Monday, September 23, 2013

Marco Rubio should give Will Thomas a "blue slip"

The DBR has the news on the refusal to issue a blue slip and SFL has a nice post explaining why that refusal is wrong.

The thing is -- we are just talking about allowing the process to go forward; to let the Senate vote on Thomas' nomination.  A nomination that Rubio initially recommended.  How can anyone be against allowing the process to proceed?

In other news, William Dimitrouleas sentenced Craig Toll to 2 years in prison, after having sentenced Osorio to 12.5 years.  Interestingly, Chris Korge testified in favor of Toll saying that he didn't know what was going on at the company.

Meantime, prosecutors in Kentucky are arguing that the 2255 waiver is not unethical.  The Kentucky Supreme Court doesn't understand their position:

The justices seemed puzzled by the stance of the federal prosecutors. Repeatedly, the jurists questioned the need for the waiver and whether an attorney can be aware of their mistakes at the time a plea agreement is reached.
Cushing told the justices that allowing later attacks on the performance of an attorney merely prolongs cases and hurts victims and their families.
“It’s about finality,” Cushing said. “Victims of crime have gone through tremendous trauma when these things go through the courts.”
Justice Daniel Venters said there is generally no way for a defendant to know if the attorney made an error until much later.
“It’s always hindsight in terms of defendants,” Venters said.
Justice Lisabeth Hughes Abramson said all justices want to see cases closed, but they must be closed properly.
“You’re asking us to accept the lawyer who is singularly unaware of his own lack of due diligence to be the guardian of the defendant’s rights,” Abramson said.
The case comes three years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Kentucky’s high court in a case that hinged on an attorney’s deficient advice. In that case, truck driver Jose Padilla wasn’t told he would face deportation if he pleaded guilty to hauling marijuana in the back of his truck. The U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the lack of due diligence by Padilla’s attorney affected the plea and Padilla’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel was valid.
Justice Will T. Scott noted that if the waivers had been in place in Padilla’s case, he would have gone to prison and been deported based on bad advice.
“In cases where it matters, it really matters,” Abramson said.

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