We finished the San Diego Superior Courts, and I came across a great story in the process. It's apparently called the Marine Widow case, and that link is to a story about it. Heard in San Diego Criminal Court.
Short version: Marine dies. Wife responds by getting a boob job with the life insurance money, joining wet t-shirt contests, and shagging other soldiers. Also buys herself out of substantial credit card debt. Some chemical tests showed high levels of arsenic in the dead marine's body, so they charge wifey with poisoning him. She gets convicted but reversed on appeal because her lawyer was defective. On the second trial, it turns out that the chemical tests were crap. The numbers on some were so high they were impossible, and on others they were normal.
What did we have here? Reckless prosecution, apparently failing to disclose evidence indicating innocence. Incompetent defense lawyer, but fortunately saved by a more than competent defense lawyer. Apparently Allen Bloom is the go-to guy in San Diego. And an attractive woman and mother of four gets stuck in jail for well over two years unjustly. American justice at work!
Showing posts with label courts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label courts. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Sad thought - human suffering
I'm not sad at the moment, but I was nearly overwhelmed recently when I thought about the volume of cases I see in the courts. I'm not talking about the amount of cases we have. We're quite busy, but that's a good thing for us.
I was just noticing how many people I see in court. In a typical week I might go to a several courts. In a two-day swing I was in Albany City Court - Criminal Part, plus Colonie and Guilderland, and I think one other court.
In each of these courts there might be 100 or more cases going that particular night. Then you start to think ... Guilderland has criminal court one night a week. That means 50 nights times 100 people -- 5000 people a year. Hmm. Colonie has two or three nights a week, with two courtrooms, so that's probably over 10,000 a year. And then you get to Albany. Criminal Part is packed to the gills every day. There are two sessions, morning and afternoon. And there are three courtrooms - though usually no more than two are busy. So maybe that's 50,000 people a year. Many are repeats, or repeat visits on the same offense, but it's still a lot of people. And I'm not including the speeding ticket cases either.
But that isn't what got to me. It was when I started thinking about all the towns and villages across New York State - there are so many places like Rotterdam, Clifton Park, Utica, and so on - and then across the country. I'm not big enough to think globally so I was just overwhelmed by the volume in NY and the US.
All these marijuana cases, petit larcenies, DWIs, assaults, domestic violence, etc. Something is just wrong. Are too many things being brought into criminal courts? Yes, I think so. But even with that, much of what happens is the result of people having some kind of problem. And what gets into the courts is the tip of the iceberg. Our courts are in many ways an indicator of human suffering, and it looks like there's a lot of it going on.
With all my criticisms of judges and prosecutors, etc., I give a lot of credit to them for wading through this tide of human suffering on a daily basis. Public defenders too. It's not nearly as hard on me as it must be on all of them.
I was just noticing how many people I see in court. In a typical week I might go to a several courts. In a two-day swing I was in Albany City Court - Criminal Part, plus Colonie and Guilderland, and I think one other court.
In each of these courts there might be 100 or more cases going that particular night. Then you start to think ... Guilderland has criminal court one night a week. That means 50 nights times 100 people -- 5000 people a year. Hmm. Colonie has two or three nights a week, with two courtrooms, so that's probably over 10,000 a year. And then you get to Albany. Criminal Part is packed to the gills every day. There are two sessions, morning and afternoon. And there are three courtrooms - though usually no more than two are busy. So maybe that's 50,000 people a year. Many are repeats, or repeat visits on the same offense, but it's still a lot of people. And I'm not including the speeding ticket cases either.
But that isn't what got to me. It was when I started thinking about all the towns and villages across New York State - there are so many places like Rotterdam, Clifton Park, Utica, and so on - and then across the country. I'm not big enough to think globally so I was just overwhelmed by the volume in NY and the US.
All these marijuana cases, petit larcenies, DWIs, assaults, domestic violence, etc. Something is just wrong. Are too many things being brought into criminal courts? Yes, I think so. But even with that, much of what happens is the result of people having some kind of problem. And what gets into the courts is the tip of the iceberg. Our courts are in many ways an indicator of human suffering, and it looks like there's a lot of it going on.
With all my criticisms of judges and prosecutors, etc., I give a lot of credit to them for wading through this tide of human suffering on a daily basis. Public defenders too. It's not nearly as hard on me as it must be on all of them.
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