In Memphis, a renewed push for passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Commercial Appeal Among those calling for police reform? Vice President Kamala Harris. The Associated Press Two of the officers accused of murdering Nichols in Memphis last month were previously reprimanded for failing to report their use of force during an arrest. The New York Times New York Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD police captain, defends special police units like the one involved in Nichols’ death. New York Magazine Related Analysis: “The case dispatches several assumptions associated with police reform. Including the fact that ‘White people are the sole vectors of white supremacy.’” The New Yorker
A snapshot of sexual assaults in prisons. Thousands of victims of prison rape or other sexual assaults reported the crimes against them from 2016 to 2018, but corrections officials were rarely charged or otherwise punished for their misconduct, a new Justice Department report confirms. USA Today TMP Context from 2018: Prison rape allegations are on the rise. The Marshall Project More: Federal prison officials are investigating why solitary confinement has surged recently, despite an executive order seeking to restrict it within their facilities. NBC News TMP Context: The underground economy of solitary. The Marshall Project
“It’s ironic, but in a really bad way.” A frustrated New York judge this week dismissed a closely watched criminal case against Joseph Franco, a former NYPD detective accused of perjury and other crimes that tainted hundreds of convictions. Franco’s prosecutor, who failed to turn over evidence to the defense as required, was promptly fired. The episode is a public relations disaster for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who has focused on police and prosecutorial accountability during his tenure. The New York Times
Jeff German’s last story. Before the acclaimed investigative journalist was gunned down last September in Las Vegas, he was working on a story about an alleged Ponzi scheme in Nevada that victimized hundreds of people. His colleagues teamed up to finish his work. The result is a story about the leaders of a “gentlemen’s investment club” who promised investors annual returns of 50% by lending money to plaintiffs awaiting damage awards. Some families invested millions in what authorities say was a classic Ponzi fraud led by two men, one of whom has been charged with a crime. The Washington Post
Texas executioners killed Wesley Ruiz by lethal injection on Wednesday. He was sentenced to death nearly 15 years ago for the murder of a Dallas police officer. The Associated Press More: Background on the ongoing fight over the state’s use of expired lethal drugs. Texas Tribune
There’s a “bullet belt” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; four police districts that together account for 43% of all shootings in the city. Some residents there are so fearful of being shot they don’t leave their homes unless they have to. The Trace
Another police shooting in California, another family’s anguish. The family of Anthony Lowe, a man with both legs amputated, wants to know why Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies fatally shot him last week. Los Angeles Times
A Massachusetts prosecutor filed homicide charges last week against Lindsay Clancy, a nurse and mother who is accused of strangling her three children in their home. There’s evidence that Clancy suffers from postpartum mental illness, which may have led to the tragedy. Boston Globe
Officials in Ramsey County, Minnesota, are reviewing 71 cases linked to Michael McGee, the county’s medical examiner from 1985 to 2019. A federal judge in 2021 called McGee’s work “unreliable, misleading, and inaccurate.” CBS News
The police are a law unto themselves. “The absence of legal and, especially, democratic accountability is, or should be, an existential problem for any police reform agenda.” The New York Times More: Blame the U.S. Supreme Court for creating, and encouraging, broad “qualified immunity” laws that shield cops from accountability for misconduct. The Atlantic
Are the Capitol riot defendants getting a “fair shake” in Washington, D.C.? “The government’s conviction rate in jury trials is almost identical to its conviction rate in bench trials. As of Jan. 26, the government had won convictions on 89% of the counts it had tried before juries, while it had won convictions on 88% of counts it tried before judges (108 out of 123).” Lawfare
A big win for corporate lobbyists. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul just vetoed the Grieving Families Act, a wrongful death statute passed with bipartisan support aimed at helping families who have lost loved ones to negligence or recklessness. Slate
United States v. Genaro García Luna. The federal trial of Mexico’s former public safety chief is shedding light on a failed drug war. Mexico should extradite more drug cartel–linked suspects to the U.S. for prosecution. Boston Globe
“When will it all stop/Pause for the greater good.” Students at a public charter high school in Washington, D.C., were asked to write poems about the gun violence in their city. Their work is heartbreaking. The Washington Post
Paging Congress. The FBI failed to provide congressional investigators with emails and documents they had sought as part of their probe into intelligence failures that preceded the Capitol riot. The New York Times
The killing spree. New details about the push by Trump-era officials to execute as many federal prisoners as they could before they were voted out of office. Rolling Stone TMP Context: Witness to the first federal execution under Trump. The Marshall Project
A crisis of indigent defense. Add Montana and Oregon to the list of states failing to provide enough public defenders to handle the crush of criminal cases wending its way through the system. Here’s a look at a few of those indigent defense cases. Omaha.com
Eight seconds. That’s how long it took for a Maryland State Trooper to end a recent traffic stop involving the acting superintendent of the Maryland State Police. It’s unclear what Lt. Col. Dalaine Brady said to the trooper who stopped her. Watch the video. Baltimore Banner
“We are humans back here.” The most recent Texas prison hunger strike has ended after 21 days. Two of the men who starved themselves for weeks say they did so to protest the persistent overuse of solitary confinement by corrections officials. Texas Tribune
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