Total Criminal Defense Blog

WCBS-TV in New York City is reporting that a group of men impersonating NYPD officers who participated in abductions and torture of East Coast drug traffickers has been arrested and indicted in a Brooklyn court for robbery conspiracy and drug dealing as well as numerous other crimes.

The eight men indicted allegedly would meticulously plan their abductions and conduct full-scale police raids as New York City police officers, then detain the dealers as well as family members for up to weeks at a time, torturing the dealers with techniques such as waterboarding while they sold the drugs they confiscated on the street themselves. According to news reports, they conducted up to 100 of these raids in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida. They reportedly also stole around 1,650 pounds of cocaine worth $20 million as well as $4 million in cash.

For more on drug crimes, visit Total Criminal Defense.

Josef Fritzl, an Austrian man who has been in the news lately for apparently locking his daughter in the basement “dungeon” of his home for 24 years, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of his crimes, according to the Associated Press. The brevity of his potential sentence highlights a major difference between the United States’ corrections system and those in many European countries.

To an American, a jail term shorter than the amount of time Fritzl held his daughter prisoner hardly seems fair. In fact, overcrowded prisons and world-record high incarceration rates act as proof that those of us stateside are accustomed to seeing serious criminals handed serious sentences.

But the penal systems in many European countries act differently. Few criminals receive life sentences (even for serial murders), and those who do rarely serve them completely. European systems tend to emphasize rehabilitation of criminals over punishment. As a result, European countries have much lower incarceration rates than the United States.

The recent passage of the Second Chance Act marked a slight shift in U.S. criminal corrections: for the first time since the enactment of “get-tough” sentencing laws in the 1970s and 1980s, the federal government is beginning to focus more on rehabbing criminals it has traditionally only punished.

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 supporting the execution procedures of lethal injection used by Kentucky authorities, writing that in its opinion, the procedures cause no “substantial risk of harm.”

The case in question, Baze v. Rees, was filed by death-row inmate Ralph Baze and fellow inmate Thomas Bowling.  The target of their lawsuit was Kentucky’s three-drug lethal injection procedure, and they claimed that the process ran the risk of causing the men an unnecessarily extreme level of pain that would reach the level of “cruel and unusual punishment.”  The center of their argument was the description of a hypothetical scenario in which the procedure was botched, and the prisoner would appear to be unconscious but would in reality be in agonizing pain.

In the plurality opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts indicated that state executions do not have to be completely pain-free, and that in order for the prisoner’s stay of execution to be granted, it must be proved that “the state’s lethal injection protocol creates a demonstrated risk of severe pain.”  The state had taken safeguards to protect against that hypothetical scenario, and without proof that the procedure would entail that result, Roberts and others upheld the method as constitutional.

FresnoBee.com reports that an Italian man in a California prison for assaulting an ex-girlfriend has begun fasting to protest the health care he’s received in prison. The man claims he’s gotten insufficient treatment for hepatitis C, a potentially cancerous lungspot and spinal cord problems. Prison officials contradict his claims, but with prison crowding in the United States being what it is, it’s hard to know who to believe.

Inmates in Connecticut have reportedly contracted bladder infections after being denied regular access to bathroom facilities and recent reports show that more than 1% of the US population is now behind bars.

Have you ever come across a law that left you wondering “what the heck were they thinking?” If not, then check out this article on some crazy laws. If so, give it a read anyways, as you’re sure to enjoy these antiquated and strange offerings:

• The Criminality of the Absurd: Outdated or Irrational Laws in the United States.

Sure, citizens have access to open records from their local law enforcement agencies.  But in today’s information age, we’ve gotten used to the ease with which we can access things as diverse as open-source code, hit pop songs and government records on-line.  In reality, our ability to use “open” records may be thwarted at the local level if our area law enforcement agencies have made it impossible to do so.

Reason Magazine’s Hit-and-Run blog has a fascinating look at one concerned citizen’s attempt to access Houston police records on force-entry drug raids and complaints filed against HPD for drug warrants.  First of all, the price tag: $100,000 for two requests.  Why so expensive?  Houston keeps its records in paper copy, and to accurately find complaints for drug warrants, employees would have to take the files for 43,456 complaints lodged in the last seven years and look for drug cases.  Amazing!

Imagine what it would be like if he’d tried Chicago!

ESPN reports that PGA golfer Tripp Isenhour was taping a television golf show when a local hawk on the golf course became irascible, distracting him and forcing a retake.  Isenhour responded by whacking a few golf balls at the bird.  The 7th golf ball was the culprit: this ball nailed the red-shouldered hawk in the head, killing it instantly.

Now Isenhour faces Charges of animal cruelty and killing a migratory bird.  In an apology statement released through his company SFX Golf, Isenhour claimed to be “an animal lover,” citing three cats that his family owned from a local shelter as evidence of his naturally sympathetic nature toward animals.

Since 1993, 120 Americans have been taken off Death Row because of DNA evidence that cleared them of the crimes they’d been found guilty of in court, according to an article released by the Associated Press. That number doesn’t include the many innocent people who have been convicted of crimes and freed from lesser sentences.

Last week, Marvin Anderson, who was cleared of charges against him after serving 15 years of a 210 year prison sentence, called for Attorney General Michael Mukasey to begin giving federal funds to state programs investigating cases for which DNA evidence has become available.

Though nearly $14 million was set aside ago by the federal government, that money has not yet seen its way to state programs aimed at investigating convictions involving new DNA evidence. Anderson, along with others who have been cleared of convictions thanks to DNA evidence, plan to speak out against this withholding.

Bobby Joe Helms, known in Florida as the “Hyde Park Rapist,” was cleared for release from civil custody months ago, according to tampabay.com. But he was only just recently released for good. After seven attempts to find Helms suitable housing arrangements, he found a place to stay in Melbourne, FL.

The first place that rejected Helms was a trailer park that housed several other sex offenders. But the management rejected Helms after learning how extensive his criminal record was.

Basically, Helms ended up spending three extra months in custody because of his difficulties finding a place to live. And he isn’t the first. Because sex offenders have very limited options for living and working (proximity to a school or other children’s gathering place is often a consideration), reentering the community successfully can be a challenge. And people who have been convicted of a variety of crimes frequently face difficulties finding legitimate work once they’re released.

Did you know that the FBI has plans to invade the privacy of Americans by compiling “biometric” databases?

It has been reported that data including digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm prints are already being collected, however, there are plans to also gather data including iris patterns, face shapes, scars, speech patterns and even gaits.

The technology is not new. This biometric data is already being used at the Pentagon and and the Defense Department. Also, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly already uses iris scans during some airport security checks.

Read more about the FBI’s 10-year plan to compile these biometric databases in our criminal defense articles section.