Crime & Punishment

There is a criminal trial going on in my courtroom today, and I am listening over the intercom. I never pay FULL attention, it's sort of just background noise. This trial is about crack. Honestly, if I was a juror, I would have busted out laughing at the prosecutor's opening statement. It sounded so ridiculous. This guy is on trial because he had a ciggarette pack with crack in it & some items in his house with a "white powdery substance" on them, that turned out to be cocaine. That's all. For that, he is charged with conspiracy & possession with intent. And there is a sentence enhancement because he had more than 5 grams of crack & because he has previous felonies, so he is a career offender. But, honestly, the fact that undercover cops were paid to seek this guy out & arrest him, and that we are spending money on a 4 day trial for these small crimes is actually funny. Now, it's not funny that this guy will likely get convicted & spend the rest of his life in prison. That is terrible. But, from a philosophical, removed point of view, the whole thing is so absurd you have to laugh. Especially because the prosecutor is SO dramatic about it. Like he has uncovered some complex and highly dangerous scheme and he is telling everyone about it around a camp fire. Seriously, get over yourself. With so much going on in the world, how can any of these jurors take this seriously? Maybe they are just comatose.

In other miscarriages of justice, another man in Georgia has been exonerated by DNA evidence. His name is Willie "Pete" Williams and he has been in prison over 21 years for 2 rapes he didn't commit. In fact, the 2 rapes he was convicted of were part of a series of 5 rapes, three of whch were committed while Williams was in jail. Good job Georgia prosecutors, you really came through on that one. Most prosecutors don't even attempt breaking down the "I was incarcerated" defense. But not in Georgia, they drive their pick-up trucks right through it, hootin' and hollerin' all the way. There is a video clip of this story on www.cnn.com/LAW in case you are interested.