Feds say they will close a women’s prison racked by sexual violence. Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters said on Monday that FCI Dublin, one of six women-only federal prisons, is “not meeting expected standards” and will be closed. The decision comes one month after FBI agents again searched the facility where incarcerated women were routinely sexually abused by staff, who threatened retaliation against whistleblowers. A federal judge has said she would appoint a special master to oversee prison operations. The Associated Press TMP Context: What prisoners want in a warden. The Marshall Project
Nine potential jurors and a contempt motion. Former President Donald Trump’s “hush money” election interference trial began on Monday in New York City with hours of legal arguments over what evidence jurors ultimately will see. Politico Nine people passed the initial round of jury questioning. Dozens of others were excused. The Washington Post Some legal experts say there is a good chance that Trump will be convicted. But just one juror can vote to acquit and spare Trump. The New Yorker Defense attorneys surely will ask key prosecution witness Michael Cohen: Were you lying then, or are you lying now? Politico
A big step forward for condemned mother. A Texas judge signed an order on Monday recommending that Melissa Lucio get a new trial after key evidence was suppressed at her trial 16 years ago. She was convicted and sentenced to death for murdering her two-year-old daughter and was scheduled for execution in 2022. The Texas Tribune Prosecutors signed off on the recommendation. The case now goes to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which could accept or reject the judge’s recommendation. Beaumont Enterprise TMP Context: How Lucio went from abuse survivor to death row prisoner. The Marshall Project
“It normalizes violence as a legitimate solution to political grievances.” How Trump came to embrace the Capitol riot and Jan. 6 insurrection so much that he has made it a centerpiece of his 2024 presidential campaign. The New York Times More: The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument today in a case about the Justice Department’s use of an obstruction statute to prosecute hundreds of Capitol rioters. The New York Times Federal judges have already reduced the sentences of three people convicted for obstructing an official proceeding. The Washington Post Some Republicans continue to side with the rioters. NBC News
Record migration has brought record-breaking deaths to Eagle Pass, Texas, a border town at the center of the nation’s political debate over immigration policy. First responders in Maverick County have run out of body bags and places to bury asylum-seekers and other migrants who tried to cross into the U.S. Local officials say the funding they received from Operation Lone Star isn’t enough. U.S. Customs and Border Protection rescues at the southwest border jumped from under 3,000 in fiscal 2019 to over 37,000 last year. The Washington Post TMP Context: What has Texas received for the billions it has spent on border initiatives? The Marshall Project
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal brought by Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson. He was sued by a police officer in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who was injured by a protester at a demonstration led by Mckesson in 2016. NBC News
There has been a surge in police traffic stops in the Chicago, Illinois, neighborhood where Dexter Reed was fatally shot by officers earlier this month. The officers who shot Reed were already under investigation for other stops drivers said were unwarranted, records show. Bolts More: Reed’s killing raises new questions about the city’s police reforms. Chicago Sun-Times
Two law enforcement agents were shot and killed Sunday evening following a traffic stop in Syracuse, New York. The driver was also fatally shot. NBC News
Mary Moriarty, the chief prosecutor in Hennepin County, Minnesota, was voted into office as a reformer in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Two years later, she’s the target of criticism from both the police and justice reformers. The New York Times
They were once imprisoned in Eastern Kentucky. After their release, they came back to lobby against the construction of a new prison there. Inquest TMP Context: Small towns don’t embrace prisons the way they used to. The Marshall Project
Karma and Donald Trump as his criminal trial begins. “I come away with the surreal yet frankly inspiring conclusion that this very powerful man has become consumed with the ‘nasty’ women who are at long last holding him to account.” The New York Times
Donald Trump’s New York trial a sideshow, at best. “Trump may not be convicted of a felony in the case, and if he is, there’s a reasonable chance of an eventual reversal on appeal. Besides, the charges are so minor I don’t expect they will shake up the presidential race,” argues scholar Richard Hasen. Los Angeles Times No, no, Trump’s “hush money” prosecution is stronger than it first appeared. Slate
A ticking time bomb on abortion rights. Sooner or later, supporters of reproductive rights will have to confront a Supreme Court ruling that revives the Comstock Act, the federal law that could prohibit women from traveling out of state for an abortion. Washington Monthly
Way beyond “Operation Lone Star.” Are Latino voters going to endorse the Republican Party in Texas after the passage of another “show me your papers” immigration law? The Atlantic TMP Context: How Texas leaders deceived the public over Operation Lone Star. The Marshall Project
A unique legacy. The O.J. Simpson case nearly three decades ago “had profound and lasting consequences for domestic violence victims, for their advocates and for court systems.” The New York Times Nicole Brown Simpson, one of the victims, reached out for help in the days before she was killed. The New York Times How the Simpson case changed the law on domestic violence. Los Angeles Times
Cracks in gun immunity. Stymied by politicians and the gun lobby, victims and survivors of gun violence in increasing numbers are going to court with creative arguments to hold more people accountable for mass shootings and other gun tragedies. The Washington Post TMP Context: When parents pay for their children’s crimes. The Marshall Project
Excessive force in California. Officials in Los Angeles County approved a $25 million settlement to the family of an unarmed autistic man who was permanently paralyzed by sheriff’s deputies who shot him in the living room of his home three years ago. Los Angeles Times
How the Senate operates. Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, has a reputation for hard work and dogged advocacy. She also has a reputation, offered by anonymous sources, of scuttling measures that would protect online privacy rights. The Washington Post
What does sentencing reform do, anyway? “Sentencing law changes were generally not associated with changes in racial disparity in imprisonment between 2010 and 2020 in the 12 study states,” according to a new report. Council on Criminal Justice
Reviewing the largest act of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history. A new documentary on the origins of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing does well to “separate the righteously angry from the opportunistic, and the people with legitimate grievances from the exploiters of those grievances.” The Wall Street Journal
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