they make a difference. Who we were is not who we are.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And who we'll kill is not who we sentenced to die.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Really, it's enough. </span><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9PJiI9zB8g/WySXso83XpI/AAAAAAAACsU/mB4ef-59zrsA0D7iVozW0rc5nsNpM6ZJwCLcBGAs/s1600/Doris%2B%2526%2BRaymond%2BMontgomery.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="212" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R9PJiI9zB8g/WySXso83XpI/AAAAAAAACsU/mB4ef-59zrsA0D7iVozW0rc5nsNpM6ZJwCLcBGAs/s320/Doris%2B%2526%2BRaymond%2BMontgomery.jpeg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doris and Raymond Montgomery</span></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mCDPclaQqK0/WySXsuqurzI/AAAAAAAACsQ/cGb6UV7A3BI-z661JreZY3OPZ5fZMksFgCLcBGAs/s1600/charles-lorraine-7a8136817dc9f937.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="397" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mCDPclaQqK0/WySXsuqurzI/AAAAAAAACsQ/cGb6UV7A3BI-z661JreZY3OPZ5fZMksFgCLcBGAs/s200/charles-lorraine-7a8136817dc9f937.jpg" width="155" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charles Lorrine</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/381891932/Charles-Lorraine-Death-Entry-Warrant#from_embed" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View Charles Lorraine Death Entry & Warrant on Scribd">Charles Lorraine Death Entry & Warrant</a> by <a href="https://www.scribd.com/user/24017825/jmgamso#from_embed" nbsp="" style="text-decoration: underline;" title="View jmgamso's profile on Scribd">jmgamso</a> on Scribd</div>
<iframe class="scribd_iframe_embed" data-aspect-ratio="0.7729220222793488" data-auto-height="false" frameborder="0" height="600" id="doc_59562" scrolling="no" src="https://www.scribd.com/embeds/381891932/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-e6igZDpRyhXluVrbK4ki&show_recommendations=true" title="Charles Lorraine Death Entry & Warrant" width="100%"></iframe></span>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-16497691836632635962018-05-17T19:38:00.002-04:002018-05-17T19:38:13.094-04:00What is truth, said jesting Pilate<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in 2010, Times columnist <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/opinion/09kristof.html">Nicholas Kristoff had an op-ed</a> about Kevin Cooper, a black man on death row in California for stabbing four people to death and leaving for dead a fifth who somehow survived and said the killing was done by 3 white guys. Kristoff's op-ed grew out of a dissenting opinion by 9th Circuit Judge William Fletcher in <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/05/11/05-99004o.pdf">Cooper v. Brown</a>, arguing that Cooper was likely factually innocent, had been framed by the cops, and that the courts and prosecutors and government authorities were at least passively complicit.<br /><br />As Fletcher's dissent was a jumping off point for Kristoff, so his op-ed was a jumping off point for a <a href="https://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2010/12/because-everyone-wants-to-be-texas.html">blog post I wrote</a>. <br /><br />Today, in the Times on-line and I think set for a print version in the Sunday paper, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/17/opinion/sunday/kevin-cooper-california-death-row.html">Kristoff has a lengthy follow-up,</a> detailing his own investigation. It's powerful. Well worth reading for justice gone awry and for the active unwillingness of those sometime Democratic heroes Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris to just take the smallest of steps - allowing the DNA testing to go forward. The testing that might well show it wasn't Cooper - which seems pretty likely, but who knows.<br /><br />As I've regularly said here, </span><div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Jerry Brown (yeah, that Jerry Brown, the former Governor Moonbeam, the present Governor Old-Liberal-Icon) won't allow it. And Kamala Harris, once California Attorney General, now Senator Harris - she (like Jerry when he was California's AG) just wants the conviction affirmed and Cooper to stay in prison forever unless he's killed and damned with any DNA testing.<br /><br />It's worth noting how Kristoff explains his continuing passion for the case: </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s obvious to you by now that this is not a usual column — I’m not sure The Times has ever published a column of this length — so why am I exploring the case with such passion? I became interested primarily because Fletcher and other respected federal appeals judges had said he was framed. That just doesn’t happen.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m also haunted by something else. In 2000, I proposed reporting a lengthy piece about doubts about the conviction of Cameron Willingham, who was then on death row in Texas for the arson murder of his three children. An editor talked me out of it, and I never did write about Willingham, who was executed in 2004. Since then, growing evidence has emerged that he was innocent, and perhaps it’s partly to atone for my earlier failure that I’ve taken up Cooper’s case.Which does sort of make the point that Cooper's not the only one. That death row, and really all our prisons (and our jails, too, but that's a different story), have significant numbers of folks in them who are likely to be innocent. </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wholly, factually, innocent. Wrong guy.* Or, even, crime didn't happen.**<br /><br />All of that is quite an extraordinary explanation from a Times columnist, I think.</span><div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And he follows it up with the plaint of everyone who recognizes that we're supposed to have a system of something like justice - whatever exactly that might be.</span></div>
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe in the grand scheme of things, the fate of one man on death row doesn’t seem so important; innumerable people die tragically every day. Yet we aspire to be a nation where we are all equal before the law, and if we execute a man in so flawed a case without even bothering to test the evidence rigorously, then a piece of our justice system dies along with Kevin Cooper.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Governor Brown, if you’re reading this, I understand that you may believe that Cooper is guilty. But other smart people, including federal judges and law school deans, believe him innocent. So how can you possibly execute him without even allowing advanced DNA testing, at the defense’s expense, to resolve the doubt? What’s your argument for refusing to allow testing? </span></blockquote>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though Kristoff doesn't say it this way, testing will lead to one of three conclusions: </span><ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cooper's guilty, in which everyone can go home and rest assured.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cooper's an innocent guy we wanted to kill, in which case we can try and find the real killer and, by the way, do what we can to make sure we don't keep doing shit like this and also try to make some small amends to Cooper for his wrongful decades on death row.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can't really tell shit. In which case, we'll at least have tried.</span></li>
</ol>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, yeah, I forgot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UXoNE14U_zM" width="560"></iframe><br /></span><div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.8px;">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*In which case, of course, the right guy is presumably still out there on the streets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**The likelihood in Willingham's case. The fire was probably not arson but an electrical fire from bad wiring.</span></div>
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Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-50323852432262053142018-05-10T12:59:00.000-04:002018-05-10T12:59:30.530-04:00In Case You Hadn't Heard<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 24pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The war on crime and drugs did not fail. It was a roaring success.</span></span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-sessions-delivers-remarks-gatlinburg-law-enforcement-training-conference"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Attorney General Jeff Sessions to the Gatlinburg LawEnforcement Training Conference, May 8, 2018</span></a></span></div>
<br /><br />
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And, by the way,<br />
<br />
<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZOs9xYUjY4I?rel=0&controls=0&showinfo=0" width="560"></iframe>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-63868392073218841392018-04-17T12:49:00.000-04:002018-04-17T12:49:59.796-04:00Ya Think?<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In fact, if the severity of the consequences counts when
deciding the standard of review, shouldn’t we also take
account of the fact that today’s civil laws regularly impose
penalties far more severe than those found in many criminal
statutes? Ours is a world filled with more and more
civil laws bearing more and more extravagant punishments.
Today’s “civil” penalties include confiscatory
rather than compensatory fines, forfeiture provisions that
allow homes to be taken, remedies that strip persons of
their professional licenses and livelihoods, and the power
to commit persons against their will indefinitely. Some of
these penalties are routinely imposed and are routinely
graver than those associated with misdemeanor crimes—
and often harsher than the punishment for felonies. And
not only are “punitive civil sanctions . . . rapidly expanding,”
they are “sometimes more severely punitive than the
parallel criminal sanctions <i>for the same conduct</i>.” Mann,
Punitive Civil Sanctions: The Middleground Between
Criminal and Civil Law, 101 Yale L. J. 1795, 1798 (1992)
(emphasis added). Given all this, any suggestion that
criminal cases warrant a heightened standard of review
does more to persuade me that the criminal standard
should be set above our precedent’s current threshold than
to suggest the civil standard should be buried below it.</blockquote>
<i>Sessions v. Dimaya</i>, Gorsuch concurring.Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-67623275056490198912018-03-15T00:36:00.002-04:002018-03-15T00:36:22.199-04:00Five Fucking Years<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Five years. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> FIVE YEARS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> FIVE YEARS.</span></b><br />
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</span><br />
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<b><span style="color: red; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">FIVE FUCKING YEARS!</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></b>
OK, it's really 4 years 9 months and 29 days. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that's a quibble.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's how far into the future they've planned the killing. Talk about premeditation. Talk about prior calculation and design (which, under our statute turns garden variety <a href="http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2903.02v1">murder</a> into <a href="http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2903.01v1">aggravated murder</a>).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's Antonio Sanchez Franklin, convicted of the brutal murders of Ophelia, Ivory, and Anthony Franklin (his grandmother, grandfather, and uncle). The crimes were, the jury and the courts agreed, committed with (here's that phrase again) "prior calculation and design."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's how the <a href="https://supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/0/2002/2002-ohio-5304.pdf">Ohio Supreme Court</a> explained it,</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> This court has never set forth a bright-line test for discerning the presence or
absence of prior calculation and design but instead undertakes a unique analysis
of the facts of each case. . . . . In the
instant matter, the facts demonstrate prior calculation and design.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Obviously, appellant knew his victims very well, since they were
close relatives with whom appellant resided. His relationship with each was
clearly strained. The evidence indicates that despite the wishes of Ophelia and
Ivory Franklin, appellant created friction by refusing to get a job or attend school.
In fact, approximately two weeks prior to the murders, his grandparents gave him
thirty days to find another place to live, a prospect that caused appellant to act in a
hostile manner toward his family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Moreover, appellant was at odds with Anthony Franklin. While he
was being questioned by Dayton police in Nashville, appellant, in reference to
Anthony, exclaimed, “Son of a bitch raped me, that’s why I killed ’em all. * * *
He raped me when I was fourteen, and the old man knew about it, but that was his
son, so he didn’t do anything about it.” Appellant also revealed that Anthony had
accused him of being gay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There is also evidence to support the view that the accused gave
thought and preparation to choosing the murder weapon and the murder site. He
used various weapons on the three victims. He shot Ophelia and struck her
repeatedly with a blunt instrument, and beat Ivory and Anthony with blunt
instruments as well. Unsatisfied, appellant proceeded to intentionally set a fire.
These events occurred in a place where appellant knew that all three individuals
could be found at once.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Finally, it does not appear that the murders were instantaneous
events, but instead were carried out over a period of time.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of which is, if it's all true,* pretty compelling evidence of prior calculation and design.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As, of course, is a plan - hell, it's an order - to commit a murder, purposely causing the death of another as the statute says, in 4 years, 9 months, and 29 days. Especially when you've even planned the particulars of how the killing is to be done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'd be remiss here if I left the impression that there are no other killings on the horizon here in the Buckeye State. In the nearly 5 years before Franklin's special day Ohio has 27 others lined up. Each neatly and precisely scheduled.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next up is William Montgomery from Toledo, just under a month from now, on April 11. But that's only the latest date. September 28, 2012, the good folks at the Ohio Supreme Court ordered his murder for August 6, 2014, a mere 23 months and some days in the future. But well, Ohio's had serious trouble killin folks. The Governor rescheduled his murder for February 11, 2015, then or September 17, 2015, then . . . . Damn, this is long. Here's a list:</span><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 6, 2014</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">February 11, 2015</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">September 17, 2015</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">August 15, 2016</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">June 13, 2017</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">October 18, 2017</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">January 3, 2018</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">April 11, 2018</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given all that, maybe the most you can say is</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Maybe</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which is probably for the best given that there's a fair chance Montgomery didn't actually kill Debra Ogle and Cynthia Tincher 32 years ago. But you know, that's maybe just one of those things. I mean there was a trial. And the county prosecutor is quite sure he's guilty, so really, who's gonna kick up a fuss?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, after Montgomery, there's Robert Van Hook in July and then Cleveland Jackson and then Warren Henness and then . . . . And more than 20 others until Quisi Bryan On October 16, 2022. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And now Antonio Franklin. In just short of 5 fucking years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His date set this morning (yesterday morning, actually, since it's a bit after midnight now) by the Justices of the Supreme Court of Ohio. Their latest planned aggravated murder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Depend upon it, sir," Dr. Johnson said,</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.</span></blockquote>
<h1 class="quoteText" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">Five years, though, that's maybe a little different.</span></span></span></h1>
<h1 class="quoteText" style="line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #181818; font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal;">On the other hand, don't hold your breath. I'm not a betting man, but it's even money that whatever may be happening at 10 in the morning on January 12, 2023, it won't be the murder of Antonio Sanchez Franklin by the State of Ohio. There's just too much that can happen in five years. Including, just maybe, the end of our cycle of vengeance. </span></span></span></h1>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The maybe innocent William Montgomery next month? That's a different story.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">* * *</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's today's order.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #6fa8dc;"><b>1998-2061. State v. Franklin.</b></span>Montgomery C.P. No. 97CR1139. On motion to set execution date. Motion
granted. Antonio Sanchez Franklin’s sentence shall be carried into execution by
the warden of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, or in his absence, by the deputy warden on Thursday, January 12, 2023, in accordance with the statutes so
provided.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*I have no inside knowledge. I never represented Franklin, haven't read the transcript of his trial, haven't discussed the case with any of his lawyers. All I've done is read some court opinions.</span>Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-52164305201431843102018-02-07T00:06:00.001-05:002018-02-07T00:06:25.592-05:00Pardon me?<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Can my sins be pardoned?"</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's the sort of question I suppose nearly all of us ask ourselves, or ought to, from time to time. Obviously so for those who believe in an authority, a deity say, who rewards and punishes according to some measure of worthiness. Or a loved one. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Less obviously for those of us who don't, but of course there's the question of whether we pardon ourselves. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course, there's also the matter of <i>sins</i>. But that can be an elastic term. Put aside Eve and the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Sins needn't be mortal. An everyday transgression of the social compact will do. A little untoward envy. A sharp word undeserved. (And how often is one really deserved?) Just being shitty 'cause you're in a lousy mood. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm a criminal defense lawyer. I traffic in the venal things folks do to each other. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some are nearly beyond understanding. Think Stalin or Hitler or Pol Pot. Or on a smaller scale the mother who dangled her two-year-old boy out the second story window by an ankle. Then dropped him. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Others, well, there was the guy who robbed the carry out and the burglar who stole the costume jewelry and the fella who broke into the house to steal some what he could find but fell asleep on the bed and woke up surrounded by cops with guns pointed at various parts of his body.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And pretty much everything in between.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But the question of pardon. Which is where I began and where I kinda want to go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You know, if you've spent any significant time reading this blog, that I'm the atheist who believes deeply in mercy and grace. And that they're about the giver, not the person receiving. And how the virtue comes not from being generous to the deserving. That's easy, after all. It's about giving regardless of merit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And it's about forgiveness. Which is the pardon thing again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And that question, "Can my sins be pardoned?"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Any of us may ask. perhaps all of us should. But the question I quoted (note not just the indent but the quotation marks to provide a clue) came from someone very specific. With a very specific answer. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They probably won't be.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Her name, she of the perhaps unpardonable sin, is Kim Hyun-hui, and just over 30 years ago she murdered 115 people. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was, as Chico Harlan puts it in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/she-killed-115-people-before-the-last-korean-olympics-now-she-wonders-can-my-sins-be-pardoned/2018/02/05/ae51588c-0a31-11e8-8890-372e2047c935_story.html?utm_term=.593e1d5d905b">Washington Post</a>, "groomed to be a warrior in North Korea’s army of international spies." And that was her task. Blow up a South Korean airliner with all the passengers aboard. Though she didn't much see it as murder. She didn't think of the people. What she saw was a "technical operation." A task to perform. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Which she did. KAL flight 858. Killing 115. She was captured. Tried to kill herself, biting down on a cyanide-tipped cigarette as she was trained and ordered to do. But it didn't take. </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When she awoke, her left hand was cuffed to a hospital bed, an oxygen tube in her nose. Men in combat fatigues stood around her, machine guns cocked.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Through weeks of interrogation, she remained strong. Then, Harlan writes, she was given a suit, put in a car, and driven around Seoul.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kim saw a city that looked nothing like the miserable enemy outpost North Korea had described. She saw families smiling. She saw cars everywhere. She saw crowded shopping malls. She saw street vendors selling food. She saw the Olympic Village.<br />And she started to think that her mission, her whole purpose, had been a sham.<br />“Founded upon lies,” she said.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Blowing up the plane was supposed to disrupt the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Instead, Kim watched then on TV. And she cooperated with the authorities. And she was sentenced to be killed. For blowing up a plane with 115 innocent people on board.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can my sins be pardoned?</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A year after the death sentence, there was an answer.</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">South Korean President Roh Tae-woo pardoned her, saying that she had been a mere tool manipulated by the real perpetrators, North Korea’s ruling Kim family.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But of course that isn't the pardon she asks about.</span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She no longer resembles the spy who was given eight years of physical and ideological training. She is 56 years old. She lives on the outskirts of South Korea’s third-largest city. She wears glasses and keeps her hair short. She no longer practices taekwondo. She no longer has an interest in knife combat or code-cracking.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rather, she lives quietly, in a suburb. With her husband (one of her interrogators) and their two teenagers.<br /><br />Here's a question. Is this woman, Kim Hyun-hui, taken from a plane, arrested, wearing a mask designed to prevent her from biting off her tongue, this spy </span><div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92Vc_MrVtok/WnqHSAffoBI/AAAAAAAACkk/lq4uB_yZadkdYGDXr8OYAHgfNJ0zYxHEwCLcBGAs/s1600/Kim%2Bthen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="450" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92Vc_MrVtok/WnqHSAffoBI/AAAAAAAACkk/lq4uB_yZadkdYGDXr8OYAHgfNJ0zYxHEwCLcBGAs/s320/Kim%2Bthen.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is she this woman, Kim Hyun-hui, 56, suburban housewife, mother of two?</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OL0-vBDouH4/WnqHSBzWV4I/AAAAAAAACkg/6iL2TmPUMUQPONHeL7EO8Rs45aSMK8w3QCLcBGAs/s1600/Kim%2Bnow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="640" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OL0-vBDouH4/WnqHSBzWV4I/AAAAAAAACkg/6iL2TmPUMUQPONHeL7EO8Rs45aSMK8w3QCLcBGAs/s320/Kim%2Bnow.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Only one of them, I think, would wonder, as nearly all of us do, or ought to, from time to time.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can my sins be pardoned? </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And I'm quite sure only one of them would offer as answer</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They probably won't be.</span></blockquote>
<br /> </div>
</div>
Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-63886974566022413592017-12-15T01:37:00.000-05:002017-12-15T01:37:24.239-05:00Because It Went So Well Here<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So they decided - narrowly, but astounding given the place and the choice - that they'd rather not send the guy who yearns for the time of slavery, who thinks the amendments striking down slavery and allowing blacks and women to vote, who thinks homosexuality should be a crime, and who doesn't believe that his state is bound by the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court on the Constitution, the guy who maybe, probably, spent his thirties trolling for14 and 15 year old girls . . .</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They decided they'd rather send to the Senate a guy who favors abortion on demand and prosecuted members of the Klan.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alabama, it seems, is showing a bit of envy. It's like it wants to be, at least a little, like the rest of the country.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But why pick Ohio?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll remember how <a href="http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/2017/11/just-look-at-them-and-sigh.html">last month</a> we here in the Buckeye State decided that a 69 year old guy who gets around on a walker, wears a colostomy bag on the outside, suffers from COPD and cancer - a guy who has maybe 6 months to live - should be executed rather than left to die on his own in prison, where he'd been for some 20 years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You'll remember that Alva Campbell had veins that couldn't be accessed by needles, but they'd try anyway, 'cause he was sentenced to be killed and that meant he couldn't be allowed to just die. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And you'll remember that they tried for about 30 minutes to kill him - and then gave up. Making him the second person in the country, after <a href="http://gamso-forthedefense.blogspot.com/search/label/Rommell%20Broom">Romell Broom</a>, to survive the attempt at lethal injection. Both in Ohio, incompetence capital of the nation.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so, after beating back Roy Moore (who's demonstrably not anti-semitic, says his wife, because "one of our attorneys is a Jew") and sending Doug Jones to Washington . . . .</span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JTegU7UOR7M/WjNnUIfYujI/AAAAAAAACic/-4xktQ0a0z8g1icrdZoyG-lFLWsp4N55wCLcBGAs/s1600/Doyle%2BLee%2BHamm.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="198" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JTegU7UOR7M/WjNnUIfYujI/AAAAAAAACic/-4xktQ0a0z8g1icrdZoyG-lFLWsp4N55wCLcBGAs/s1600/Doyle%2BLee%2BHamm.jpeg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Doyle Lee Hamm</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They're getting set to kill Doyle Lee Hamm in February.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Of course, killing folks is nothing new for Alabama. They've executed three folks this year. They've got 191 or so on death row. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But let's just focus on Hamm, on death row for robbing and killing Patrick Cunningham. Here's the short version, from <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-long-defense-of-the-alabama-death-row-prisoner-doyle-lee-hamm">Jennifer Gonnerman in the New Yorker </a>last year.</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Growing up, Hamm flunked first grade, drank beer and whiskey mixed together, graduated to sniffing glue several times a day, quit school in the ninth grade, ingested Valium and Percocet and quaaludes, watched his six older brothers all go to jail, and eventually acquired his own extensive rap sheet, including arrests for burglary, assault, and grand larceny. He married and had one daughter. (The marriage lasted six months; his wife cited “habitual drunkenness” as one of the grounds for divorce.) In January of 1987, Hamm went on a crime spree that included a shooting in Mississippi and ended when he and two accomplices were arrested following the murder of a motel clerk in Alabama. About three hundred and fifty dollars were missing from the register and the clerk was found on the floor, shot once in the temple. Hamm confessed to the murder, and, at thirty years old, was condemned to death by way of Alabama’s electric chair, which was painted yellow and known by the nickname Yellow Mama.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Got that? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2017/12/execution_date_set_for_convict.html">Carol Robinson at AL.com </a>has more. He's 60. Been on death row for 30 years now. They call him Pops. And, oh yeah he's been fighting cranial and lymphatic cancer for several years now. It's terminal. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh, and his veins are no good. Mark Heath, an anesthesiologist on the faculty at Columbia University, examined Hamm a couple of months ago. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"There are no accessible veins on [Hamm's] left upper extremity (arm/hand) or either of his lower extremities (legs/feet)," Heath found. Use of one "potentially accessible" vein on Hamm's right hand "would have a high chance of rupturing the vein and being unsuccessful," he added in a written statement Harcourt filed with the court.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The inability of corrections personnel to inject the drugs properly could "cause Mr. Hamm to become paralyzed and consciously suffocate" and would be "an agonizing death," said Heath, whose research has documented problems in the administration of lethal injections nationwide.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All of which makes Doyle Hamm look an awful lot like Alva Campbell. Who we in Ohio tried to kill last month because it was important not that he die soon but that he be killed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I say Alabama has its eye on being not just a southern backwater. It wants, apparently, to be Ohio.</span><br />
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Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-78102077408316791422017-12-04T12:09:00.000-05:002017-12-04T12:09:02.009-05:00These Are the Saddest of Possible Words<div class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From Alexander Pope's <i>An Essay on Man:</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cease then, nor Order imperfection name:<br />Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.<br />Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree<br />Of blindness, weakness, Heav'n bestows on thee.<br />Submit.–In this, or any other sphere,<br />Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear:<br />Safe in the hand of one disposing Pow'r,<br />Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.<br />All Nature is but art, unknown to thee;<br />All chance, direction, which thou canst not see;<br />All discord, harmony not understood;<br />All partial evil, universal good:<br />And, spite of pride, in erring reason's spite,<br />One truth is clear, Whatever is, is right.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lyndon Johnson:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm the only President you've got.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Richard Nixon:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dMt8qCl5fPk?rel=0&controls=0" width="560"></iframe></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Donald Trump's lawyer John Dowd:</span><br />
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<a href="exclusive: Trump lawyer claims the "President cannot obstruct justice""><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "President cannot obstruct justice"</span></a></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Baseball's Sad Lexicon," by Franklin Pierce Adams:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are the saddest of possible words:<br /> “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”<br /> Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,<br /> Tinker and Evers and Chance.<br /> Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,<br /> Making a Giant hit into a double—<br /> Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:<br /> “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”</span></blockquote>
Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5945843206427351559.post-27357596032603149872017-11-26T12:03:00.000-05:002017-11-26T12:03:16.543-05:00plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Return with us now to the thrilling days of yesteryear when (OK, if you're old enough to know how the rest goes and yearn for it, you'll be disappointed) . . . when blawggers talked to each other on their blawgs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over at <a href="https://blog.simplejustice.us/2017/11/26/your-honor/">Simple Justice this morning</a>, Scott Greenfield wrote about honor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You told the truth because telling the truth was the right thing to do. You kept your promises because it was the honorable thing to do.<br />We were honorable people.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, not so much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> There is no country for the honorable anymore. From the top down, and the bottom up, lies, deceit manipulation, distortion are all acceptable means of achieving goals, and goals are more important than how you attain them. We can fight over whether a goal is worthy or correct, but an honorable person will not lie to win the battle, will not use fallacious arguments to see if he can get an easy win, will not distort the facts to achieve victory.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I started to write a comment, but it was getting out of hand, turning into the sort of linguistic perambulation I'm inclined to over here, wandering about in a haze of seemingly-parenthetical distraction in the hope that I'll actually end up with a point that draws together the threads. (And you wonder how many posts I've a abandoned over the years? Or, more likely, you don't.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, here's the thing. I think Scott's wrong. Sort of.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I want to be clear here. Scott's not denying that there are honorable people today. Folks who do the right thing, who speak and act with integrity <i>because</i> it's the right thing to do even when it hurts. Folks who will not lie, will not cheat, will not . . . . Fuck it, here's <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b62d/a95d1fc9b94589375d364f3259f25c45ad8a.pdf">Raymond Chandler</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chandler's was a fictional detective, his fictional detective in particular. But the description so far as I've quoted it here (and of Chandler's detective it goes on) is apt.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I say, Scott doesn't deny that there are honorable people. His claim is that we no longer view honor as a goal, no longer embarce the ideal. Now it's the game, the score, the win. Lie, cheat, do what you can to get there. (What the public has always accused lawyers of, by the way, though lawyers have always asserted that they're better than that.) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where he's wrong, I think, is to think it was different once. He's wrong to think that we used to honor honor in some way more than the breach (Once more unto the breach, dear friends) but no longer do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's probably true that actually honorable people are and have always been rare. But the idea of honor, the ideal of it, that's something else. Shakespeare's Anthony knew the strength of the ideal when he offered his ironic and iconic lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For Brutus is an honorable man;<br />So are they all, all honorable men.</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But so, albeit less eloquently, does Donald Trump when he accuses CNN or the NY Times or Washington Post or whoever, of</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">FAKE NEWS!!!</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's a fake, of course. Every bit as fake and as calculated, if less knowing, than Anthony's remarks about Brutus. But the claim's the same. And if he can sell it . . . .</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There's no shortage of shadenfeude these days. It comes from the right and the left, from those we, er, honor and those we despise. But it's all there <i>because </i>we like the idea of integrity - we just don't much act in conformity. And we're willing (though perhaps topic right now, and it's not clear how far) to forgive blatant hypocrisy and accept outright lies. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But forgiveness isn't conceptual approval. Though perhaps between 24 hour news cycles and social media and especially hatred and certainty of our own righteousness in cause (if not in manner) we're more open about our willingness to tolerate the dishonest.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p9lf76xOA5k?rel=0&showinfo=0" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
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Jeff Gamsohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09869425697771419546noreply@blogger.com5