Legal Commentary

Early Evening News: Crime Related

By Jeralyn

I'm still at work, but here's the latest news:

• Sen. Dick Durbin goes to bat for former Ill. Gov. George Ryan, asking President Bush to pardon Ryan. I hope Bush listens. His efforts towards a moratorium on the death penalty and his emptying the state's death row due to the large number of wrongfully convicted inmates warrant a pardon.

• PA Gov. Ed Rendell has dropped the moratorium on parole for violent felons. The ban was imposed in September.

  [A] review found the state's evaluation and supervision of parolees were largely effective.

• An autopsy confirms the WalMart worker who died on Black Friday was trampled to death.

• Giants receiver Plaxico Burress appeared in state court on charges of criminal possession of a handgun. Bail in $100k. He has a top notch lawyer, Ben Brafman, who has also represented Sean Combs, among others. Facts below:

The police said that Burress arrived at the Latin Quarter nightclub in Manhattan on Friday at 11:30 p.m. with four others, including teammates linebacker Antonio Pierce and Derrick Ward. The other two members of their party were not football players, according to police. At 12:05 a.m., a single gunshot is heard.

The criminal complaint, released by prosecutors Monday, said that an onlooker saw Burress near the V.I.P. area of the club holding a drink in his left hand and fidgeting his right hand in the area of the waistline of his pants. The witness then heard a single “pop” sound before hearing Burress say, “Take me to the hospital.”

Burress was on the ground, with his legs shaking, when a bloody gun — a .40-caliber Glock pistol — fell out of his pant leg and onto the floor, the onlooker said. Later, Burress, who does not have a permit to carry a handgun in New York City, was treated and released at a hospital before returning to his home in Totowa, N.J.

Dumb? Yes. But worth a three year mandatory minimum sentence? I don't think so.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 01, 2008 (boomark / email).