More correspondence from Nigeria - today's E-mail brings this plea:
PRESIDENT & C.E.O Dear Sir, I am Dr AJAYI SEUN, Chairman of Contract Award and Verification Panel setup by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). yada yada yada
I don't know which is more virulent and persistent, these damn Nigerian scamsters, or the well-travelled Klez Worm. I do have to say, though, I appreciate the lengthy correspondence and complicated plot twists of the Ethiopians (you don't see that sort of attention to detail in electronic correspondence any more). But, alas, I'm weary of the hackneyed efforts to convince me to part with my money. Can't we round these guys up and charge them with War Crimes or something? Surely the Patriot Act is broad enough. It seems to cover everything else.
11:48:24 AM
Does Justice Scalia favor executing the mentally retarded? - Newsweek article on Justice Scalia's role in a case involving a mentally retarded person who is scheduled to be executed. I didn't care for the article. Basically it says that Scalia is in favor of executing the mentally retarded. The journalist has a hard time explaining why that's true, because he has to wade through a procedural explanation, which I found boring (and I'm a lawyer).
Here's the thing. Scalia is in favor of captial punishment. And he's in favor of finality of review in criminal cases, because he doesn't think that prisoners should tie up the system with never-ending appeals. But, he's not in favor of executing mentally retarded people. Just ask him.
I'm not in favor of capital punishment. I'm in favor of finality of review, but so is everyone. No one thinks that prisoner appeals should go on forever (except prisoners). The only point of disagreement among us non-convicts is when the finality should take place. In capital cases (i.e. cases where the defendant is condemned to die) the finality of procedural appeals is tough to accept because the punishment, once inflicted, is irreversible. The convict's death pretty much puts an immediate end to all of the procedural wrangling.
My friend Steve (who is in favor of capital punishment) nailed it recently when he told me: we should just get rid of the death penalty because the cost to the judicial system of going through the review process costs too much. Maybe that's the common ground for the opposition forces in the capital punishment dispute.
11:27:45 AM
