[House Atreides]

Any of these bikers who strike a plea deal will be, in effect, eliminating their opportunities for winning damages from a civil suit.

[don-o]

I can’t figure out why the taxpayers down there are allowing this fiasco to fester.

[don-o]

A Tennessee court of appeals issued a turgid, 57-page decision last week that ruled that the Volunteer State’s gang enhancement law violates the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Yes, the Fifth Amendment also contains a due process clause. The Tennessee ruling has received considerable attention. Theoretically, it may effect the application of gang enhancements to criminal charges in other states. The Tennessee ruling is not as likely to accomplish that in and of itself as much as the 55-year-old ruling by the United States Supreme Court it cites, That old ruling seems applicable to many “gang” cases, particularly the slow motion “gang” case now underway in Waco, Texas.