saboma/crime

Life on the other side of the prison setting: mental health.

From the page: "The insanity defense tends to get attention in sensational, high-profile cases: the Unabomber, Lorena Bobbitt, and most notoriously, John Hinckley. Surveys show Americans worry that too many criminals escape punishment by saying they're insane. But, in fact, successful use of the insanity defense is rareâ€"even for defendants with profound mental illness. American RadioWorks Correspondent John Biewen examines one case that illustrates the difficulties of claiming legal insanity: the story of Kyle Zwack. "

I don't believe in the death penalty but bravo! The smartass will get his just reward. Let's give the judge a round of applause for this decision and let's see how smartass the jerk wants to be on November 20th. Suck rocks, cracker!
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From the page: "An Orange County jury has recommended the death penalty for a white supremacist gangster convicted of murder who requested to get on Death Row because he believed its prison amenities are better.

Prosecutors say jurors Thursday recommended death for 46-year-old Billy Joe Johnson in Superior Court in Santa Ana.

Johnson was convicted earlier this month in the murder of Scott Miller. Prosecutors say Johnson took Miller to an alley where two other men shot him for divulging gang secrets during a Fox TV interview.

Johnson is serving a 45-year-to-life sentence for a 2004 gang-related murder. He told jurors he killed two other people to try to convince them he deserved the death penalty.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 20. "

From the page: "Here's why they raided his house:

Madison, who counsels more than 100 severely mentally ill patients in New York, seems to have first drawn attention from the authorities at September's G-20 gathering of world leaders in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. There he was arrested on September 24 at a motel room for allegedly listening to a police scanner and relaying information on Twitter to help protesters avoid heavily-armed cops -- an activity the State Department lauded when it happened in Iran.

A week later, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, armed with a search warrant and backed by a federal grand jury investigation, raided Madison's house, which he shares with his wife of 13 years and several roommates. The squad seized his computers, camera memory cards, books, air-filtration masks, bumper stickers and political posters -- all purportedly evidence that the 41-year old social worker had broken a federal anti-rioting law that carries up to five years in prison.

But a closer look at the court documents leaves the unmistakable impression that Elliott Madison is yet another casualty of the government's nasty, post-9/11 habit of considering political dissidents as threats to national security.

Madison, his wife and his lawyer Martin Stolar say the search violates the Constitution's protections against general searches and prosecution for political speech. The police also seized mobile phones, citizen emergency kits, manuscripts, posters and even the couple's marriage license...

If Madison were an Iranian using Twitter to coordinate government protests, he'd likely be considered a hero in the West. Instead, the self-identified anarchist -- who volunteered in Louisiana after Katrina -- is now facing up to five years in prison for each count a grand jury cares to indict him on.

*Interestingly, they are charged with violations of the same law that was used against the Chicago 7 during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Those convictions were all thrown out."

From the page: "Stewart Nozette, 52, of Chevy Chase, Md., was arrested yesterday on charges of attempted espionage after he was allegedly caught trying to sell classified national defense information to someone he thought worked for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. If convicted, Nozette faces life in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said.

Nozette is a Ph.D in Planetary Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served on the White House National Space Council in 1989 and 1990. He is credited with developing a radar experiment to look for water on the south pole of the moon, the DOJ said. Nozette worked at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory after his White House stint. During the nine years he worked there developing "highly advanced technology," Nozette held a special security clearance that gave him access to Top Secret and critical nuclear weapon design information. "

This is a Level I yard in the Calfornia prison system. It's similar to a boy scout camp. Any prisoner or inmate who has ever been incarcerated here will tell you how nice it is to be housed in it. My late work history consisted as a Clinical Coordinator in a Level II yard. It had its daily challenges. We were always ready to rock and roll in less than a heart beat. We never quite knew for sure when the whole yard of 710 inmates was going to jump. I was responsible and accountable for 62 inmates plus 5 staff. Oftentimes it was difficult to separate the inmates versus the staff when it came to off the wall behaviors and mannerisms.

I loved that job then again, I'm into accountability and responsibility and am not shy to call the shots, if I may be so bold to add.

Scared o dis!

  From the page: "OCTOBER 21--The Massachusetts man arrested today on federal terrorism charges once traveled to New York City and posed for photos at ground zero showing him grinning widely and pointing one finger up in the air. Tarek Mehanna, 27, was named today in a criminal complaint charging him with conspiring to attack shoppers at a U.S. mall, as well as killing an American politician. According to investigators, Mehanna, pictured at right, traveled to Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and Syria to seek training from assorted terror groups. According to an affidavit sworn by FBI Agent Heidi Williams, a search of Mehanna's computer turned up photos of him and others enjoying their trip to the lower Manhattan site where thousands died during the September 11 attacks. In a June 2006 "communication" cited by Williams, Mehanna suggested seeking Allah's mercy on the World Trade Center buildings, "not the sinners that were in it." In another section of the affidavit, an FBI informant is quoted asking Mehanna if his parents knew why he traveled to Yemen. "They know I didn't go there to graze goats," Mehanna answered."

From the page: "Canadian police forces are getting tips on how to track sexual predators and gang members by setting up fake accounts on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter."

You can bet your sweet bippy that  Joe Law is here, too, with the inclusion of Maryland's main Social Security office chumming up to SU members. I've seen them here however it was a couple of years ago. This was during the time when Soc Sec was crying that it didn't have enough staff to process claims in a timely  manner.