Tuesday, May 28, 2002

The Louisiana Hayride Goes to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals  . . . The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the federal appeals court in New Orleans, today announced the three judge panel that will hear arguments on Monday, June 3, 2002, in the case of former Louisiana Governor Edwin W. Edwards.  Presiding over the argument will be Judges Patrick E. Higginbotham (of Texas), Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. (of Louisiana), and Fortunato P. Benavides (of Texas).  The first two men are Republican appointees to the Court -- the first by President Regan and the second by President George H.W. Bush.  The third judge is a Democratic appointee of President Clinton. Edwards and several codefendants were convicted by 11 jurors (the dismissal of a juror during deliberations being a significant issue on appeal) almost two years ago in federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The high profile corruption trial involving the Louisiana Riverboat Casino industry will no doubt make a high profile appearance before the staid Fifth Circuit featuring a battle between Edwards' lead attorney, the well-known Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz (a one-time clerk for the late Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg and a former Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal), and the government's lead attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Higginson (a one-time clerk for the late Supreme Court Justice Byron White and a former Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Law Journal), It should be a combination of high-profile issues and high-minded legal argument.  I can't wait . . . 7:31:09 PM    comment [] When You Lie Down With Dogs  . . . Former F.B.I. Agent Convicted of Aiding Mob. A former F.B.I. agent who spent years cultivating mob informants was convicted today of protecting gangsters. By The Associated Press. [New York Times: National] Reading this story proves that Donnie Brasco (the movie) was closer to reality than we knew (it was based on a true story), but it only ended with Johnny Depp, betraying the mob (his new friends) and abused by the FBI (his "loyal" employer), the story of John Connolly ended with his conviction by a jury in Federal Court.  What all this should say about modern law enforcement tactics is that maybe, just maybe, the enforcers should realize that a pact with the devil is never really defensible.   It brings to mind my favorite part of the wonderful movie A Man For All Seasons (New York Times review) in which Thomas More, then the Lord Chancellor of England, argues with those who are pushing him to arrest Richard Rich, the man who later to betrayed him: MORE:     And go he should if he were the Devil himself until he broke the law. ROPER:   So, now you give the Devil benefit of law! MORE:    Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil? ROPER:  Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that. MORE:    Oh? And when the last law was down and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast the coast, man's laws not God's, and if you cut them down--and you're just the man to do it--do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I give the Devil benefit of law for my own safety's sake. --Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield) and Will Roper (Corin Redgrave) A Man For All Seasons 6:59:45 PM    comment [] Texas Board Won't Stop Execution of Man Who Killed at 17. The Texas parole board today rejected requests to commute the death sentence of Napoleon Beazley. By The Associated Press. Texas is one of five states that allow the death penalty for crimes committed by 17-year-olds. Before Tuesday, 18 inmates in the United States -- including 10 in Texas -- have been executed since 1976 for a murder committed when the killer was younger than 18. "Texas must recognize that the brutal practice of executing children is in complete and utter defiance of international law,'' said Sue Gunawardena-Vaught, director of Amnesty International USA's Program to Abolish the Death Penalty. [New York Times: National] I am at a loss to explain or understand headlines like this one.  If there is a purpose for the parole board, other than political expediency in being sure the needle hits its mark, it must be to act in cases like the one of Mr. Beazley and do the civilized thing - let him live in prison. 6:02:45 PM    comment []

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