22 years is a long time

The Innocence Project has a new victory to celebrate: Paul House, convicted and sentenced to death in 1986, has had all charges against him dropped.

"In the three years since the U.S. Supreme Court stepped into this case and sent it back to the trial court, substantial additional DNA testing and further investigation have shown that he is innocent," said Peter Neufeld, the group's co-director. "Each time a layer of this case was peeled away, it revealed more evidence of Paul House's innocence."

Major kudos to the Innocence Project, and a h/t to Glenna & Graham for passing this on.

The New York Times raises some important questions about how we ask questions

Now here's a NYTimes piece every judge, trial lawyer, detective, and P.I. ought to find very, very interesting: Judging Honesty by Words, Not Fidgets.

Here's what's intriguing, and what ought to be seriously considered here in the States:

One broad, straightforward principle has changed police work in Britain: seek information, not a confession. In the mid-1980s, following cases of false confessions, British courts prohibited officers from using some aggressive techniques, like lying about evidence to provoke suspects, and required that interrogations be taped.

Dr. (Ray) Bull (a professor of forensic psychology), who has analyzed scores of interrogation tapes, said the police had reported no drop-off in the number of confessions, nor major miscarriages of justice arising from false confessions. In one 2002 survey, researchers in Sweden found that less-confrontational interrogations were associated with a higher likelihood of confession. (Emphasis added.)

Folks, there's absolutely no reason we shouldn't explore and use the best investigative techniques available. (I'm looking at you, JPD Homicide detectives. Record all of your interviews.) Doing so achieves two societal goals: guilty people behind bars, and innocent ones on the street.

h/t to my old pal lotus.

It's Jim Craig's World, I just live in it

I've decided to take the plunge. I want to thank Jim for asking me to be a part of his blog, and I look forward to the opportunity to post alongside him.

One of my main concerns about blogging has always been my fear of overstepping ethical bounds in discussing cases. Tom Freeland at www.nmisscommentor.com has provided what I believe to be a good example of how to avoid doing so. In keeping with his practice, I'll never comment on one of my cases here. I will also refrain from opining on people who may be witnesses in any of my pending cases. That means no discussion, from me, regarding Dr. Steven Hayne. My posting regarding Hayne will be limited to mere links to articles written by others. Y'all can still talk about him all you want.

That being said, let's rock this.

If At First You Don't Secede . . . (Part III, the "Lily Whites")

This Sunday, the Clarion-Ledger interviewed Wirt Yerger in its "Sunday Morning With" series. You can find it here.

One part of the interview with the senior Mr. Yerger caught the attention of one of my readers:

Question: For our younger readers, explain the conflicts between the "Lily Whites" and "Black-and-tan" factions of the GOP back in the 1960s.

Answer: In the first place, we weren't the "Lily Whites." I came into it after a lot of those battles had been fought. In 1956, it was all over and the "Black-and-Tans" had in large part faded away. Essentially, Mississippi had a puppet party controlled by interests in Washington, D.C., with no discernable purpose in helping advance policies in Mississippi. I understand a lot of people wanted to make race a defining issue for their own political purposes, but to me, principles have always been more important than race. I have always advocated a colorblind society. We need that badly still.

The problem, as my reader points out, is that a contemporaneous article in the Clarion-Ledger documents that the battle between the "Lily Whites" and the "Black and Tans" was still raging as late as December 1959.

In 1956 both factions of the Mississippi GOP sent representatives to the national convention. In the December 1959 C-L piece, Mr. Yerger himself was quoted in his role as state party chair and as a member of the "Lily Whites" on the national party's decision that year to allow Mississippi's 1960 convention delegates to be selected by the state party chair (again, Mr Yerger). He said then that the national GOP's ruling assured the "Lily Whites" of recognition as the true representatives of the Republican Party in Mississippi.

The December 1959 Clarion-Ledger article is here.

If your eyes are better than mine, you can see it above.

Why should we care? Because the history of a group sets the course for the group's development and future. It's especially important because the leadership of the Mississippi Republican Party and its officeholders puts a high premium on the concept of "party loyalty." A long-time member of the State GOP has a lot better chance of being nominated for leadership than does a recent convert. Kirk Fordice and Haley Barbour are the most recent, obvious, examples.

There's no need to witch-hunt: a lot of people made bad decisions in the 1950s and 1960s. But truth is never a bad thing, and the Mississippi Republicans have certainly not "always advocated a colorblind society." Shame on the Clarion-Ledger for letting the Republicans get away with their revisionist history.

Dude, Where's My Intestines? Or My Liver?

Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder . . . here's a story, courtesy of Matt Eichelberger (who else), about Dr. Stephen Hayne, an autopsy, and the discovery after exhumation of the corpse (in an examination also by Dr. Hayne), that all of the organs had been removed from the deceased before burial, and replaced by bedsheets . . .

Read more here

I'm afraid I'm speechless on this one . . . except to say, if it's a crime for a funeral home to fail to dispose of ashes after a cremation (see here), shouldn't it be a crime to remove organs before burial and replace them with bedsheets?

If At First You Don't Secede . . . (Part II)

I previously discussed the buzz surrounding Texas Governor Rick Perry's nod to the possibility that Texas could re-secede from the Union here

The Lone Star Looney has apparently touched a nerve: a number of state legislators have started to push "state's rights" resolutions asserting various powers under the Tenth Amendment. One list of the resolutions is collected by the "Tenth Amendment Center" here

Gee, I wonder what is motivating these "conservative" legislators to pound their chests and bellow out their "state's rights" resolutions? It wouldn't be the fact that the President of the United States is . . . . well, you know, he's at least half . . . . um, yes. I don't think his race is a coincidence, do you?

But we don't need to send the Union Army (1861) or the National Guard (1962) to stop the re-secession crisis. All we need is for the United States Congress to pass the following legislation:

"No post-secondary educational institution shall be eligible to participate in NCAA Championship play in any sport, unless that institution is located in the United States of America."

I bet that stops Georgia, Texas, and yes, Mississippi from talking this nonsense.

Could It Be . . . An Outbreak of Reason in the Magnolia State?

As we wait for voters in Jackson to choose their top two candidates for Mayor, and hopefully repudiate the Empire of Emotion (Imperius Irrationalus Infantus?) of the last four years, there is -- on a topic of interest in my World -- an outbreak of Reason in Attala County.

So check this out: the Star-Herald of Kosciusko, Mississippi reports that the Attala County Coroner, who as recently as Monday asked the Board of Supervisors to contract with Dr. Stephen Hayne to conduct autopsies in that county, has changed his mind.

From the Star-Herald story:

With no medical examiner or pathologist at the top of the state’s food chain, Attala County Coroner Sam Bell thought it was a good idea for the county to hiring Dr. Steve Hayne as the county’s pathologist. On Monday, he asked the Attala County Board of Supervisors to hire Hayne but has since changed his mind.

“It’s a lawsuit waiting to happen,” Bell said on Tuesday citing the fact that Hayne has been removed from the list of state approved pathologists.

For years, many counties had relied on Hayne to do autopsies. In August, Public Safety Commissioner Steve Simpson removed Hayne from a list of approved pathologists. Bell said he was contacted by Hayne less than a week ago and he was told that Hayne had been hired by 38 other counties.

* * * *

Hayne was removed from the designated list of pathologists after the New York-based Innocence Project had accused him of sloppy work and had filed a complaint with the state Board of Medical Licensure, calling on the board to strip him of his medical license. After examining the allegations, the Board of Medical Licensure sided with Hayne. Hayne is now suing Innocence Project officials for defamation.

Hayne also is being sued, along with Hattiesburg dentist Michael West, for their testimony about the 1992 rape and slaying of a 3-year-old girl that led to the death sentence for Kennedy Brewer. Brewer is suing the pair for $18 million. He was freed after spending 15 years in prison for a crime authorities now say DNA shows he did not commit. Another man has been charged with that crime.

Congratulations to Coroner Bell for his wise decision. It's past time for public officials in our State to make the smart decision before rights are violated, innocent people are imprisoned or executed, and family members are separated from their loved ones.

Thanks to Matt Eichelberger for the tip.