Vincent G. Rinn Law Library

Prosecutors Unwilling To Learn From Students ?

At the web site of the Medill Innocence Project mentioned in the previous posting, David Protess of the project states that "Prosecutors sought the death penalty -- execution by lethal injection.  Instead, Judge Richard Samuels sentenced Anthony to natural life in prison. His appeals were denied by the Illinois Court of Appeals and the Illinois Supreme Court." He goes on to say in his conclusion, "In sum, the actual perpetrators were widely known at the time of the crime, yet law enforcement officials arrested, prosecuted and sought the death penalty for an innocent teenager who happened to be near the crime scene because he was being chased and needed their help."

Prosecutors are given the power to decide which criminal cases to prosecute to convict those guilty of serious offenses in our communities. Implied in this power is the expectation that they will not misuse this power by prosecuting those who may actually be innocent and therefore allowing a guilty party to continue to endanger the community. It is especially important in cases where capital punishment is sought. Mistakes or purposeful abuses of the legal process cannot be remedied when the defendant is dead. It may also be very difficult to uncover wrong doing when the case is closed by death.

Here in Illinois we have the exceptional lessons from the events that lead former Governor Ryan to imposed a historic moratorium on executions in Illinois and to pardon four prisoners awaiting execution, due to compelling evidence uncovered that in too many cases the wrong person was in jail while the true perpetrators had a "stay-out-of-jail card" courtesy of the malfeasance of law enforcement personnel, including prosecutors.

The Report of The Governor‘S Commission On Capital Punishment, George H. Ryan Governor, APRIL. 15, 2002, states that :

"State’s attorneys in Lake. DuPage and Cook Counties have advised the Commission that they already utilize the concept of a review committee within their respective offices to assist the  State’s attoney in screening cases which are potentially eligible for the death penalty. It is a good idea to constitute such an internal review conmitttee to provide a thorough analysis of whether a particular case warrants the death penalty. Written state-wide protocols for prosecutors would provide voluntary guidance for all prosecutors in the state with respect to how such an evaluation may best be conducted. For example, in making a decision about whether to pursue the death penalty, an individual prosecutor should consider not only whether the case meets the basic requirements to be death eligible under the statute, but should also consider the  degree to which the  evidence is sufficient to warrant such a serious penalty."
( Chapter 5, p.83 )

If such procedures are already recognized best practices to be followed in regards to prosecuting a capital case, why doesn't State's Attorney Alvarez  make use of the information that the students have so carefully discovered to correct what appears to be significant departures from these standards ? Rather than attempting to violate the student's  privacy in the guise of checking their information. They have already provided and  publicly posted what is needed for that.

State's Attorney Seeks Multitude of Documents from NU Innocence Project

The Innocence Project at Northwestern University helped to uncover evidence that they claim proves the innocence of a Harvey, Illinois, man who is accused of killing a security guard in 1978.  The Cook County state's attorney in turn has subpoenaed the student's grades, notes, witness interview recordings, the class syllabus, and student emails sent to each other and Professor David Protess at the University's journalism school.  The University has turned over some documents but is fighting the further request for grades, grading criteria, student evaluations, expenses generated during the investigation, unpublished student memos, and interviews not conducted on the record.  The state's attorney's office says it is seeking truth.  I suppose that depends on who is on trial.  In this case it seems as if it is the student activists.  There is a chill in the air and not all of it is coming from Lake Michigan.  More in the Chicago Tribune.  [MG]

( This posting is cross-posted from the Law Librarian Blog by permission from the author Mark Giangrande of our library staff)

Also see :

Chicago Tribune editorial re. actions of State Attorney's Office

Chronology of investigation by Northwestern University Medill Journalism students and Center on Wrongful Convictions at the law school’s Bluhm Legal Clinic from their web site.

Professor Bassiouni Quoted Regarding Goldstone Gaza Conflict Report

This past Friday The U.N. Human Rights Council voted  to endorse a Gaza war crimes report that calls on Israel and Hamas to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses. If viable domestic investigations do not eventually take place, the U.N. Security Council could refer both matters to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible prosecutions. ( See : Resolution - Human Rights Council ,The human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian,Territory, including East Jerusalem .   Human Rights In Palestine And Other, Occupied Arab Territories, Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Executive Summary.)

"The United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, led by Justice Richard Goldstone, was tasked by the Council “to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after.”

"The report of the Mission, presented to the Council’s twelfth session, concluded that, while the Israeli Government sought to portray its operations as a response to rocket attacks in the exercise of its right to self defense, the Israeli plan had been directed, at least in part, at the people of Gaza as a whole. The report also found that Palestinian armed groups had succeeded in causing terror within Israel’s civilian population through the launch of thousands of rockets and mortars into Israel since April 2001."

"It recommended that the Security Council require the Government of Israel to take all appropriate steps, within a period of three months, to launch appropriate investigations that were independent and in conformity with international standards; and with regard to the relevant Palestinian authorities, that it require the independent committee of experts to monitor and report on any domestic legal or other proceedings undertaken by the relevant authorities in the Gaza Strip."

( Source : Human Rights Council Endorses Recommendations, Of Fact-finding Mission  Led By Justice Goldstone  And  Calls  For Their Implementation ) 16 October 2009 )

In an AP story today,Professor Bassiouni of the DePaull University Law School and a driving forces behind the creation of the International Criminal Court, stated that"If it sends the report to the Security Council, to the Secretary-General and to the General Assembly, it is sending it not for general informational purposes but for action,". The author further describes Bassiouni's observation that, "Arab and African countries will likely point to any U.S. efforts to block referral to the international court as an example of double standards, since it was Western countries that referred Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court in March for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes".

( Source : UN rights council endorses Gaza war crimes report, By Frank Jordans )

It is very uncertain whether the national parties involved will undertake internal proceedings to investigate and possibly prosecute the war crimes alleged in the Goldstone Report. Even more uncertain, is whether these cases would ever be referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council, given some members of the Council would likely exercise their veto over such a decision.

Mr. Goldstone at a recent press conference, puts forward a slightly more hopeful expectation. "In the end, the mission had decided to give full recognition to the concept of complementarity. It had been recognized by the Rome Statute that the first choice in an incident was domestic investigation.  It was only where such domestic activity was not possible that the International Criminal Court could accept jurisdiction. While the mission was critical of both sides for having done far too little in that regard, it had concluded that, although there might be unwillingness, there was ability.   Israel was clearly able to hold open, transparent investigations.  In Gaza, courts and lawyers were operating, and if there was a will, investigations could be held."

(Source :  Press Conference On Report Of United Nations Fact-finding Mission On Gaza Conflict )

Remembering The Murdered & Missing Women of Juarez, Mexico

Professor Ottley Speaks on Post-Conflict Justice & Alien Torts Claims Act

DePaul "Rule of Law" Journal Launched by Students

DePaul law students with a particular interest in international law have created a new Online journal focused on the concept of “The Rule of Law”. It will be a student-run publication with faculty advisors from DePaul’s International Human Rights Law Institute ( IHRLI).

Just as “The Golden Rule” is sometimes facetiously defined as “He who has the gold, rules”. So too “The Rule of Law” can be a very different creature depending on who rules and claims authority of the law. From country to country and over time the idea of the rule of law can take on varying meanings for the participants.

According to the mission statement the new journal will work to “…define “rule of law,” propose new rule-of-law initiatives and critique existing ones, and discuss how rule of law can be established or strengthened in different nations and at different times.” So the journal will delve into the conceptual issues and also the pragmatic endeavors to establish a just rule of law.

The Journal will contain articles and what are called “Rule of Law Briefs”. Suggested topics for the articles include case studies of successful and unsuccessful rule of law initiatives, the role of human rights in reforming governmental institutions, proposed solutions to problems encountered in rule of law initiatives.

Rule of Law Briefs are short, fact-based, research-driven, student-written piece that cover a narrow rule of law topic, such as a particular rule-of-law building project, or a particular problem somewhere in the world.

The journal hopes to encourage broad participation from various constituencies and to become “…a freely-accessible resource for rule-of-law data and policy discussion...”

Law Professor Havel's New Book on the Future of International Aviation

"Ongoing deregulation of the international air transport industry has revealed a compelling need for entirely new forms of governance. In his new book, “Beyond Open Skies: A New Regime for International Aviation” ( Kluwer 2009 ), DePaul University College of Law professor and associate dean Brian Havel explores the legal and policy structure needed to effectively govern international civil aviation in the future. Havel, who also directs the university’s International Aviation Law Institute,  provides a critical analysis of aviation’s regulatory framework and addresses how it may obstruct the industry from serving the public and delivering benefits to employees and investors alike."
( From Media-Newswire.com  here)

[ Note to Editors: To obtain a review copy of “Beyond the Open Skies,” visit Kluwer’s Web site at www.kluwerlaw.com/CustomerServ/.  Brian Havel can be reached at 312/362-5222 or bhavel@depaul.edu. ]

Keep Up With ABA Meeting On NLJ Blog

The American Bar Association Annual Meeting begins today in Chicago. See previous blog posting, here. Various news media will be covering it. But to get some of the inside developments including some that may not make the morning paper or the evening news, check out the national Law Journal's blog of the ABA meeting,  "ABA 2009/Chicago"  by Lynne Marek. Lynne has been news reporter since 1992, working for the Chicago Tribune,Bloomberg News, The National Law Journal and is now blogging for the first time to bring you coverage of the ABA meeting.

Three Latinas at DePaul Law School Reflect On Sotomayor

An article in yesterday's Chicago Tribune by Oscar Avila, presents the views of three female law students with Latino backgrounds from the DePaul University Law School, on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and how this historic event has affected their own journey to a legal career. Mr. Avila provides some  background information and presents quotes from each of the three local students.

Screening and discussion of “The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court”

On Friday July 17 2009 from 5:30-8:00pm, at Chicago_Kent Law School,in the 10th floor Event room ( 565 West Adams Street   Chicago, IL 60661 ), there will be a showing of the film The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court in honor of International Justice Day and in commemoration of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established and now governs the International Criminal Court.

After the film there will be a panel discussion featuring Chicago-Kent College of Law Professor Bart Brown, Daniel Rothenberg, the Managing Director of International Projects for the DePaul University International Human Rights Law Institute. Attorney Dan Thomann will serve as moderator for the panel and Q&A.

The event is free however advance registration is required: please rsvp to Ms. Violeta Jimenez vjimenez@kentlaw.edu

I f you cannot attend the film showing at Chicago_Kent today, there is an opportunity to view the film online from July 15 - August 15, 2009, on the web site of the American Documentary (AMDOC), [ Click on "watch the entire film" ] . There is also additional information regarding the content of the film and a statement by the filmmaker.