by Mary W Maxwell, LLB
As you may know, GumshoeNews’s opinion editor has been on the prowl in America having some unusual experiences in jail. (Not as a prisoner — yet.)
By luck, when listening to a Federalist Society podcast, I discovered the work of Rachel Barkow, which led me to a meeting of whistleblowers that I attended in Washington DC where the speaker was Tom Mueller, author of Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud (2019).
This, in turn, made me find out that there is a lot happening in Justice, including in the US’s most beautiful city, Montgomery, Alabama — as will be shown in a video below.
Marathon Bombing Case
I’m staying in America for the appeal of the Tsarnaev conviction — oral argument is to be held on December 11, 2019. I am unaware of any other Bostonian who is on Jahar’s side, but I’ve sent out many copies of my book The Soul of Boston and the Marathon Bombing, including to a group of taxi drivers who specifically asked me for it. And my hairdresser asked me for 6 copies that she can give to “heads” who are doctors and lawyers.
In the Tsarnaev appeal, 8 lawyers have filed a combined amicus, but they do not suggest innocence; rather they call for a change of venue (Boston having been too heated up by the Marathon tragedy in 2013). My group of 3 amici is emphasizing Jahar’s exculpatory white backpack.
While every man and his dog knows about the 1963 ruling in Brady v Maryland (Ya gotta hand over exculpatory material to the defense), I did not know until now about the US Supreme Court decision in Smith v Cain. There the prosecutor withheld info about the sole eyewitness that would have led to an examination of that witness’s credibility.
Wow. I wonder if there is anything the prosecutor knew about two key witnesses in US v Tsarnaev: Dun Meng of carjacking fame, and Nathan Harman who bicycled past the cruise car of Sean Collier at MIT (and saw nothing amiss!).
Come to think of it, I wonder if the Prosecution knew of the item that Police Supervisor Sgt John MacLellan revealed at my Watertown lecture in January 2018, namely that there was another witness. The sergeant said:
“Girl was at a night class at MIT. Saw the officer get assassinated [!] She was so scared, she ran. Got on the bus. When she got home, told her father. Father called the police station, told what the daughter had just seen. And we sent a police car…[for her] to be interviewed, and as our officer was taking her we got the call about the shoot-out [in Watertown].”
I am skeptical of that whole incident.
Prosecutorial Misconduct
There are many other Brady-based cases from circuit courts (federal, in 10 regions of the US) that are binding only in that region.
The Ninth Circuit, in 1998, decided in Singh v Prunty that the state should have informed the accused that a key prosecution witness was promised certain benefits for his testimony, including favorable treatment on various pending criminal charges. Good heavens — I thought it was the norm for prosecutors to make such offers and did not know they had to point it out to the defense.
The American Bar Association, at its website, comments on its “Rule 3.8 Special Responsibilities of a Prosecutor” as follows:
“A prosecutor has the responsibility of a minister of justice and not simply that of an advocate. This responsibility carries with it specific obligations to see that the defendant is accorded procedural justice, that guilt is decided upon the basis of sufficient evidence, and that special precautions are taken to prevent and to rectify the conviction of innocent persons.”
Sidney Powell’s Stunning Book on Prosecutorial Miconduct
In 2014 Sidney Powell wrote a veritable primal scream about US Attorneys, of whom she had previously been one. The book’s title is Licensed To Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice.
The dedication page is very touching. It says:
“To all those who see, hallow, and do Justice.”
I can’t go into her main case, but it had to do with the wrongful conviction of Arthur Andersen accountancy firm in the famous Enron case. Powell writes (on page 402):
“What happened to the defendants in this book can happen to anyone. Judges blind to prosecutorial misconduct and abusive tactics cannot render justice.”
Regarding the judge’s role, Sidney Powell yells:
“Our system of justice is crying for a culture change. We must return to a system in which prosecutors seek justice more than headlines and in which judges are willing to judge…. Judges are the only immediate and most meaningful check on wrongful prosecutions. Judges are the only ones who can spare a defendant the stress and anxiety of a trial on bogus charges…”
Gee, that isn’t asking too much, is it, O Judges?
Rachel Barkow’s Let Them Out of Jail Book
Now comes Professor Rachel Barkow, a young woman who is faculty director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York University. Her book is jam-packed with information, and wisdom, about such topics as pardons, parole, mandatory minimum sentences, and the relative responsibilities of judges and prosecutors.
The title of her 2019 book is Prisoners of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. On page 192 she notes that the US Supreme Court has recently recognized that it must provide a more robust check against the government, in order to comply with the Constitution:
“More checks are needed on the plea bargaining process than simply a defendant’s ability to take his or her case to trial. In Lafler v Cooper, and Missouri v Frye, the Court held that in cases in which a defendant does not accept a plea offer because of ineffective counsel, the fact that the defendant receives a fair trial does not remedy the ineffective assistance.”
In 2015, the West Virginia Supreme held that prosecutors violate a defendant’s due process rights when they do not provide exculpatory evidence during plea negotiation. Barkow says:
“Complete reinvigoration of the constitutional jury guarantee would require the Court to recognize that allowing the government to impose vastly higher sentences on defendants who exercise their right to a jury trial is an unconstitutional condition on that critical right.”
The Sun Does Shine!
Finally, to a book for which the foreword was written by Bryan Stevenson, whose inspiring Ted Talk will be shown below. The book is by Anthony Hinton called The Sun Does Shine, with the amazing subtitle: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row. The fact that this book was an Oprah Book Club selection for 2018 may explain why it has already had 921 customer reviews at Amazon. Here are three of them:
Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years on Alabama’s death row for two murders he did not commit. And it wasn’t new forensic technology that ultimately exonerated him. It was the perseverance of a handful of men and women willing to turn a mirror on the system itself….
It’s a powerful story full of loss, love, pain, honesty, hope, and, ultimately, survival…. There was no reason to ever believe that Anthony Ray Hinton was guilty of these crimes. None. But that’s not what the legal system is all about. And ultimately it is only the system that can be redeemed. The rest is just human tragedy.
I have been a peripheral witness to the legal system for a long time. And I have known many who are intimately involved in the service of justice who can say little more in defense of the system than, “It’s the best of the alternatives.” That is seldom an acceptable standard for much of anything, but it should never be an acceptable standard when we are consciously and deliberately executing people.
… our politics and our legal system have been corrupted by money at a time when the divide between rich and poor is rapidly expanding.
This is a story with elements of legal injustice, racism, and the plight of the poor. All of these things do exist at a personal level. The cause and effect, however, are structural. And that’s where both the injustice starts and where it must be confronted.
[This story] is beautifully and simply told by Anthony Ray and Lara Love Hardin. It is, however, a story about us. We are the context. Anthony Ray and the people around him simply shine a light inside the institution that we live within. But it’s up to us to open our eyes and see. “The sun does shine.” But you have to open your eyes to see it. And that, ultimately, is the message of this book.
How could anyone spend 30 years on Death Row and be exonerated and still have the faith and the love that Anthony Ray Hinton did? I haven’t cried while reading a book in a long time, but I could not hold back my tears as I lived through Mr. Hinton’s frustration with the Justice system. How blessed he was with unconditional love from his mother, his friends Lester and Sylvia, and his God-sent lawyer, Bryan Stevenson. His observations from the darkness should give any reader a new respect for all human beings. I am so glad that he did “hang in there” so he could share his heart-wrenching journey in this profound memoir. WOW! JUST WOW!!
Dr. J
Most Americans are not aware of the degree to which our justice system is compromised, racist, and increasingly bent to the will of for-profit corporations. The tragic true story of Ray Hinson’s conviction for a crime he didn’t commit and the subsequent 29 years he spent in a 5×7 cell on death row in Alabama before he proved his innocence and won his release, however, will force society’s eyes wide open. And it will be easy to do so, because Hinson tells an easy to follow, compassionate, shocking tale of what happened to him and how. Whether you come to this book with a curiosity about the injustices Hinson suffered or about the grace that he found and the faith that he followed, you’ll come away impressed and transformed. This is a book of suffering, of violence, of broken hearts — and one of resilience, the power of love, and the meaning of faith as well.
That Hinson was able not only to survive 30 years feet from a death chamber, but also thrive and transform many of the men he met during his incarceration speaks to this man’s great good soul and tenacity. He fights not only for his innocence, but also for the reality that he and his peers are people: men of intellect, emotion, vice, and virtue.
Note: Hinton’s lawyer, Bryan Stevenson of Alabama, has been fighting against such preposterous situations as the fact that 13-year-olds can be sent to prison for “life without parole.”
Please watch this video. I recommend you start at 17 minutes, as a teaser, and then go back to the beginning if you wish. The janitorial advice is near the end. This TED speaker is also the author of a very important book: Just Mercy.
So what, if any, penalties are there in the U. S. for prosecutors who fail to fess up?
In Western Australian the “must” is belied by the fact that non-compliance reaps nothing more than paid retirement.
And the fact that the Corruption & Crime Commission is naught but a faction of the Police Department:
https://www.smh.com.au/national/wa-judge-told-police-to-charge-mallard-20070913-yt8.html
https://amallard.blogspot.com/
https://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2008/12/andrew-mallard-travesty-police-officers.html
I’m afraid you are spot on , Berry, on both counts.
But is is helpful that all three of the authors mentioned here are “on the case.” They state unequivocally that the prosecutors are getting away with murder. This is new style writing.
I keep a close watch on this heart of mine….
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The juvenile line-up pretty well encapsulates what the system is all about. I mean why aren’t they being housed with older inmates who’ve earned good behaviour creds? Why is there no acknowledgement that, so far as combating the root cause of offences, being stuck in a peer group is intrinsically counterproductive?
Diane, could you respond to Berry? As Tavistock knows (and capitalizes on) every human foible, they must have figured out the “beauty” of not letting the boys be with good men.
Berry, that is a great suggestion. Thanks!
Berry “And the fact that the Corruption & Crime Commission is naught but a faction of the Police Department:” Exactly -and Police Commissioners are appointed by the Crown as are Attorney Generals and colonial law is above the common law as far as I can observe.
The Tavistock mind control experiments were used to break the spirit of those they wanted to control, take the children from their mothers, destroy the family unit, denigrate the land, culture and language, humiliate and degrade, isolate torture and kill. And youth detention centres, places of incarceration run by Military organisations, along with orphanages, charities, care homes, boys town, boy scouts not to mention all the religious institutions involved in the Royal Commission — all provided the perfect settings for
the cults, pedophile rings, child trafficking rackets that are globally networked.
As shown in the Dondale Youth Detention expose- there were no “good men” no one they could turn to-from the top down–the biggest threat fear terror shame was to be sent to the “big house” to be used as those in control wished. There was little mention of this on the program as these victims suffer the sort of terror and shame that results in suicide and insanity- It takes the soul strength.
There are good men and women who work tirelessly to rebuild, restore, and bring hope and love into young broken lives but –it takes generational long term healing -to bring back the balance of healthy respectful relationships-and it needs to be done outside of the corrupt system.
The worlds best kept secret MKULTRA in Australia.
To support some of my comments above
The price of Shame
Humiliated to death —Shame as an Industry
That is frickin’ brilliant, Diane.
Until now I had always thought the Starr Report was totally faked, and that the incidents in the Oval Office (then dubbed the “Oral Office”) never actually happened.
I had never noticed the fact of money-for-clicks. She says a dirty headline brings clicks and therefore it is the profit that drives it. However, you know, and I know, that Tavistock’s (Dr Day’s) plan to degrade culture would happen even without a financial incentive.
Other advantages of the Monica-and-Bill story were the ability of the media to degrade the presidency (aided by a SCOTUS vote in the Paula Jones lawsuit of course), and the Kinsey-like widening of publicity of intimate acts, hence interfering with intimacy itself, which i consider one of God’s essential gifts.
Thanks also for your remarks above, about No Good Men at Dondale.
Geeeeez.
I think we share the same dna just sharing Kate Tempest
Great work Mary–strength you
Geez, Diane, that’s fantastic. I never saw a girl rapper before.
Always relieved to hear from you so we know they haven’t killed you yet.
They haven’t killed me either which I find perfectly insulting.
I cannot get my head around court rooms and prosecutions anymore. It seems “evidence” has no relevance. Or is the judge hypnotized?
It is clear as day that Jahar is meandering around with a WHITE backpack. There was one photo of him where I had suggested the bag was cropped out — as a circle had been cropped.
Then the pack in evidence is BLACK.
What is going on? Please explain how this case is not thrown out of court just on that basis. Are people colour-blind?
“Hypnotised” is one word for it
Which begs the question “who put them under?”
And why did they allow it to happen in the 1st place?
Always good to be reminded that there’s an element of truth in the “I have no control” mantra
Dee, you think Evidence is out because you hang around in Family Court too much.
Yes, your “it was cropped out” idea led to our petition for a writ of coram nobis, which now that you remind me of it, got no reply from the judge and then no reply a year later (2017) from the Massachusetts general court (i.e., legislature).
Please gimme a few hours to think about the Brady aspect of the backpack, which is the heart and soul of our amici trio, thanks to our counsel, Jack Graham. (Jack thinks the appeal is winnable on that grounds alone.)
I alluded to a Bradyness of the backpack in my article above, but it was overtaken by Sidney Powell’s discussion. You really must buy her book to sample the vitriol. She, by the way, points out that Brady is not a law as such, and that Parliament should fill that deficit. Or Congress or whatever.
Woo-hoo, just this minute an email came in from Watertown — they are having a Halloween competition “Who is the spookiest of all?” Maybe you could put a video together for that contest. Like “who wrote the spooky confession on the boat wall.”
Dee, we need all the help we can get. Jahar might already be dead. (Epstein suicide type thing.)
OK, Dee, here’s your playscript for the movie “Watertown Spook”: Absolutely verbatim except for the bullet-hole marks.
I’m jealous of my brother who ha [hole] ceived the reward of jannutul Firdaus (inshallah) before me. I do not mourn because his soul is very much alive. [Nota bene: According to the “I ran him over” theme, Jahar could not have known at this point that Tamerlan was dead.]
God has a plan for each person. Mine was to hide in this boat and shed some light on our actions I ask Allah to make me a shahied (iA) to allow me to return to him and be among all the righteous people in the highest levels of heaven. [Holy strombole — all this from a 19-year-old pothead!]
He who Allah guides no one can misguide. A [hole] bar! I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger [hole] r actions came with [hole] a [hole] ssage and that is [hole] ha Illalah.
The U.S. Government is killing our innocent civilians but most of you already know that. As a M[hole] I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished, we Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all, well at least that’s how Muhammad (pbuh) wanted it to be [hole] ever,
the ummah is beginning to rise/awa [hole] has awoken the mujahideen, know you are fighting men who look into the barrel of your gun and see heaven, now how can you compete with that. We are promised victory and we will surely get it.
Now I don’t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said [hole] it is allowed. All credit goes to [hole].
[swearda God, Dee, that was given as evidence in trial — in BOSTON!!!!]
In Boston, and not one law student at BU, BC, Suffolk, Northeastern, Harvard, or New England School of Law said “Excu-use me!”
(If I recall correctly — Josee Lepine, help me if you’re reading this — the jury went to visit the boat so they could see the Muslim fanatic’s words with their own infidel eyes.)
But then, Harvard Law students did not bat an eyelash circa 2007 when Michael Chertoff came to give them a talk on rights. What’s Chertoff up to these day, one wonders…
Wow. It says some of the confession was written in pencil and some was carved in wood! Rosetta stone, here I come!
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Great Video Mary only just got to watch it–and great article.
We need to talk about an injustice | Bryan Stevenson
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