By: RON COUNTS

CULPEPER — No agencies or commissions exist in Virginia to investigate prosecutorial misconduct and wrongful convictions, and a University of Virginia law professor says that needs to change.

“What the public needs to know is how many more murder convictions have been a result of these errors,” said Brandon Garrett, who joined the faculty in 2005 and specializes in wrong convictions. “There needs to be some sort of audit or investigation done, but that’s very rare.”

The Office of the Attorney General does employ a State Inspector General who “investigates the management and operations of state agencies and non-state agencies to determine whether acts of fraud, waste, abuse or corruption have been committed or are being committed by state officers or employees,” according to the duties described in the Code of Virginia.

However, the same document states, “no investigation of an elected official of the Commonwealth to determine whether a criminal violation has occurred, is occurring, or is about to occur under the provisions of § 52-8.1 shall be initiated, undertaken or continued except upon the request of the Governor, the Attorney General or a grand jury.”

Albemarle County Sheriff J.E. “Chip” Harding said Virginia needs two commissions: One that looks into police and prosecutorial procedures, and a second that investigates cases and convictions after the fact. He even has an idea for how to staff them.

“Some agencies may not think they have the resources,” Harding said. “I’ve been blessed with one of the largest Retired Volunteer Reserve Divisions in the state, and I know there would be a lot of retired guys willing to work pro-bono on these types of things.”

Harding singles out private investigator Stanley Lepakes — a retired FBI agent who donated countless hours investigating the Michael Wayne Hash case, and that organizations such as the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children routinely employ retired law enforcement.

A self-described champion of the Innocence Project, Harding has more than 30 years of experience in investigations, and he’s proud to be one of the first sheriffs in America featured on the organization’s website.

The Innocence Project is a national organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.

“The Innocence Project is about justice,” Harding said. “It’s not just some liberal thing like a lot of people make it out to be.”

Harding summed up the importance of such agencies in one sentence: “If it wasn’t for Michael’s mom, he could still be sitting in jail right now.”

via Hash case: Convictions need to be policed, experts say | Daily Progress.

by Jud Lounsbury

The Wisconsin Judicial Commission, the body that overseas judges and lawyers in Wisconsin, has charged Justice David Prosser with three charges, the most serious being judicial misconduct.

Here is the applicable statute where Prosser is being charged under:

757.81(4)

(4) “Misconduct” includes any of the following:

(a) Willful violation of a rule of the code of judicial ethics.

(b) Willful or persistent failure to perform official duties.

(c) Habitual intemperance, due to consumption of intoxicating beverages or use of dangerous drugs, which interferes with the proper performance of judicial duties.

(d) Conviction of a felony

Prosser has been charged under (4)a: willful violation of judicial ethics for, according to the complaint, forcibly puting his hands on Justice Bradley’s neck and for calling Chief Justice Abrahamson a “total bitch.”

As you can see from the other items under “misconduct,” including conviction of a felony, misconduct is a very, very serious charge.

The catch, though, is that the Supreme Court must decide on the punishment. If this were a circuit court judge being charged with misconduct, that judge would most certainly be removed from the bench, but given the partisan nature of the Wisconsin Supreme Court it is unlikely that any conservatives will rule in favor of any type of punishment for Prosser.

via Breaking: Prosser Charged With Judicial Misconduct | Uppity Wisconsin.

McKINNEY, Texas AP — Billy Frederick Allen spent more than 25 years in prison before an appeals court overturned his convictions in two murders. Three years after winning his freedom, Allen is fighting the state again — this time for the $2 million he says hes owed for wrongful imprisonment.Although the appeals court declared the evidence against Allen too weak for any reasonable juror to convict him, Texas officials say he has not proven his innocence. Therefore, they say, he isnt covered by a state law that generously compensates the wrongfully convicted for the years they spent behind bars.Advocates say Allens case raises new questions about what evidence is needed to qualify for compensation in Texas, where more inmates have been freed because of wrongful convictions than any other state.DNA evidence has led to most of Texas exonerations. But with DNA testing essentially standard in most cases and the number of DNA-based exonerations expected to dwindle, more former inmates like Allen — whose case has no DNA evidence — are likely to account for more compensation cases.

via Ex-inmate struggles to cash in on compensation law – seattlepi.com.

(CNN) — Montana’s chief federal judge has offered his apologies for forwarding a racist e-mail aimed at President Barack Obama. The judge also initiated a judicial misconduct investigation against himself.

Liberal advocacy groups demanded that U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull resign.

Cebull, in an interview Wednesday with the Billings Gazette newspaper, offered his regrets for forwarding the e-mail, saying it was “a hard lesson to learn.”

“To say it’s inappropriate and stupid is an extreme understatement,” Cebull said in courthouse chambers on Wednesday, according to the newspaper. “There is no doubt it’s racist. It wasn’t forwarded for that purpose. If anything, it was political.”

The Billings-based judge was named to the bench by President George W. Bush in 2001. He has been chief judge since 2008, overseeing two other full-time district judges, three senior or part-time judges and five magistrates. His chambers did not return a call from CNN for comment.

Cebull did not write the offensive material, but admitted forwarding the February 20 message to a few friends after it was sent to him by his brother. The Great Falls Tribune newspaper was given a copy and reported the message went:

“Normally I don’t send or forward a lot of these, but even by my standards, it was a bit touching. I want all of my friends to feel what I felt when I read this. Hope it touches your heart like it did mine.

“A little boy said to his mother, ‘Mommy, how come I’m black and you’re white?’ His mother replied, ‘Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!’”

Obama is of mixed race.

Cebull said in the interview his conduct in court over many years has shown he is not a racist, but he admitted the public got that impression from the e-mail. “And I don’t blame them,” he added.

The judge also separately told the Great Falls Tribune, “The only reason I can explain it to you is I am not a fan of our president, but this goes beyond not being a fan. I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.”

Cebull has initiated a process under which a judicial misconduct complaint will be filed and an investigation will start, court officials said.

“Cebull has publicly acknowledged that he has acted inappropriately,” Appellate Court executive Cathy Catterson said in a statement. “Judge Cebull has initiated the process by which a complaint of judicial misconduct will be brought against him. The Judicial Council is expected to act expeditiously in investigating and resolving this matter.”

Some legal organizations said the apology was not enough.

“If he has any respect for his office and for ideals of equality and human dignity on which our country was founded, Judge Cebull will step down today,” said Bob Edgar, president and CEO of the left-leaning nonprofit Common Cause. “The message he has acknowledged circulating demonstrates a lack of judicial temperament that ought to disqualify him from further service.”

It’s rare and generally very difficult to force federal judges from office. They receive tenure, and the Constitution guarantees they can remain on the bench “during good behavior.”

Standards warranting removal are not clear, beyond a violation of civil or criminal law. Congress would have to initiate impeachment proceedings, but the few judges to face that have usually resigned before those proceedings went far.

There is no indication the judge in Montana would be subjected to that.

Before being nominated by Bush, Cebull worked as a federal magistrate judge in Montana from 1998 to 2001.

via Judge asks for probe after sending racist Obama e-mail – CNN.com.

By by Robert Barnes, Published: March 1

An appellate court announced Thursday that it will conduct a judicial misconduct review of Montana’s chief federal district judge for e-mailing what he acknowledged was a racist joke about President Obama.

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull apologized in interviews with the Great Falls Tribune and Billings Gazette. “There’s no doubt it’s racist,” Cebull told the Gazette. “It wasn’t forwarded for that purpose. If anything, it was political.” He added that he is “not a fan” of Obama’s.

Cebull said he forwarded the e-mail to seven recipients, including his personal e-mail address. It was passed on to others, and eventually to the Tribune.

Common Cause filed a complaint Thursday against Cebull with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Cebull also asked for a review by the appellate court, effectively filing a complaint against himself.

The appellate court’s judicial council will lead the investigation.

Cebull was nominated to the district bench by President George W. Bush in 2001 and has served as chief judge since 2008. Previously, he was a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Montana, from 1998 to 2001. He said he has apologized to other judges for the e-mail.

via Judge to face judicial misconduct review for e-mailing racist joke – The Washington Post.

MADISON, Wis.— Legislation under debate at the Capitol would significantly increase compensation for those wrongly convicted and incarcerated.

One of the bill’s authors, Rep. Mark Pocan (poh-KAN’), says a guilty person gets more help from the state upon their release from prison than someone who was wrongly convicted. Pocan and Rep. Garey Bies (BEYEZ) are proposing payouts for exonerated prisoners from $5,000 for every year behind bars to a maximum $50,000 a year.

Wisconsin Innocence Project co-director Keith Findley says the Badger State is dead last on compensating those who are wrong convicted and imprisoned. The organization has used DNA to free 14 wrongly convicted prisoners since 1998.

The State Journal (http://bit.ly/zQnpgo ) reports the bill has little chance of passage this session. But, Pocan’s staff says it’s well positioned for early consideration next session.

via Bill increases compensation for wrongly convicted – chicagotribune.com.

PHOENIX – Sgt. Darren Burch of Silent Witness is stressing how much of a role technology plays in helping to catch criminals.

Phoenix police were recently able to use a cell phone picture to identify a suspect and make an arrest. People are now pulling out their cell phones because they’re always with them.

“These pictures that we are getting now from people with their cell phones, their iPhones are such good quality, better quality in some cases than surveillance cameras,” says Sgt. Burch.

They’re being used to take pictures and video of hit-and-run crashes, robberies, and even shootings, and that’s what occurred at Margaret Hance Park in Phoenix.

A 24-year-old man snapped a picture with his phone after four people came up to him while he was walking in the park. He said they tried to rob him, and they ended up shooting him twice.

That victim remembered seeing the suspects on the light rail too.

So now police have a picture and surveillance video to try to catch them.

Another recent cell phone video clearly shows a robber stealing cash from a register at an Arby’s in Phoenix. The clerk behind the counter took the video, and the suspect was caught.

In Oregon, police say hit-and-run crashes are down because of cell phones. People are snapping pictures of drivers fleeing the scene.

“That’s evidence it literally is evidence. If they have a picture of the suspect before during or after the crime, it is absolutely vital evidence,” says Sgt. Burch.

But here’s the problem — police have mixed feelings about it. It helps them, but it can put the person taking the picture in a lot of danger.

If you’re driving, you shouldn’t be taking pictures, and you definitely don’t want to get a burglar or shooter upset if they catch you doing this – so, you have to be careful.

Sgt. Burch says you should ask yourself: “What situation are you in? Are you in a situation where you need to get out of that environment? Are you in harm’s way already?” and use good judgment before you reach for your phone.

via Cell Phone Pictures Help Police Catch Criminals.

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York is again debating expanding its DNA database, this time to include samples from every person convicted of a crime. The debate pits what backers say is solid science and more solved cases against critics who raise the possibility of tainted evidence and a secret stash of information that favors prosecutors.

The scientist running New York’s DNA crime laboratory said he cannot recall a single instance in 16 years when the lab produced bad genetic information that linked an innocent person to a crime. Instead, the work has helped police identify suspects in 12,000 cases, many of them previously unsolved, and exonerate 27 people wrongfully convicted.

“Every step in the process is associated with scientific controls to assure the accuracy of the results,” said Barry Duceman, a former Yale genetics researcher who was hired two decades ago to launch the state program. The lab repeatedly meets accreditation standards that require strict quality controls, he said.

Critics point to the potential for contaminated crime scene evidence and some processing errors in other states. They say the databank should at least be open to defense lawyers and at best be open to individuals who want to know if their DNA profiles are kept by police.

“The problem, in my judgment, is that the library is secret,” said Edward Blake, a genetic researcher who has produced DNA evidence that overturned several convictions. “That secrecy of the contents of that library is contrary to the principles of a democratic society.”

The Republican-controlled New York Senate recently approved and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo is advocating the so-called clean bill to expand collections to lesser crimes, citing experience that shows many small-timers move on to robberies, rapes and murders that could be solved or prevented.

Since the addition of petit larceny to the databank more than five years ago, DNA collected from this minor crime produced leads in cases involving nearly 1,000 other crimes, including 53 murders.

Pending legislation repeatedly passed by the Democrat-run Assembly would expand DNA collection while increasing database access. That bill also includes mandates to prevent coerced confessions and witness errors by requiring videotaped police interrogations and a system of looking at photo arrays where neither the officer nor the witness knows if the suspect is included, a technique known as double-blind.

Last year, both bills died with no negotiated compromise.

Cuomo said last week he will consider changes to the clean bill, but only if they are strictly DNA-related, telling supportive prosecutors and police he is optimistic about getting that measure passed this year. He said he doesn’t want the bill freighted with the other criminal justice issues.

“They’re making a legitimate discussion for how we conduct investigations, how we do confessions, how we do line-ups. There are a lot of issues that we can discuss,” he said. “This is about DNA.”

via NY weighs expanding DNA bank to all criminals – WSJ.com.

By Rachel Bogart

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is pushing for major changes to the state’s corrections systems, many of which have resulted in concerns about safety. In his recent proposal, Gov. Quinn suggests reducing Illinois’ $1.2 billion prison system budget by 9 percent through cuts to programs and closures to specific prisons. Critics worry it will increase the workload for parole officers and decrease the opportunities for released convicts to go to school or get drug-abuse treatment, possibly leading them to become repeat offenders.

Here are some statistics and facts about the specific cuts and closures:

* The Illinois Department of Corrections reports it employs close to 11,600 people, all of whom help manage the state’s 49,000 adult inmates and supervise another 26,000 parolees.

* In fiscal year 2010, the rate at which released offenders committed another crime was 51.1 percent, down from 54.4 percent in fiscal year 2003. IDOC lays out an approach to reduce this number: Punishing nonviolent offenders in less expensive community options, expanding rehabilitation programs, and supporting societal reentry methods.

* Overcrowding is a major point of debate since 49,000 inmates are being housed in a corrections system designed to hold only about 33,700, noted the Pantagraph.

* Last month, Gov. Quinn proposed closing down the Tamms Correctional Center, Illinois’ only super maximum-security prison located downstate that houses some of the most violent offenders, noted the Associated Press.

* Due to its rural location, closing Tamms has prompted concern for economic reasons as well, specifically that the prison employees 293 people, many of who are from the town with a population of just over 700.

* Similarly, under the governor’s proposal, the Dwight Correctional Center, a maximum security women’s prison that houses 1,018 inmates at an average annual cost of $33,977 per inmate, would also close, according to CBS News.

* Also slated for possible shutdown are six halfway houses, two juvenile prisons, four mental health institutions, and over 20 other smaller facilities located throughout the state.

* The Huffington Post added that in September, Gov. Quinn proposed closing the Logan Correctional Center by Dec. 31, a proposal that prompted protests in Logan County because of the economic fallout it would have on the surrounding communities.

* In addition to the Logan Correctional Center, which was eventually saved from closure, in September, the governor also proposed shutting down the Jacksonville Developmental Center and five other state facilities, reported the Carmi Times.

* September’s suggested shutdowns would have saved the state $55 million but would have also led to laying off 1,900 state workers.

via Concerns Surround Gov. Quinn’s Proposed Prison System Cuts – Yahoo! News.

On TV it looks easy. Fictional CSI investigators zoom into a reflection on a person’s eyeball for an important clue. In real life, it doesn’t work that way. Police across Hampton Roads are often stuck with surveillance video that shows a crime but rarely is clear enough to identify the criminal.

Cameras of all kinds are everywhere; on buildings, buses, trains.

Police hope for eye-level, high-resolution images, but far more often, the videos are blurry.

Norfolk police say a lot of the images are poor quality or too dark.

In most cases, they are not able to use any of the footage. That means that although many of the crimes are caught on tape, some criminals don’t get caught by police.

“Just because there is a camera does not mean it is going to produce good quality video. Having said that, we’d rather have bad video than no video,” says Chris Amos.

So for all that bad video, Norfolk is looking for a high-tech solution. The department wants to hear from companies that can sharpen blurred license plates, fix bad exposures, and even identify masked robbers.

“We know the technology exists. Just watch the History Channel. Watch what they are doing with World War II footage, now they colorize it. The technology is out there to take a grainy video and really, really increase the quality of that,” says Amos.

Police are just looking for information now, they’re not ready to buy.

But Amos says even the most expensive software can be thwarted by a simple ball cap when cameras are installed too high to be helpful.

via Police now turning to tech experts for help to identify suspects on surveillance video – WTKR.