Yet another reason why it sucks to be poor

Nowhere in the warning does it say that the government could come and ask you to pay for your appointed lawyer's services.

Kelly Unterburger found that out the hard way. After being arrested in 2011 for possession of a controlled substance, Mr. Unterburger asked the court to appoint him an attorney because he was indigent. By the time his case was resolved in 2014 (he spent the entire time in jail), he was presented with a bill from Johnson County for almost $10,000.

The State of Texas allows counties to recoup the cost of appointed attorneys from defendants, provided they warn defendants that they will be held responsible for the fees.

Prior to September 1, the government had until sentencing to determine whether or not a defendant would be required to pay for his or her appointed attorney. That determination was made on a defendant's financial status up to that point. A new law makes it possible for counties to come back at any time during a defendant's sentence (whether he be in prison, jail or on probation) to re-evaluate the defendant's ability to pay the fees.

Hill County District Attorney Mark Pratt says the bill was designed to protect the interest of law-abiding citizens who are being asked to pay for counsel for indigent defendants.

Bullshit!

The real purpose of the law is to coerce more indigent defendants to plead their cases early in the process in order not to run up high attorney fees. The new law serves to punish those who exercise their right to trial by jury in a criminal case.

This is part of a larger war on the poor that has been waged for decades in this country - and in this state. Most defendants are indigent to one degree or another. They spend months, if not years, in jail awaiting the resolution of their cases because of our for-profit bail bond system. Then, once the case is resolved they get hit with a bill for attorney fees.

Meanwhile the wheels of our criminal (in)justice system just keep a-chugging along.

Ohio botches another murder

This past Wednesday, the state of Ohio attempted to murder Alva Campbell, a 69 year-old who's been on death row since 1997. And, once again, they fucked it up.

On a walk-through of the execution conducted on Monday, prison nurses were unable  to find a functioning vein during a walk-through on Monday. And before I go any further let me say that I can't think of too many things that could be more cruel than making an inmate participate in a dry run of his own execution. The very fact they go through this charade should tell you everything you need to know about why state-sanctioned killing should be abolished.

But when it came time to murder Mr. Campbell, suddenly not one nurse could find a vein. They tried in both arms. They tried his leg. But they couldn't find a suitable vein to pump poison into Mr. Campbell's body.

As another aside, each one of the nurses who participated in either the walk-through or the actual execution attempt should be stripped of their licenses. I don't care how much you may want the money, aiding in the murder of another person is a violation of oath you took when you became a nurse.

After 45 minutes of agony the Director of the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Gary Mohr, called off the execution. My only question to Mr. Mohr is how come it took so long to realize you needed to call it off?

And, while I'm waiting for that answer, maybe someone can explain to me what greater purpose is served by executing an elderly man for a crime that took place 20 years ago.

Murdering an inmate is not a function of rehabilitation and it certainly has nothing to do with correcting behavior. Maybe Ohio should add "and Revenge" into the name of the department.

Gov. John Kasich, who had the opportunity to do the right thing, instead rescheduled the execution for June 5, 2019. Maybe he's thinking Mr. Campbell will make life easier for him and die between now and then.

I'm still waiting...

Fuck Troy Nehls and fuck you for voting for him

Yes, it's low-hanging fruit. But I've been under the weather the last couple of days and it's the best I can do.

I'm sure there are some folks down in Fort Bend County (once you cross the Brazos, you're in a whole different world) who are offended by the language. So fucking what.

I'm offended by police brutality, racism, the growing gap between the wealthy and the working class, war, Donald Trump and his band of wingnuts who take the flack for every stupid thing that comes out of his mouth.

Troy Nehls should know better. Should. But he doesn't because he comes out of the police culture which has become more of an us-against-them mentality as the old white guard tries desperately to cling on to power in a changing landscape. This is the man who is supposed to be the point of the spear for law enforcement in Fort Bend County and he doesn't even know the fucking law is. He might want to review the oath he took upon assuming office. When he says "jump" he expects folks to ask "how high?" and not "why?"

The prosecutor he spoke to who said she would be glad to prosecute the owner of the truck might want to spend the weekend boning up on Con Law, particularly First Amendment jurisprudence. Might be the only thing between her and disbarment.

Now, if this is the way Mr. Nehls overreacts to a situation in which someone expresses an unpopular (at least in the land across the Brazos) opinion, what kind of judgment would he show when the stakes get bigger?

But, in a world where "Blue Lives Matter" is code for "I don't give a shit how badly the police mistreat people of color," what else should we expect. It will never cease to amaze me how much the folks who claim they don't want big government are more than happy to have that same government poke its nose into the business of those who say or do something that is unpopular with the great white mass.

Execution Watch 11/8/2017

Tonight the killing machine strikes again...

RUBEN CARDENAS, a Mexican national, was convicted of murdering his cousin, a teenage girl from the border town of McAllen. Cardenas' conviction must be tossed, say Mexican authorities and his attorneys, because police violated Article 36(1)(b) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Rights when they failed to notify him of his right to contact the Mexican embassy after his arrest.

To read the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals' opinion, click here.

RADIO SHOW PREVIEW

EXECUTION WATCH

Unless a stay is issued, Execution Watch will broadcast live:

Wednesday, November 8, 6-7 PM Central Time

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http://executionwatch.org > Listen

Just kill him

Today the Supreme Court told the State of Alabama that it's okay to kill Vernon Madison, who was convicted of the 1985 murder of a police officer. While Mr. Madison is aware that he is being executed because he killed a police officer, Mr. Madison has no recollection of the murder due to a series of strokes he has suffered in prison.

Mr. Madison is 67 years old. He is legally blind. He cannot walk. And he is incontinent.

What is the point?

Other than he is black and we're talking about the Old Confederacy.

Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor wrote concurring opinions. Justice Ginsburg wrote that the question of whether a person who cannot remember their crime should be executed is a question that has never been addressed by the court. She also wrote that she thought the question deserved a "full hearing."

Justice Ginsburg, this was your chance. Just because the issue hasn't been raised before the Court before doesn't mean you have to vote with your colleagues to authorize a state to kill an elderly infirm man. You might as well just tell the victims of a mass shooting that your thoughts and prayers are with them and then move on to the next issue.

Justice Breyer pointed out that the execution of elderly prisoners is one that is likely to arise again and again going forward. He said he didn't think it prudent to develop rules for the execution of the elderly. Instead he wrote that we need to question the constitutionality of the death penalty.

Good for you, Justice Breyer. You had a chance to do just that and you passed. If you were serious about your qualms on the constitutionality of the death penalty you would dissent on every case upholding the death penalty and say why - just like Justices Marshall and Blackmun. But you didn't have the courage of your own convictions so you just went along with the majority.

Words are cheap. Especially when spoken by those in a position to act against an injustice. Killing Mr. Madison isn't bringing back a dead police officer. It isn't going to undo the trauma his ex-girlfriend went through. Killing Mr. Madison isn't about justice. It's about revenge. It's about a white power structure doing whatever it can to kill a black man.

And if you support the death penalty, that's what you are really supporting.