News Cut Category Archive: Crime and Justice

Fort Hood victim has Minnesota ties

Posted at 7:51 AM on November 6, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The local angle in the Fort Hood shootings has emerged.

The Kansas City Star reports that Army Reserve Spc. Keara Bono (Torkelson) was one of those shot in the assault on Thursday. She's a graduate of a high school in Independence, MO., but she recently married and lives in the St. Paul area, according to the newspaper.

Here's her Facebook page. A posting on her wall there says she was treated and released.

Just a few hours before the shootings, she posted that life at the facility was "boring."

KMBC in Kansas City has some images of her on the base in happier times. KTKA Television reports that Bono worked with soldiers returning from war who were dealing with stress.

Says the London Evening Standard:

Another of the injured, 21-year-old Private Keara Bono, called her husband to say: "They shot me. And I'm still here in this country." He heard shots and shouting, before the line went dead.

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Fighting for the neighborhood

Posted at 9:39 AM on October 31, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

I was walking Lucie the Blog Dog this morning past the home of a nearby neighbor when she pulled up in her minivan, got out and walked up her driveway, not once looking back nor saying "hello" to one of the people who's lived within a stone's throw of her for 16 years. Tonight, probably, one of her kids will come to the door looking for candy. "I wonder what she'd do if my home were on fire or I were being assaulted," I wondered as I continued my walk.

In other words: It was a typical Saturday morning in Woodbury.

But the Star Tribune's Vince Tuss forces us to ask a similar question in a story from south Minneapolis: "I wonder what I would do?"

It's the story of Dr. Mani Mokalla who was walking his 6-year-old son to the school bus stop on Thursday morning when he came upon a group of teenagers beating up a middle-aged man.

Dr. Mokalla didn't know any of them but he announced, "This is my business," when one of the pugilists told him to "mind your own business." He then waded into the fray, and took a few punches to the face for his effort. But his goal was achieved. The teens -- and the victim -- scattered.

The police admired his moxie, but suggested that maybe people should just call the cops and avoid a physical altercation.
Coincidentally, this all comes in the wake of several incidents around the country in which teens stood by and watched other teens assault -- and in one case, kill and in another case raped-- another teen while they did nothing but take some video for YouTube.

How do we get this way? I prefer to think it starts by keeping your head down when the neighbor is out walking his dog, but I might be reaching.

Still, I feel generally unworthy of the company of Dr. Mokalla who says he'd do it again and -- according to Tuss -- will "strengthen his resolve to fight child poverty and to work on other social issues such as drug abuse, the status of public schools, and a lack of role models. 'Teens don't get up at 6:40 a.m. to beat up people,' he said."

As long as the likes of Mani Mokalla are living in a neighborhood, it has a fighting chance.

I wish my neighborhood had one.

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More questions than answers in terrorism plots

Posted at 9:39 AM on October 21, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

If the recent reports of thwarted terrorist plots are true, two questions come to mind: How is it authorities are able to intercept these things and how many plots are out there that haven't been intercepted?

The latest case is unfurling today in Boston where a Massachusetts man has been arrested for plotting to attack shopping malls.

"Federal prosecutors say Tarek Mehanna and his conspirators tried to get automatic weapons for a mall attack, but their plans were foiled when they could not get the weapons," the Associated Press reports. This brings up another question: If drug dealers and other low-lifes have no trouble getting automatic weapons, how is it these terrorists-in-waiting seem to have such a difficult time? This person allegedly has been planning the attacks for seven years!

Mehanna is also accused of distributing videos of dead American soldiers being abused and mutilated in Iraq. Not exactly a good way to lay low while plotting an attack.

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Whatchya gonna do when they come for you?

Posted at 1:16 PM on October 15, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

It's a curious thing when you think about it. Americans apparently love to kick back after a hard day's work, turn on the tube and watch someone else do their job.

Take your pick, you've got loggers, crab fishermen, carpenters, painters, elasmobranchologists, chefs, cops. You name it, it's on somewhere.

Now TLC is bringing its cameras to the Mall of America to tell the tales of the security guards who protect your right to go to the mall and not plan on buying something but it was on sale so you buy it anyway. Or, as TLC puts it:

Mall Cops: An action-packed day in the life of the Mall of America, as seen through the eyes of the men and women assigned to guard its stores and shoppers: the mall cops. From protecting celebs to busting shoplifters, there's no job too big for the mall cops.

It's on at 9 p.m. tonight. I'm sure the job is nothing like Paul Blart.

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Won't you please not be my neighbor?

Posted at 2:16 PM on October 12, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

OK, ethics majors, let's get to work. From the Bismarck Tribune:

When high-risk sex offender Richard Vondal moved into a house so close to Mandan High School that the school district had at one time considered buying it, anger and fear was a common reaction among parents and community members.

...

Sex offenders often have trouble finding appropriate housing once people find out who they are and what they've done. Few property owners will rent to sex offenders, and when an offender finds a home, the neighbors aren't always welcoming.

Is this a case of just deserts for someone who's violated the very intimate rights of another person, or is it incumbent upon society to do right by finding housing for offenders?

Consider: More than 120,000 people were considered "chronically homeless" in the U.S. in 2007, and...

Research has tied stability to lower recidivism rates for sex offenders, which means offenders who are homeless or lack support systems are more likely to reoffend.

So, what do you do with a sex offender who can't find a place to live?

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Should Cabrera play?

Posted at 3:14 PM on October 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Sports

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Saving Pvt. Hafterson

Posted at 12:04 PM on September 30, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Health

Ronald Bradley is seeing first-hand the difficulties American soldiers are having getting treatment for the post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) they suffered as a result of their service in Iraq.

Bradley, an attorney and friend of the family, is trying to keep Marine Pvt. Travis Hafterson, 21, alive long enough to get him some treatment, but Hafterson has fallen into the hands of the military justice system, which he thinks may be more interested in punishing Hafterson than treating him.

By all accounts, Hafterson, a Circle Pines native with two tours of duty in Iraq, needs treatment in a hurry. A girlfriend says he slept with a gun under his pillow, and still has flashbacks of the cries of people he killed, and colleagues who died next to him.

He also has talked about committing suicide numerous times. Saying he doesn't want to live, doesn't deserve to live. He calls himself a murderer and speaks of countless innocent people he believes he killed, women and children included. He has talked about suicide countless times, but there are two times where I literally had to take his gun out of his hand because he felt it easier to shoot himself than to live with his conscience.

Hafterson's legal problems started during his second tour. "He was experiencing problems that are classically associated with PTSD, he was self-medicating with marijuana so he could sleep," according to Bradley. When he admitted marijuana use, he was court martialed and sent back to Camp LeJeune in North Carolina.

He was granted a leave in August but his orders changed at the last minute. "I think he had already started going away and instead of going back, he didn't go in right away," Bradley said. The Marines have a word for that: Desertion.

When Hafterson arrived in Minnesota last week, his mother called Bradley for help."We arranged to get him his psychiatric evaluation and he spent a good part of Saturday being interviewed. The doctor made his report and found and substantiated PTSD," Bradley said. Working through another lawyer, Hafterson contacted the combat stress officer -- a psychiatric nurse and highly regarded expert on PTSD -- at Fort Snelling and arranged for Hafterson to turn himself in on Monday.

He let the officer, Lt. Col. Cynthia Rasmussen, know they were coming in an e-mail:

I am the attorney for Private Travis Hafterson, USMC. My client has been evaluated and been diagnosed with PTSD by Dr. Peter E. Meyers. Private Hafterson is currently AWOL from the Corps, and is possibly classified as a deserter. His absence is just over 30 days from his Order to Report.

Private Travis Allyn Hafterson wishes to report and surrender to you at Ft. Snelling about 13:30-14:00 today at your office. He will be escorted by the following persons:

Ronald Robert Bradley, attorney
Dr. Peter E. Meyers, psychologist
Terri Lee Bradley, psychologist
Jamie Joyce Hafterson, mother

I understand that you will contact the front gate and let the guards know of our expected arrival. We will report to Bldg. 506, and I will call if there is any problem finding your office.

"The understanding was he was going to get the appropriate treatment, being referred to the VA (Veteran's Administration) or work with him for the Marines. We understood and he was told that he would suffer consequences for not returning to LeJeune right away," Bradley said. A military ombudsman was to meet him and escort him through the process, balancing treatment with the military justice system.

It didn't work out that way. A check at the gate revealed the federal warrant, Air Force security was called, and Hafterson was taken away. Bradley said the combat stress officer was apologetic and said it wasn't supposed to happen that way, but there was nothing she could do. The Marines had Hafterson and Bradley is worried they're more interested in punishing him than treating him first.

Hafterson is being held at the Ramsey County adult detention center.

"It seems like it's going to be exacerbating his problem because he doesn't have the therapy to work this through. I'm worried he's a danger to himself," he said.

He was on suicide watch on Monday, but was taken off it on Tuesday, against the wishes of the combat stress officer. The Marines are expected to return him to Camp Lejeune

"There seem to be kind of blinders on that they go forward with the criminal and ignore everything else," Bradley said. "The punishment will come at some point, but they have to recognize and triage and say, 'OK right now the most important thing is his well being, but first we gotta make sure the kid doesn't kill himself.'"

Bradley says he's been assured by some in the military that Hafterson will get treatment, but he's not convinced. "Because of the (marijuana) use, he was supposed to have chemical dependency treatment but when I talked to the chaplain's office at Camp Lejeune, he said, 'We do not have chemical dependency treatment for active-duty servicemen.' They recognize certain problems but they don't do anything about them."

Bradley has filed a petition in Ramsey County to get Hafterson immediate treatment. "The problem is at any given time the Corps could show up to take him away, and then we don't know what will happen," he said.

As of late Wedneday, Lt. Col. Rasmussen had not responded to a message for comment.

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2,996

Posted at 4:36 PM on September 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Disasters, War

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The ongoing 9/11 attacks

Posted at 12:25 PM on September 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Disasters

Tomorrow is the 8th anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center complex and people are still dying from it.

Watch CBS Videos Online

CBS has provided an outstanding report on the health effects of people who responded to the attacks, many of whom have been denied health, retirement, and funeral benefits by bureaucrats.

"Nobody wants to recognize that my husband served 500 hours down at ground zero giving other people closure and digging for other people and his illness is a direct result of that," the widow of a fireman who died well after the attacks. "Nobody's given me any closure. I have a two-and-a-half year old son to raise by myself now. So it would be nice if somebody admitted it. That was one of his dying wishes."

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Funeral arrangements announced for slain officer

Posted at 4:20 PM on September 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A news release from the Minnesota Department of Public Safety has details of the funeral for Richard Crittenden, who was killed in the line of duty in North St. Paul on Monday morning.

The funeral service for slain North St. Paul Police officer Richard Crittenden will be held Friday, September 11, 11 a.m. at Aldrich Arena, 1850 North White Bear Avenue in Maplewood.

Visitation will take place Thursday, September 10, 4 - 8 p.m. at Sandberg Funeral Home, 2539 East Seventh Avenue in North St. Paul.

Officer Crittenden, 57, a nine-year veteran of the North St. Paul Police Department, died at the scene and a Maplewood police officer was injured during a domestic call in the 2200 Block of Skillman Avenue East in North St. Paul on Monday morning. A woman called police to report a violation of an order of protection. When the officers arrived, they confronted a male suspect and a struggle ensued. During the struggle, two officers and the suspect were shot.

The Maplewood police officer was treated and released at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. The suspect died on the scene.

The City of North St. Paul has established a memorial fund for slain Police Officer Richard Crittenden. Officer Crittenden was killed on Monday, September 7, 2009, in the line of duty.

The fund has been set up at Anchor Bank Heritage, N.A. in North St. Paul. Donations can be made at any Anchor Bank location, or can be sent to the North St. Paul branch at 2700 7th Ave. E., North St. Paul, MN 55109. Checks should be made payable to the Richard Crittenden Memorial Fund.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating the shooting.

Meanwhile, we got this e-mail today from a reader in North St. Paul:

If you haven't figured it out yet, Officer Crittenden wasn't liked, he was loved. He had a irascible tone to him, he'd like you to think that he was a hard-nosed cop, but he had a twinkle in his eye that told you he was one of the truly good guys. He loved what he did and was good at it. I used to chat with him in the morning at Holiday as he got his coffee.

Earlier this year as I stopped in on my way to work I went into the Holiday station and parked out front was this beautiful police motorcycle. Yup, Rick had his boots on and was policing on the motorcycle. He had a grin on his face from ear to ear. The sun was shining, the day was good, and Rick I'm sure had a wonderful day riding on that cycle. God bless you Rick, and our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. There's a special place in heaven for men like you. You've earned that place. Thank you for your service to the community, and thank you for your sacrifice.

Of course, we still don't know what exactly happened in yesterday's shooting.

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North St. Paul officer killed

Posted at 12:24 PM on September 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Police officers often say among the most dangerous calls they get are the ones for a domestic disturbance and, unfortunately, that played out in North St. Paul this morning.

A North St. Paul police officer, responding to such a call, was killed when shots were fired at 2253 Skillman Av. E., according to the Star Tribune. Police were responding to a call about a violation of a restraining order. A man at the address was also killed.

A Maplewood police officer was shot in the wrist and is being treated at Regions Hospital.

4:38 p.m. -- Here's the MPR story.

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Scammers plague Wisconsin child care program

Posted at 11:55 AM on August 31, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Guilty or not, a Milwaukee-area woman today became the "poster child" for people ripping off social-service programs.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today published an investigation showing the woman -- Latasha Jackson -- was running what police describe as "a child care ring," and that Wisconsin officials didn't stop it until they found out the newspaper was about to publish the story.

She has received more than $2.9 million dollars for child care, the newspaper said.

She's apparently not the only one to get rich off the Wisconsin Shares program, which provides a subsidy for people providing childcare.

The story shouldn't have come as a surprise to the people in government who say they're surprised. The state's Legislative Audit Bureau released a report in June saying nearly $19 million was improperly distributed via the program last year.

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Live-blogging: The Gang Strike Force hearing

Posted at 5:15 PM on August 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

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Getting away with murder?

Posted at 5:52 PM on August 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The release of Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrah by Scotland on Thursday tests the definitions of compassion. Abdel Baset al-Megrahi served 8 years of a sentence for bombing a plane, killing 259 people aboard, many of them kids from the United States coming home for Christmas in 1988.

Sometimes, concepts of compassion collide with one another.

It could be letting a man with prostate cancer go home to die, feeble and slow afoot going up the plane's stairs in Scotland.

Or it could be sparing the families of the people he killed from seeing the image of an airport rally hours later, the message of which could easily be interpreted as, "good job on that bombing thing."

Scotland made its choice.

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The black hole of juvenile detention

Posted at 2:23 PM on August 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Time Magazine turns the idea of juvenile detention upside down.

Researchers found that rather than rehabilitating young delinquents, juvenile detention -- which lumps troubled kids in with other troubled kids -- appeared to worsen their behavior problems. Compared with other kids with a similar history of bad behavior, those who entered the juvenile justice system were nearly seven times more likely to be arrested for crimes as adults.

While the study involved only boys in Montreal, US News observed, "the researchers note that the juvenile justice system in the province of Quebec has a reputation of being among the best."

What we don't have, is an alternative.

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The unanswered question

Posted at 1:29 PM on August 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

It wasn't that long ago that the story of someone walking into a fitness club and opening fire because he couldn't get a date would dominate an entire news cycle. Now, these things slip deeper into a newscast.

George Sodini killed three women and wounded nine others in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. Police say he may have fired as many as 52 shots before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.

Mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting, the question is always the same. Why? Even when we have the answer, we still have the question.

Sodini kept a Web diary on which he laments his inability to get a date and says "the worst people by far are the religious types."

Which makes one of his last entries -- Monday's -- all the more strange:

Unfortunately I talked to my neighbor today, who is very positive and upbeat. I need to remain focused and absorbed COMPLETELY. Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out. Lets see how this new approach works.

Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.

His Web site has been taken down but wikileaks.org has the diary posted.

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All in a day's work

Posted at 12:45 PM on August 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Seattle police are probably right. If you're the victim of a crime, it's probably better to just do what the perpetrator tells you to do, rather than getting yourself all shot trying to be a hero.

And the Key Bank is probably right that bank tellers should just hand over the money when a would-be robber walks in and demands it. No telling who might get hurt by putting up a fight.

Still, it's hard not to feel bad for Jim Nicholson, a bank teller who'd had just about enough last Tuesday. As the Seattle Times tells it:

Instead, Nicholson threw the bag to the floor, lunged toward the robber and demanded to see a weapon. Surprised, the would-be bank robber backed up and then bolted for the door, with Nicholson on his heels.

Nicholson, 30, chased the man for several blocks before knocking him to the ground with the help of a passer-by. Nicholson then held him until police arrived.

For his trouble, Nicholson got fired.

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Flying drunk

Posted at 10:23 AM on August 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Health

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The rights of the unsavory

Posted at 3:11 PM on July 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

If you listened to senators questioning Sonia Sotomayor this week, you might come away with the impression that the Supreme Court hears cases involving the good guy vs. the bad guy -- a dyslexic firefighter, or a victim of apparent age discrimination, for example.

But the rights guaranteed by the Constitution -- and defined by the Supreme Court -- are quite often protected by letting some pretty unscrupulous characters skate. You owe your right to be told you don't have to talk to the police, to a rapist, for example.

Now, the limits of the 1st Amendment -- your freedom of speech -- is about to be tested because of a guy who sold dogfighting videotapes.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Robert Stevens in October when it reconvenes.

Let the record show -- as it does in the Appeals Court decision -- that Mr. Stevens is a real piece of work:

Law enforcement officers arranged to buy three videotapes from Stevens, which form the basis for each of the counts in the indictment. The first two tapes, entitled "Pick-A-Winna" and "Japan Pit Fights," show circa 1960s and 70s footage of organized dog fights that occurred in the United States and involved pit bulls, as well as footage of more recent dog fights, also involving pit bulls, from Japan. The third video, entitled "Catch Dogs," shows footage of hunting excursions in which pit bulls were used to "catch" wild boar, as well as footage of pit bulls being trained to perform the function of catching and subduing hogs or boars. This video includes a gruesome depiction of a pit bull attacking the lower jaw of a domestic farm pig. The footage in all three videos is accompanied by introductions, narration and commentary by Stevens, as well as accompanying literature of which Stevens is the author.

His conviction was the first under a federal law that makes it a crime to engage in interstate commerce of a video showing cruelty to animals.

The law came about -- the Appeals Court ruling again notes -- as a crackdown on "crush videos."

A crush video is a depiction of "women inflicting . . . torture [on animals] with their bare feet or while wearing high heeled shoes. In some video depictions, the woman's voice can be heard talking to the animals in a kind of dominatrix patter. The cries and squeals of the animals, obviously in great pain, can also be heard in the videos."

The court acknowledged that it's reprehensible, but the law doesn't regulate the activity; each state has animal cruelty laws. It regulates speech. That's not always a bad thing; not being able to yell "fire" in a crowded movie theater, for example.

"Three reasons give us pause to conclude that 'preventing cruelty to animals' rises to a compelling government interest that trumps an individual's free speech rights," the court said in overturning the conviction while inviting the Supreme Court to provide guidance.

And so the high court will provide that guidance. It will do on the second day of the job for presumed new justice Sotomayor. Her first day will consider similar constitutional questions through the case of a child molester.

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Franken questions Sotomayor

Posted at 1:36 PM on July 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

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Five cases that changed life in Minnesota

Posted at 1:18 PM on July 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A writer to the newsroom complained today that there isn't enough context in the coverage of the Sotomayor hearings; not enough examples of how the Supreme Court affects the lives of Minnesotans.

Given that the Court rules on constitutional issues, it's fair to say that every decision has something to do with every Minnesotan, but here are five facts about life in Minnesota, shaped by the Supreme Court in recent decades.

1) Your kid doesn't need your permission to get an abortion

The Legislature passed a law requiring both parents to agree to an abortion for a minor, ignoring that about half the kids in the state only lived with one parent. A Minneapolis gynecologist -- Jane Hodgson -- challenged the law. The Supreme Court affirmed a lower court ruling that the two-parent notification is unconstitutional. The case was decided by just one vote.

2)Native Americans can fish for walleye on Lake Mille Lacs despite state-imposed restrictions.

This was one of the most emotional issues in the early '90s in Minnesota. Walleye were disappearing from Lake Mille Lacs and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources imposed restrictions. But the tribe sued in 1990 claiming the U.S. conveyed hunting and fishing rights to the tribe in 1837. The court agreed (MINNESOTA et al. v. MILLE LACS BAND OF CHIPPEWA INDIANS et al.). The restrictions were imposed only on non-Native Americans. The walleye came back. The case was decided by just one vote.

3) You can publish whatever you want. You can't be censored.

The 1st Amendment got one of its biggest boosts, thanks to Jay M. Near, an "anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-black and anti-labor" publisher of theThe Saturday Press in Minneapolis. He contended a Jew was the biggest gangster in Minneapolis and the cops weren't doing anything about it. The Minnesota Gag Law was used to make it a crime to publish or even work for a publication that was "malicious, scandalous and defamatory."

It's considered the first great censorship case before the Supreme Court, which killed censorship.

4) You can ask a candidate running for judge in Minnesota the same kind of questions the Senate Judiciary Committee is asking Judge Sotomayor.

This is a fairly recent case. The Minnesota Supreme Court's canon of judicial conduct prohibits a candidate from announcing his or her views on disputed legal or political issues. Greg Wersal ran for office in 1998 and then filed suit against the standards, claiming it violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court agreed in a 2002 decision. The issue was decided by a single vote.

5) Social organizations can't exclude you because you're a woman.

It wasn't long ago -- the '80s -- that associations like the Jaycees -- refused to allow women to join. Two Minnesota chapters bucked the national association and let the women in. They were sanctioned by the national organization, which sued Kathryn Roberts of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, who was responsible for enforcing the Minnesota anti-discrimination law. In a unanimous ruling, the court said "making women full members would not impose any serious burdens on the male members' freedom of expressive association." After that decision, the era of the men-only club ended.

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Klobuchar questions Sotomayor

Posted at 11:11 AM on July 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

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Little substance at Sotomayor hearings

Posted at 1:37 PM on July 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

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The Supreme Court and the Minnesota smoking ban

Posted at 12:22 PM on July 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has said "nice try" to bars that tried to get around the state's smoking ban by claiming they were a "theatrical performance" and the customers were actors in a play. The smoking ban exempts actors in theatrical productions.

Ruling in the case of Tank's Bar in Babbitt, the Appeals Court confirmed that without scripts -- or patrons who knew when the play started -- a bar is just a bar.

But on this second day of the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the ruling also emphasized the extent to which the decisions of the high court reach all the way to tiny Babbitt.

The attorney for bars owner Tom Marinaro cited Schacht v. United States, a 1970 case in which a man who was arrested for unauthorized wearing of a military uniform. The man was participating in an anti-war skit outside a military recruiting center in Houston and said the law had a "theatrical production" exemption.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction, making clear that a theatrical performance need not take place in a theater:

It may be that the performances were crude and amateurish and perhaps unappealing, but the same thing can be said about many theatrical performances. We cannot believe that when Congress wrote out a special exception for theatrical productions it intended to protect only a narrow and limited category of professionally produced plays.

But the Minnesota court today refused to define what is and isn't a theatrical performance. Instead it basically said that -- as the Supreme Court did with obscenity -- it knows it when it sees it:

The Supreme Court appears to have evaluated whether Schacht‟s skit reflected traditional notions of a theatrical performance, and the Supreme Court appears to have concluded that the skit did satisfy that test because it included a script of defined length that was recited by actors with the intent of conveying a message to an audience...

But the reasoning employed in Schacht does not benefit Marinaro because the facts of this case are materially different. The district court in this case did not reject Gun SMOKE Monologues on the ground that it lacked "preparation and repeated presentation," was not intended to convey a message to an audience, or was too "crude and amateurish."

The district court essentially determined that Gun SMOKE Monologues was not real but, rather, was a sham.

Here's the court's decision.

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Franken's first comments

Posted at 1:31 PM on July 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

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Klobuchar on Sotomayor

Posted at 10:49 AM on July 13, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Welcome, Judge Sotomayor.

It's a pleasure to see you again today, and I enjoyed the meeting we had in my office a few weeks ago. We had a good conversation - although you did confess to me that when you once visited Minnesota in June, you felt the need to bring a winter parka. I'll try not to hold that against you this week!

I know you have lots of family and friends with you today, supporting you during this important hearing, and we welcome them too. In particular, it's been an honor for me to see your mom here.

When President Obama first announced your nomination, I loved the story about how your mom had saved up money to buy you and your brother the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood. It reminded me of when my parents bought a set of Encyclopedia Britannicas in the seventies that always occupied a hallowed place in our hallway. For me, those encyclopedias were a window on the world and a gateway to learning, as they clearly were for you.

From the time you were nine years old, your mom raised you and your brother on her own. She struggled to buy those encyclopedias on her nurse's salary, but she did it because she believed deeply in the value of education.

You went on to be the valedictorian of your high school class, to graduate at the top of your class in college and to attend law school.

After that - and this is an experience we have in common - you became a local prosecutor. Most of my questions during this hearing will be about opinions you've authored and work you've done in the criminal area. I believe having judges with real world, frontline experience as a prosecutor is a good thing.

Continue reading "Klobuchar on Sotomayor"

Sotomayor's rulings

Posted at 3:43 PM on July 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Minnesota Public Radio will be providing live coverage of the nomination hearings for Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor. Minnesota's two senators -- Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken -- sit on the Judiciary Committee.

Perhaps you'll want to get started reading some of the newly released papers about her nomination. The New York Times forced the release of more than 5,000 pages of White House documents on Sotomayor.

The documents are now available online at the National Archives Web site. There are also links to Sotomayor documents in the archives of President Bill Clinton and President George H.W. Bush.

Several news organizations today provided analysis of her Appeals Court record. The Times has just posted an article claiming he was tougher on criminals than her colleagues. The Washington Post's Jerry Markon held an online chat today on his analysis of her rulings.

The hearings start on Monday

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The money quotes in the Coleman-Franken decision

Posted at 1:11 PM on June 30, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Here are the money quotes from today's Minnesota Supreme Court decision confirming Al Franken as Minnesota's junior U.S. Senator:

On absentee ballots:

The distinction between errors by voters and errors by election officials is an important one. We have drawn "a clear distinction between the provisions and prohibitions in the election laws which are personal to the elector and those which apply to election officials over whose conduct he has no control."...Fitzgerald v. Morlock, 264 Minn. 520, 524, 120 N.W.2d 339, 345 (1963). We have said that "any reasonable regulations of the statute as to the conduct of the voter himself" are mandatory, and a vote is properly rejected if the voter fails to comply with the law. Id. at 524, 120 N.W.2d at 345. But if a voter complies with the law, his vote should not be rejected because of "irregularities, ignorance, inadvertence, or mistake, or even intentional wrong on the part of the election officers."

We conclude that our existing case law requires strict compliance by voters with the requirements for absentee voting. Thus, we reject Coleman‟s argument that only substantial compliance by voters is required. Having rejected this argument, we also conclude that the trial court‟s February 13 order requiring strict compliance with the statutory requirements for absentee voting was not a deviation from our well-established precedent.

Is absentee voting a right or a privilege?

At oral argument, Coleman posited that because of the increased use of the absentee voting method, it should now be treated as a right, not a privilege. But that is a policy determination for the legislature, not this court, to make.

On the differing standards from county to county for how absentee ballots were judged:

Coleman was required to prove either that local jurisdictions ‟differences in application or the trial court‟s application of the requirements for absentee voting was the product of intentional discrimination. Coleman neither claims nor produced any evidence that the differing treatment of absentee ballots among jurisdictions during the election was the result of intentional or purposeful discrimination against individuals or classes. Nor does Coleman claim that the trial court‟s February 13 order, establishing certain categories of ballots as not legally cast, was the product of an intent to discriminate against any individual or class.

On Coleman's claim that some ballots were counted twice:

Coleman called no witnesses with direct knowledge of the handling of duplicate ballots in the relevant precincts, but he did introduce at trial voter rosters, envelopes from accepted absentee ballots, copies of ballots challenged during the manual recount, and machine tapes from the identified precincts in which he alleges double-counting of absentee ballots occurred. On appeal, Coleman has identified nothing additional that an inspection of ballots under section 209.06 would have produced.We therefore hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the petition for inspection.

On missing ballots in Minneapolis:

The ballots are missing, but Coleman introduced no evidence of foul play or misconduct, and the election day precinct returns are available to give effect to those votes.

The Supreme Court did not order Gov. Pawlenty to sign an election certificate.

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'The free exercise thereof'

Posted at 2:26 PM on June 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Freedom of speech can be ugly. Minnesotans saw that firsthand in February 2006, when Andrew Kemple was laid to rest in Anoka after he was killed in Iraq. "Parisioners" from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka picketed the funeral, saying homosexuality is a sin that God punishes by killing Americans, especially American soldiers. Rev. Fred Phelps contends when a soldier is killed, it's God's retaliation for America's views on homosexuality.

Missouri passed restrictions on the protests, creating buffer zones between demonstrators and funerals and processions, and banning protests an hour before and an hour after the funeral service.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court, perhaps biting its collective lip, refused to reconsider a lower court's ruling that prevented Missouri from enforcing its law.

Following the lead of more than two dozen other states, Minnesota's lawmakers pushed a similar bill through the 2006 Legislature after the Anoka funeral. The Senate vote passing the restrictions would've been unanimous, had it not been for the lone voice of the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq.

"We can say whatever we want to say, no matter how ugly, and we don't get thrown in jail," then Sen. Becky Lourey said.

The Legislature eventually passed a modified bill designed to answer the First Amendment challenges by making it a crime to "disrupt" a funeral, but it still comes close to the Kansas legislation, although it has not been tested.

Whoever does any of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor: (1) intentionally disrupts a funeral ceremony, a graveside service, or a memorial service, by publicly protesting or picketing during the period in which the ceremony or service is occurring, within the hour immediately preceding its commencement, or within the hour immediately following its completion; (2) with intent to disrupt a funeral procession, impedes or attempts to impede a vehicle that is part of the procession; (3) intentionally physically blocks or attempts to physically block access to a funeral ceremony, graveside service, or memorial service; or (4) knowingly engages in targeted residential picketing at the home or domicile of any surviving member of the deceased person's family or household on the date of the funeral ceremony, graveside service, or memorial service.(b) Whoever is convicted of a violation of paragraph (a) following a previous conviction for a violation of paragraph (a) or a similar statute from another state or the United States is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

The Minnesota bill was authored by Rep. Steve Smith, R-Mound, who could not be reached for comment. His mother passed away over the weekend.

But private citizens figured out their own way to prevent the protest. The Minnesota Patriot Guard -- a group of motorcyclists -- shields families of fallen soldiers from the Topeka protesters.

Minnesotans will get a chance to see Phelps' followers in action later this week. On Thursday, they'll picket the Norwegian consulate, Catholic churches, and Jewish temples.

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Black and white at the Supreme Court

Posted at 11:39 AM on June 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Race

If you didn't know any better, you'd think the issue in today's Supreme Court decision that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, is Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose Appeals Court decision is the one the high court overturned. It's not. It's more black and white. It's about race and whether you have a right to be promoted, according to the decision.

Both sides claim discrimination to some degree. African American firefighters say the test, itself, was discriminatory. White and Hispanic firefighters say failing to promote based on the test discriminates against them. One of them Frank Ricci, studied long and hard to win the promotion. He's dyslexic, and "found it necessary to 'hire someone, at considerable expense, to read onto audiotape the content of the books and study materials," the court noted.

Justice Anthony Kennedy said the firm that built the test, rode along with firefighters and oversampled minority members of the department.

At every stage of the job analyses, IOS, by deliberate choice, oversampled minority firefighters to ensure that the results--which IOS would use to develop the examinations--would not unintentionally favor white candidates.

But here's the big question: Can you throw out test results merely because of the race of those who stood to be rewarded by the result? "Without some other justification, this express, race-based decision-making violates Title VII's command that employers cannot take adverse employment actions because of an individual's race," Kennedy wrote.

Justice Antonin Scalia sees the ruling as the first step in resolving a long-simmering debate. "The war between disparate impact and equal protection will be waged sooner or later, and it behooves us to begin thinking about how--and on what terms--to make peace between them."

Good luck with that.

Justice Ruth Ginsberg, in a dissent, first takes away the right to promotion:

"The white firefighters who scored high on New Haven's promotional exams understandably attract this Court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion."

And then appears to convey it based on a community's racial make-up:

"By order of this Court, New Haven, a city in which African-Americans and Hispanics account for nearly 60 percent of the population, must today be served--as it was in the days of undisguised discrimination--by a fire department in which members of racial and ethnic minorities are rarely seen in command positions."

Which, of course, sets the stage for the subsequent public opinion debate: Who's fault is that? Is it the test? Or is it the culture of fire departments, a profession which have a long history of racism?

Ginsberg smelled the latter:

"At least two candidates opposed to certification noted unequal access to study materials. Some individuals, they asserted, had the necessary books even before the syllabus was issued. Others had to invest substantial sums to purchase the materials and 'wait a month and a half for some of the books because they were on back order.'"

Is this the beginning of the end for affirmative action? Few seem to think so. Marc Ambinder, writing on his Atlantic blog, says there's no net gain for politicians on the issue:

It's telling that affirmative action isn't the stuff of campaign ads and fiery political speeches. During the Bush years did Republican Washington make big efforts to repeal federal affirmative action policy? This isn't a consuming passion of the GOP and given its faltering efforts to appeal to Hispanic voters it isn't likely to be.

What's your opinion?

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Court to schools: 'Duh!'

Posted at 11:20 AM on June 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Date: June 25, 2009
To: School districts in the United States
Re: Strip searching

Please do not strip your search students because you think they might have some ibuprofen.

Thank you.

-- The U.S Supreme Court

* * *

If there was likely to be a "duh" decision coming from the hallowed hall of justice in Washington, this was most likely to be it, and today the justices -- most of them -- used all of their judicial training to avoid using the word "duh."

This is the case of Savana Redding of Arizona, who was ordered to strip and "to pull her bra out and shake it, and to pull out the elastic on her underpants, thus exposing her breasts and pelvic area to some degree," according to the suit which made its way to the Supreme Court earlier this year. The school had a zero-tolerance policy toward pills and someone told the school officials that Redding had prescription and over-the-counter pain pills.

Let the record show nothing fell out.

"What was missing from the suspected facts that pointed to Savana was any indication of danger to the students from the power of the drugs or their quantity, and any reason to suppose that Savana was carrying pills in her underwear," Justice David Souter wrote in the majority opinion.

And of the assistant principal's action, Souter wrote:

"Because Wilson knew that the pills were common pain relievers, he must have known of their nature and limited threat and had no reason to suspect that large amounts were being passed around or that individual students had great quantities."

Which is a nice way of saying, "Use your head, man."

The 13-year-old's constitutional rights were violated, the court says, but there's not much she can do about it. The court ruled the school officials enjoy immunity.

Justice Ruth Ginsberg disagreed with that part of the ruling, noting the girl was not sent back to class. "Instead, he made her sit on a chair outside his office for over two hours. At no point did he attempt to call her parent. Abuse of authority of that order should not be shielded by official immunity."

Justice John Paul Stevens objected to the overall decision because the court upheld the immunity of school officials. But that didn't stop him from giving him the rhetorical back of his hand:

"(This is) in essence, a case in which clearly established law meets clearly outrageous conduct. I have long believed that "'[i]t does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights of some magnitude.'"

Only Justice Clarence Thomas thought the strip search was none of the court's business:

"This deep intrusion into the administration of public schools exemplifies why the Court should return to the common-law doctrine of in loco parentis under which 'the judiciary was reluctant to interfere in the routine business of school administration, allowing schools and teachers to set and enforce rules and to maintain order,'" he wrote.

Which leads to the obvious question: If the court has no role in deciding whether there's a constitutional right to prevent a 13 year old from being strip searched by an assistant principal, what is it there for?

Here's the full ruling, which reads like a cheap novel.

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A killing in Parkersburg

Posted at 10:46 AM on June 24, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A gunman walked into Iowa high school football coach Ed Thomas' weightroom today and killed him.

Thomas' name may ring a bell. He was the subject of several nationwide news stories -- including this one on ESPN -- about how football helped rebuild Parkersburg, Iowa after it was devastated by a tornado.

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The Madoff strategy

Posted at 9:32 AM on June 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Lawyers for Bernie Madoff, who has admitted swindling his investors out of their savings, have asked the judge who'll sentence him next week to give him a sentence that will allow him a chance of seeing freedom again.

Madoff could get a 125-year sentence. His lawyers think 12 would be more fair for his stealing $13 billion from over a thousand clients.

You have to give his attorney, Ira Sorkin, credit for chutzpah. In his letter to the judge, he did a fair amount of blaming the victim.

"We believe that the unified tone of the victim statements suggests a desire for a type of mob vengeance that, if countenanced here, would negate and render meaningless the role of the court," Sorkin said.

"The significant anger and resentment evidence in the victims' words is no doubt justified in light of the circumstances of this case," Sorkin said. "Thankfully, none of the fury expressed in the victim statements has been as shocking as the death threats and anti-Semitic e-mails that have been directed toward Mr. Madoff and his counsel."

Natalie Erger said her 78-year-old husband had been obliged to go back to work - initially as a telephone salesman, then in a local bagel store.

The Guardian chronicled another case:

Angelo Viola, 79, from Staten Island, New York, says he is "not the typical media portrayal" of a Madoff victim: "I live in a modest two-bedroom house and I own one car. I was a small business owner and I worked six days a week for most of my life and funded my own IRA [retirement account] in order to retire comfortably. Now I am considered under the poverty level and I do not think I can last another six months in my home."

"At the age of 89, I find myself and my wife (86) devoid of future hope," another victim said. "I find it hard to believe what he did to us and...all the charities affected by this Bastard."

It's an interesting strategy that -- if it works -- would use the statements intended to keep Madoff in prison longer to get him out earlier.

Here are the victim statements. You decide.

Madoff Statements -

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Proving age discrimination

Posted at 5:13 PM on June 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Now it's Democrats lamenting "judicial activism."

Today's case: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that in any suit over age discrimination brought against an employer by a fired employee, it's entirely up to the employee to prove it (ruling here).

"The burden of persuasion does not shift to the employer to show that it would have taken the action regardless of age, even when a plaintiff has produced some evidence that age was one motivating factor in that decision," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the order overturning an award to a 54-year-old insurance claims adjuster who lost his job to a 40-year-old woman.

The liberal wing of the court lined up behind Justice Paul Stevens who wrote in his dissent, "Yet today the Court resurrects the standard in an unabashed display of judicial lawmaking."

His comment echoed Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy. "This overreaching by a narrow majority of the court will have a detrimental effect on all Americans and their families," Leahy said.

The court's ruling comes almost a year to the day of a Supreme Court ruling that overturned a similar ruling by a federal appeals court in New York, which held the employee had the burden of proof.

Neither side appeared to address the obvious question: Absent a memo or a phone conversation that said, "Let's get rid of Joe; he's old," how would you prove age discrimination in its entirety?

Discrimination complaints usually rise during recessions and this one is no exception. But it's not always the older worker. Employees in their 20s and 30s are finding themselves more at risk of a layoff, the Wall St. Journal reported last month.

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Desecration?

Posted at 5:03 PM on June 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Thousands gathered at the Vietnam Memorial on the grounds of the State Capitol on Saturday for Minnesota Honors Vietnam Era Veterans. The idea was to give Vietnam vets the return they didn't get in the '60s and '70s.

But no one was around today (or perhaps, Sunday) when people scrawled graffiti over a page in a book used to find the names of Minnesotans who died in Vietnam on the memorial. Some of it was against the war in Iraq, some was religious proselytizing, some was just an obscenity or two.

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Justice Kennedy's speech

Posted at 11:22 AM on June 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Supreme Court justices don't give very many speeches. If they do, they often don't allow them to be recorded.

So it was a rare day yesterday when Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy addressed the graduating class at Stanford University. It takes awhile for him to get to get going, but he appears as we so rarely see the justices. But like the most talented lawyers, he worked mostly without details notes.

One sobering statistic he quoted: It takes more than 16 billion hours a year for women in Africa to bring water to their family. "You have an awareness of understanding and appreciation ... of the interconnectedness of the world," he told the graduates.Your understanding of

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Charging documents in the Holocaust Museum shooting

Posted at 2:49 PM on June 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

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Holocaust Memorial shooting: Why it's personal

Posted at 6:52 PM on June 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Mark Blumenthal at pollster.com writes of his late father-in-law, who visited the Holocaust Museum at least once a year. He provides insight into the staff and guards who work there:

We wandered into the museum, through the same doors and into the same foyer where shots rang out this afternoon. My wife had given us visitor passes that she receives as a member of the Museum. The lines were long, and it was not obvious which line we needed to stand in.

Pop was having none of it. He walked away from me and wandered up to the museum staffer standing at the head of the long line leading to the elevators that takes all visitors to the museum exhibits. I thought for a moment that Pop was going to ask directions. I was wrong.

He thrust out his arm in the direction of the staffer, displaying the number the Nazis tattooed on his arm at Auschwitz just a few inches from her face. Without making eye-contact and barely breaking stride, Pop kept walking. Understandably, the staffer barely blinked. She didn't make a move to stop him.

Pop kept walking right into the elevator that had just filled with the visitors that had been waiting in that long line. And even though the elevator was already quite crowded, he walked right in. Jake and I had to run past the guard to catch up. "Pop, Pop," I said, feeling a little embarrassed, hoping to talk him into at least waiting for the next elevator.

Here's his post.

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Holocaust Museum shooting: Robbinsdale kids OK

Posted at 4:41 PM on June 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

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The Holocaust Museum shooting: What's happening here?

Posted at 12:55 PM on June 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Another shooting with potentially far-reaching effects.

At least three people have been shot at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. The Washington Post is providing compelling coverage. It's also set up a live blog here.

NPR's Two Way blog is also providing updates. Twitter, breaking a string of performance on major stories, is providing little insight., with the exception of an observation from James Lileks, the Star Tribune columnist:

The fact that the Holocaust Museum has several armed guards tells you why we need a Holocaust Museum.

Last month, Dr. George Tiller was gunned down at his church in Kansas, apparently by a man who objected to legalized abortion. The AP reported this week that the suspect in that case claims it's just the beginning.

A day later, a Muslim man killed a military recruiter in Arkansas, apparently as a protest against the U.S. military.

Update 1:54 p.m. - MSNBC reports that the shooter has links to white supremacists (an archive of his Web site here). And here's a fine example of how this stuff spreads.

Update 3:12 p.m. Press release/statement from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota:

Minneapolis, MN - Steve Hunegs, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC) issued the following statement today in response to the attack at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C.:

"This shooting is a stark and painful reminder that no place, not even a memorial of the Shoah, is a haven from violence and hatred. As long as such hatred exists, all people of good will must work to teach respect and to fight bias. We salute law enforcement for its swift response to this crime. Our thoughts and prayers are with the wounded security guard, his family, and those visiting the museum today. We call on all people of good will to unequivocally condemn this act of hate.

"As the local agency tasked with community security matters, in the wake of this attack, the JCRC has been in contact with relevant law enforcement agencies and with leaders of Jewish communal institutions and synagogues. We have high confidence in our law enforcement agencies and thank them for their attention to security concerns. We urge members of the Jewish community and our communal institutions to conduct business as usual while increasing vigilance and security."

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Shooter ungagged

Posted at 5:09 PM on June 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Associated Press certainly had an ethical question to resolve today when it got an interview with the man accused of shooting two military recruiters, killing one. A judge had issued a gag order in the Little Rock case, but Abdulhakim Muhammad called the AP anyway.

"I do feel I'm not guilty," told The Associated Press in a collect call from the Pulaski County jail. "I don't think it was murder, because murder is when a person kills another person without justified reason."

Never mind that he says the shooting was nothing personal against the men who were shot, and that he only thought of killing a military recruiter on the morning of June 1.

He called it "a act, for the sake of God, for the sake of Allah, the Lord of all the world, and also a retaliation on U.S. military."

After the interview, his attorney sent an e-mail to the AP asking the news organization to withhold the interview. The AP said no.

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Death in the name of life

Posted at 2:04 PM on May 31, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The abortion debate is back in a big way with today's killing in Kansas City Wichita of Dr. George Tiller, a doctor who performed abortions. He was killed in -- of all places -- his church.

The anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, was quick to separate itself from the killing. "We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning," the BBC reports the group said on its Web site, which by afternoon was no longer available. And its founder, Randall Terry, wasn't doing much to rachet down the passion:

"George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder.

"Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches."

Another group, Stand True, was more direct about Tiller's killing: it was wrong.

Stand True denounces the murder of abortionist George Tiller this morning in Wichita, KS. "We cannot kill people in the name of pro-life." said Bryan Kemper, President of Stand True. "Answering the violence of abortion with more violence will not serve the babies or help the pro-life movement in any way."

While Stand True is committed to ending the killing of innocent children through abortion, we are committed to non-violent, peaceful action. The pro-life movement cannot take the law into their own hands and turn to vigilantly justice.

We are praying for the family of George Tiller and those in his church while he was shot. We know that healing can come through Jesus and pray those involved in the abortion industry will turn to Christ.

(File photo: Getty Images)

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Defamed?

Posted at 1:11 PM on May 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

From the Jailhouse Lawyers of Minnesota file:

In Rochester, Richard Allen Dalton is admitting he lied to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension when he claimed police officer Vanessa Mason helped him deliver and pick up drugs. "What came out of my mouth was all false, 110 percent, and I'm taking it all back," the Rochester Post Bulletin quotes Dalton.

Where did he make that admission? In a lawsuit filing against a local television station. He's claiming the station "put me on national TV as a big snitch."

The officer is on administrative leave.

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The Saberi tapes

Posted at 12:37 PM on May 28, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Media

Journalist Roxana Saberi has given her first in-depth interview to National Public Radio. An edited version airs this afternoon on All Things Considered. Or you can just listen to it now via NPR's Two Way blog. (mp3).

She says she confessed in Iran to being a spy but later recanted. "To this day I'm still not sure what they arrested me for," she told Melissa Block. "It wasn't for buying alcohol; it wasn't for reporting without a press pass. My interrogators claimed that I was spying for the U.S., and however much I told them that I was not -- that I was simply writing a book and doing interviews for a book, which I hoped to use to show English speakers around the world a more balanced and complete picture of Iranian society -- however much I told them this, they told me I was lying and that I was a U.S spy."

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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Sotomayor's Minnesota connection

Posted at 5:41 PM on May 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The conservatives' rallying cry against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor uses a 2001 speech with this quote as its underpinning:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life.

The meaning seems clear: It is easier to relate to something you know, than something you don't. What involvement that fact plays with the matter of jurisprudence is for the politicians to debate and decide.

But Sotomayor used the women of the Minnesota Supreme Court to make her point in the same speech:

...three women on the Minnesota (Supreme) Court with two men dissenting agreed to grant a protective order against a father's visitation rights when the father abused his child. The Judicature Journal has at least two excellent studies on how women on the courts of appeal and state supreme courts have tended to vote more often than their male counterpart to uphold women's claims in sex discrimination cases and criminal defendants' claims in search and seizure cases. As recognized by legal scholars, whatever the reason, not one woman or person of color in any one position but as a group we will have an effect on the development of the law and on judging.

Sotomayor's observations aren't that different from those expressed many times in Minnesota, where women have been appointed to the state Supreme Court with fair regularity since Rosalie Wahl was first appointed by Gov. Rudy Perpich..

Squint your eyes a little bit and the reaction to Sotomayer's eight-year-old speech could be Minnesota in the '70s reacting to Wahl.

In a 1991 New York Times article, justices Wahl and Esther Tomljanovich acknowledge the value of a different prospective on the bench.

"I don't think men are going to have to run for the hills, but there is definitely a woman's perspective," said Justice Tomljanovich, recalling past humiliations she had experienced as a woman in her personal life.

Is that sexist? Or reality?

The view that a woman's perspective has a place on the bench is no longer seriously debated.

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Prop 8 upheld

Posted at 12:05 PM on May 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The California Supreme Court has upheld last November's vote that struck down gay marriage in the state, while voting to keep existing same-sex marriages legally intact.

The Supreme Court's Web site has been jammed, but I was able to download the decision. You can read it here. It's 185 pages long.

In the "irony" department, the court cites the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court several times in its decision. The SJC's ruling a few years ago paved the way for same-sex marriage in the nation. In this case, the California court ruled that the effort to bring the referendum to the voters was appropriate and legal.

As illustrated by the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Schulman, supra, 850 N.E.2d 505, even under a state constitution that places significant limits on the initiative process, the people, through the initiative process, validly may propose an amendment to the state constitution that prospectively changes the substantive constitutional rule set forth in a judicial decision analogous to the majority opinion in our Marriage Cases, supra, 43 Cal.4th 757. Thus, although the Schulman decision does not speak directly to the amendment/revision issue, the Massachusetts court's conclusion in that case demonstrates that, contrary to petitioners' assertions in the present case, a measure such as Proposition 8 is not inconsistent with the commonly accepted scope of the initiative process.40

Here's the "money quote" on preserving existing same-sex marriages in California:

A retroactive application of the initiative would disrupt thousands of actions taken in reliance on the Marriage Cases by these same-sex couples, their employers, their creditors, and many others, throwing property rights into disarray, destroying the legal interests and expectations of thousands of couples and their families, and potentially undermining the ability of citizens to plan their lives according to the law as it has been determined by this state's highest court. By contrast, a retroactive application of Proposition 8 is not essential to serve the state's current interest (as reflected in the adoption of Proposition 8) in preserving the traditional definition of marriage by restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples; that interest is honored by applying the measure prospectively and by having the traditional definition of marriage enshrined in the state Constitution where it can be altered only by a majority of California voters.

In a dissent, Justice Carlos R. Moreno wrote:

Proposition 8 represents an unprecedented instance of a majority of voters altering the meaning of the equal protection clause by modifying the California Constitution to require deprivation of a fundamental right on the basis of a suspect classification. The majority's holding is not just a defeat for same-sex couples, but for any minority group that seeks the protection of the equal protection clause of the California Constitution.

"The crowd of largely gay marriage advocates outside the San Francisco courthouse started chanting 'Shame on you. Shame on you' the moment the decision was announced," the Sacramento Bee reported.

The Los Angeles' Times news blogger is answering questions about the ruling, though at this hour it appears more people are providing questions than the reporter is answers.

The San Francisco Chronicle, meanwhile, is running an excellent Twitter feed from protests in the city.

Since the California court's hearing, three states have legalized same-sex marriage: Vermont, Maine, and Iowa. Bills in New York and New Jersey are pending. An effort at the Minnesota Legislature went nowhere.

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Prisoners of the Catholic Church

Posted at 11:16 AM on May 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Religion

(Photo: Kevin Flannagan, brother of a victim of child abuse in Catholid-run schools in Ireland, shouts at members of a commission which issued a report on the abuse. He was not allowed to attend a news conference where the report was released on Wednesday.)

Few news stories will lead reasonable people to shake their head more so than the bomb dropped by a commission in Ireland today. A 2,600 page report said thousands of children sent to state-sponsored schools were subjected to "beatings, rapes and humiliation" in the schools run by the Catholic church in, perhaps, the most devout Catholic country. And, it says, the government did nothing to stop it until the schools were closed in the '80s.

Says the New York Times:

"The management did not listen to or believe children when they complained of the activities of some of the men who had responsibility for their care," the commission found. "At best, the abusers were moved, but nothing was done about the harm done to the child. At worst, the child was blamed and seen as corrupted by the sexual activity, and was punished severely."

There are no names of the accused, many of whom are long dead. But it says the kids, sent to the schools by their families for such things as being pregnant or truant, became virtual prisoners.

"The commission dismissed as implausible a central defence of the religious orders - that, in bygone days, people did not recognise the sexual abuse of a child as a criminal offence, but rather as a sin that required repentance," the Australian reported.

"If they took a liking to a person then you became a danger, then you became a target. And there was no way of avoiding it... I mean they had access to you 24 hours a day," Thomas Wall told the BBC.

"Your cell door was locked every night when you went in and you had a bucket and an iron bed and you couldn't look out the window. It was all bars," another former student prisoner said.

(The report is available here, but the server has crashed repeatedly today.)

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Is it time to end the war on drugs?

Posted at 10:56 AM on May 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Health

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The legacy of Chad Green

Posted at 1:12 PM on May 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Health

I won't wade too deeply into the story of the Sleepy Eye couple who want the right to have their son's cancer treated as they see fit, other than to point out that the story mirrors one of the landmark cases pitting a family with religious convictions, a child with cancer, and a government that sees things differently.

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Court: Suicide attempt no cause for a new trial

Posted at 12:11 PM on May 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Minnesota Court of Appeals today rejected the claim of a convicted rapist who said because he tried to kill himself during his trial, he was denied the right to be present at his trial.

Jason Finnegan took an overdose of drugs on the final day of his trial for raping a 14-year-old girl in Otter Tail County.

The trial went on without him, although the jury wasn't told why Finnegan wasn't attending.

"The district court did not err in finding that appellant voluntarily absented himself from trial, and hold that a suicide attempt can constitute a voluntary and unjustified absence from trial constituting a waiver of the right to be present. Appellant knew that he was required to be in court the next morning for the final day of his trial," the court said.

Here's the full decision.

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Named and shamed

Posted at 10:13 AM on May 5, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The practice of publicizing evil-doers and undesirables is spreading.

The UK today released the names of 16 people who are barred from the country. They include American talk show host Michael Savage and the preacher (and his daughter) who picket funerals of American servicepeople. Here's the spreadsheet.

(h/t: Julia Schrenkler)

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Medical marijuana bill passes Minnesota Senate

Posted at 11:30 AM on May 4, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The Minnesota Senate today has passed the bill legalizing the medical use of marijuana, but not without a brief rehash of arguments that haven't changed on either side over the last 10 years.

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, says the bill is the first step in legalizing drugs, and says it'll be "a law enforcement nightmare."

The bill passed 35-to-29, picking up two more votes in the Senate than in 2007, the first time a medical marijuana bill survived a full vote in either the Senate or House, and one vote fewer than a preliminary vote last week.

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Zero tolerance?

Posted at 1:01 PM on April 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

When it is OK to strip search a 13 year old girl?

In school? When she's suspected of having prescription strength ibuprofen?

The issue -- what are the limits of a school official's power and what are the rights of students -- goes to the U.S. Supreme Court next week. The case involves eighth-grader Savana Redding of Arizona. It may give more guidance to schools who enact "zero tolerance" policies on drugs.

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Live-blogging Midmorning: Getting 'less tough on crime?'

Posted at 8:56 AM on April 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (29 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Faced with rising costs and overcrowded prisons, states and some at the federal level are revisiting get-tough-on crime statutes. In Minnesota, a bill has been filed to cut prison sentences to save money.

Is this the right idea? I'm live-blogging the Midmorning broadcast on the subject. Kerri Miller's guests are Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Brian Walsh, senior legal research fellow at the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation. He's the author of a January paper on criminal law reform.

He was featured in an NPR story on the subject last month.

So let's have an online conversation on the subject. Use the comments section below.

9:09 a.m. - Perusing various newspapers, I see Arizona is kicking this around. One of the proposed cuts is to treatment programs for sex offenders. That sounds a little like the strategy -- apparently -- in these parts not to fill potholes. Is that really the way to approach this?

9:11 a.m. - Mike Freeman says Minnesota spends the second-lowest amount on the penal system in the country. He also says the incarceration rate is second-lowest.

9:11 a.m. - The big increase in the prison system is drug offenders. Walsh focuses on the federal level and says "a number of people" are incarcerated for relatively small amounts of drugs. But, he says, "the right people are in prison for the right reasons."

9:13 a.m. - Here's an interesting chart on prison population. Our crime rate is slightly below the national average, but the incarceration rate and taxpayer cost is much lower than the national rate.

9:14 a.m. - Attorney Freeman says there is a relationship between tougher sentencing and a reduction in crime. He says felony DWIs are down. Mr. Walsh says that's the way things should be done -- data driven. Increasing sentences just because "you're mad" doesn't make any sense, he says.

9:17 a.m. -Freeman says the federal system's mandatory drug minimum sentence is "outrageous," and that "Congress has gone overboard." But, he says, that's not the way we do things in Minnesota. Walsh agrees. He says "it sounds very good to the public" to have tougher sentencing. But he suggests penal philosophy is more often guided by politics. Congress won't vote against a tougher sentencing bill because they don't want to be "soft on crime." Unfortunately, he didn't provide a breakdown of who is being "overpunished."

9:19 a.m. - Atty. Freeman, of course, comes from a world of politics, having served in the Minnesota Senate. He says he was "pushed by the other party" when sentencing and crime bills came up. "But that era ran out in the '90s," he said. He applauds programs for substance abusers as a way to keep people with low-level drug problems out of prison.

Tangent time: Here's a 2005 Department of Corrections report on the Minnesota prison population.

9:22 a.m. - A caller says that attitudes toward locking up people with drug problems changed when the meth epidemic started. It's a white-person drug. When crack cocaine -- an African American drug in perception -- was the main problem, there were more efforts to send people with drug problems off to prison.

9:25 a.m. - Walsh says most conservatives believe the 100:1 ratio (racial breakdown on drug prosecutions) was out of line. "Those who were calling for very stiff penalties on crack in the '80s were those who were more closely associated with the left," he said. "The Black Caucus was very involved in that."

9:27 a.m. - Caller asks about Obama emphasis on treatment rather than prison. Who should administer it? "We need treatment in home communities for diversion," Freeman said. He says his office will charge someone with crack, but they'll encourage them to attend programs before going to prison." He says even for the sellers who go to prison, there are good programs in prison for cleaning up. "The problem is the Legislature hasn't appropriated enough money," he said.

"That's really unwise," he said of the discussion at the Legislature for more cuts.

9:30 a.m. - Walsh says the focus needs to be on what works. He highlights the work of a Missouri prison official. Background on that is in this article.

9:38 a.m. - Just talking among ourselves here during the news break, Atty. Freeman just said that one of the most rapidly growing prosecution is domestic strangulation, which is a felony. Here's a 2007 report on the impact of Minnesota's domestic strangulation law.

9:40 a.m. - I'm listening to Atty. Freeman and Kerri talk about mandatory sentences for sex offenders who fail to register. Does mandatory minimum sentencing work? This article in TIME says the practice has stalled prison and criminal justice system reform.

9:48 a.m. - There's a discussion here about the Appleton prison, which is a privately run prison. If I recall correctly, however, Appleton had a hard time getting prisoners. At one point it had to get prisoners from Puerto Rico.

9:51 a.m. - I just read several of the comments below on the air, including the need to concentrate on what happens when people get out of prison. Atty. Freeman says we ought to grant Certificates of Good Conduct to people who have been out and have not committed another offense. He says private employers shy away from people with a criminal past, even if people are simply charged and never convicted.

9:54 a.m. - One thing we haven't talked about is the actual war that's taking place in Mexico. That's spilling over to the U.S. What will be the effect here? I just read an AP story that's being distributed for the weekend papers:

But the cartels have also brought the fight to us. In 230 U.S. cities, the organizations maintain distribution hubs or supply drugs to local distributors, the federal government reports. Places like Miami and other longtime transportation points along the Southwest border. But also Twin Falls, Idaho. Billings, Mont. Wichita, Kan. St. Louis. Milwaukee.

And Minnesota.

9:58 a.m. - Freeman, by the way, says he's done with statewide politics. He's run for governor twice.

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What to do with an old man?

Posted at 4:58 PM on April 14, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The pace of justice is slow. When it comes to the case of John Demjanjuk, it's glacial.

Demjanjuk, who lived most of his life as an Ohio autoworker, is -- according to a warrant from Germany -- an accessory to some 29,000 deaths during World War II at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Today, a federal court issued a stay of his deportation after six immigration officers removed the retired autoworker from his suburban Cleveland home in a wheelchair, the Associated Press reported.

"It was horrendous. He was in such pain. I wouldn't want to see anyone go through something like that," said granddaughter Olivia Nishnic, 20.

It was 1977 -- 32 years ago -- that Demjanjuk was first discovered by officials to be "Ivan the Terrible." It took four years before a federal district court judge ruled that he lied on his citizenship application and should be deported. An appeal followed.

Two years later, Israel sought his extradition, but it took three years before he was sent there. It took two years for Israel to put him on trial, and then sentence him to death by hanging. Five years after that -- 1993 -- the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the verdict and sent him back to the U.S.

His citizenship was restored when it was determined prosecutors withheld evidence.

In 1999, he was charged again, but this time the complaint said only that he was a Nazi guard, not that he was Ivan the Terrible. It took two more years to put him on trial, another year before a judge ruled, two more for an appeals court to uphold his conviction, one more before an immigration judge ordered him deported, one more before an immigration appeals board upheld that decision, one more before an appeals court denied further review, five months more before the Supreme Court refused to intervene, and one more before a judge stayed his deportation, then lifted it, before today's Appeals Court action reinstating the stay.

What should the next move be?

(Photo: 1993 file photo by Yaakov Sa''ar/GPO/Getty Images)

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Case closed

Posted at 3:51 PM on April 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

MPR's Brandt Williams reports today that give African American police officers in Minneapolis have cut a deal with the city in exchange for settling their lawsuit in exchange for $740,000. Their suit alleged that black officers suffered under a racially hostile environment in the department.

Settlements, for the rest of us, are problematic because everyone clams up, and the city admits to nothing. So does -- or did -- the department discriminate against African Americans? The attorney for one of the officers says the city has made advances in improving race relations. Without the benefit of a public airing of the grievances and an examination a trial provides, the rest of us won't be able to judge the situation for ourselves. The city said it didn't. The plaintiff said it did. Pick one.

We can, however, update the timeline of woes within the department we started when the suit was filed.

September 1992 - Officer Jerry Haaf killed by gang members, ending an effort by some in the department to work with known gang members Many officers reviled the group, United For Peace, and openly opposed police administrators who met with the group.

Mid-1994 - Deputy Chief Dave Dobrotka, who championed the gang alliance, and was criticized heavily after Haaf's killing, leaves to take a job in Arizona.

February 1995 - Amid controversy over police misconduct and high crime, Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton appoints Robert Olson to replace retiring Police Chief John Laux.

1995 - Donald Banham, an African American, loses lawsuit against Chief Robert Olson, after the police union objected to attempts to promote him ahead of white officers who ranked higher. Banham loses his case.

July 1996 - Minnesota Department of Human Rights hears testimony on allegations that the Minneapolis Police Department discriminated against female employees. About 10 percent of the women on the force testify.

April 2002 - Mayor R.T. Rybak wants Chief Robert Olson out. Olson says, "I'm staying."

August 2002 - During a drug raid, a police bullet intended for a pit bull, hits 11-year-old boy. A melee ensues.

December 2002 - Chief Robert Olson leaves.

February 2003 - Officer Duy Ngo, an undercover cop, was shot by another officers with a submachine gun. Ngo settled a suit with the city last week.

October 2003 - Federal officials investigate allegations that two Minneapolis police officers were involved in the assault of a suspect while serving a search warrant. Later, it's leaked that the suspect was a police informant. The incident comes while the police department is in federally-mediated talks with community members, aimed at easing tensions between law enforcement and residents, especially minorities.

February 2004 - Two weeks after taking office and promising a hard-line against police misconduct, Chief William McManus suspends supervisors -- including an internal candidate for the job he ultimately won -- amid allegations one ordered the destruction of an internal memo in the Ngo case.

March 2004 - An outside investigation finds no wrongdoing on the supervisors' part. They allege McManus is persecuting them.

October 2005 - Sgt. Giovanni Veliz files civil rights complaint against department after being reassigned to night patrol.

March 2006 - McManus quits. Takes job in San Antonio.

March 2006 - Tim Dolan seen as top contender for police chief.

November 2006 - Sgt. Charlie Adams was transfered after he contradicted statements made by his commanding officer, that a bicyclist who was killed over the summer was trying to buy drugs.

December 2007 - Five African American police officers file a racial discrimination lawsuit, alleging police chief Tim Dolan treated African American officers differently.

January 2008 - Sgt. Adams sues Dolan.

April 2009 - The city of Minneapolis settles a racial discrimination lawsuit with five African-American police officers for $740,000.

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Terrorism is complicated

Posted at 11:10 AM on April 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office today dropped terrorism charges against 8 people involved in protests surrounding the Republican National Convention in St. Paul.

According to County Attorney Susan Gaertner, it's because the state's terrorism law "complicates the case." She also said it was "distracting," according to her news release:

The terrorism law, enacted by the 2002 Minnesota Legislature, provides longer sentences for felony crimes that involve premeditation and violence to persons or property and which are intended, among other things, to intimidate the public and disrupt the right of lawful assembly. In this case, however, the state's Sentencing Guidelines provide for stayed prison sentences with jail time, fines and other sanctions as possible conditions of probation. Thus, the defendants would not face longer prison sentences if convicted under the terrorism sentencing enhancement.

(Read the full release here.)

It's not exactly a ringing endorsement for the usefulness of the law passed by the Legislature in the immediate aftermath of September 11.

"Distracting" and "complicated" are two words that weren't uttered back when the issue was being debated.

"These are extraordinary times, and with extraordinary times come extraordinary measures," then state-rep (now Hennepin County sheriff) Rich Stanek said. "For the last several years, the pendulum has swung greatly in favor of open meeting laws, access by the public, freedom of information, and I think that's good to an extent, but then you have Sept. 11 roll around, and now you see the pendulum swinging the other way."

At the time, much of the debate focused on foreigners. You may remember the controversy over issuing foreigners color-coded visa cards.

All 8 of those charged in the aftermath of the convention were white Americans. Nobody saw that coming in a case like this. Or did they?

"A charge of this nature significantly chills political speech," Bruce Nestor, a Minneapolis attorney said after their arrest on the terrorism charges.

"We're talking about legislation that will effect the civil rights of all people in Minnesota and, unfortunately, no one realizes or very few people realize what the extent of this legislation is," Peter Erlinder, a professor of constitutional law at the William Mitchell College of Law, said in 2002.

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The Iowa case

Posted at 10:34 AM on April 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Iowa Supreme Court has struck down a ban on gay marriage. Here's the full court opinion.

The "money quote":

Our responsibility, however, is to protect constitutional rights of individuals from legislative enactments that have denied those rights, even when the rights have not yet been broadly accepted, were at one time unimagined, or challenge a deeply ingrained practice or law viewed to be impervious to the passage of time. The framers of the Iowa Constitution knew, as did the drafters of the United States Constitution, that "times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress," and as our constitution "endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom" and equality.

..and...

It is true the marriage statute does not expressly prohibit gay and lesbian persons from marrying; it does, however, require that if they marry, it must be to someone of the opposite sex. Viewed in the complete context of marriage, including intimacy, civil marriage with a person of the opposite sex is as unappealing to a gay or lesbian person as civil marriage with a person of the same sex is to a heterosexual. Thus, the right of a gay or lesbian person under the marriage statute to enter into a civil marriage only with a person of the opposite sex is no right at all. Under such a law, gay or lesbian individuals cannot simultaneously fulfill their deeply felt need for a committed personal relationship, as influenced by their sexual orientation, and gain the civil status and attendant benefits granted by the statute. Instead, a gay or lesbian person can only gain the same rights under the statute as a heterosexual person by negating the very trait that defines gay and lesbian people as a class--their sexual orientation.

There was no dissent.

You can learn more about the justices here.

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The nature of forgiveness

Posted at 2:40 PM on March 16, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Religion

Two stories in the nation bring up the question of the nature of forgiveness. One is the reaction of the wife of the pastor, who was gunned down last week as he delivered a sermon. The other is the return to Minnesota of Kathleen Soliah, who hid out in St. Paul as Sara Jane Olson.

On the CBS Early Show this morning, Cindy Winters granted forgiveness to Terry Sedlacek, who shot her husband, Pastor Fred Winters, to death in the First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill.

"I do not have any hatred, or even hard feelings towards him," she said. "We have been praying for him. One of the first things that my daughter said to me after this happened was, 'You know, I hope that he comes to learn to love Jesus through all of this.' We are not angry at all, and we really firmly believe that he can find hope and forgiveness and peace through this, by coming to know Jesus. And we hope that that happens for him."

It was impossible for many to watch the interview without thinking, "could I forgive the person who just killed my spouse?" How long would it take to reach that point?

The same question is being asked in St. Paul with the pending release of Olson, who was a 1970s radical with the Symbionese Liberation Army, attempted the pipe-bombings of Los Angeles police officers, and took part in a bank robbery near Sacramento in which a woman died.

She's served seven years in prison, and wants to return to Minnesota -- where her family still lives -- to serve her parole.

Today, the Minnesota Senate debated bringing a resolution to the floor -- as an emergency measure -- that would ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to reconsider sending Olson back to Minnesota.

"What do we stand for as people? Law and order, certainly. The notion that we would easily forgive someone who ... yes, 25 years ago... decided it might be a good idea to blow up some police officers and maybe in the process, perhaps, involve kids. That is something terribly troubling," Sen. Dave Senjem, the Senate Minority Leader, said.

The attempt to bring the resolution to the Senate floor failed.

Former Los Angeles police officer John Hall, a target of Olson's, recalled a young girl waving at him from a restaurant as he drove away. A pipe bomb under his cruiser did not go off.

"That little girl was waving at us as we drove off. If that bomb would have gone off, she would have been killed along with her family," said Hall, who served 31 years with the department. "I haven't forgiven her (Olson) in the least for what she's done and what she could have done to many more innocent people."

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RNC trial renewed

Posted at 1:39 AM on March 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

By way of the St. Paul Issues Forum, our attention has been called to an article in the Mac Weekly, the Independent student newspaper at Macalester College, which details a police raid on a student's room last month.

According to the application for the warrant filed by the SPPD, the search was part of an effort to find a person who, along with two others, damaged a Minneapolis police car in a group that split off from the main group of protesters on September 1. The squad car, with its shattered glass and flattened tires, became one of the most well known images from the RNC protests.

Using photographs of protesters breaking the car's windows, police drew a general description of the suspects. One of the vandals was dressed in blue jeans with a torn right pant leg, a black shirt and a black head wrap, a description fitting many members of the Macalester chapter of Students for a Democratic Society during the protest.

The article says some students at the school are unhappy that it doesn't have a policy on handling police searches and hasn't offered legal assistance to students.

Meanwhile the retrial of David McKay, charged with attempting to make Molotov cocktails during the RNC, begins in St. Paul. A deadlocked jury forced the declaration of a mistrial earlier this year. The case is being followed particularly closely in Austin, where McKay was said to be part of 8 activists who headed to St. Paul for the convention.

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Madoff gives it up

Posted at 9:48 AM on March 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Once you admit you're guilty of a crime, should you go to prison?

That was the question debated this morning after Bernie Madoff pleaded guilty to every count that's been filed against him for running a Ponzi scheme that stole $65 billion dollars from investors.

"I think the likelihood [of Madoff returning home] is very slim. I'm sure his attorney told him to pack his toothbrush after his guilty plea," said CBS' The Early Show legal analyst Lisa Bloom. "For his attorney to show why he should continue to have his freedom, I don't expect to see that."

But others said he should be allowed to return to his apartment until he is sentenced. "That's the way bail works," one analyst told CNBC. As this is being written, the judge is still hearing details of the scheme and hasn't made a decision on Madoff's fate. He'll be sentenced in June.

Meanwhile the Associated Press reports that his victims are worried Madoff will take some secrets to prison with him. "The real problem here is you could not have committed a fraud of this magnitude and duration without a lot of people helping you and so the question is who helped you and I believe he is determined to try to protect those people who assisted him," said Harvey Pitt, the former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Do you think this is a good case for waterboarding?" a CNBC anchor asked, apparently seriously, this morning. The anchor, appropriately so, expressed compassion for Madoff's victims saying they did nothing wrong

Update 10:13 a.m. - The judge says he'll send Madoff to jail pending sentencing.

Update 11:47 a.m. - Bloomberg reports that Madoff likely won't be given what some ex-federal prisoners say is a harsh sentence -- time in a federal prison facility in Minnesota. It says he'll end up in Louisiana, North Carolina, or New Jersey.

(Photo: Getty Images)

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In the public interest?

Posted at 10:52 AM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (28 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Contributors to Norm Coleman's election recount effort might want to cancel their credit cards, according to the campaign.

An e-mail circulated on Wednesday said the Web site, WikiLeaks, which specializes in providing an outlet for people who want to post secret information, has obtained private information from the campaign such as the credit card numbers of donors.

"Let me be very clear: At this point, we don't know if last evening's email is a political dirty trick or what the objective is of the person who sent the email," Campaign official Cullen Sheehan wrote in an e-mail to donors. "What we do know, however, is that there is a strong likelihood that these individuals have found a way to breach private and confidential information."

While the Coleman campaign e-mail notification might alert some of the donors, 1,500 of the nearly 5,000 people on the spreadsheet did not list an e-mail address.

Who's behind WikiLeaks? Julian Assange, an Australian living in Africa who was interviewed last summer (by email) by the Sydney Morning Herald. "In every negotiation, in every planning meeting and in every workplace dispute a perception is slowly building that the public interest may have a number of silent advocates in the room," Mr Assange said in an email interview. Wired.com published an extensive profile of him around the same time.

The question to ask, however, is whether there's a compelling "public interest" in releasing the (partial) credit card information of donors to a political campaign and, if so, what is it? The Coleman campaign may have violated several state privacy laws, but the punishment will be delivered to the innocent.

One of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics is to "minimize harm," although it adds, "Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy." By providing links to the spreadsheet in question, have journalists overstepped their own code? Absolutely. Consider this item that's in the code: "Abide by the same high standards to which they hold others." One cannot criticize the Coleman campaign for not securing its data, while at the same time publishing -- or at least providing a direct link to -- that data.

Efforts to close the site down have failed, because of the nature of the Internet in the first place. The organization behind it registered its domain name in Nairobi, Kenya. Last month, a federal judge in San Francisco, citing 1st Amendment considerations, rescinded an order that disabled the Web site when it was registered through a California server. The original order stemmed from a Swiss bank's lawsuit against Wikileaks, which had posted 14 leaked documents about transactions at the bank.

It's also the site where a person who broke into then-VP candidate Sarah Palin's e-mail account posted the messages he retrieved.

Ironically, it also posted a leaked document containing the e-mail addresses of its own contributors.

There'll be plenty of questions for the Coleman's campaign alleged mishandling of data, but the story may also present a troubling picture of the collateral damage journalists' can inflict, too.

Update: MPR's Mark Zdechlik will update the story during this evening's All Things Considered.

Update 8:24 p.m. Twin Cities based computer consultant Adria Richards describes how she found the security breach.

This was really interesting. One key fact she dropped was "I didn't download anything; I just noticed that something wasn't right." I have found this to be a trait of I.T. professionals; they're not interested in spreading the information that they know should be locked down, they want the information locked down.

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Should marijuana be legalized in Minnesota?

Posted at 9:39 AM on March 11, 2009 by Bob Collins (25 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Health

Should Minnesota legalize marijuana for medicinal uses? The issue is steaming along at the Capitol. On Tuesday, it passed through a Senate committee. Today, the bill got an OK from a House committee.

"I spent the last eight years in the nursing home with my aunt and my mother, also at the end of my fathers life, I watched them in a lot of pain and taking a lot of pills," Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, said. He's sponsoring the proposed legislation. "I just think there's a better way for some folks to address their pain and medical marijuana is legal in 13 other states and there's overwhelming public support."

Like many bills that make annual appearances at the Capitol, the arguments on both sides were predictable, but no less emotional with every story.

Kathy Rippentrop, whose mother was diagnosed with colon cancer, described her mother's slow death. "Mom tolerated the first round of chemo, but the pills to control vomiting cost $100 each. Mom was withering away to nothing with no appetite."

Her father, a recovering alcoholic and drug user, got some marijuana from a friend. "The only miracle drug for cancer is marijuana," she said. "My father will tell you how ironic it is that the government is concerned about the pain of a murderer, but makes the only cancer drug that reduces pain against the law."

Joni Whiting told the story of her 26-year-old-daughter, Stephanie, who was diagnosed with skin cancer and died six years ago. "They cut her face off one inch at a time until there was nothing left," she said. Despite being told by a doctor that smoking marijuana would ease her pain, neither Whiting or her daughter could break the law. By the time she died, Whiting said, her daughter was taking 50-60 Oxycontin pills a day.

"The fear of being caught was significant," she said of her and her daughter's initial decision. That changed when someone left a bag of marijuana on the front step. By the end, Whiting said through tears, her daughter couldn't "stand the pain of us touching her."

"To threaten the sick and dying with jail is unconscionable," she told the House Civil Justice Committee. "What would you have done if you were in my shoes. What price would you be willing to pay to relieve the pain of a loved one. I was the one who listened to her scream in pain."

But Michael Campion, the state's commissioner of public safety defended the state's position on legalization of marijuana. "There is an absence of any empirical data that this legislation is going to do what it intends to do; there's a lot of anecdotal stories but the AMA and the FDA have not endorsed the smoking of marijuana," he said. "It's against federal law and it puts the federal justice system in conflict with our state partners."

An ex-drug dealer testified briefly that if the law is enacted, "people will kick the door in to get those plants in." Under the bill, people would be allowed to grow 12 plants of marijuana.

Another man, Jim Fahiz, testified he blew a hockey scholarship at the University of Minnesota because he smoked marijuana. "I've known thousands of drug addicts," he said, "and every one of them started with marijuana."

The bill passed the committee on a voice vote without opposition.

A similar bill passed through committees in the House last year but never came up for a vote on the House floor.

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Tough times for lawyers, too

Posted at 11:21 AM on March 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Economy

How long could the United States continue to crank out lawyers at the rate it has? About this long, according to a story in the Washington Post.

The recession has taken its toll on the industry that once was -- and still is, really -- synonymous with a way to make a ton of money.

But corporations no longer have a ton of money to spend on lawyers, the big law firm model is failing, and even "globalization" is hitting the business.

"We have 300 people in India. We've added 50 people" in recent months, said Michael J. Dolan, chief executive of the Tusker Group in Austin. Dolan said his lawyers charge $25 an hour, compared with $150 to $300 an hour billed by paralegals and associates doing the same work at law firms. "We're in the process of adding another 30 people."

Across the country, lawyers are being axed from law firms in favor of either lower-priced offshore lawyers, or those graduating from law school who'll work for cheap. "Cheap" in the business, however, is about $130,000 a year.

"Everything you hear is a horror story [but] it's hard to grasp how bad it is," John McBeain, a student at William Mitchell College of Law told Minnesota Lawyer last month.

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Tracking the stimulus

Posted at 3:34 PM on March 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Economy

I wrote early today about the difficulty anyone is going to have keeping track of where all of the stimulus money is going, despite the stated best intentions of many of those involved.

So this afternoon, I've been calling around the state, asking communities how they intend to spend the $29 million coming into the state from the Justice Assistance Grants announced by President Obama last week as part of his stimulus package.

This is "small potato" money in the big scheme of things, but the exercise has revealed how stimulus money gets absorbed into budgets at the lowest levels of government and is probably going to take someone with enough time and resources to call and e-mail every city in the state literally hundreds of times to be able to determine how it's spent.

Some cities and counties know how they'll spend it already. Some don't know how the'll spend it, and some don't even know they've got it. Most are scrambling to figure out what strings -- if any -- are attached. In many cases, the communities just found out today that it's available to them. Only a small handful of the more than 50 communities I contacted responded.

Here's a sample of how some of it is going to be spent in Minnesota.

Dakota County - $11,168
According to Chief Deputy Sheriff Dave Bellows, they're trying to determine if it can be used for equipment. The county has recently been upgrading camera systems in squad cars.

Woodbury - $21,804
"Woodbury is a first-time recipient of this funding. As a result, we need a little time to review the specifics of the program and determine what types of expenditures are eligible," city communications director Julie Lahr said in an e-mail. "Once we do that, the public safety director will make a recommendation to the city administrator regarding what he believes would be the best use of the grant money."

Rosemount - $10,104
The Byrne grants have been used for joint ventures with other government agencies in such things as investigations of gangs and drugs, asscording to Jeff May, the city's finance director. He says he's not sure, however, whether this is "new" money that will allow additional programs or whether it's "old money under a new name."

Apple Valley - $46,001
"Our police chief, Scott Johnson, is currently evaluating a number of different options for these funds. Given the one-time nature of the funding, it is most likely these funds will be used to purchase capital equipment items," Apple Valley's city administrator Tom Lawell said.

Inver Grove Heights - $34,301
"The money you refer to would come to Dakota County and not directly to the City of Inver Grove Heights. In that case, I have not heard from the County on any of their plans for receipt of that funding," responded Joe Lynch, the city administrator.

Brooklyn Park - $245,693
Our police chief is busy working on figuring out what the eligible expenditures would be for so I can't tell you specifically what we'll use it for," city manager Jamie Verbrugge said.

South St. Paul - $19,411
"We have not made decisions about where it would be used. The Governor's initial 2009 budget proposal would reduce our Local Government aid - an integral part of our revenues - by about $400,000 in 2009 and another $1 million in 2010. If that becomes reality, there will be lots of uses for the $19,411," wrote Stephen King, the city administrator.

My favorite response, however, came from Tammy Omdal, the chief financial officer of Burnsville, which is receiving $75,250. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said.

Incidentally, Kerri Miller will have the two mayors in the house on Midmorning on Tuesday (9 a.m.) to talk about the stimulus money.

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Privatization gone bad

Posted at 9:06 AM on March 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

In Pennsylvania, judges have been getting kickbacks from the builder of a private detention. All they had to do was violate the rights of children by sending them there. And they had no problem doing so, apparently, the Guardian reports:

Less than a minute into the hearing the gavel came down. "Adjudicated delinquent!" the judge proclaimed, and sentenced her to three months in a juvenile detention centre. Hillary, who hadn't even presented her side of the story, was handcuffed and led away. But her mother, Laurene, protested to the local law centre, setting in train a process that would uncover one of the most egregious violations of children's rights in US legal history.

Last month the judge involved, Mark Ciavarella, and the presiding judge of the juvenile court, Michael Conahan, pleaded guilty to having accepted $2.6m (£1.8m) from the co-owner and builder of a private detention centre where children aged from 10 to 17 were locked up.

The cases of up to 2,000 children put into custody by Ciavarella over the past seven years - including that of Transue - are now being reviewed in a billowing scandal dubbed "kids for cash". The alleged racket has raised questions about the cosy ties between the courts and private contractors, and about the harsh treatment meted out to adolescents.

If it's possible to have a facet of this case be even more troubling, however, it's got to be the reaction of authorities when an advocacy organization -- the Juvenile Law Center -- tried to get them to do something about it. "It was not a matter of immediate public importance," the Luverne County District Attorney wrote.

Tara Herivel, who authored "Prison Profiteers," blames the growing emphasis on privatization.

Although juvenile crime has been on the decline for at least a decade, private youth detention is still a growth industry. It grew by about 45 percent over the past 10 years and produced an average of $33 billion in annual profit. In New Mexico, the population of juveniles in private facilities rose by a stunning 123 percent, in contrast with an overall decline in juvenile crime and public detention.

Update 3/8 - Sunday's Phildelphia Inquirer follows up with some of the victims of the corruption.

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How much would you risk to help someone?

Posted at 9:20 PM on February 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (17 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Would you help someone if you knew it would cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical costs?

When an ABC News reporter asked that question, Nigel Haskett of Little Rock, Ark., didn't need much time to think about it.

"I ask myself that question, many, many, many times over. Uh, yes sir I would. I just felt like that's the right thing to do ... even if it would have killed me."

And it almost did kill the McDonald's employee when he intervened to get a customer to stop assaulting a woman. He was shot in the chest for his trouble, he's spent $300,000 on surgeries so far, he can't afford to see a doctor, and a bullet remains lodged near his spine. He's been told he should never lift heavy objects again.

But that's not the story. The story is the McDonald's insurance carrier is refusing to pay the Worker's Compensation claim because stopping a guy from beating up a woman wasn't part of his regular duties.

Legal experts say the insurance company is on solid legal ground.

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FBI director raises Minneapolis terror connection

Posted at 10:02 PM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The head of the FBI says a Minnesota Somali man, who blew himself up in Somalia last year, was "radicalized" in Minnesota.

"A man from Minneapolis became what we believe to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing," Robert Mueller said of Shirwa Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen.

According to ABC News, Mueller did not say who or how the Minneapolis man was recruited.

U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have confirmed to ABC News that some of the individuals who have fought in Somalia have returned to the United States. The FBI has looked at possible cases in Minneapolis; Boston; Columbus, Ohio; Seattle; San Diego; and Washington, D.C.

In a question and answer session moderated by ABC News' Terry Moran after his speech, Mueller said about Ahmed, "We believe he was recruited here in the United States and that others may have been radicalized."

Mueller said cities like Minneapolis are at risk because of failed third-world states. "World politics often shape terrorist and criminal threats against the United States... A crisis in the Horn of Africa may well have a ripple effect in Minneapolis," he said.

"It raises the question of whether these young men will one day come home, and, if so, what might they undertake here," Mueller said.

Up to two dozen Somali men have disappeared from the Minneapolis area.

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The prison economy

Posted at 11:28 AM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Economy

At least one business made money and doesn't foresee any layoffs. MINNCOR Industries, the "company" that uses prison labor. The company was created by the state during the economic slowdown of the early '90s, to encourage prison industries to operate in a more business-like fashion.

According to a report from the Legislative Auditor, that presents some challenges because most businesses don't have to take a headcount in the middle of the day to make sure nobody has escaped, and some inmates not only don't have skills for the job, but often aren't all that interested in showing up to work on time or putting in a full day of work. (Fill in joke about your workplace here.)

But the economy is putting a squeeze on MINNCOR in its own way, according to today's report. The number of inmates is increasing so rapidly, it's getting difficult to find jobs for them.

The company also has a turnover problem. The majority of "employees" have less than a year remaining on their sentence, the report said.

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Long. But not that long.

Posted at 10:52 AM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Could Minnesota's election trial be the longest "trial" in state history? If so, it's got a long way to go.

Minnesota elections director Gary Poser is answering questions today in former Sen. Norm Coleman's appeal of the Senate election recount process that showed Al Franken the winner by 225 votes

This is the fifth week of the trial, not even a third of the way toward equaling the 1998 Minnesota tobacco trial.

"Where we are is we're in the middle of their case," Franken lawyer Marc Elias said during a break Friday. "I don't know how much longer it will go on. That's a question you should ask the other side."

Eleven years ago, Minnesota prosecutors opened a trial that few gave them a chance to win. No one had ever beaten "big tobacco." They, along with attorneys for Blue Cross Blue Shield, took two months to present their case. The tobacco industry took six weeks.

It wasn't until May that the two sides reached a deal. One big difference with the Franken-Coleman trial: There are no jurors to undergo the financial hardship of a long trial.

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The virtual deputies

Posted at 10:26 AM on February 23, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

National Public Radio's All Things Considered will run a story tonight on the program to set up border cameras and then let people throughout the country watch them on their computers.

Here's a preview: The program has been a bust.

Only 15 private landowners agreed to post the cameras. Organizers had hoped for 100, according to mysanantonio.com. They had also planned on 1,200 arrests. So far, there've been three.

It's not as though people aren't trying. More than 14 million people have logged onto the camera site to watch.

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Whoops

Posted at 5:32 PM on February 21, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

One of the top stories in the country right now is a report that an arrest is near in the killing of Washington intern Chandra Levy eight years ago.

According to the Washington Post:

Sources with knowledge of the investigation who spoke under condition of anonymity told The Post that police plan to arrest Ingmar Guandique. The 27-year-old Salvadoran immigrant attacked two women at knifepoint in Rock Creek Park around the time of Levy's disappearance in May 2001. He was convicted in those attacks and is serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison in California.

The Sunday newspaper headlines could also say, "(Former Congressman) Gary Condit didn't do it."

Condit, who lost a re-election bid in 2002, had maintained his innocence and said he was the victim of overzealous prosecutors and a rabid media.

"It is unfortunate that an insatiable appetite for sensationalism blocked so many from searching for the real answers for so long," Condit said on Saturday according to the Post. "I had always hoped to have the opportunity to tell my side of the story, but too many were not prepared to listen. Now I plan to do so, but I will have no further comments on this story at this time."

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Islamic law

Posted at 10:59 AM on February 17, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

On Midmorning today, it was hard to miss the litany of things that are going quite badly for the U.S. "anti terrorism" fight in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Julianne Smith, the director of the Europe program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that U.S. military forces will be doubled, while she answered an emphatic "yes" when asked whether she agrees with Gen. David Petraeus that there's no military solution in Afghanistan. Petraeus said the same thing about Iraq in 2007, but Iraq had something resembling a functioning government in this century. Afghanistan has been a mess for centuries.

At the same time, Pakistan has given in to the Taliban, and agreed to enforce Islamic Law in the Swat Valley. That's the last thing the U.S. wanted, Smith told Kerri Miller. The U.S. fears that Pakistan will be the new Afghanistan, a haven for Osama bin Laden to launch offensives against the West.

Few news sources today, however, reveal exactly what is meant by "Islamic law." The Washington Post only says it doesn't mean the brutal and repressive approach the Taliban took in Afghanistan.

Philip Reeves, National Public Radio's man in the region, says people in the area are "fed up with a judiciary that's broken down" and that they want local judicial units. Presumably that doesn't mean beheadings and the stoning of rape victims. But what does it mean beyond that?

The New York Times says only that "they said the authorities agreed to a legal system rejecting any law that did not comply with the teachings of the Koran and the sayings and teachings of the prophet Muhammad, known as the Sunnah." But who's interpretation of the Koran?

The Associated Press says it doesn't mean women won't be educated.

Even the Christian Science Monitor fails to adequately describe the implications of the imposition, noting only that it will prevent the delay and costs of appeals to a secular court system.

In a years-old report, the Council on Foreign Relations notes that Sharia -- Islamic Law -- can take any number of forms.

(Photo: Delegation members of a pro-Taliban leader Soofi Mohammad, leave after an agreement with government officials in Peshawar on Sunday. Tariq Mahmood /AFP/Getty Images.)

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Immigration: One woman's story

Posted at 8:42 AM on February 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Today's recommended listening:

American Public Media's The Story featured an interview with a woman who entered the country illegally, and was caught in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid.

Flor is from Mexico, but her children were born in the U.S. She'd rather leave voluntarily, but Flor has been told she can't leave the state. She talks to Dick Gordon about the day of the raid, her hopes for the future, and how she and her husband are getting by financially while they wait.

One interesting moment: The part where she talks about all the money she used to spend at the stores in her town.

Listen.

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Leaders of Minneapolis mosque deny suggestions they recruited youth to fight

Posted at 2:04 PM on February 10, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

This afternoon, about two dozen people presented a spirited defense of a Minneapolis mosque against rumors it had something to do with the disappearance of an estimated seven to 20 Somali boys, who may have returned to Somalia to fight on behalf of Islamic extremists.

"We condemn extremist ideologies," said Abdirashid Abdi (left above), a member of the board of directors of the Abubakar Assadique Islamic Center. "It is unfortunate that some individuals in the Somali community unfairly accused Abubakar Center to have links to the disappearance of the Somali young men. We strongly deny these unsubstantiated allegations. Abubakar Center didn't recruit, finance, or otherwise facilitate in any way, shape, or form the travel of these youth." (His entire statement can be found here).

Abdi said it was "difficult to know" how many Somali youth at the center have left to return to Somalia, or why they would. "Youth have a lot of resources, it's very hard to minimize the way they receive information," he said.

Abdulahi Farah, who coordinates youth programs at the center said the allegations are "victimizing young Somalis who are active in their community. We have made America our new home and we are grateful to the people of Minnesota and to the people of this country who give us the opportunity as young people to be educated here and make our lives here, but when a few people polarize us or make us think that sometimes we are not...every young people are being affected by this."

The speakers made clear that while they believe the Somali community "is united," they are convinced that the people responsible for the rumors are, themselves, Somali.

"What is at stake is your very existence," Murshid Barud of the Somali Leadership Council said, directing his comments to the Somali community. "This is not a simple allegation. It's not a simple thing that will go away in a day, a week, a month, or a year. It will affect the way we work and raise our children in the state of Minnesota. You have a choice: Either you fight against your own children and yourself, or you come out and tell the truth."

When I asked Barud what "individuals in the Somali community" he and others were referring to when pinpointing the source of the allegations, he identified the head of a Somali advocacy organization, whose leader is often cited as a spokesman for the Somali community.

MPR's Laura Yuen will have had more on the story tonight on All Things Considered.

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The vanishing Somali boys

Posted at 3:51 PM on February 9, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Officials at a local mosque have scheduled a Tuesday news conference to confront growing rumors that they are helping to receuit young Somali men to fight on behalf of Islamic extremists in Somalia. The news conference comes after the Star Tribune asked -- but did not answer -- the question of the mosque's involvement in an article today.

Two weeks ago, National Public Radio reported on the disappearance of young Somalis in several U.S. cities and, like the Star Tribune, it seemed to implicate the Abubakar mosque in Minneapolis.

The most recent disappearances happened last November, on Election Day. That's when 17-year-old Burhan Hassan and six of his friends seemed to vanish. As the rest of the Somali community in the Twin Cities' Cedar-Riverside neighborhood were watching the election returns, the boys slipped away, boarded a plane and headed to Africa.

"My sister called me and said Burhan is missing," says Abdirizak Bihi, Hassan's uncle. He runs a local youth center where all the Somali kids play basketball and video games after school.

So far, officials at the mosque haven't confronted the allegations. In the Star Tribune story, a lawyer in California, said to be a consultant to the mosque, denied any connection.

"To this date, there has never been anything specific to indicate that Abubakar recruits or that anybody at Abubakar said to these young men, 'Go fight Jihad,'" said Mahir Sherif.

Dina Temple-Raston, NPR's national security correspondent, told the network's News & Notes program last week that between a dozen and 20 Somali kids have disappeared. She says nearly all of them were bright, college-bound students, brought up by single mothers near the mosque.

The FBI isn't talking, but the Christian Science Monitor says it stumbled into "an active investigation" in Atlanta last month when an FBI agent showed up at a meeting of Liberians, seeking information about missing Somali boys.

Because Somali kids were disappearing. Not in Atlanta yet, that he knew of. But "six or seven high school kids," former refugees resettled in Minnesota's Twin Cities area, the largest Somali community in the US, had recently been recruited by an extremist group through a mosque there and sent back to Somalia to train as suicide bombers.

Newsweek magazine said the FBI is concerned that the extremist group, al-Shabab (a spokesman for the group is shown below in December promising more attacks in Mogadishu) , might create "sleeper cells" in the United States.

"There is always a concern about spillover, bleed-out, call it what you will," an unnamed U.S. official tracking the case told the Los Angeles Times. "Especially if they were to return on a U.S. passport."

Sheik Abdirahman Ahmed of the mosque denied to Newsweek that any Somalia fighters have lectured at his mosque.

"No one knows for sure who recruited them," the Times quotes Abdisalam Adam, an educator who heads the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Minneapolis. "But they obviously did not wake up one morning and decide to go."

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Tax cheating

Posted at 3:30 PM on February 3, 2009 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Two more Obama nominees have backed out of their Washington jobs, after getting caught up in the didn't-pay-taxes crowd. It took former South Dakota senator Tom Daschle a long time to take the hint, but he recognized today the Health and Human Services secretary nomination was going nowhere. Nancy Killefer also withdrew her nomination as President Barack Obama's deputy White House budget director. She allegedly didn't pay her nanny tax.

How can these people not pay their taxes? The same way tens of thousands of other Americans don't.

Did you really make all the charitable contributions you wrote down on Schedule A? Have you occasionally gotten a few dollars and decided not to claim it as income? If some bank interest paperwork showed up the day after you finished your taxes, would you do them over or file an amended return? How many of you are deducting that new iPhone as a business expense when it's really not?

Nearly one in every 5 of us thinks it's morally acceptable to cheat on taxes, according to a Pew survey several years ago. Yesterday, an IRS survey said 89 percent of those responding say it's unacceptable to cheat on taxes. What can we deduce from this? (A) 11 percent of those responding are (fill in your own well-considered adjective here) enough to tell the IRS they cheated and (B) at least a portion of the 89% were smart enough to lie about it.

The New York Times looked at tax cheating in 2006 and found no specific breakdown of who's likely to cheat on taxes, although it did say that women with college educations are more likely to cheat than those with less education.

Tax cheating is estimated to cost the government about $350 billion a year. That's almost half of the cost of the controversial economic stimulus package.

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Whiskey plates revisited

Posted at 4:31 PM on February 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (21 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Minnesota issues special license plates to drunk drivers. "Whiskey plates" are issued to drivers involved in an alcohol-related violation. They all begin with "W." At one time, police could stop someone with a "W" plate for any reason, until the Supreme Court struck down the law.

Robert McGrath, 49, had a DWI citation dismissed, because he was allegedly pulled over only because he had "whiskey plates," according to the Park Rapids Enterprise.

McGrath is now charged with vehicular homicide in an accident outside Park Rapids late last month that killed a man. Two of the charges say he was drunk at the time.

He no longer had "whiskey plates" on his truck, the newspaper reported.

Question for discussion: Should police be able to pull a driver over with "whiskey plates," just to check if the person is drunk?

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Cheerleading is a contact sport

Posted at 5:07 PM on January 27, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

From the exotic land of Wisconsin comes today's lawsuit highlight. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that cheerleading is a contact sport. It's a case that is being watched closely in the cheerleading community, we're told.

The court ruled a high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to catch her while practicing a stunt.

Says the Associated Press: "The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation and a victory for Wisconsin cheerleaders who will no longer have to worry about getting sued."

That should give them more time to worry about catching their teammates.

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Heat deaths

Posted at 2:49 PM on January 26, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Two stories related football deaths in the heat are in the news today:

Life as a bad boy

Posted at 4:04 PM on January 25, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

I got a speeding ticket on Sunday; my first speeding ticket since 1973. That's not the news. I didn't get a warning. That's the news.

Here's the story: I was looking for an outdoor hockey rink, hidden among the crooked back streets of White Bear Lake. After a half hour of looking, I needed to get back to where I started to try my directions again. I was frustrated that I didn't know where I was. Anxious to get back to a spot I recognized, I didn't pay attention to my speed.

I saw the 30 mph speed limit sign and the police car at the same time. I started pulling over, I think, even before the guy put his lights on.

Now, keep in mind that one of the benefits of becoming a senior citizen is you become a more sympathetic character during times like this. I pulled the license out of the wallet even before the officer came to the car. And when he did, I didn't waste time, admitting I wasn't paying attention, I was going as fast as however he thought I was going, acknowledging that I deserve a ticket, and -- by the way -- where's that hockey rink?

In the old days, that would get you a warning (or at least a lowering of the indicated speed you were going), especially if you're a senior citizen, and an adorable one at that.

Those days are gone. The officer -- one of the few police officers left who is older than I am, I noticed -- explained that he doesn't have a choice these days. "The man" is really on them to write people up, he explained. In the old days, I thought "the man" was the guy in the police car, but I guess that's changed, too.

But I got his drift. Times are tough. Local government aid is being cut, and guys like me -- guilty scofflaws -- are a boon to cash-strapped counties and communities.

He went back to his car to write up the ticket and when he came back, he told me -- apologetically, it seemed -- what I should do to appeal it. "I'm not going to appeal it," I said. "I'm guilty."

That's when he gave me a police escort to the hockey rink, which was almost worth the $131 it cost me. He was a nice guy doing a tough job.

Ironically, MPR just finished a week profiling how tough White Bear Lake has it in this economy, and nowhere was it mentioned that a partial cure for the state budget crisis on communities might be to lower the speed limit by 5 miles per hour, and hope more people get lost in your town.

On MPR's Midday on Monday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty will join Gary Eichten for a discussion about his proposed budget fix, which he'll unveil this week. The governor has said there'll be no new taxes to balance a $5 billion shortfall.

What does that mean to us? It means we should slow down, try not to get lost, and pay attention to the speed limit.

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Guns sales jump with Obama presidency

Posted at 4:05 PM on January 12, 2009 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Because of Barack Obama's election, the sale of guns has shot upwards (pun not intended but since I've already made it....).

It's a narrative that's popped up many times since last November. In Albert Lea, the Twin Cities, and many major cities.

It was repeated this afternoon in a story in the Daily Republic of Mitchell, South Dakota:

The number of concealed pistol permits in the state has jumped almost 17 percent since 2006, and one gun shop owner said the election of President-elect Barack Obama has a lot to do with it.

"The day that Obama was elected, gun sales from distributors to gun shops shot up," said Robert Brown, owner of 2nd Amendment Guns in Mitchell. "The gun world is really scared."

Not that whipping people into a frenzy is necessarily bad for business, mind you.

"It scares me that I might be seeing a time when guns might be taken out of the people's hands," Brown said. "It's sad."

It also ignores the "win" the Supreme Court delivered last summer when it overturned a handgun law in the District of Columia. Still, it was a case in which Obama submitted a brief in support of the ban.

However, a 2nd Amendment expert says it's not an issue Obama is likely to touch. "My sense is that Obama does not want to interfere with an issue that will, for the time being, be left up to the states," says David T. Konig, Ph.D., professor of history and director of the Legal Studies Program, both in Arts & Sciences, and professor of law in St. Louis. "The issue will turn to controls, such as sales at gun shows or other limited restrictions on purchases."

There is the question, however, of whether the matter will be left up to the states. If so, there's nothing to indicate gun owners in Minnesota (and certainly South Dakota) have much to worry about. There hasn't been a significant legislative attempt yet to overturn the nearly-six-year-old concealed carry law in Minnesota, and there's little to indicate any lawmaker has the stomach for such a fight this session, either .

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What happens when the cameras stop rolling?

Posted at 6:06 PM on January 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A lot of us who covered the violence surrounding the Republican National Convention wondered aloud occasionally whether things would be the same if we put away our cameras, tape recorders, and notepads and simply took a hike?

Maybe we have the answer in the violence that broke out Wednesday following protests of the killing of an unarmed man by a Bay Area Rapid Transit policeman. The killing was captured on video by a cellphone camera (you can view it here if you're so inclined).

Near the end of a segment on the subsequent violence, a guest on NPR's Talk of the Nation provided some keen insight into the related question of what role the media plays in crowd behavior.

Demian Bulwa, a staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, was at the riot.

"There was also a dynamic with the media at the protest last night where there were so many of us. It was sort of unmistakable; we were part of the thing. You might have one guy confronting a police officer with three camermen, and two reporters, a still photographer, and a blogger, and someone who's live on the air with some sort of Internet radio. And, you know, it concerned me that I thought to myself, 'What if we left? What would happen? What if the police left? What would happen? But, you know, later in the night when all of the TV cameras were gone, I was still with the protesters and they were still smashing stuff."

The other question that ran through my mind is if there hadn't been someone videotaping the shooting in the back of an unarmed man, how might the story of what happened be different, if at all?

(Photo courtesy of Javier Panzar)

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Graduation day

Posted at 3:24 PM on January 8, 2009 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Life

Dennis LeTourneau knows where he'd be today if not for some of the people in the Hennepin County judicial system. "I'd be dead," he said without hesitation. He is sure heroin would've killed him.

LeTourneau was one of 23 people graduating today from the Hennepin County Drug Court, a unique program that people who know what they're talking about insist is the answer to reducing the problem of repeat criminal activity from addicts. It's the second graduating class since the program was changed to focus on addicts.

People who choose the drug court system undergo a 12-month program that includes 12-step meetings, therapy, and education classes. They have to report to probation officers and agree to be tested.

"It costs $36,000 to send someone to prison, " Supreme Court Chief Justice Eric Magnuson said today. "It costs $6,000-$9,000 to get them through Drug Court." Nonetheless it's a tough sell at the Capitol. Magnuson eliminated pay raises for judges in his budget request this year, but included $6 million for Drug Court.

When it comes time to convince legislators, Magnuson could do worse than have them listen to LeTourneau, or Mindy Heinkel, who thanked her probation officers and judges today noting, "It changed my life forever." James Hill said his probation officer joked with him "we can always execute" during his 12-months in the program.

It wasn't a hard program for LeTourneau. "The hard part was making the decision (to go through the program), because I was still in that life," he said. That life was a heroin addiction that started five years ago. He remembers his first shot of heroin and why he took it. "I had a girlfriend who was into it," he said.

LeTourneau has gotten clean, earned his GED, and started a business. He's also mentoring others who are in the program, according to his probation officer, Stacey Pratt (shown below congratulating graduate James Hill). "It was easy for him because he made his mind up at the beginning that he would remain determined to turn his life around."

While receiving plaques at the Hennepin County Government Center this afternoon, many graduates hugged or at least shook hands with a gauntlet of probation officers. A couple muttered "thanks," and walked away, turning their back without acknowledging the people they had to call every day for a year.

But most also knew where they'd be today otherwise. "I know people in prison who'd give their left arm for this chance," LeTourneau said.

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Alleged RNC Molotov cocktail maker to change plea

Posted at 5:55 PM on January 7, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

MPR's Elizabeth Stawicki says one of the Texas men accused of trying to disrupt the Republican National Convention with Molotov cocktails is scheduled to change his not guilty plea tomorrow in federal court in Minneapolis The brief court document does not reveal any details about Bradley Crowder's plea and his lawyer declined to comment.

Last fall, his father told the Star Tribune that his son "was looking for excitement and hooked up with the wrong people on their way to protest at the Republican National Convention."

Much of the evidence against Crowder and one other man came from an informant from Texas who infiltrated a protest group. (See his affadavit)

Another man, David McKay, is scheduled to go to trial later this month.

Acknowledging his role in the investigation, the informant -- Brandon Darby -- has not endeared himself to the RNC protest groups.

If the second trial is not settled, Darby will have to tell his story in open court.

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Flying while Muslim?

Posted at 10:21 AM on January 2, 2009 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Stop me if you've heard this before.

Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.

AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year's Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a misunderstanding, but defended the company's response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong.

The AP has the story here.

Any similarity between this story and the one from Minneapolis in 2006 is purely... their point.

"It was an ordeal," said Abdur Razack Aziz, one of those detained said. "Nothing came out of it. It was paranoid people. It was very sad."

All but one of the 9 are American citizens by birth.

Jeanne LeBlanc, who writes a travel blog for the Hartford Courant gives AirTran the "what for?"

The AirTran spokesman wants it both ways on this one. He told The Post the incident amounted to a misunderstanding, but said:

"At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn't have made on the airplane, and other people heard them [and] misconstrued them."

So which was it? They said things they "shouldn't have?" Or they were misunderstood? Who determines what we "should" say? Is that different for people who look Muslim? Are we responsible for the way someone might misinterpret our innocent words?

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You're fired!

Posted at 9:26 PM on December 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (11 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

It was a funny story today, right up until the part where a guy lost his job.

Up in Crookston, Mike Raymond drove a Polk County payloader onto the ice on the Red River where it promptly fell through. Funny stuff.

Today the county sent him a letter, the Grand Forks Herald reports, that said "you're fired."

It did him no good that he's been with the Highway Department for 28 years. It did him no good that his father before him was in the Highway Department. It did him no good that he was a "good employee," as described by his boss.

Raymond's mistake -- and it was a mistake -- was that he was either (a) trying to be a good guy or (b) using county equipment for personal use. He says he thought it would be helpful to ice fishermen if he cleared some snow around the Crookston boat ramp. That violates the rules.

His boss says he sent a memo out last year warning county employees against using county equipment for personal use. He's got a fish house on the river too, although he says he didn't clear a path to it.

Lives change with stupid mistakes. Have you ever had a boss who gave you another chance? Do tell.

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One fire = One life

Posted at 9:16 AM on December 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

One of the saddest stories around here in a long time is the death last week of Stephen Posniak of Alexandria, Virginia. Posniak, charged with setting (everyone seems to concede it was an accident) the Ham Lake fire in northern Minnesota that burned thousands of acres, destroyed 150 buildings, and cost $11 million to put out, killed himself.

From all accounts, Posniak was a nice guy who loved the Boundary Waters and couldn't live with the stigma of being "that guy" once the government decided it would extract its pound of flesh, even seeking its $11 million back. Pozniak didn't have $11 million.

Clearly the guy messed up, but surely someone is wondering whether the prosecution was appropriate. "Can't someone just make a mistake?" they ask.

"I'd known Steve since we were classmates at Wilson High School, and what this represents is an accident caused by carelessness, turned into a tragedy by Mother Nature, and then compounded a thousandfold by the malicious zeal of a prosecutor," Andy Moursund, a long-time friend said (Washington City Paper).

Others say people should be held accountable for their contribution to an incident.

OK, then.

The Edge, a blog in northern Minnesota, points out today that on the day before the fire, the U.S. Forest Service sent out this memo:

Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:17 AM
Subject: Fire Restrictions

There are no fire restrictions in place for this week in the BWCAW, so
what that means is visitors can have a campfire.

Gunflint Ranger District
2020 W. Highway 61, Grand Marais, MN 55604

Says the writer: "The email was sent despite the fact everyone living in the forest was will aware how dry the forest was and that over the next few days high winds were predicted. Lighting any campfire was certainly stupid but what about the actions of the USFS to even allow fires under such conditions?"

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Where were the regulators?

Posted at 3:43 PM on December 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Economy

I watched It's a Wonderful Life the other night at the end of another bad week of worry about the economy, hoping for a reminder about perspective. It didn't work, but not for the reasons you might think.

I'd driven up to Ely and back on Friday and so I spent much of the day hearing about the economy. Have you heard? It stinks and it's only a matter of time before it swallows all of us, the narrative seems to suggest.

I couldn't get the day's bad news out of my head as I watched the movie. Here's why: In the course of one afternoon, Uncle Billy misplaced the credit union's receipts, Mr. Potter stole the envelope with the cash, the state banking investigator showed up to audit the books, a warrant was issued for George's arrest and the investigator and cops showed up at the Bailey household a few hours later. All in one afternoon!

Boy, those were the days.

Bernard Madoff ran a Ponzi scheme that ripped off $50 billion (including $100 million from Twin Cities investors) and nobody who was supposed to notice noticed. Bloomberg reports today that the Securities and Exchange Commission never inspected Madoff's books, even though it was required to:

Given what the SEC claims is the magnitude of the fraud, this is something you would hope an inspection would have uncovered," said Mercer Bullard, a University of Mississippi law professor and former mutual-fund attorney at the SEC. "It's hard to imagine a fraud of this alleged size not being accompanied by significant and pervasive compliance problems."

On National Public Radio today, Jim Zaroli reported that a securities industry official warned the SEC in 1999 that Madoff's returns were too good to be true.

Congress doesn't seem to be in too big of a hurry to find out what's going on at the SEC, according to the Wall St. Journal:

A spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee which will be the key in writing the new regulatory structure for the financial industry, said that "in due time" the committee would work with the SEC to see "what if any, failings of policy" were revealed from the alleged Madoff fraud. He said Frank hasn't been in touch with the agency.

On NPR's All Things Considered this afternoon, a former SEC official said there aren't enough people to keep up with the crooks (although he didn't use that word). It's a view shared by Columbia Law School professor John Coffee, who told the Journal that the agency is overworked and typically only examines 10% of the new funds that are registered.

The Madoff story, of course, is huge. Even the Dow's drop today is being pegged on it. But Matthew Goldstein, writing in BusinessWeek, suggests it's no bigger than Tom Petters' alleged scam in Minnesota:

Consider how little national coverage a similiar alleged Ponzi scam involving Minnesota businessman Tom Petters has generated. Sure, the alleged damages in the Petters affair are smaller--but a $3.5 billion loss isn't chump change. Some six-dozen hedge funds and their hundreds of individual investors suffered huge losses when federal prosecutors alleged that Petters was borrowing money for several companies that existed on paper only. At least a few of the victims include wealthly widows in their 90s, living in Florida, who invested in one of the hedge funds.

If there's anything to salt away from the Petters and Madoff cases (and the economic meltdown in general) it's this: If you're making money with an investment, find out why.

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Protecting property: The right to spray

Posted at 8:01 AM on December 13, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

As I am entering the "you kids get off my lawn" stage of my life, this story from Willmar resonates:

A 50-year-old man told authorities he was fed up with teens toilet-papering his house during homecoming week. This year, he decided to defend his property -- with a squirt gun filled with fox urine.

Now, Scott Wagar is in trouble with the law. He pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in Kandiyohi County District Court to misdemeanor assault and other charges. He was released on personal recognizance.

I'm not much of an outdoors guy but where does someone get fox urine? At the Fox Urine 'R Us store?

The excellent West Central Tribune has the answer:

Fox urine, it turns out, is readily available online and in stores that sell hunting supplies, pesticides and critter repellents. A visit to Google yielded 192,000 references to the stuff.

The story is causing some reaction, as you might expect. Kentucky checked in on the comments section of the newspaper story:

I am form Kentucky. This is the dumbest stuff i have ever read about. i cant beleive the police are that dumb. I am only 30,,but back when i was a teenager,,,we would get rocksalt or bird shot from a 12 guage in our backside. if you know what i mean. i cant believe this even made the news........how dumb!!!!!!

Fox urine, as it turns out, is regularly used by Christmas tree farms to discourage theft.

Still unanswered, however, is how the Willmar man attacked his attackers. How do you spray fox urine? Do you just keep it in a bucket by the door?

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Sources

Posted at 8:27 AM on December 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

There was a tough call in the investigation of Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich. It was made by the Chicago Tribune, the now-bankrupt newspaper which has new friends today just because of the enemies it has (By the way, yesterday was a good reminder of why we still need newspaper reporters turning over rocks and making enemies on a daily basis).

The Tribune had the "goods" on Blagojevich's alleged corruption but didn't print the story because the feds said it would jeopardize their investigation into Blagojevich. The investigators hadn't yet placed the bugs in Blagojevich's home and office, according to reports.

"In the course of doing our work, we talked to the U.S. Attorney to get comment as we would with any story and at that point they indicated if we publish at that moment, it could jeopardize an unfolding investigation," editor Gerould Kern said. "It's always a difficult decision." (See video)

It's obvious that on this story, the Tribune didn't need much more than a comment from prosecutors for the story they had, but probably extracted a promise from prosecutors for either additional information, or an early tip-off when the governor was going to go down. There had to be a quid pro quo of some sort (Aside: Read the complaint against the Illinois governor).

Fast forward to a story this morning in the St. Paul Pioneer Press about allegations that a backer of Norm Coleman funneled cash to the senator through a business in Texas. The story was headlined:

FBI reviewing allegations involving Norm Coleman ally, source says

The headline makes clear that the story is based on a single source and while the assertion may be true, there's no indication there's any second confirmation, a pretty standard protocol in basing a story on an anonymous source.

It's not like the Pioneer Press didn't try as evidenced by two responses it got:

The Coleman campaign issued a statement last night:

"We are not aware of any investigation that is under way, nor have we been contacted by any agency with respect to this matter. As we have said repeatedly, we welcome any investigation of these lawsuits by the appropriate authorities to get to the bottom of these baseless, sleazy and politically inspired allegations."

And a spokeswoman for businessman Nasser Kazeminy had a similar response when asked if Kazeminy had been contacted by investigators." We have no information along those lines. What you're telling me is news to me," Amy Rotenberg told the Pioneer Press in a statement that invites hours of parsing.

As for the FBI, the Pioneer Press got the same answer you'd get if you called to ask if the FBI was investigating you. "We do not confirm or deny the existence of any investigations."

Conclusion: The Pioneer Press doesn't have enough yet to make the feds nervous about jeopardizing an investigation that may or may not be taking place.

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Guns in Mumbai

Posted at 8:30 AM on November 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A News Cut reader asked on Wednesday whether the people in Mumbai are allowed to own guns. The answer, apparently, is "yes," judging by blogger Amitabh Bachchan, who wrote a post the other day that concluded with a single line:

Before retiring for the night, I pulled out my licensed .32 revolver, loaded it and put it under my pillow. For a very disturbed sleep.

Apparently, he got pretty well roasted by some commentators and newspaper types, so he's back with a scathing post today:

When I say that I am ashamed of performing an act I have never enacted before, that of pulling out my gun and putting it under my pillow, it is far far removed from your myopic and small-minded interpretation that I do so out of fear. If I had fear I would not volunteer to walk into the bullet along with the millions of my countrymen.

The act of pulling out my revolver is a symbolic metaphor, a figure of speech, to demonstrate my complete loss in faith in the system and in the governance, in providing me, a citizen of India, with my rightful sense of security. It is to demonstrate that now I shall have to personally look after my family and myself and not depend on the state. A state that is just so miserably incapable of protecting its citizens.

AND.. dear pen-pencil pusher, it is also to state, that the level of my tolerance and belief has been breached to such an extent that, were the perpetrator to mess with me and get close enough, I would not hesitate to use said, revolving, six gun facility !!

I'm haunted by photographer Vinukumar Ranganathan's observation that he tried to get Indian police in the railroad terminal to shoot the few gunmen who were in the process of killing scores of people. They wouldn't. If they won't, who will?

Meanwhile, things in Mumbai are getting (mostly) back to normal.

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You are the editor

Posted at 9:07 AM on November 28, 2008 by Bob Collins (16 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

It's a slow period in the news business, so it seems to me that selecting the top story of the day is easy -- and it's not about shopping, a story that is done every year, the same way, on the same day, and never has any real substance to it. It's Mumbai. But then again, I'm old school.

So let's play "you are editor." You're the person who decides what story will be at the top of the newspaper, or lead-off the nightly TV newscast, or be at the top of your organization's Web page.

Last night, as Indian commandos stormed Nariman House in Mumbai (where, unfortunately, the five hostages were killed), KSTP led its 10 p.m. newscast with a shocker -- get it? -- about the state High School League pushing for AEDs in school, CNN featured Larry King talking to some Hollywood bimbo, and Nightline presented a piece on mental illness among veterans, which -- while important -- has been done many times. If you wanted to follow the story on TV, you were out of luck; it wasn't being covered on any national or local channels.

This morning, a check of the major news Web sites in the Twin Cities (about 10 of them) shows that only one -- the Pioneer Press -- considered the Mumbai story the top story. It's a particularly puzzling situation when you consider that the assault happened after people went to bed.

True, the Mumbai story lacks the "elusive Minnesota connection" that we newsies here seem to insist is necessary for Minnesotans to grasp the complexities of a story, but doesn't this story transcend that? And are we really that insular or do news bosses just think we are?

You decide. You're in charge. In what order would you present the day's news, keeping in mind you want people to pay attention to what you have to say? (And be sure to give a reason, you know how your reporters can be!)

By the way, if you're not really into the long lines at Victoria's Secret or Best Buy, you might be interested in following this excellent blog from Mumbai.

Update 10:49 a.m. - I wonder if part of the "problem" (if you consider what's been described as a problem) is an outdated portrait of what a "Minnesotan" is. This image from a story MPR's Mike Edgerly a few years ago is intriguing:

They're all Minnesotans, too. Are their news needs being satisfied? Are they different?

11:11 a.m. a.m. Here's how one area news crew made its decision. This is a screen grab of a Web page at a TV station in Boston, which was once considered the best local TV station in America.

Not only is the top story about a murdered blonde, white TV anchor (Update 6:47 p.m. Just so we're clear here. News is a tough business so my questioning the value of the anchorwoman story is not meant to diminish the value of her life. However, as editor,you do have to explain why her life is more newsworthy than the nearly 200 who died in Mumbai, or even --in this case -- the two people who were killed on Boston's streets on Thanksgiving that weren't considered newsworthy.) but the Mumbai story isn't listed anywhere on the page. It comes up in rotation with 5 other stories -- holiday shopping, someone hit by an Amtrak train, and what kids are thankful for). The Mumbai story is last in rotation. You'd have to watch the screen for 21 seconds (a lifetime for Web pages) before Mumbai appears. So that's how they ranked their story choices, fyi.

The page is put together by the Mendota Heights-based Internet Broadcasting System.

Update 2:40 p.m. Here's how some papers played it:

The Birmingham paper thought it was neither the top, nor second story, but third, about on a par with "Bama fever," which now that I think of it, is a world threat.

The problem in Anchorage, perhaps, is they can't see India from their backyards.

In San Francisco, it turns out cable cars are old technology. Who knew?

The Denver Post, an area with neither cable cars nor "Bama fever." The other paper in town, the Rocky Mountain News (owned by the same person who owns the Pioneer Press) also had just the India story on page one. A lot of people in journalism like to suggest DeanSingleton , the owner, is a threat to the future of journalism. Not today.

In St. Cloud, the big story is the auto dealers are surviving. PS: The hostages died.

What does St. Cloud know, that Lincoln, Nebraska doesn't?

Update 2:58 p.m. - For some really compelling pictures, check out the Boston Globe. Some are very graphic, however. (h/t: Peter Berge via Twitter)

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Latest Mumbai coverage

Posted at 7:59 PM on November 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Here's a couple of social media sites that are providing actual information from Mumbai (as opposed to just repeating TV reports)

Mumbai Help -- Is a blog that probably has provided some of the best on-the-ground coverage so far. Today it has put together a five-page list of dead and injured. It's a horrific way to find out your loved one has been killed or is in a hospital, but it's an appropriate statement on the horror of the attacks.

Dina Mehta -- I'm not exactly sure who she is, but she has a social networking blog in Mumbai with some information. But her biggest contribution has been her Twitter page. Twitter has been very helpful in providing information on the attacks early on. But over time, the signal-to-noise ratio has made it difficult to determine who's got first-hand information, and who's just chatting. She's one person who actually has good information, and in one section of her page she calls attention to an abundance of bad information on Twitter that has been rebroadcast by mainstream media, certainly a topic for another day.

Update 1:31 p.m. - Here's a spreadsheet of the dead and injured.

Attention now is turning to who is responsible. The BBC says the siege represents a change in tactics, but by whom? Is Pakistan somehow responsible? Some are saying so, which is frightening since these long-time enemies both have nuclear weapons.

U.S. intelligence officials are said to be examining Pakistan's role.

update 7:56 p.m. - One of the more intriguing rumors of the day was that Israel was sending a commando team to India. The Jerusalem Post, however, reports Israeli officials are denying the report, while at the same time letting India have it for the way it's handled things. The New York Times, meanwhile, has the story of a Brooklyn rabbi who is apparently being held.

NDTV has the last interview with the head of the anti-terrorism unit, who was killed in the assault. He was responding to charges that the ATS used torture in investigating terrorism in India.

update 8:06 p.m. On Twitter @vinu, the person who provided the first images via Flickr yesterday, is posting about action taking place outside his home in Mumbai.

By the way, here's an excellent article from France on how blogs and social media have covered the story.

update 8:29 p.m. - This blog in India has been looking at terrorism and, in particular, strategy.

8:30 p.m. -- Like many people, I'm following the situation in Mumbai and blogs and Twitter have been quite helpful. Social networks have been invaluable in following news of this terror, but not until you figure out which two or three are actually doing citizen reporting, and which are just repeating what they've seen on TV or elsewhere.

Still, it's a strange, strange feeling watching Twitter tonight. Between incredible posts from Mumbai, are many talking about people setting up tents outside Best Buys in advance of Friday's shopping.

One thing worth thinking about and perhaps discussing is how this situation -- described as India's 9/11 -- is followed compared to, say, 10 years ago. We've become accustomed to terrorism so we go about our business and catch up when we can. This evening I'm thinking about the Achille Lauro hijacking and the death of Leon Klinghoffer in 1985. And also the TWA 847 hijacking (also in 1985), during which John Testrake became a household word.

It was so different then, that people would be glued to the TV or radio. While this story has been of great interest worldwide, it's had to compete -- and not always successfully -- with the silly and trivial.

One fairly wonders if a 9/11 were to happen in the U.S. again, how much different our reaction and attention to it might be, compared to 2001.

9:18 p.m. - Vinu has just posted new pictures of the assault.

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Mumbai attacks

Posted at 3:05 PM on November 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

if you are in Minnesota and have any contacts, family or friends in Mumbai or insights you'd like to share about Mumbai, please contact me.

Gunmen today have been carrying out a series of attacks in Mumbai, India, targeting British and U.S. nationals and they may be holding hostages. The motive for the attacks was not immediately clear, but the city has frequently been targeted in terror attacks blamed on Muslim militants, the Associated Press reports. The Times of India says an unknown group -- Deccan Mujahideen -- is responsible.

Teams of gunmen stormed two of the city's best known luxury hotels and a landmark restaurant. A British restaurant-goer at one of the hotels told Sky News television that the attackers were singling out Britons and Americans.

Here is a Flickr feed of images from there. (link updated)

NDTV.com is providing excellent coverage (the image above is of one gunman, as grabbed off a video feed by NDTV) and reports at least 90 are dead. You can watch live coverage here although it takes forever for the player to load.

A blog has been set up to help victims and is also providing updates, although it also is loading very slowly.

IBN live is providing a live stream, but disappointingly, it's "citizen journalist" section has absolutely nothing. I also recommend this Twitter stream.

Britain's Sky News also has some streaming video.

update 3:29 - IBN is streaming live via CNN.com

3:34 p.m. - Here's a Google map showing the attacks

3:35 p.m. -- Again, Twitter has some of the best coverage with people in Mumbai relaying information.

3:38 p.m. Mumbai Metblogs has additional coverage. Not great. But it's something. (h/t: Steve Mullis)

3:41 p.m. - CTV in Canada is also now simulcasting the IBN feed online. 78 now said to be dead.

4:07 p.m. - This is one of the more compelling images from the Vina photostream on Flickr (linked earlier)

Keep in mind it's early in the morning in India, and dozens of people are forming barricades.

4:12 p.m. - From the archives: A Christian Science Monitor account of bombings in Mumbai in 1993, outside the Taj hotel, which is now on fire.

4:32 p.m. - State Department number for Americans wanting to check on status of other Americans in Mumbai: 1-888-407-4747

4:38 p.m. - I'm checking on the status of Northwest Airlines crews in Mumbai. A News Cutter tells me they stay at the Trident Hotel, which reportedly was one of the hotels where hostages were taken. A Northwest spokesperson says they're "working on a statement." But there is no indication that any Northwest employees are affected.

4:47 p.m. - According to Northwest Delta spokeswoman Kristi Baur, "Thank you for your email. We have been in contact with our crew members and we are working to get them home safely.

Here is our statement regarding Mumbai. "Our Safety and Security departments worked quickly and all Delta and Northwest crews have been contacted, and we're trying to get them home safely. Customers traveling to Mumbai may rebook or cancel their flights without incurring fees. Delta considers the safety and security of its passengers and crew its number one priority."

4:50 p.m. - The number for Canadians to check on Canadians. Department of Foreign Affairs at 1-613-996-8885 from inside Canada or 1-800-387-3124 outside.

4:53 p.m. - The South Asia Journalists Association is hosting a Webcast on today's events from 9-10:30 CT this evening. Guests include Benjamin Piven, former Fulbright Scholar in Mumbai; Suketu Mehta, author, "Maximum City: Bombay Lost & Found" and others. To listen in, go here.

5:09 p.m. - A blogger's first-person account of going out to a friend's gallery opening in Mumbai around the time of the attacks. She wasn't involved.

A petrol pump was blown up in Colaba, a couple of minutes walk from where we are. And, just a minor statistic, no doubt, amid the horror of today: a diner was shot while coming out of Indigo Deli, where we were standing minutes earlier.

5:13 p.m. - From the BBC, some images from Mumbai. Strong image warning.

5:37 p.m. - Posted today on YouTube, a tourist's video of the Taj in better times.

5:40 p.m. - Signing off

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The laser threat

Posted at 2:46 PM on November 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

If you're under a certain age in Minnesota, you can't buy a can of spraypaint because you might paint a bridge or railroad car with it. You can't buy an American flag that's not made in America because it might.... well, I haven't quite figured out why yet. But if you want to buy a laser pointer, you can walk right in to the laser-pointer store, pay your money, and walk out with a weapon that could bring down a plane load of people, apparently.

Officials in the Twin Cities reportedly are investigating nine cases of someone with laser pointers shining them at jets, potentially blinding the pilot.

It's happening around the country and, according to some news reports, with increasing frequency:

On Monday, police in California arrested a 50-year-old man and charged him with shining a laser pointer on a traffic helicopter. The man is a laser pointer salesman and may have been upset about the helicopter hovering around his home.

There have been six cases reported around Montreal this month. An Ontario newspaper this week called for tougher penalties.

In the UK last month, a teenager got a suspended 20-week jail term for pointing one at a police helicopter.

In Scotland recently, the pilots of a 747 had to cover their eyes in the last seconds of their flight, a newspaper reported. That's not a good thing.

Back in the '90s, someone in Woodbury shined a laser pointer into the eyes of opposing quarterbacks for North St. Paul. That community's then-state-rep, Betty McCollum, filed a bill to make it a crime. It passed the Senate 6-0, but died in the House in 1999, and nobody's taken up the cause since as near as I can tell.

And that's an odd thing, perhaps, in a country that raced to ban mouthwash, toothpaste, and bottles of water from carry-on after someone figured out that somehow they could be used as weapons against airplanes.

Australia has banned them. New Zealand may.

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Expensive campfires

Posted at 12:31 PM on November 20, 2008 by Than Tibbetts (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

In California, a homeless man was ordered to pay $101 million for setting fires that burned down 160,000 acres of national forest. The court also sentenced him to four years of prison.

Slate asks: "How's a guy who sleeps in a tent supposed to pay $101 million?"

We've got a similar case in Minnesota, where authorities have charged a man with leaving a fire unattended that soon turned into the 75,000-acre Ham Lake fire in 2007.

That fire — Minnesota's most destructive fire in 80 years — cost $11 million to control and burned 150 buildings.

Although the cases differ in terms of intent — the California man committed arson whereas the Minnesota fire was caused by carelessness — one could expect that, if convicted, the alleged Ham Like fire starter will be asked to pay for it.

So how does the state collect millions of dollars in restitution? The kicker, courtesy of Slate: It doesn't.

Instead, he's expected to pay a tiny bit every month until he dies. The man, Steven Emory Butcher, currently receives $1,000 a month in Supplemental Security Income, which is basically welfare for the elderly, disabled, or blind. The federal court ordered that Butcher would pay $25 to Los Padres National Forest four times a year while in prison, and then $50 a month once he's released. No one expects him to deliver the entire $101 million--even a spokesman for the prosecutor acknowledged that the odds of Butcher paying it off were "extremely slim"--but they do expect him to pay what he can.

The good news for Ham Lake residents though, is that they'll have full protection from forest fires thanks to a $3 million grant from FEMA to install external sprinkler systems.

Full protection from forest fires, that is, when the forest grows back.

(Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Incident Command System)

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Small-town news

Posted at 1:56 PM on November 14, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

When you're a reporter for community media -- a small-town radio station or a newspaper in a suburb -- you have a different role and a different relationship with people than the big-shots. In many ways, it's a better relationship, and the stories are more meaningful, too.

The Shakopee Valley News is providing a great example of that this week. Unfortunately, it's happening in the context of the killing last week of Ruth Ann Maddox. Readers of the paper are submitting remembrances of their encounters with her on various stories. It's a not-to-be-missed read.

Her husband is charged with second-degree murder. The story appears in this week's paper, pretty near Maddox's last story about a 5-year-old who's collecting crayons and coloring books for orphans in India.

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Identifying RNC victims

Posted at 7:57 AM on November 12, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

Last week, the St. Paul Police and Ramsey County Sheriff's Office asked the public for help in identifying a man who was apparently assaulted on the first day of the Republican National Convention.

Maybe they're getting somewhere. Maybe not. An e-mail today claims:

I dont know if you guys know who the victim in the RNC protest is yet but he is my husband's uncle, (name withheld). He is the man with the white shirt being assaulted by the rioters and I'm not sure if he has filed any charges yet, but I believe that he should. We are a military family and I believe that, from the sign he was holding, apparently fell to the ground as he is being assaulted, he was there to voice his opinions about military servicemen and families like us.

I'm trying to contact him today.

Update 10:09 a.m.: Bogus phone number

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How to ruin your day

Posted at 12:37 PM on November 7, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Just by looking out the window of the world headquarters of News Cut, we see a lot of good reminders. Unfortunately, today's is a reminder to pay attention to people in crosswalks.

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Picking judges

Posted at 9:58 PM on November 5, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The Minnesota Lawyer blog posted this fascinating video of the deliberative approach we take when it comes to voting for judges.

Most of the races on my ballot were uncontested. Why don't more people want to be judges?

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The override six

Posted at 10:05 PM on November 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

10:14 p.m. - Rep. Jim Abeler has won re-election. He is one of the targeted Republicans (by Republicans) who were punished for voting to override Gov. Pawlenty's veto of the increase in the gas tax. The seat of another Republican who was run out of office by her own party -- Kathy Tingelstad -- has fallen to Democrats.

Republicans had hoped to make hay out of the outrage over the increase in the gas tax. So far it hasn't worked, although a couple of races may go their way. In District 56B, Republicans ran a merciless campaign against Rep. Marsha Swails over the vote, and the DFL did little to help her. She's trailing in her race so far. Swails is now leading her race.

10:22 p.m. - The DFL has lost District 51A. It was an open seat and that was a "yes" gas tax vote.

10:41 a.m. - Aaron Peterson's DFL seat is in danger of falling to the GOP. The DFL is up by 100 votes in the open seat race.

10:43 p.m. - Rep. Rod Hamilton, one of the GOP's "override six" wins re-election .

10:52 p.m. The lone House seat in the hands of an African American in Minnesota will stay in the hands of an African American. Jeff Hayden wins Minneapolis Rep. Neva Walker's seat over Green Party candidate Farheen Hakeem.

10:57 p.m. - Forty-eight House races have been decided. The DFL has picked up a net gain of one seat (Two seats went GOP to DFL; One went GOP to DFL)

11:27 p.m. - The first "Override Sixer" falls. Rep. Ron Erhardt falls to Republican Keith Downley. Erhardt was running as an Independent.

11:34 p.m. With half the vote in Rep. Frank Moe's DFL seat is tilting Republican. John Persell is trying to hold onto the Bemidji seat for the DFL. It's early in that race.

11:39 p.m. Override Six seat of former Rep. Bud Heidgerken stays Republican. Paul Anderson wins the seat easily.

11:41 p.m. - There's only one Override Six seat left. District 41B where Rep. Neil Peterson lost in the primary. The DFLer and GOPer are separated by just 115 votes with half the vote counted. Slight edge to the DFL.

12:11 a.m. - Incumbent DFLer Shelley Madore loses her District 37A seat (Apple Valley) to GOP challenger Tara Mack. She is the first DFLer to vote for the gas tax to lose her seat to the GOP tonight.

12:16 a.m. Rep. Marsha Swails retains her District 56B seat rather easily as it turned out. Julie Bunn retained her seat in District 56A. Is Woodbury losing its reputation as a GOP stronghold?

12:36 a.m. - Still 25% of the vote is out, but District 41B is looking like it will go to the DFL.That's Neil Peterson's seat, the final member of the Overrride Six, who lost in the primary. So the GOP's targeting of its own party cost it two seats to the DFL.

12:37 a.m. - That's it for me for tonight. We'll pick it up in the morning.

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The unspoken fear

Posted at 3:50 PM on October 27, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The ATF says it's disrupted a plot to assassinate Barack Obama and who among us is surprised?

For most of the the last two years, it's been the unspoken fear that , coincidentally, has been spoken in the last few weeks.

Just last week, for example, Saturday's Globe and Mail shocked its readers in an op-ed piece that started, "where were you when Barack Obama was shot?". The article takes the easy way out -- connecting a potential assassination with the McCain-Palin tone of the last few weeks. But there's plenty of demented skinheads in America that had people concerned long before now.

More shocking still isn't that people are so worried about an assassination, but that so many people actually expect it. Charles Onyango Obbo, writing in Kenya's Daily Nation last week said, "an Obama victory would leave many Third World intellectuals and nationalists either jobless, struggling for relevance, or scurrying back to the drawing boards to explain an America led by a black president. Of course, they will also wish that he met some misfortune at the hands of a red-neck."

Update: Here's a site in Wisconsin showing a flyer it says was distributed in Wausau. However, I see nothing there that connects it with the Republican Party.

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Copycat vandals?

Posted at 12:08 PM on October 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

The cars of a Missouri congressman were vandalized overnight, with the message being the same one that was spraypainted on the homes of some of the congressional delegation in Minnesota.

Given that it happened a day after all the publicity about the Minnesota assaults, it's unlikely it was part of a coordinated protest.

(h/t: Tom Weber, MPR)

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State worker alleged to have embezzled $1.1 million

Posted at 4:39 PM on October 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

An indictment was unsealed today against a Minnesota state worker who allegedly embezzled more than $1.1 million.

At the time the allegation first surfaced -- September 26th -- I asked, "So now the question isn't when did it begin, but when did it end?" And now we know: September 10th, 2008. It started in 2003.

According to the indictment (which you can read here), Kim Austen, 47,of Hudson, headed the Department of Human Services unit that submitted Medicaid claims for payment. Starting in August 2003, the indictment says, Austen created an account for an adult man who was not a Medicaid provider, then added dummy invoices into the state's system that automatically generated checks.

At a news conference last month, Sen. Linda Berglin said the woman was caught thanks to some recently implemented controls. "This would not be able to happen today," she said. "It got started before the controls that are in place today were installed, and this hasn't got caught until today."

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The YouTube 'bombings'

Posted at 7:19 AM on October 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

I had an interview on Future Tense today with a tech writer who selected "viral video" as the technology having the most impact on the '08 campaign.

There's the other side of the coin, too, where video is concerned -- and by "video," of course, I mean You Tube.

Up in Superior, Wisconsin, three 13-year olds have been linked to a "series of small homemade bombs that had gone off around town over four days," according to the Duluth News Tribune.

They were inspired, the story says, by videos on YouTube.

They couldn't be "inspired" by algebra videos?

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Prison time for accidental fires

Posted at 3:24 PM on October 21, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Every now and then we here stories, as we did today, of people being charged with setting forest fires accidentally. Although we don't often hear of prison sentences, they're not rare in cases like this.

Stephen Posniak, 64, is charged today with starting the Ham Lake fire, which burned 118 acres in Minnesota and Canada, by leaving a campfire unattended, and then lying to Forest Service officers. As usual, the cover-up is what gets you in trouble.

He faces five years in prison.

Earlier this year, a former Forest Service worker was sentenced to six years in prison for accidentally starting the 137,000 acre Hayman fire in the Pike National Forest in 2002. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the millions of dollars; tough to do on a government salary.

Another Forest Service employee, this one in Arizona, got two years in prison in 2007 for starting a prescribed burn that got out of control.

In 2003, a woman who admitted she started the worst fire on record in the Sequoia National Forest got 18 months in prison. She had lit a campfire that get out of hand.

Things went easier for a hunter who started one of the biggest forest fires in California history when he was sentenced to just 6 months of jail time, rather than the 5 years in prison he could've faced. Thousands of people lost their homes and the judge ordered the man to pay $150 a month restitution. The fire started when he got lost and set a signal fire. Fifteen people were killed in that fire.

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The things he carried

Posted at 5:37 PM on October 20, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A few years ago, my sister visiting me from Vermont, had a potential problem when heading back home. Vermont doesn't have photo IDs to show the security agents along with her boarding pass. And she had a bag full of knitting with, of course, knitting needles. I was sure she'd be spending another night at Casa News Cut after being turned away, but she had a pretty good plan. "I'll find a security agent who looks like a grandmother and knits," she said.

She got through faster than I ever did.

Though it impressed the heck out of me, apparently it wasn't such a big deal. Anybody can get through security at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, suggests an article in this month's The Atlantic magazine.

In Minneapolis, I littered my carry-on with many of my prohibited items, and also an Osama bin Laden, Hero of Islam T-shirt, which often gets a rise out of people who see it. This day, however, would feature a different sort of experiment, designed to prove not only that the TSA often cannot find anything on you or in your carry-on, but that it has no actual idea who you are, despite the government's effort to build a comprehensive "no-fly" list. A no-fly list would be a good idea if it worked; Bruce Schnei­er's homemade boarding passes were about to prove that it doesn't. Schnei­er is the TSA's most relentless, and effective, critic; the TSA director, Kip Hawley, told me he respects Schnei­er's opinions, though Schnei­er quite clearly makes his life miserable.

"The whole system is designed to catch stupid terrorists," Schnei­er told me. A smart terrorist, he says, won't try to bring a knife aboard a plane, as I had been doing; he'll make his own, in the airplane bathroom. Schnei­er told me the recipe: "Get some steel epoxy glue at a hardware store. It comes in two tubes, one with steel dust and then a hardener. You make the mold by folding a piece of cardboard in two, and then you mix the two tubes together. You can use a metal spoon for the handle. It hardens in 15 minutes."

Jeffrey Goldberg also used fake boarding passes, made by an acquaintance on a laser printer. But it's not just our local airport, according to his article.

The reaction of the people in charge? A spokeswoman characterized the article as "more of an entertainment piece than a treatment of security. ... It's absurd to think that we take things from people because of what they wear," according to the Star Tribune.

She acknowledged no level of security can provide 100% protection.

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Naming names

Posted at 9:01 AM on October 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (14 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Not much has changed in Twin Cities newsrooms since I wrote an article in 1999 on the clumsy application of ethics when it comes to naming the names of people who are arrested on the suspicion of committing a crime, but who have not yet been charged.

Remember Richard Jewell? He was the guy who was arrested for the Atlanta Olympics bombing. He didn't do it, but he was named as a suspect and that was enough to ruin his life at the time.

Minnesota Public Radio has a policy of not naming suspects until they're charged precisely for that reason. But everything gets blurry when (a) Another media source names the name and (b) the person is "famous."

Today, the news is out that the co-host of a popular talk show on a Twin Cities radio station has been arrested -- but not yet charged -- for allegedly possessing meth. Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. In any event, it doesn't matter anymore. At best, his career is over.

Read the old article and then let's hear your opinion.

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Seat belt crackdown

Posted at 2:36 PM on October 11, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

The Minnesota State Patrol is starting a crackdown on seat belt use, according to a story today on MPR.

There is one clarification needed. In Minnesota, you can't be stopped for not wearing a seat belt. The Legislature toyed with the idea of making failure to wear a seat belt a "primary offense," but the bill failed in the House last May.

However, if you're stopped for some other infraction -- and how difficult is it to stop you for some other "infraction"? -- you can be charged with violating the law if you're not wearing a seat belt.

One of the exceptions? If you're driving a car in reverse, you don't need a seat belt.

The bottom line. It's the law that you have to wear a seat belt, but you can't be penalized unless you are stopped for another reason.

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Running from Petters

Posted at 5:11 PM on October 10, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Yesterday, several politicians announced they intend to either return or donate campaign contributions from Tom Petters, the Minnesota businessman who is now in jail awaiting trial on fraud charges.

Today, at least one business is also trying to put some space between it and Petters.

TCF Bank issued a statement late Friday saying, "Neither TCF Financial Corporation, its subsidiaries, nor any senior executive of TCF Financial Corporation have any investment or lending exposure to Petters."

Meanwhile, David Brauer at MinnPost reports one of Petters' companies closed its doors today.

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City sued over RNC raid

Posted at 5:54 PM on October 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

According to a news release that's crossed the inbox, lawyers for a homeowner in St. Paul are suing the city over a police raid on the eve of the Republican National Convention.

Says the release:

The first lawsuit resulting from the police invasion of a St. Paul home prior to the Republican National Convention will be announced at a press conference October 10. Notice will be served on the city of Saint Paul that lawyers representing Michael Whalen will seek $250,000 in damages. Whalen's duplex on Iglehart Avenue was cordoned off by St. Paul police working with the FBI and Homeland Security people. Whalen and his tenants and guests were held at gunpoint for several hours, not allowed to leave - and no one allowed to enter.

It has not been disclosed what prompted the raid. An FBI agent (perhaps Scott Zimmerman) had requested entry an hour earlier. When denied he apparently called the St. Paul authorities who sent two dozen or so officers into the streets, alleys and entrances of Whalen's home.

When these officers also were denied entry, they held the premises under armed guard while police tried to create a legitimate reason for an invasion. After an hour or two, Officer Langfellow swore that Mr. Whalen had supported Irish Independence some 20 years ago, had co-owned a bookstore for a whole year with Sarah Jane Olsen also 20 years ago, had recently failed to put his address numbers on one half of the duplex and had received heavy boxes by US Mail.

The sworn affidavit, supporting the request for a search warrant, also contained a straight-out falsehood about Whalen's activities that day. Amazingly, a judge of the District Court found all this sufficient to issue the warrant - for the wrong address! The items listed in the warrant for seizure did not include Irish literature, letters from Ms Olson, unused address numbers nor the vegan literature in the heavy boxes.

It might be noted that Whalen's guests included journalists who are part of the growing people's independent press movement, which documents and web-publishes police abuse around this land of ours. Some of these folks were raided again elsewhere and some were arrested as they documented the new face of St. Paul, formerly the most livable city in America.

Mr. Whalen is represented by attorneys Ted Dooley and Peter Nickitas, both members of the National Lawyers Guild. Dooley will be among the speakers at the press conference.

On Thursday, MPR's Laura Yuen took a look at St. Paul's protection against lawsuits like this, an insurance policy the city required the organizers of the convention to buy.

The city required the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee to buy insurance costing $1.2 million that would pay up to $10 million in damages. The policy doesn't have a limit on legal expenses.

That means St. Paul won't have to tap its self-insurance fund unless the damages exceed $10 million. The policy also covers other cities that provided officers for security during the RNC.

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The sentencing

Posted at 12:08 PM on October 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A judge today sentenced Olga Marina Franco Del Cid to 12 1/2 years in prison for the accident that killed four students aboard a bus near Cottonwood in February.

The accident has been a lightning rod from the start, not only for the tragedy, but for the fact that the woman, who still denies being the driver of a vehicle that hit the bus, was in the United State illegally.

Now, the sentence itself is part of the controversy.

"That's IT! This is insane!," one commenter on the West Central Tribune Web site said after the sentence was announced.

"She should get the death penalty for killing those kids. Then we wouldn't have to waste more resources on illegals. Maybe that would send a signal. If you are here illegally and get caught, you hang," said another.

Things aren't any quieter on the Marshall Independent's bulletin board.

Typical online commentary, or does it speak to the emotion of the immigration issue in an area of the state where it is more acute?

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Petters and Fingerhut

Posted at 5:11 PM on September 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Economy

Clearing out the inbox.

People are still trying to figure out why federal agents raided the worldwide headquarters of Petters Group earlier this week. Tom Petters has his hands in many different business, but a look at a statement released by Fingerhut yesterday indicates the involvement of Petters in the operations there has been somewhat diluted:

Minneapolis -- Fingerhut Direct Marketing, Inc., a leading direct-to-consumer marketing company, today announced its business operations continue as usual and are not affected by the investigation of Petters Group Worldwide by law enforcement agencies.

Fingerhut is an independent, standalone company in which Petters Group Worldwide is a passive minority stockholder. Petters Group has no involvement in the day-to-day management of the company.

Fingerhut's financial strength is excellent, having recently completed a new round of equity financing of more than $50 million of additional capital from controlling investors Bain Capital and Battery Ventures.

Fingerhut Direct Marketing, Inc. is an online and catalog retailer of general merchandise featuring more than 500 national brands and nearly 25,000 items. The Fingerhut brand has been in existence for more than 50 years and has enhanced the lives of millions of customers through its commitment to high quality merchandise, convenient and flexible credit terms and extraordinary levels of customer service. FDM Inc. is headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn.

Bain Capital. Controlling investors. Sound familiar at all? It's the company founded by Mitt Romney.

Update On the bigger issue, a warrant has been unsealed that provides a glimpse into what the feds think they've got on Petters.

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Bad timing

Posted at 10:20 AM on September 26, 2008 by Bob Collins (7 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Health

There's never a good time to have a scandal in a gubernatorial administration, but the one that's apparently hitting Gov. Tim Pawlenty is especially ill-timed.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press, citing sources, says an employee of the Department of Human Services allegedly stole $1 million from the Medical Assistance program for the employee's personal use.

How does one person in an agency of 7,200 people steal a million dollars by him or herself without anyone noticing until now?

According to the paper, that question -- and any others -- will go unanswered:

Terry Gunderson, a spokeswoman at the Minnesota Department of Human Services, said no information about any ongoing investigation would be made public.

Now, about that timing thing. The state just went hat in hand to the federal government (most of the money that funds the state's Medical Assistance program is federal money), asking for more time to explain why Minnesota shouldn't lose $130 million in federal assistance to provide health insurance to low income adults.

Federal Medicaid money is normally targeted for kids, but Minnesota already insures low-income kids through the state-funded (with a tax on health care providers) MinnesotaCare program, so Minnesota uses the money to insure their parents, by virtue of a waiver from the federal government allowing it to do so. The feds are threatening to eliminate the waiver.

Minnesota isn't the onliy one fighting this kind of battle. The feds are also threatening to strip the cash from Massachusetts, which also has a state-subsidized health care program. That state is trotting out a heavy hitter in the battle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, who is Kennedy, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,

It's been that kind of political year; Ted Kennedy may turn out to be Tim Pawlenty's best friend on the issue.

Update 1:48 p.m. By way of MPR's Tim Pugmire at the Capitol we have an update from Sen. Linda Berglin:

Berglin, who heads the committee that oversees state health care funding, said the embezzlement stretches back more than six years and began before current anti-fraud measures were put in place.

Berglin said she suspected that the employee invented a fictional health care provider to skim payments.

"If this would have happened today it would have been discovered right away," said Berglin, who heads the Senate Health and Human Services Budget Division. "The systems that are in place today were not in place when this began."

Berglin said she didn't know how the fraud was detected, but called it a huge breach of trust.

So now the question isn't when did it begin, but when did it end?

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Music downloading revisited

Posted at 5:08 PM on September 25, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

It took a lot of tries for the recording industry to get anywhere in the courts trying to stop the downloading of music. Now they've lost its only big jury-decided win. A federal judge in Minneapolis has had a change of heart on the way he instructed the jury, and has ordered a new trial for the Brainerd woman who fought the industry.

The judge has now decided that the recording industry does have to prove that Jammie Thomas not only downloaded music from a file-sharing site, but that she also distributed the music, according to Wired Magazine.

The RIAA, which is the music industry's lobbying and litigation arm, fought hard to keep Jury Instruction No. 15 in play. The group told the judge that copyright infringement on peer-to-peer networks is implied, and that it shouldn't have to provide proof of an actual transfer -- because it's impossible.

"Requiring proof of actual transfers would cripple efforts to enforce copyright owners' rights online - and would solely benefit those who seek to freeload off plaintiff's investment," RIAA attorney Timothy Reynolds said in a court filing (.pdf).

It'll be a tough thing to prove. According to an MPR story during the trial, Thomas replaced her computer's hard drive after the sharing was alleged to have taken place.

But if you think you're clear to download and distribute if you just erase your hard drive every now and then, think again. Another federal judge, this one in Arizona, ordered a man to pay more than $40,000 for infringing copyrights on 54 songs.

U.S. District Judge Neil V. Wake declared victory for the labels earlier this month after experts for the recording industry reported that Jeffrey Howell had erased his hard drive.

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A look at the Petters Group

Posted at 12:11 PM on September 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

This can't be good. The feds are raiding the offices of the Petters Group, a fairly secretive private company that buys up distressed companies and then tries to turn them around -- Fingerhut, Polaroid, Sun Country Airlines are some of the company's handiwork.

Last fall, MPR's Marty Moylan profiled Tom Petters.

Petters started the "bottom feeder" businesses when he was 15, selling audio equipment out of his parents' home when the stereo shop he worked in went out of business. He doesn't have an MBA, he dropped out of college after one term, and he owns a house in Minnetonka valued at $5 million. He also has a mansion in Florida.

And he's well-connected politically, giving large amounts of money to both Republicans (Sen. Norm Coleman) and Democrats (Rep. Jim Oberstar and state Sen. Terri Bonoff). CampaignMoney.com lists over $8,700 in political contributions this year.

Petters' son was killed in Italy during a college break in 2004. He donated $10 million to his son's school in his memory.

Petters and the man he bought Fingerhut from -- Ted Deikel -- have teamed up most recently in Enable Holdings, a company that sells "large amounts of excess inventory" on five different Web sites.

Many of Petter's company's Web sites -- including the foundation set up in memory of his son -- are not operating today.

Update 4:49 p.m. This statement has been released by the Petters Group:

Petters Group Worldwide said today that at approximately 9:00 a.m. agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and the Minnetonka Police Department arrived at its headquarters to execute a search warrant.

The headquarters building is closed for today and employees were sent home by the law enforcement personnel on the scene.

Andrea Miller, Director of Corporate Communications for Petters Group Worldwide, said that the investigation pertains to one financial entity that Petters is involved with and the investigation does not involve Sun Country, Polaroid, uBid, Fingerhut or Great Waters Media, the magazine group Petters recently acquired.

Miller said that Sun Country Airlines, which is owned by Petters Group Worldwide, is not affected by the investigation and continues to fly its normal scheduled and charter operations.

Petters Group Worldwide is cooperating fully with the investigation. The company will make additional information available as it is known

Petters Group Worldwide is a privately held company and as an active manager, they support the organizations they invest in by achieving investment synergies with services, financing and leveraging resources to support growth. The core areas of focus for Petters Group are merchandising, brand management, technology, aviation, real estate and investment capital.

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How to know when a law isn't working

Posted at 9:59 AM on September 22, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Determining whether some laws are working generally takes a fair amount of research. But when an apartment complex explodes, you pretty much have your answer about whether the state's attempts to discourage copper theft are working. They're not, otherwise apartment buildings wouldn't be exploding.

Thomas Deegan, the manager of Minneapolis' Problem Properties Unit, speculated last spring that up to 20 percent of the city's vacant buildings have had their copper pipes ripped out.

On Sunday, the apartment complex in north Minneapolis exploded and arson investigators say copper thieves are the reason. Last March, a house on Colfax also exploded because of a gas leak. It, too, was vacant.

In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature tightened restrictions on scrap metal dealers, by requiring scrap metal dealers to keep records of their metal purchases.

But copper pipes are still being stolen, houses are still blowing up, and somebody is paying the thieves for the copper with impunity.

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RNC fallout is not dispersing

Posted at 8:42 AM on September 18, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

The RNC isn't over and won't be for a long time in the Twin Cities. These developments over the last few days are worth noting:

The Minneapolis City Council, according to MPR's Brandt Williams, will get a report on how the police department handled their end of the protests during the Republican National Convention. But the fix may be in since the police department is doing the report and City Council member Paul Ostrow successfully led the the fight to kill an effort by colleague Cam Gordon for a specific accounting.

"I personally don't see a need for council action," Ostrow said. "I'm going to be blunt about this, because I know what the headlines are going to be, 'City Council calls for investigation of Minneapolis police department.' We don't need an investigation of the Minneapolis police department when the Minneapolis police department is already saying they're moving forward on an After Action report."

Here's the current "investigation" tally: St. Paul will have one, but it won't look at claims of police misconduct. A City Council member, who has made no secret of his distaste for the police actions, will hold a hearing.

In Minneapolis, Mayor R.T. Rybak wants the city's civil rights office to review the method of arrests and citations.

Media watcher Brian Lambert, meanwhile, acknowledges he didn't monitor the offerings of local TV and radio stations because he was "in the RNC bubble," but he says he knows what was going on anyway:

The picture here is fairly clear. The RNC with its promotional potential ( ... money) for our cities, combined with over-the-top police state preparation and intimidation, appears to have cowed not just politicians but also quite a few self-professed brave media voices into avoiding anything that could be construed as consorting with or encouraging the enemy.

Lambert, as you probably figured out, says protester voices didn't get heard in the cacophony of chatty police and politicians.

Why were they protesting again?

Impeachment, according to one of them. Jodin Morey posted a long accounting of the Poor People's March -- aka "the Tuesday protest" -- on his blog this week:

Next, the lead organizer got on the shoulders of another marcher and through a bullhorn announced to the protesters that she was going to deliver a citizen's arrest to the doors of the Xcel Energy Center for crimes against humanity. She made us raise our right hands again and promise that we would stay right where we were and to be peaceful. Everyone I could see raised their hands and repeated the promise back to her. Then she went to the free speech gate that separated us from the front doors of the Xcel Energy Center. She spoke through her bullhorn to the nearest police officer, who was dressed in riot gear.

Even the media is going to review its actions in the wake of the protests. The Society Professional Journalists is holding a forum on Monday to examine why journalists got arrested and how reporters can do their jobs in the future. City leaders and law enforcement officials have been invited to participate.

Meanwhile the "let's do this again sometime" movement slowed somewhat on Wednesday when St. Paul business owners got together to discuss their experiences. Said one business owner:

"We should have been told that the delegates were going to get in their buses, and get bused right to the front door, and right after the event, they were going to be bused right from the front door of the Xcel Energy Center right back to Minneapolis."

On the other hand, four other conventions have been booked since the RNC, according to officials. And another suggested there was no pricetag on the value of Chris Matthews proclaiming Rice Park, "the most beautiful spot in the world." A few days later, Matthews lost his gig at MSNBC for other reasons.

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Palin's e-mail account hacked

Posted at 6:01 PM on September 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Politics

Hackers say they've broken into Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account. according to the blog, ARTVoice. Allegedly, someone with a group called "anonymous" posted the password to Palin's Yahoo account (gov.palin@yahoo.com) on a bulletin board last night, "and a field day ensued," the blog said.

Another member of the group said he changed the password to "avoid further damage."

None of the e-mail was said to be very titillating. The Associated Press reported that the Secret Service asked it to turn over copies of the e-mail it had in its possession. The AP declined, the story said.

Last week, the New York Times reported Gov. Palin uses her personal e-mail account to conduct state business in Alaska to circumvent attempts to subpoenas for public records.

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The Border Patrol incident

Posted at 5:39 PM on September 17, 2008 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

MPR's Bob Kelleher visited a controversy that's been brewing in the Northern woods for some time -- the suggestion by some locals that Border Patrol agents along the Canadian border have been racing along like cowboys, putting the safety of residents in peril.

Much of it focuses on an October 2007 accident:

On a rain-slicked stretch of the Gunflint Trail, a Border Patrol vehicle struck and killed Kenneth Peterson, a prominent and well-liked local doctor. A tree had fallen across the pavement that night and Peterson was out of his car trying to clear it from the road.

The Border Patrol agent, Maranda Weber, was indicted on less-serious charges than some of the locals wanted and is trying to get the case moved to federal court, a move that some fear is the first step to having it quietly go away.

Emotions are pretty high in Grand Marais as evidenced by a writer who sent us an e-mail this afternoon:

I think the public ought to know: 1) There was a large tree down across the road that stopped traffic. 2) Two cars stopped, their occupants got out and left both their headlights and taillights on so that oncoming traffic FROM BOTH SIDES of the trail would be able to see them, and 3) Ken was using a chainsaw, so in addition to a fallen tree across the trail, two pair of headlights and taillights, and two people moving, there was the loud sound of a chainsaw. One wonders what anyone driving on the Gunflint Trail at night could be doing to miss all this; all of us who drive the Trail, even occasionally, know to slow down at night to avoid moose. It would also be hopeful for the public to know how fast the Border Patrol car was traveling when she hit Ken and then hit the tree.
I realize your article has a lot of detail, but feel some essential detail that explains why feelings are high among Grand Marais residents, and their friends, should be included.

Cook County Attorney Timothy Scannell said Weber refused to be interviewed or appear before the grand jury, according to the International Falls Daily Journal, and that the Border Patrol refused to provide basic information like how many hours she'd been working before the accident.

In an article this summer, the Star Tribune said the agent didn't react before the accident. She didn't swerve, she didn't brake, it said.

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The end of lying as we know it

Posted at 12:12 PM on September 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Tech

India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime relying on evidence from a brain scanner that produces images of the human mind in action and is said to reveal signs that a suspect remembers details of the crime in question, reports the New York Times.

Psychologists and neuroscientists in the United States, which has been at the forefront of brain-based lie detection, variously called India's application of the technology to legal cases "fascinating," "ridiculous," "chilling" and "unconscionable."

It's a short distance between "intriguing" and "creepy."

Take the Army's mind control project, which also uses the power of an electroencephalogram...

... improvements in computing power and a better understanding of how the brain works have scientists busy hunting for the distinctive neural fingerprints that flash through a brain when a person is talking to himself. The Army's initial goal is to capture those brain waves with incredibly sophisticated software that then translates the waves into audible radio messages for other troops in the field. "It'd be radio without a microphone, " says Dr. Elmar Schmeisser, the Army neuroscientist overseeing the program. "Because soldiers are already trained to talk in clean, clear and formulaic ways, it would be a very small step to have them think that way."

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Foiling pedophiles

Posted at 6:45 AM on September 12, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

A youth baseball league in Indiana has come up with a plan to "foil" pedophiles. It is banning the use of first names on the back of team jerseys. Apparently, this idea was deemed more efficient than just banning creepy-looking guys from watching baseball games.

"We didn't want someone to come up and say, 'Hi' to Mary or Jimmy or Sally and the kids react thinking that they knew them," said Dad's Club President McGinley in Carmel, Indiana. "We don't believe it's an overreaction. Again, we took into consideration the safety of the youth and the way times are today."

The plan will only work if it's accompanied by a ban on using your son or daughter's first name when cheering them on.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says nearly 800,000 kids are abducted each year. In a 2002 study, about 58,000 kids were abducted by strangers.

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The cabbie debate

Posted at 11:52 AM on September 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

For a case that appeared to test the limits of one's religion within the workplace, a decision today by the Minnesota Court of Appeals didn't have that much to say.

Several Muslim cab drivers have objected to being forced to take passengers who may be carrying alcohol. Under the Metropolitan Airports Commission rules, cabbies have to take whatever passenger gets in the taxi, or they have to go to the back of the airport taxi line (sometimes hours long) and hope they get luckier next time.

According to court documents, there have been 5,222 recorded incidents of cabbies refusing a fare, although it's not clear how many of those are Muslim cab drivers who object to carrying alcohol on religious grounds.

The drivers proposed a special light on their cabs to identify taxis that are intended to be alcohol free, but the MAC said such a move might lead to passengers boycotting those cabbies. Instead, it imposed additional penalties for refusing service -- a 30-day suspension for the first incident, a two-year suspension for the second.

And then there is the constitutional question of whether a taxi driver can assert his freedom of religious expression.

The court wasn't asked about that -- yet -- and didn't address its merits. Instead it refused to overturn a lower court ruling against a temporary injunction on the penalties while the cabbies appeal to the MAC. The court also refused to consider whether the MAC violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

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Minnesota clean

Posted at 10:01 PM on September 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

We've got Minnesota Nice, but are we somehow genetically predisposed here to being honest, too?

In Minnesota, we have our share of government-related scandals, but we're not exactly a state with Teapot Dome-sized misdeeds.

The latest "scandal" in these parts involves the DNR spending $300,000 on a conservation officers program in 2007. A hearing at the Capitol was held on Monday.

But scandals involving state officials seem to fade fast around here, partly because there aren't that many.

Sonia Morphew Pitt couldn't find her way back to Minneapolis when the I-35W bridge collapsed last year. The former MnDOT emergency response coordinator was on an unauthorized trip to the northeast, and made personal calls to a guy on the company phone. With that on her record, she was hired by the Department of Homeland Security. But even this "scandal" appears to be more about stupidity than criminality.

Now think of another Minnesota state government scandal. It's not easy (at least for me).

Jesse Ventura's broadcasting job with the XFL occupied a ridiculous amount of time in newscasts. But how big of a scandal was it, really?

In 1994, a state rep (Alan Welle) resigned at the height of the "phonegate" scandal. Legislators misused the states toll-free phone line for personal calls.

In Minneapolis, a couple of city council members -- Brian Herron and Dean Zimmermann -- have spent time in the slammer. A couple of political allies of Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher were convicted on corruption charges a few weeks ago.

But statewide, three scandals (maybe four but it doesn't "feel" like it) in 14 years seems relatively clean, because it is.

An analysis last year showed Louisiana is the most corrupt state in the country, followed by Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Ohio. In the survey of the 35 most populous states, Minnesota ranked 33rd.

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How did authorities monitor library computer use by suspected bomb maker?

Posted at 4:45 PM on September 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (12 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

Wednesday's news release from the U.S. Department of Justice, detailing a criminal complaint against a Michigan man accused of planning to make Molotov cocktails and bomb the Xcel Center, carried this paragraph:

The affidavit states that DePalma went to the Hennepin County Library on August 18 and spent 90 minutes researching recipes for explosive devices. DePalma produced a handwritten list of items he would need to construct "special" Molotov cocktails that would stick to people and other targets.

How did authorities get the information about Matthew DePalma's activity while online using a Hennepin County Library computer?

"All I can tell you is what's in the affadavit," said David Anderson, a public affairs specialist for the Department of Justice. The affadavit didn't say.

Did the library monitor, and then turn over, records of the computer's use to authorities?" The Hennepin County Library and its employees had nothing to do with it," said Stacy A. Opitz, a spokeswoman for the library.

That could mean it was something as simple as someone watching what DePalma was doing.

Under the Minnesota Data Practices Act, libraries can only turn over information about patrons with a court order. The Patriot Act allows monitoring of electronic (or other) activities of patrons in libraries,something to which the American Library Association has objected. Some libraries, according to the ALA, are destroying computer access records on a regular basis to avoid complying.

But in this case, there's no clear indication how authorities monitored the library's computer.

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Live-blogging: The last protest

Posted at 7:41 PM on September 4, 2008 by Bob Collins (37 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

It's going to be an interesting evening. The last protest of the RNC is starting at 4. You may recall -- if you're a regular News Cut reader -- this is the one that organizers said would be the "more militant" protest, as opposed to the family-friendly one on Monday. "If people are wondering about Day 4, is it going to be safe, is it going to be OK to bring their families, we would say 'yes.' I think the more the better," the organizers said five or six weeks ago. We'll just see.

3:11 p.m. - The situation is, basically, shutting downtown St. Paul businesses. Caribou Coffee in Town Square brings us a pot of coffee because "it's going to be a long night." Besides, they don't need it; they say they've been told to close down. MPR sends non-newsroom people home.

3:17 p.m. - The people who are in line for the Daily Show have disappeared.

In the last two days, the people aren't let in until 5:30. Either the Daily Show is recording tonight's show early, or they want people off the street. The answer to that -- as with everything about The Daily Show -- is a matter of national security.

3:44 p.m. A "Kinko's journalist" (Has laminated credentials that aren't real press credentials) arrives, and appears to have broken every rule in the book about covering protests/riots.

3:46 p.m. Ramsey County announces it's closed the Juvenile Justice Center on West Seventh Street and the Public Health Clinic on Cedar in St. Paul because of the pending protest march.

4:26 p.m. - The left-hand-right-hand department -- Says the Joint Information Center:

Law enforcement officials in charge of security and public safety operations associated with the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul are dismissing as untrue reports that they requested offices in downtown Saint Paul to close early.

4:54 p.m. Who keeps all those police bicycles in shape and what's it like to be a bike cop? MPR's Michael Wells has the answer:

4:58 p.m. Police have told organizers they have to be finished by 5 p.m. (MPR)

5:04 p.m. Most marchers are heading toward John Ireland Blvd., on Rice. A separate group is attempting to go down Cedar Ave. Some arrests are being made. (KARE 11).

5:05 p.m. St. Paul officers on horseback are blocking John Ireland Blvd. (WCCO)

5:11 p.m. Via Twitter @TheInDecider (Daily Show - Michael Kraskin and Dennis DiClaudio) reports march is now a sit-in.

5:21 p.m. - Live video (via cellcam) of the situation.

5:26 p.m. - MPR's Sea Stachura has sent this image of the standoff:

MPR's Steve Mullis says, "Cops on Capitol side of John Ireland Blvd., protesters on the Cathedral side. Chanting loudly. Police are not amused."

5:28 p.m. - MPR's Tom Crann is interviewing the owner of Mickey's Diner. Flashback to Monday night:

"It didn't affect us at all," Melissa Matson said. "There were customers who came in right before and we didn't realize they hadn't been served so we were very apologetic." She says regulars are starting to show up again.

5:32 p.m. Steve Mullis' has sent this image:

5:39 p.m. - Nobody's making a move.

6:01 p.m. - Joint Press Information Center just issued this release:

Law enforcement officials in charge of security and public safety operations associated with the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul are asking for the public's assistance in identifying an apparent assault victim and suspected rioters.

People with information about any of the individuals in the photos are asked to call the Saint Paul Police Department at 651-291-1111

6:09 p.m. - via Twitter @TheIndecider says people are leaving. Would they give up that easy. Looks to me like the police have fortified Cedar at I-94 bridge. The strategy seems clear: Keep 'em on the other side of I-94. So far it's working, easily. The police only need to guard two bridges rather than try to corral protesters throughout an entire downtown as they had to do on Monday.

6:14 p.m. - Police have "retaken" the John Ireland bridge. A small handful of protesters have linked arms.

6:18 p.m. - A line of blue is up around the front of the Capitol. Both main bridges to downtown are clogged with police. The only way this thing gets seriously out of hand is if the few people on the south side of I-94 (who are watching) turn out to be the "anarchists." That doesn't seem likely.

6:23 p.m. - More police have been added to the Cedar St. bridge. Dumptrucks have been moved across the road on the south side of the bridge.

6:37 p.m. - Here's the picture I shot a few minutes ago. Police have reinforced the bridge.

As I shot this, an officer said, "Sir, you have to move back across the street." Yes, I had my press credentials and , no, I hadn't crossed the police line. But -- and this is the first chance I've had to use this as a verb -- I decided not to "Amy Goodman" the situation.

Why don't the protesters move to the next bridge at Minnesota?

Because these people are waiting...

And, besides, there's no way for the protesters to get there. 12th Street is blocked and the parking garage and armory provide a barricade.

Snowplows have been mounted on city trucks and filled with sand. They're being moved in to reinforce things on Cedar:

As more police move up from downtown...

How long can this last? The police didn't take the bait, didn't move in on the protesters, and clearly are trying to avoid a confrontation. John McCain speaks in an hour or so, then leaves, and when everyone is gone, and the 10 p.m. news is over, the police can squeeze whatever protesters are left.

6:52 p.m. - Here's a map of how police succeeded in isolating the protesters from downtown, and the Excel Center.

For those following who are not in St. Paul, the yellow interstate is about 30 feet down from the surface streets where everyone is positioned.

7:20 p.m. Via David Brauer (via Twitter) - City Pages reporter among those pepper sprayed. Their report says they had both followed orders to lie on the ground. Then they were maced.

7:28 p.m. - A woman was just maced and taken away. MPR's Steve Mullis says police are making small advances to get people to scatter and thin out the crowd, and then surrounding those who stay behind, and arresting them.

7:43 p.m. - Part 2 of the bike cops video. Kudos to Michael Wells, Bo Hakala and Anna Weggle

7:51 p.m. - Flickr photostream of this afternoon/evening's events.

7:54 p.m. Via Twitter, The InDecider says a police car window was smashed.

7:58 p.m. - 12 arrests, according to the Pioneer Press. Additional images. Here.

8:02 p.m. MPR's Steve Mullis (via Twitter), "Cops respected press credentials and let us break the line" to return to the downtown section of the city.

8:18 p.m. - Protesters are pretty much broken up. Some tried to get over the bridge at Marion but failed. Police shot flashbangs. Protesters are in small groups and are unlikely to reform -- or be allowed to reform. My son -- who works here -- has just returned and says all of the people he saw get pepper-sprayed by police had just failed to obey an order.

8:29 p.m. - Total arrests will be over 100. We may yet hit the 800 prediction from Sheriff Bob Fletcher.

This thing is over.

Submitted photo:

From Jessica Vogt : "Anti-war protest. Police stop protesters at the John Ireland Blvd. bridge. The crowd gathers."

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Where are the protesters from?

Posted at 4:27 PM on September 3, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

MPR's Steve Mullis has pulled together a Google map (don't click the map above,it's just an image, instead go here.) showing the listed hometowns of people who were arrested in St. Paul on Monday and Tuesday.

It's not a scientific presentation. Many of those arrested are giving phony names and addresses.

We've taken their names off.

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The raid: Part II

Posted at 12:28 PM on August 31, 2008 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

Here's some more video and a few interviews with those inside the St. Paul house that was raided by police on Saturday.

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Scenes from a raid

Posted at 2:56 PM on August 30, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, The political conventions

Sara Coffey is a volunteer with the National Lawyers Guild (she's not a lawyer). She's standing handcuffed in the middle of Iglehart Street in St. Paul. The police who surrounded a home there had warned her, she says, that if she tried to leave, she would be detained.

She tried to leave. Listen

Denis Moynihan, of the group, Democracy Now, Free Speech TV, read an e-mail from those inside the house, saying they were (are) "media activists." Moynihan told me he was on his way to the house to pick up a colleague from a group called, Eyewitness Video, when he saw the police.

Listen

The neighbors watched the show, as did a few dozen media activists, posting material to YouTube and various independent Web sites. Curiously, the only mainstream media at the raid were MPR and Al Jazeera. I suppose I've left the door open for an obvious and cliched comment.

After about an hour of waiting, police officials on the scene told the ACLU that a warrant had been signed and would soon be delivered.

Some months ago, City Pages carried a story claiming police and federal officials were looking for people to infiltrate groups coming to St. Paul to protest the Republican National Convention. The raids on the eve of the convention would suggest they had some luck in that effort.

The raids have put the protest groups on their heels. "The problem for us now is the panic this is causing around the area," one organizer told me. "Phones are ringing everywhere, saying 'the police are coming.'"

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CEO of Bachman's stabbed to death in China

Posted at 11:09 AM on August 9, 2008 by Bob Collins (9 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

All it took for the billions of dollars and millons of hours soaked into the Olymnpic games by China to be made irrelevant was one knife-wielding Chinese man, who stabbed to death the CEO of Bachman's. Todd Bachman, the father of former Olympian Elisabeth Bachman and CEO of Bachman Floral in Minneapolis, and his wife, Barbara, were visiting a tourist spot about 5 miles from the Olympic games.

Says the Associated Press:

The official Xinhua News Agency identified the attacker as Tang Yongming, 47, from the eastern city of Hangzhou. It said Tang attacked the two Americans and their Chinese tour guide, who was also injured, at 12:20 p.m. on the second level of the ancient tower, then leapt to his death immediately afterward. The second level of the tower is about 130 feet high.

"They were not wearing apparel or anything that would have specifically identified them as being members of our delegation" a U.S. Olympics team spokesman said.

One commenter on the KARE 11 Web site offered this testimonial to Mr. Bachman.

Of all the millions of people in Beijing right now, I am in utter disbelief that TODD BACHMAN, one of the most pleasant people I've ever met, was singled out and murdered. He and his entire family are walking examples of "Minnesota Nice." As an old famiy friend, I send my deepest condoloences to the surviving Bachman girls, and all of the family and friends who had the honor of knowing this gentleman, Mr. Todd Bachman.

... and another...

My mom was a manager at Bachman's for many years. Todd Bachman and the Bachman family were so good to my sister and I when my mom died. Todd searched the country for monarch butterflies to release at her funeral. I remember him being a very nice man and my heart goes out to his family in this terrible time.

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The fall of Glen Taylor?

Posted at 2:12 PM on August 8, 2008 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Sports

It wasn't that long ago that the proposed solution to every sports team's ownership misery in Minnesota -- specifically the Twins and Vikings -- was to have Glen Taylor buy it. Back then, though, the Timberwolves were good and Taylor was "one of us."

Taylor is still "one of us" but the bloom is off the successful-franchise-owner rose and now the guy's personal reputation isn't so great either.

The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal details a lawsuit filed by four women against one of Taylor's companies, alleging discrimination.

The suits also allege that "sexual favoritism" at the company, where female employees were retained due to their appearance or personal relationships with managers, extended to two employees who had personal relationships with Glen Taylor. The filings say that "it is common knowledge in the workplace" that one employee is on Taymark's payroll because she bore Taylor's illegitimate daughter and that Taylor placed her with the company rather than pay her child-support payments. The daughter, now an adult, also is on the company payroll, the court filings say, adding that the two women were not "held to the same work standards as other employees."

It's a damning article about a court case whose allegations, we have to point out, have not been proven. The allegations alone, however, may expedite Taylor's fall from sports grace.

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When kids kill kids

Posted at 6:53 AM on August 6, 2008 by Bob Collins (6 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

There can't possibly be a sadder story than the one from Nerstrand, Minn., where a 6-year-old girl shot and killed her 3-year-old brother while she played with a .357 Magnum that had been left unlocked in a bedroom nightstand.

Strong anger mixes with intense sadness with these stories. Leaving a gun unlocked with little kids around is stupid. If you're law enforcement, what constitutes proper punishment when your 3 year old is dead because of something you did (or didn't do)? But worst of all: How do you grow up with the guilt of knowing that when you were 6 years old, you shot and killed your baby brother?

There's an example to be made here, but would it do any good? According to the National Centers for Disease Control, nearly 1.7 million kids live in homes with unlocked guns. And people aren't getting the message, a cursory glance at the news today shows.

In North Carolina, the situation is so severe that Duke University is now asking parents whether they need a gun lock when they bring their kids in for regular physicals.

Several studies, including one in 1996, have shown that merely teaching kids not to play with guns doesn't work, even though parents who own guns often think it suffices, the study showed.

Fifty-two percent of the non-gun-owning parents believed their child could discriminate between a toy gun and a real gun, and 72% of the gun owning parents believed their child could tell a toy gun from a real gun. Fourteen percent of non-gun-owning parents, 23% of gun owning parents, and 35% of gun owning parents with unsafe storage practices trusted their child with a loaded gun. Ten percent of the non-gun-owning parents and 14% of the gun owning parents trusted their child as young as 4 to 7 years of age with a loaded gun, although trust did increase for both groups as age increased. Both groups of parents consistently trusted their own child more than another child with a loaded gun. Eighty-seven percent of the gun owning parents believed that their child would not touch a real gun and these same parents were more likely to store a loaded gun unlocked in their home. This study and others have established that parents have unrealistic views of children's safety around guns, falsely believing their children capable of gun control (Coyne-Beasley, Schoenbach, & Johnson, 2001; Hardy, 2002; Jack man, Farah, Kellerman, & Simon, 2001). Those knowledgeable about both child development and injury prevention refute the trust displayed by the parents in this study on the basis of normal child development and natural curiosity (Farah et al., 1999; Stennies et al., 1999). Developmental theory has provided health care professionals with the knowledge that children will explore their environment. Despite parents' perceptions, children can and do play with real guns regardless of being instructed not to.

But the situation can't be discussed without the cloud of politics. In the debate over the D.C. handgun law, the issue of trigger locks was hotly involved. Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. John Kiine, for example, co-sponsored a bill to repeal the element of the D.C. ban that required trigger locks. Opponents say mandatory trigger lock legislation will do little to curb violence because responsible gun owners already use them, and store their guns safely. They also say a gun that cannot be quickly used, loses its effectiveness as a means of self-defense.

Proponents? They point to dead 3-year-olds.

Is there any sort of answer here on which everyone can agree?

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More counties to spring for public defenders

Posted at 7:10 AM on July 24, 2008 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Out in Nobles County (Worthington), the County Commissioners confirmed what public defender Lisa Kloster ("A Day in the Life of a Public Defender") told me would happen once the Legislature cut the budget for public defenders -- it would be another expense the state bailed on by passing the costs lower on the governmental food chain.

The commissioners passed a resolution to continue funding public defenders for cases involving termination of parental rights and child protection cases, the Worthington Daily Globe reports.

"That left us in a lurch -- the court systems and the counties. If this isn't an unfunded mandate, I've never seen one," Judge Jeffrey Flynn of the Fifth Judicial District told the commissioners this week.

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The thin blue line (Part II)

Posted at 5:09 PM on July 15, 2008 by Bob Collins (2 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice

Yesterday I posted the guts of the indictment against Minneapolis police officer Michael Roberts. This afternoon, MPR's Brandt Williams has more reaction to the indictment, including particulars on Roberts' day in court.

But not every interesting nugget made the story.

Brandt has sent along this tidbit:

According to Minneapolis police officials, officer Michael Roberts was one of the highest paid officers on the force. Public information officer Sgt. Jesse Garcia III, didn't have the exact figures in front of him, but estimated that for the last three or four years, Roberts was making well over $100,000 per year - including overtime.

However, MPR reporter Elizabeth Stawicki, who covered the