Trustees of Freedom
Dedicated to The Right to Counsel December 17, 1999 Vol. 7 No. 5

State Takeover of Juvenile Defense?

DAF Decline May Continue

Plans are in the works for a potential Statewide Juvenile Defense Program. The Juvenile Justice Project is looking at a central state defender office for Juvenile Justice. That would put three legs on the State Defender bug, counting the Appellate Project, Capital Post Conviction, and a Juvenile Project. With that, its becoming more clear that District Assistance, the supplemental funding that was at the core of the initial State Board, will continue to decline as a part of the LIDAB Budget.

Do Public Defenders have a position on that? There seems to be no clear consensus at this point, but things may be more clear when the impact of such changes can be defined. If DAF declines to a point of uselessness, why would local IDB's support a State Program?                                      NEWSLETTERS

DROP THE BURRITO:Death Row Girlfriend Uses Food to Deliver Dope

A death row inmate was hoping to get a bit of holiday cheer from his girl, but the Morning Advocate reported in its December 7th issue that a suspicious guard foiled the delivery.

The report says that a New Orleans woman paid a visit to death row and saw John Thompson. She bought a burrito at the prison, but told a guard she didn't want it and asked if the inmate could have it. The guard agreed, but upon closer inspection found a condom packed with (not necessarily full of) marijuana. Since a November 4th jailbreak from Death Row, the administration has eliminated contact visits. It is not clear whether burritos will now be prohibited.

Y2K PROBLEMS? HOW ABOUT 2 MILLION BEHIND BARS?

There is a "glitch" on the horizon, but it has more to do with society than computers. The Justice Policy Institute says that by early in the new millennium, there will be some TWO MILLION AMERICANS locked up! That means that the country with only 5% of the population of the world will hold 25% of its prisoners!

If you're not scared yet, consider that only 30 years ago, there were only 200,000 people locked up. And we are snapping handcuffs on people at a rate 30 times faster than we did from 1920 to 1970!

The decline in crime doesn't relate to this trend either. In New York, crime is down 38%, but they've got the slowest growing jail population in the country. That indicates that street level policies, such as community policing, have a lot more to do with crime that court proceedings. After all, if the perpetrators were sure they would get caught, they would be deterred. Our society spends too much on jail and not enough on the street, backing up the cops who have to do the legwork to enforce the law.

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Rambo's Diary(Ruminations from the Mind of 'Papa Doc' Rambo, President for Life)

Aspire to achieve, you are almost there... Your dearest wish will come true... You will be fortunate in the opportunities presented to you... Find release from your cares, have a good time...

These are the messages everybody else got in their fortune cookies at lunch the other day. Downright profound and inspiring. Me? I got this one... You will enjoy good fortune (cookie)... No, I'm not joking. Maybe somebody is trying to tell me something. All I know is it just doesn't seem fair.

Everywhere I look, everybody I know is losing weight and getting in shape. I, on the other hand, have decided that after forty is the time to abandon regular exercise and reasonable dietary habits. While I'm "exercising" such good judgment, I think I'll go out and buy some Edsel stock.

I was pondering these things just yesterday as sat on the couch, quart of Baskin-Robbins in hand, (rocky road was the flavor by the way) flipping back and forth between A & E and CMT, with some USA thrown in for good measure. Why do I have urge to say, "It don't get no better than this."?

Just when I began to think it must be me, nobody else has this sort of luck; I ran into one of our local Judges at the July 4th fireworks display. Again, I'm not making this up!

It seems his Honor was on his way home a few nights earlier when he came upon a traffic jam at an unusual place and time. As he worked his way through, he discovered the reason for the backed up traffic was an intoxicated or drugged man who was accosting people in their cars as they drove past.

Since there was a trailer park adjacent to the man's location and he appeared headed that way, the Judge concluded the man would be home and out of everyone's way before the Sheriff's Department could respond to his notifying them on his car phone. Accordingly, his Honor went to his nearby home to join his family for the evening. His wife, a nurse, fearing for the man's safety, sent the Judge promptly back to check on "Mr. Personality" and call the Sheriff's Office if he was still there.

To his Honor's surprise, he was still there and had increased his efforts to win friends and influence people. First, there was the car he kicked repeatedly after throwing himself on the hood in an attempt to stop it and falling off, fortunately not in front of the vehicle. Then, there was the semi at which he threw some piece(s) of the concrete that had broken off the roadway as it passed.

As his Honor waited in line, he picked up his car phone and was in the process of describing the scene to the dispatcher when, to his amazement, "Mr. Personality" picked up the biggest piece of concrete so far, advanced on the Judge's car and threw it through the windshield. The words the Judge will admit to saying at that exact moment are, "OH, MY GOD!" as he ducked under the dash and avoided the juggernaut. I wonder if the tape at Sheriff's dispatch will say the same thing? Since "Mr. Personality" is bound to be my client, I'll find out when I review it.

I guess my luck hasn't been so bad lately after all ! And they say nothing exciting ever happens up here.

This month's HONORABLE MENTION is for The Honorable Danny Tatum, a classmate of mine, who was recently elected Ruston City Judge. He edged out another friend of mine, Rick Gallot, in the runoff.

This month's PARTING SHOT is for the nameless Judge who encountered "Mr. Personality" on the roadside. Next time, remind your wife no good deed goes unpunished. Also, I heard something about a warrant being issued for you for attempted theft of a rock. What is that all about?

Until next time,

J. Wilson Rambo                                                                                                               NEWSLETTERS

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

State v Whiddon 99-1 (La. App. 3rd Cir. 6/2/ 99) 741 So.2d 797

Factual basis was not necessary in no contest DWI plea. Holding that 556.1 does not require it, but instead mandates a knowing and intelligent plea, advice of the elements of crime and penalties only. Court notes presence of counsel as well. Note: Generally, there is a Contitutional requirement that the Court find a factual basis for the charges. If the facts would not support the plea, the court cannot accept it. The decision discusses the issue under an "error patent" consideration of 556.1, so this holding is extremely limited. The factual basis is a requirment of Constitutional Law.

State v Nelson 98 2354 (La. App. 1st Cir. 6/25/99)741 So. 2d 877

Officer's statement to defendant that a true confession "could only help him" was not an "inducement or promise" under 15:451. Citing PETTERWAY 403 So.2d 1157, which found statements by cops about the benefits of talking to the police were "musings not much beyond what the defendant would have concluded for himself"

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